Guest blog by Dr Prospera Tedam
My name is Prospera Tedam, a social worker, researcher and educator. My name is Prospera Tedam, a social worker, researcher and educator. I am currently the Head of Department for Social Wellbeing at the United Arab Emirates university.
Prior to moving to the United Arab Emirates, I taught social work at Anglia Ruskin, University of Northampton and Open University.
My research and scholarly interests mainly focus on culturally sensitive practice, anti-oppressive and anti-racist practice. I have always been interested in the importance of relationships in social work and this resulted in the development of the MANDELA Model in 2012 as a relationship building tool for practice educators and students.
The model begins with a call to make time, acknowledge needs, differences, educational experiences, life experiences and age of people we are working with. You can access a video and read further about how the model can be used to form and enhance the practice educator- student relationship.
My doctoral thesis which explored the experiences of Black African social work students on placements in England found that these students experienced differential treatment compared to their white peers, in addition to discrimination, racism and exclusion. I continue to recommend the MANDELA Model to practice educators as one tool that could improve the outcomes for Black and racially minoritised social work students.
The MANDELA Model has been adapted for use with individuals and families with the view to achieving effective relationships which I believe are central to successful outcomes. The MANDELA with service users course incurs a fee, is certificated and can be accessed through the link below.
Other articles from the blog
