Lesley Cooper
Biographic Data
| ID | 4273752 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Lesley Cooper |
| GIVEN NAMES | Lesley |
| FAMILY NAME | Cooper |
| SIGNATURE | COOPER L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Flinders University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7755-5667 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 61 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1997 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
‘No university without community’
Although community engagement is now a widely accepted part of universities’ agenda, the evidence of learning environments that allow students to gain new knowledge and skills through authentic partnership and reciprocity with community members remains sporadic. Guided by educational and community engagement scholarship, the study examined the involvement of community members in social work simulations at an Australian university. Based on reflex…
Post-disaster social work research
The aim of this study was to understand the extent, range and nature of social work research activity after natural disasters and to identify the implications for future research and practice. A Scoping review methodology framework was used search of three databases: Web of Science, ProQuest and Informit was conducted to identify relevant studies between 2000 and 2018. Selection of studies was based on empirical research about social work and nat…
Fieldwork in the Human Services
Tables and figures..Contributors..Preface..Section 1 Teaching, learning and assessment in the field..1 Overview of teaching, learning and assessment in the field - Lesley Cooper and Lynne Briggs..2 Teaching and learning in human services fieldwork - Lesley Cooper..3 Approaches to supervision in fieldwork - Jill Wilson..4 The supervisory relationship - Elizabeth Beddoe..5 The competency approach - John Hopkins and Lesley Cooper..6 Two pedagogical …
Postdisaster Counselling
Volunteer counsellors face particular challenges in postdisaster interventions. This research investigates personal, professional, and ethical issues faced by mental health volunteer counsellors recruited to a counselling service that emerged following the 2011 earthquakes in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. Earthquakes create major community disruption that can overwhelm existing service systems and require new agency arrangements and incre…
Can social workers and police be partners when dealing with bikie-gang related domestic violence and sexual assault
Welfare and criminal justice systems manifest different goals, cultures, values and working methods. In Australia, the welfare sector has a culture of empowerment and concern for victims' rights, within which social workers focus on social justice and social change. In contrast, the criminal justice sector (police) is patriarchal and para-military in structure, focusing on enforcing and maintaining community order and safety. These differences ca…
Backing Australia's Future
It is universally expected that universities will strive for quality in teaching and learning. Over the past 25 years, massive changes to higher education have impacted on these institutions. We now have a mass higher education system, a knowledge-based economy, increased technology, and the internationalization of education accompanied by increased student enrolments and political expectations of enhanced graduate outcome measures. These changes…
Contested Concepts in Violence Against Women
Ritualistic, overwhelmingly violent bikie gang or cult-inflicted abuse of women, entrenched by co-opting third party cult or gang members, has been referred to as ‘domestic violence’, ‘intimate violence’ or ‘intimate partner violence’. The present article questions the aptitude of these terms to convey the realities of this violence, in light of the experiences of women attending a South Australian domestic violence service, all of whom were esca…
Working with Women Associated with Bikie Gangs
Much has been written about bikie gangs, but there is little about the women and children who are part of gang life. The present paper describes domestic violence agency social workers’ ethical practice dilemmas when assisting women who have left bikie gangs to search for a new, safer lifestyle away from the gang culture of drug use and violence, in particular sexual violence. The paper concludes with a discussion of the ethical processes and iss…
Dancing into the Third Age
This paper centres on a discussion of an on-going one-year qualitative research project,' which seeks to assess the meanings of social dance for groups of participants who are entering or have entered what has come to be known as the 'third age'.2 The research focuses on people around the age of 60 and above who participate in dance events in two inner city, south-east London boroughs and in the county of Essex to the east and north of London, wh…
Dancing into the Third Age
Helen Thomas, Lesley Cooper, Dancing into the Third Age: Social Dance as Cultural Text. Research in Progress, Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Summer, 2002), pp. 54-80
“If These Values are not Understood and Accepted…” A Review of the Social Development Curricula
Cox, Pawar & Picton (1997) have developed a social development curriculum (SDC) for social work, which embraces planned social change to promote the wellbeing of all people. This paper asserts that a social development curriculum attempts to promote moral development of students with respect to its goals, values, and orientation to social problems. A review of this SDC however, presents educators with a number of difficulties, which include how s…
Children Entering Out-of-home Care in South Australia
The Role of Parental Contact in Substitute Care
This paper examines the association between parental contact and the well-being and placement status of children in substitute care. Consistent with previous research (e.g., Fanshel, 1975), the frequency of at least one form of parental contact (telephone) was positively associated with reunification and negatively with the amount of time in care. However, there were no significant changes in the frequency of contact, or improvements in the quali…
Growing old gracefully
This paper examines the meaning of social dancing for older people. It is based on a one-year qualitative research project, which is seeking to explore the experiences of social dance for people aged 60 years or more who attend various dance events in Essex and south-east London. The findings suggest that the social dance experience is not only or simply a beneficial physical experience for older people, it also bestows other significant benefits…
The Predictors of Unsuccessful Transition to Foster Care
The placement movements of 235 children entering foster care over a 12‐month period were followed up 4 months after referral into care. Baseline and follow‐up measures of the 170 children who were still in care at follow‐up were also compared. Results indicated that adolescents with mental health or behavioural problems were the least likely to achieve placement stability or to display improved psychological adjustment in care. In fact, unsatisfa…
Thinking about difference in student supervision
Over the past decade, educators have given greater recognition to the influence of race and culture on practice and policy. Whilst educators are now including specific courses that take account of diversity, scant attention has been paid to how these issues may be addressed in student supervision. This article reports on a qualitative study examining how three experienced supervisors addressed difference in student supervision. Supervisory approa…
Online development using WebCT
In a new initiative, and in response to technological changes, Flinders University is delivering educational programs to distance education students using WebCT as its preferred course tool. With concern for maintaining high quality educational programs, the Faculty of Social Sciences has approached the implementation of this new form of delivery with a management plan that involves and integrates many facets of the Faculty's existing structures …
Field Educator Turnover
Field education is the core of social work education, yet the quality of this programme is threatened by a high turnover of field educators. This retrospective study examines the turnover rate in one Australian social work programme, the characteristics of its supervisors and agencies and establishes a bench-mark for national and international comparative studies. High turnover rates suggest the need to re-examine some of the traditions arid assu…
I'm scared of being a wimp! Supervision
This paper describes a number of critical incidents experienced by new graduates during their first six months in the workplace. These critical incidents are rich textured, narrative accounts of supervision which suggest that new workers have difficulty coping with personal confrontations and aggressive behaviours, and seek help from colleagues, workers outside the agency and friends, rather than from supervisors and management. Sequential examin…
The Content of Supervision Scale
Despite being regarded as an essential element in social work education, practicums are often arranged with little consideration as to what a potential supervisor can offer a particular student. This paper reports on the developments of the Content of Supervision Scale which can be used by university fieldwork staff to measure the supervisory priorities of potential supervisors. Three distinct dimensions of supervision sessions are measured: ‘stu…
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and the medical encounter1
In the history of twentieth century western medicine several 'syndromes' have been denied the legitimate status of 'organic disease'. Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) are examples of such syndromes, in that their status within biomedicine as 'real, organic' diseases is still a matter of controversy. These 'non-diseases' or 'illegitimate illnesses' are usually defined in terms of symptoms, with few consistent signs…
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and the Medical Encounter
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and the medical encounter1
In the history of twentieth century western medicine several 'syndromes' have been denied the legitimate status of 'organic disease'. Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) are examples of such syndromes, in that their status within biomedicine as 'real, organic' diseases is still a matter of controversy. These 'non-diseases' or 'illegitimate illnesses' are usually defined in terms of symptoms, with few consistent signs…
Growing old gracefully
This paper examines the meaning of social dancing for older people. It is based on a one-year qualitative research project, which is seeking to explore the experiences of social dance for people aged 60 years or more who attend various dance events in Essex and south-east London. The findings suggest that the social dance experience is not only or simply a beneficial physical experience for older people, it also bestows other significant benefits…
Children Entering Out-of-home Care in South Australia
Can social workers and police be partners when dealing with bikie-gang related domestic violence and sexual assault
Welfare and criminal justice systems manifest different goals, cultures, values and working methods. In Australia, the welfare sector has a culture of empowerment and concern for victims' rights, within which social workers focus on social justice and social change. In contrast, the criminal justice sector (police) is patriarchal and para-military in structure, focusing on enforcing and maintaining community order and safety. These differences ca…
Contested Concepts in Violence Against Women
Ritualistic, overwhelmingly violent bikie gang or cult-inflicted abuse of women, entrenched by co-opting third party cult or gang members, has been referred to as ‘domestic violence’, ‘intimate violence’ or ‘intimate partner violence’. The present article questions the aptitude of these terms to convey the realities of this violence, in light of the experiences of women attending a South Australian domestic violence service, all of whom were esca…
The Role of Parental Contact in Substitute Care
This paper examines the association between parental contact and the well-being and placement status of children in substitute care. Consistent with previous research (e.g., Fanshel, 1975), the frequency of at least one form of parental contact (telephone) was positively associated with reunification and negatively with the amount of time in care. However, there were no significant changes in the frequency of contact, or improvements in the quali…
Postdisaster Counselling
Volunteer counsellors face particular challenges in postdisaster interventions. This research investigates personal, professional, and ethical issues faced by mental health volunteer counsellors recruited to a counselling service that emerged following the 2011 earthquakes in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. Earthquakes create major community disruption that can overwhelm existing service systems and require new agency arrangements and incre…
Backing Australia's Future
It is universally expected that universities will strive for quality in teaching and learning. Over the past 25 years, massive changes to higher education have impacted on these institutions. We now have a mass higher education system, a knowledge-based economy, increased technology, and the internationalization of education accompanied by increased student enrolments and political expectations of enhanced graduate outcome measures. These changes…
Working with Women Associated with Bikie Gangs
Much has been written about bikie gangs, but there is little about the women and children who are part of gang life. The present paper describes domestic violence agency social workers’ ethical practice dilemmas when assisting women who have left bikie gangs to search for a new, safer lifestyle away from the gang culture of drug use and violence, in particular sexual violence. The paper concludes with a discussion of the ethical processes and iss…
Field Educator Turnover
Field education is the core of social work education, yet the quality of this programme is threatened by a high turnover of field educators. This retrospective study examines the turnover rate in one Australian social work programme, the characteristics of its supervisors and agencies and establishes a bench-mark for national and international comparative studies. High turnover rates suggest the need to re-examine some of the traditions arid assu…
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and the medical encounter1
In the history of twentieth century western medicine several 'syndromes' have been denied the legitimate status of 'organic disease'. Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) are examples of such syndromes, in that their status within biomedicine as 'real, organic' diseases is still a matter of controversy. These 'non-diseases' or 'illegitimate illnesses' are usually defined in terms of symptoms, with few consistent signs…
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and the Medical Encounter
Field Educator Turnover
Field education is the core of social work education, yet the quality of this programme is threatened by a high turnover of field educators. This retrospective study examines the turnover rate in one Australian social work programme, the characteristics of its supervisors and agencies and establishes a bench-mark for national and international comparative studies. High turnover rates suggest the need to re-examine some of the traditions arid assu…
I'm scared of being a wimp! Supervision
This paper describes a number of critical incidents experienced by new graduates during their first six months in the workplace. These critical incidents are rich textured, narrative accounts of supervision which suggest that new workers have difficulty coping with personal confrontations and aggressive behaviours, and seek help from colleagues, workers outside the agency and friends, rather than from supervisors and management. Sequential examin…
The Content of Supervision Scale
Despite being regarded as an essential element in social work education, practicums are often arranged with little consideration as to what a potential supervisor can offer a particular student. This paper reports on the developments of the Content of Supervision Scale which can be used by university fieldwork staff to measure the supervisory priorities of potential supervisors. Three distinct dimensions of supervision sessions are measured: ‘stu…
Online development using WebCT
In a new initiative, and in response to technological changes, Flinders University is delivering educational programs to distance education students using WebCT as its preferred course tool. With concern for maintaining high quality educational programs, the Faculty of Social Sciences has approached the implementation of this new form of delivery with a management plan that involves and integrates many facets of the Faculty's existing structures …
The Predictors of Unsuccessful Transition to Foster Care
The placement movements of 235 children entering foster care over a 12‐month period were followed up 4 months after referral into care. Baseline and follow‐up measures of the 170 children who were still in care at follow‐up were also compared. Results indicated that adolescents with mental health or behavioural problems were the least likely to achieve placement stability or to display improved psychological adjustment in care. In fact, unsatisfa…
Thinking about difference in student supervision
Over the past decade, educators have given greater recognition to the influence of race and culture on practice and policy. Whilst educators are now including specific courses that take account of diversity, scant attention has been paid to how these issues may be addressed in student supervision. This article reports on a qualitative study examining how three experienced supervisors addressed difference in student supervision. Supervisory approa…
Dancing into the Third Age
This paper centres on a discussion of an on-going one-year qualitative research project,' which seeks to assess the meanings of social dance for groups of participants who are entering or have entered what has come to be known as the 'third age'.2 The research focuses on people around the age of 60 and above who participate in dance events in two inner city, south-east London boroughs and in the county of Essex to the east and north of London, wh…
Dancing into the Third Age
Helen Thomas, Lesley Cooper, Dancing into the Third Age: Social Dance as Cultural Text. Research in Progress, Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Summer, 2002), pp. 54-80
“If These Values are not Understood and Accepted…” A Review of the Social Development Curricula
Cox, Pawar & Picton (1997) have developed a social development curriculum (SDC) for social work, which embraces planned social change to promote the wellbeing of all people. This paper asserts that a social development curriculum attempts to promote moral development of students with respect to its goals, values, and orientation to social problems. A review of this SDC however, presents educators with a number of difficulties, which include how s…
Children Entering Out-of-home Care in South Australia
The Role of Parental Contact in Substitute Care
This paper examines the association between parental contact and the well-being and placement status of children in substitute care. Consistent with previous research (e.g., Fanshel, 1975), the frequency of at least one form of parental contact (telephone) was positively associated with reunification and negatively with the amount of time in care. However, there were no significant changes in the frequency of contact, or improvements in the quali…
Growing old gracefully
This paper examines the meaning of social dancing for older people. It is based on a one-year qualitative research project, which is seeking to explore the experiences of social dance for people aged 60 years or more who attend various dance events in Essex and south-east London. The findings suggest that the social dance experience is not only or simply a beneficial physical experience for older people, it also bestows other significant benefits…
Contested Concepts in Violence Against Women
Ritualistic, overwhelmingly violent bikie gang or cult-inflicted abuse of women, entrenched by co-opting third party cult or gang members, has been referred to as ‘domestic violence’, ‘intimate violence’ or ‘intimate partner violence’. The present article questions the aptitude of these terms to convey the realities of this violence, in light of the experiences of women attending a South Australian domestic violence service, all of whom were esca…
Working with Women Associated with Bikie Gangs
Much has been written about bikie gangs, but there is little about the women and children who are part of gang life. The present paper describes domestic violence agency social workers’ ethical practice dilemmas when assisting women who have left bikie gangs to search for a new, safer lifestyle away from the gang culture of drug use and violence, in particular sexual violence. The paper concludes with a discussion of the ethical processes and iss…
Backing Australia's Future
It is universally expected that universities will strive for quality in teaching and learning. Over the past 25 years, massive changes to higher education have impacted on these institutions. We now have a mass higher education system, a knowledge-based economy, increased technology, and the internationalization of education accompanied by increased student enrolments and political expectations of enhanced graduate outcome measures. These changes…
Can social workers and police be partners when dealing with bikie-gang related domestic violence and sexual assault
Welfare and criminal justice systems manifest different goals, cultures, values and working methods. In Australia, the welfare sector has a culture of empowerment and concern for victims' rights, within which social workers focus on social justice and social change. In contrast, the criminal justice sector (police) is patriarchal and para-military in structure, focusing on enforcing and maintaining community order and safety. These differences ca…
Postdisaster Counselling
Volunteer counsellors face particular challenges in postdisaster interventions. This research investigates personal, professional, and ethical issues faced by mental health volunteer counsellors recruited to a counselling service that emerged following the 2011 earthquakes in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. Earthquakes create major community disruption that can overwhelm existing service systems and require new agency arrangements and incre…
Fieldwork in the Human Services
Tables and figures..Contributors..Preface..Section 1 Teaching, learning and assessment in the field..1 Overview of teaching, learning and assessment in the field - Lesley Cooper and Lynne Briggs..2 Teaching and learning in human services fieldwork - Lesley Cooper..3 Approaches to supervision in fieldwork - Jill Wilson..4 The supervisory relationship - Elizabeth Beddoe..5 The competency approach - John Hopkins and Lesley Cooper..6 Two pedagogical …
Post-disaster social work research
The aim of this study was to understand the extent, range and nature of social work research activity after natural disasters and to identify the implications for future research and practice. A Scoping review methodology framework was used search of three databases: Web of Science, ProQuest and Informit was conducted to identify relevant studies between 2000 and 2018. Selection of studies was based on empirical research about social work and nat…
‘No university without community’
Although community engagement is now a widely accepted part of universities’ agenda, the evidence of learning environments that allow students to gain new knowledge and skills through authentic partnership and reciprocity with community members remains sporadic. Guided by educational and community engagement scholarship, the study examined the involvement of community members in social work simulations at an Australian university. Based on reflex…
Psychology (16 works) · Political science (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Medicine (12 works) · Social Work (9 works) · Social Work Education and Practice (7 works) · Engineering (6 works) · Pedagogy (6 works) · Social science (6 works) · Law (5 works)