Martin Kettle
Biographic Data
| ID | 91909 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Martin Kettle |
| GIVEN NAMES | Martin |
| FAMILY NAME | Kettle |
| SIGNATURE | KETTLE M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Glasgow Caledonian University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7669-9901 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 8 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 8 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
“My decision making is much more deliberate… I’m still energised by it”
This paper describes the design, delivery and evaluation of a module on decision making for senior managers as part of a master’s programme for current and aspiring Chief Social Work Officers (CSWO). Scotland is unique in having a statutory duty that requires local authorities to appoint a CSWO to provide strategic and professional leadership in the delivery of social work services. The CSWO also has certain statutory decision-making responsibili…
Transitional Safeguarding Christine Cocker, Dez Holmes, and Adi Cooper
This book opens by asserting that it is the first on the issue of transitional safeguarding and sets out with a number of key aims, in particular to challenge the binary thinking behind service responses to children and adults, which has too often led to young people falling off a service cliff edge, just at the time in their lives they are most vulnerable. It adopts the definition of transitional safeguarding of Holmes and Smale (2018: 3) as ‘an…
Putting the auto in ethnography
This article describes an unexpected methodological shift made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic during doctoral research, and exemplifies reflexivity in action whilst negotiating my complex positionality as both a researcher and a social worker. The first UK national lockdown was announced after I had conducted 3 months of ethnographic data collection in a local authority adult social work team, thus halting my research. As society shut down,…
The role of family centres in reducing social isolation in deprived communities
Social exclusion and isolation are worldwide social and health concerns with negative effects becoming exacerbated in deprived communities. There is limited understanding related to the role of community‐based centres in reducing social exclusion and isolation, so the aim of this research was to explore the role one family centre had in improving social inclusion in a deprived community in Glasgow, Scotland. Interpretative Phenomenological Analys…
Sustaining Social Work
This interesting and innovative volume aims to be a source of support, and suggests that sometimes we read to know we are not alone. The introduction states that the book is oriented by two questions. First, what can sustain social work in this changing context, ensuring that the job is done well? Second, how can social workers sustain themselves in the role, and derive confidence and meaning from what they do?’ (p. 3). There is no doubt that the…
Revisiting the Rule of Optimism
The ‘rule of optimism’ has been a key feature of child protection discourse in the UK since being introduced as a theoretical construct over thirty years ago. It has continuously been drawn upon to explain professional action and has been most notably utilised as a powerful explanatory device within Serious Case Reviews (SCRs). Yet, despite its longevity, the deployment of the construct has been subject to very little critique. This paper seeks t…
The tipping point
Social workers working to protect children face the prospect of making very finely balanced judgements, often on the basis of incomplete information. Based on doctoral research into sense‐making by social workers, this paper explores aspects of the tipping point, i.e. where the categorization of a child's situation changes, potentially leading to a very different response to their needs. Those aspects include identifying the triggers for, and con…
It's our turn now and we won't share
Martin Kettle thinks Tony Blair's New labour Party is up to the hegemonic tricks of Old Labour for short‐term tactical reasons at the expense of its own long‐term strategic interests
The tipping point
Social workers working to protect children face the prospect of making very finely balanced judgements, often on the basis of incomplete information. Based on doctoral research into sense‐making by social workers, this paper explores aspects of the tipping point, i.e. where the categorization of a child's situation changes, potentially leading to a very different response to their needs. Those aspects include identifying the triggers for, and con…
Revisiting the Rule of Optimism
The ‘rule of optimism’ has been a key feature of child protection discourse in the UK since being introduced as a theoretical construct over thirty years ago. It has continuously been drawn upon to explain professional action and has been most notably utilised as a powerful explanatory device within Serious Case Reviews (SCRs). Yet, despite its longevity, the deployment of the construct has been subject to very little critique. This paper seeks t…
It's our turn now and we won't share
Martin Kettle thinks Tony Blair's New labour Party is up to the hegemonic tricks of Old Labour for short‐term tactical reasons at the expense of its own long‐term strategic interests
The tipping point
Social workers working to protect children face the prospect of making very finely balanced judgements, often on the basis of incomplete information. Based on doctoral research into sense‐making by social workers, this paper explores aspects of the tipping point, i.e. where the categorization of a child's situation changes, potentially leading to a very different response to their needs. Those aspects include identifying the triggers for, and con…
Revisiting the Rule of Optimism
The ‘rule of optimism’ has been a key feature of child protection discourse in the UK since being introduced as a theoretical construct over thirty years ago. It has continuously been drawn upon to explain professional action and has been most notably utilised as a powerful explanatory device within Serious Case Reviews (SCRs). Yet, despite its longevity, the deployment of the construct has been subject to very little critique. This paper seeks t…
Sustaining Social Work
This interesting and innovative volume aims to be a source of support, and suggests that sometimes we read to know we are not alone. The introduction states that the book is oriented by two questions. First, what can sustain social work in this changing context, ensuring that the job is done well? Second, how can social workers sustain themselves in the role, and derive confidence and meaning from what they do?’ (p. 3). There is no doubt that the…
The role of family centres in reducing social isolation in deprived communities
Social exclusion and isolation are worldwide social and health concerns with negative effects becoming exacerbated in deprived communities. There is limited understanding related to the role of community‐based centres in reducing social exclusion and isolation, so the aim of this research was to explore the role one family centre had in improving social inclusion in a deprived community in Glasgow, Scotland. Interpretative Phenomenological Analys…
Putting the auto in ethnography
This article describes an unexpected methodological shift made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic during doctoral research, and exemplifies reflexivity in action whilst negotiating my complex positionality as both a researcher and a social worker. The first UK national lockdown was announced after I had conducted 3 months of ethnographic data collection in a local authority adult social work team, thus halting my research. As society shut down,…
“My decision making is much more deliberate… I’m still energised by it”
This paper describes the design, delivery and evaluation of a module on decision making for senior managers as part of a master’s programme for current and aspiring Chief Social Work Officers (CSWO). Scotland is unique in having a statutory duty that requires local authorities to appoint a CSWO to provide strategic and professional leadership in the delivery of social work services. The CSWO also has certain statutory decision-making responsibili…
Transitional Safeguarding Christine Cocker, Dez Holmes, and Adi Cooper
This book opens by asserting that it is the first on the issue of transitional safeguarding and sets out with a number of key aims, in particular to challenge the binary thinking behind service responses to children and adults, which has too often led to young people falling off a service cliff edge, just at the time in their lives they are most vulnerable. It adopts the definition of transitional safeguarding of Holmes and Smale (2018: 3) as ‘an…
Sociology (7 works) · Political science (6 works) · Psychology (5 works) · Social Work Education and Practice (5 works) · Law (4 works) · Social Psychology (4 works) · Social science (4 works) · Epistemology (3 works) · Child Abuse and Trauma (2 works) · Computer Science (2 works)