Jenny Rafter

Jenny started her career as a social worker in adult mental health in East London. She then worked for a children's charity as a social-based social worker across schools in the East of England. In 2019, she was appointed as the deputy head of school for social work. Since this time, the National Student Survey for social work at ARU now exceeds the sector and the course is ranked within the top ten in the Guardian league tables. Jenny also led the team through procurement to secure social work degree apprenticeships within the region, which now hosts its seventh cohort.

Twitter: @JennyRafter

Email: [email protected]

Background

When she joined ARU, Jenny championed the role of social workers in schools. In response to the pandemic, she launched the SWIS (social workers in schools) project; this has now entered its third year and works with over 130 schools who host social work student placements. She then commissioned to roll out a project in the region by a neighbouring teaching partnership.

Areas of expertise:

• School social work 
• Community practice and poverty 
• Deprivation

Research interests

Jenny is studying for her professional doctorate in education, in relation to school practice. She has formed an international network of academics who share her passion and interest in school social work and she has begun to collaborate and share her early insight of the potential benefits of the project. She has presented at national and international conferences promoting school social work.

Teaching

Jenny is a Senior Fellow in Higher Education and in 2022 was appointed as Associate Professor in social work recognition of her excellence in teaching, leadership within the social work team and external esteem. She is a regular recipient of the student-voted ‘Made a difference’ award, who consistently rate her passion for teaching and student support.

In 2023, Jenny was shortlisted for a national social work award in the category of keeping children in education. As a result, she was invited to the Department for Education to meet to Chief Social Worker for children and families – she was accompanied by a group of ARU Social Work students, who shared examples of the impactful work they had completed in their SWIS placement.

Qualifications

• BSc Social Psychology, Loughborough
• MA Social Work, London Metropolitan
• Practice Education, ARU
• PGCert in Education, ARU

Selected recent publications

Rafter, J., 2022. Revisiting social workers in schools (SWIS) – making the case for safeguarding in context and the potential for reach. Journal of Children's Services, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCS-04-2021-0015

Jennifer Rafter, Catherine Lee, Katharine Williams & Ruth McManus, 2023. Social work students in school: critical reflections on interventions with LGBTQ+ young people within secondary schools, Sex Education, DOI: 10.1080/14681811.2023.2225155.

Jenny Rafter, Jas Sangha, Irine Mano, 2024. 'Where Have I Found Myself’? Exploring How Black Social Work Students Navigate Identities in School-Based Practice Learning. The British Journal of Social Work, 2024;, bcae103, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcae103.

Rafter, J., Fearnley, B., & Jani, C., 2024. Using student stand out moments to reclaim school-based social work placement. The Journal of Practice Teaching and Learning (whitingbirch.net), https://doi.org/10.1921/jpts20242270.  

Recent presentations and conferences

International practice learning conference, virtual 2021

Joint social work research and education conference, 2022 (Leeds) and 2023 (Glasgow)

Social Work Week, Social work education event, 2023

International School social work conference, Colorado, US 2023

Hosted an international SWIS conference, ARU, September 2024