Teresa Cleary

Teresa has been a full-time senior lecturer at ARU since November 2010, has built up a full portfolio of teaching and embarked upon her Educational Doctorate, all of which is complimented by her 21 years in front line social work practice.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @ARUCleary

Background

Teresa graduated as a social worker with a degree in applied social science in 1989, initially specialising in work with adolescent offenders in North/East London, before going on to undertake her masters in Criminology at Middlesex University under the supervision of the late Professor Jock Young. During the same period she completed the European Common Study Programme in Critical Criminology based at The Erasmus University and carried out research into diversion from prosecution schemes for young offenders in the Netherlands. As the then chair of the London Associate for Youth Justice she was at the forefront of policy development, training for probation and social workers in Inner London and a regular presenter at professional conferences. In September 2000 Teresa transferred to work with care leavers in Essex and embarked on a parallel part time academic career with Anglia Ruskin University.

Research interests

Having initially built up an interest in the study of adolescent offenders, Teresa has gone on to participate in evaluative research into child protection interventions and retains a strong interest in the delivery and quality of front line services. However, her current doctoral studies are focussed on the quality and delivery of social work education within the current higher education system in England.

Teaching

Teresa has a varied teaching portfolio centred on the MA Social Work course where she is academic tutor. As well as general social work theory, Teresa offers some expertise in Children & Families teaching but her main responsibility since 2005 has been as module lead for 'Powers, Duties & Accountability in Social Work' which is a generic law/policy module now taught on both the MA and BA Social Work at ARU. Since much of Teresa’s professional practice was based within the court arena, she has a strong commitment to the teaching of professional presentation/assessment skills, both written and oral. Teresa achieves consistently high evaluations for the quality of her teaching and prides herself on the quality of her relationships with students.

Selected recent publications

‘Take Care: Social work with young people in care – do we really take care of anyone?’ Published in BASW Magazine ‘Professional Social Work’ May 2013

‘Involving volunteers in child protection case work: Exploring the experiences of local authority stakeholders.’ Teresa Cleary & Dr Jane Akister in International Journal of Business and Social Science May 2014 Vol 5 No 4

‘Using Volunteers in Child Protection Work: Emerging questions for social work’ Teresa Cleary MA & Jane Akister PhD in Childhood Remixed, University of Suffolk Publication February 2014

‘Weighing up the quality of literature: The Croisdale-Appleby Review and Narey Report into Social Work Education’ publication in Community Care July 2014 http://www.communitycare.co.uk/

Recent presentations and conferences

12.11.12 Presentation: Volunteers Supporting Families: Establishing Value for Money. CSV Regional Conference. Manchester

8.07.2013 Presentation: Using Volunteers in Child Protection: The Implications for Social Work Practice Children and Childhood Conference, University Campus Suffolk

3.06.2014 Presentation: Reflections on Interdisciplinary Learning with Ann Petitt. Behind Closed Doors Conference, Anglia Ruskin University