Caroline Bald

Biography

Caroline has been a social work academic since 2016 after a twenty-year career in adult and juvenile criminal justice social work specialising in multi-agency risk management, including authoring serious case reviews (SCR) and serious further offence reviews (SFO) for the Local Safeguarding Board and Ministry of Justice, Public Protection Unit, respectively. Joining the University of Essex in February 2020, Caroline was the programme lead for the Masters in Social Work with Human Rights (2020-23) and the School lead for Student Recruitment (2020 to present). Caroline's teaching commitments span the social work curriculum, reflecting my commitment to human rights and ethics where practice and theory meet. She is currently module lead for MA and BA modules focusing on law, human rights, contemporary practice issues and research skills. Caroline's research focuses on education justice. She is interested in critical approaches to social work education in public policy, focusing on language, narrative and inclusive education. She is founding chair of the UK's Joint University Social Work Education Committee (JUSWEC) Admissions Special Interest Group (SIG). She is research fellow on an NIHR-funded project developing brain injury social work education curricula (Heads Together). Caroline is due to complete her doctoral research in early 2024 focusing on understanding how admissions decisions are made at the point of entry into the profession and explicitly exploring how suitability is framed as a narrative in social work education programmes in England. Caroline is active in the research community: a member of the European Society of Criminology collateral Consequences of criminal records working group, Book Review Editor on Social Work Education, the International Journal (2021-23) now social media board member, and peer reviewer for Qualitative Social Work, Journal of Social Work and Journal of Practice Teaching and Education. Caroline is currently co-editing two special issues for Social Work Education, the international journal due for publication in 2023 and 2024 (Creative pedagogy & Human Rights Social Work, respectively). Caroline is an experienced external examiner for Glasgow Caledonian University and Kingston University (from 2020) and an External Advisor at the University of Wolverhampton (2022). Caroline is the co-chair of the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) criminal justice group, co-convenor of the European Social Work Research Association (ESWRA) social work, crime and criminal justice particular interest group. and Advisory Board member of the Essex Human Rights Centre. Caroline is a trustee for Brain Injury Social Work Group (BISWG) and Mental Health Time for Action (MHTFA). Research Interests: 1) social justice and human rights 2) social work education pedagogy (specifically, admissions and impact on learner experience) 3) Inclusive education (specifically, criminal records, care experienced)

Qualifications

• Professional Doctorate in Social Care Education University of Essex,

• PG Diploma Research Anglia Ruskin University, (2019)

• Masters Social Work University of Glasgow, (1999)

• BA (Hons) University of Strathclyde, (1997)

Appointments

University of Essex

• Lecturer (ASER), Social Work and Social Justice, University of Essex (3/2/2020 - present)

• MA programme lead, University of Essex (3/2/2020 - 4/9/2023)

• External Examiner, Social Work, Kingston University (6/9/2020 - present)

• External Examiner, Social Work, Glasgow Caledonian University (7/6/2020 - present)

Other academic

• School Lead for Student Recruitment, University of Essex (7/9/2020 - present)