Dr. Jonathan Parker is Professor of Society and Social Welfare and Director of the Centre for Social Work, Sociology and Social Policy at Bournemouth University. He is Visiting Professor at the Tasik Chini Research Centre Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. He was one of the founders and director of the Family Assessment and Support Unit, a placement agency attached to the University of Hull, and Head of Department of Social Work. He was Chair of the Association of Teachers in Social Work Education until 2005, Vice Chair of the UK higher education representative body, the Joint University Council for Social Work Education from 2005- 2010, and is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, Fellow of the Joint University Council, and Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Jonathan has published widely on disadvantage, marginalization and violence, Southeast Asia, religion, social work education, and theory for practice. He is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Practice Teaching & Learning; joint editor-in-chief of Social Policy & Social Work in Transition, and series editor of the highly successful SAGE series, Transforming Social Work Practice.

Part One: Understanding Disadvantage and Marginalisation People
Chapter 1: Understanding the concepts
Chapter 2: Who are the disadvantaged and marginalised people?
Chapter 3: The processes: how people become marginalised and disadvantaged
Chapter 4: The impact: how disadvantage and marginalisation is experienced
Part Two: Knowledge and Skills
Chaprer 5: Factual and interpretive knowledge
Chapter 6: Skills
Chapter 7: Professional knowledge and skills
Part Three: Practising Ethically and Reflexively
Chapter 8: Using the law and policy
Chapter 9: Ethical dilemmas in practice
Chapter 10: Reflections and conclusions

Social workers, whatever their specialism, practise with people at the margins of society. It is therefore essential that all social work students not only understand the powers and processes that lead to disadvantage and marginalisation but develop the knowledge and skills needed to bring about change and uphold social justice in all aspects of their professional practice. Split into three parts, this book considers what is meant by disadvantage and marginalisation, how this can come about and the impact this may have on lives, before unpicking the key knowledge and skills needed to practice effectively with individuals and groups. It then goes on to show what good ethical and reflective practice looks like, going step-by-step through the ins and outs of using the law and policy to bring about change before considering key ethical dilemmas in practice.