Knowledge & dignity
Social Justice, Radical Social Work and Human Flourishing
Scholarship in service of human dignity — examining power, inequality and the conditions under which individuals and communities flourish.
Read moreCentre 01 · Batinda Institute
Radical Social Work Studies
Research, critique and advocacy for a social work profession emancipated from the architectures of oppression.
The Centre
Re-imagining the foundations of social work
The Centre for Radical Social Work Studies is where the Institute’s founding work lives. It interrogates the systemic forces that distort practice: racism, class inequality and bureaucratic managerialism, the silencing and marginalisation of practitioners, and the erosion of humane, relationship-based social work.
Its research draws on two decades of statutory child protection practice and university teaching, and on scholarship in Afrocentric and radical social work, migration, refugee and asylum studies, child protection and family welfare, and social work education.
The Centre asks how power, inequality and exclusion shape human lives, and what makes it possible for individuals, families and communities to belong, participate and flourish.
What enables belonging, participation, dignity and flourishing?
Our vision
We envision a social work profession emancipated from the architectures of oppression: a discipline animated by justice, sustained by ethical courage, and anchored in the irreducible dignity of every human being. Our aspiration is a social care landscape in which racism, class inequality, and bureaucratic harm no longer shape the experiences of families or the practice of those who serve them.
In this imagined future, social work becomes an intellectually rigorous and morally lucid endeavour: relational in spirit, humane in method, and unwavering in its commitment to equity and care. We seek a system where compassion is structurally embedded, where accountability is principled rather than punitive, and where practitioners and families alike are able to flourish without fear or silencing.
Our mission
Our mission is to confront the structural forces that sustain oppression within social work and to advance a practice rooted in justice, ethical integrity, and human dignity. Through rigorous inquiry, principled advocacy, and compassionate support, we work to cultivate a profession that resists harm, restores humanity, and honours the lived experiences of those most affected by Children’s Services.
Programmes
Social justice and public scholarship
Public scholarship
The Batinda Review
Ideas. Scholarship. Conversation. The Institute’s principal platform for public scholarship and intellectual exchange.
Read moreArticles & essays
Practice, justice and public life
Essays on children’s services, professional ethics, immigration policy and the future of the profession. Some were first published in BASW’s Professional Social Work magazine.
Mission impossible: why the Families First reforms to children’s services are wishful thinking
Without capacity in the workforce, Westminster’s renewed focus on early intervention is destined to fail. First published in BASW’s PSW magazine.
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How Labour’s immigration policies erode the foundations of our profession
Labour’s revival of the hostile environment is a systemic injustice — and social work will pay the price. First published in BASW’s PSW magazine.
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Once upon a time in social work – a profession under siege
A powerful longform essay on a profession that has lost its way — and a rallying cry for the radical imagination needed to reclaim its name. First published in BASW’s PSW magazine.
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Burnout Is Not a Badge of Honour: It Is a Warning
Burnout, bias and the theatre of care proceedings: a philosophical critique of social work in children and families in the UK.
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Stories Told in Pixels
A profession slowly losing its stones while its caretakers insist the structure remains perfectly sound.
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Research, training, consultancy and support
Practical, ethically grounded work for the people and organisations who live with the realities of Children’s Services.
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Research
Critical inquiry into the structural forces that reproduce oppression in Children’s Services, informed by practitioners and families.
Learn more 02Training
Teaching and professional development that bridge academic thought and the realities of frontline practice.
Learn more 03Consultancy
Independent, ethically grounded advice for organisations, practitioners and legal teams working in child protection.
Learn more 04Support
Compassionate support for social workers, families and care-experienced young people who have been harmed or silenced.
Learn moreResearch interests
Fields of study
Our values
What guides our scholarship
Social Justice
The pursuit of knowledge cannot be separated from questions of dignity, participation and human wellbeing. The Institute recognises that societies are shaped by creativity and accomplishment, and also by structures of power, inequality and exclusion. Our commitment is informed by radical social work, anti-oppressive practice, anti-racist scholarship, critical social theory, decolonial thought and human rights research.
Facing something the system won’t hear?
Practitioners, families, students, scholars and organisations: we would like to hear from you.