The KTP is a three-year project between the City of London Department of Community and Children’s Services and the Department of Social, Therapeutic and Community Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. The project seeks to establish a long-term partnership whereby staff in the City of London can access teaching and research expertise from Goldsmiths’ staff. Goldsmiths’ staff, in turn, gain opportunities to undertake co-produced research and evaluation, thereby enhancing the impact of their work for service users and organisations. The project has been set up in the context of recommendations from the Social Work Reform Board to improve partnerships between practice agencies and HEIs, Munro’s (2010b, 2011a, 2011b) call for learning organisations and the push for evidenceinformed social work practice (Webber 2015).

The KTP is managed by representatives from the practice agency, the local community and the university. The main elements are:

a programme of learning activities and accredited courses integrating academic and practice expertise on topics such as personalisation, domestic violence, therapeutic approaches and practice education;

practice learning opportunities for students;

research on social isolation amongst older people in the community;

an evaluative enquiry into the implementation of the Solihull Approach, a framework for working with parents that uses the principles of containment, reciprocity and behaviour management

(see Chapter 5);

support from a facilitator to establish self-managed critical reflection groups drawing on intervision (see Chapter 7)

principles;

providing practitioners access to the university library facilities.

Walter et al. (2004) developed a framework of organisational models for knowledge transfer or interaction that have affinities with the three ways of getting things done described in Chapter 2.

Within the research-based practitioner model the individual practitioner is expected to take responsible autonomy for keeping up to date and applying evidence to their practice.

In the embedded research model, policy makers and service managers, in a more traditional hierarchy, take responsibility for incorporating evidence into organisational systems, policies and protocols.

The organisational excellence model includes elements of both the mentioned models and promotes continuous local adaptation of research and practice, often in partnership with research providers. This model blends all three ways of getting things done, including heterarchy, such as in the intervision groups.

The organisational excellence model best fits the aspirations of the KTP. It promotes access to local, national and international research for individual practitioners, supports the integration of research produced within and outside of the agency into supervision practices and service development, and encourages critical reflection through a variety of organisational development activities.