A CELCIS Emerging Insight Series webinar: AI and Children’s Social Care
Is AI your new critical friend in social work practice?
For at least the last decade, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has increasingly been seen as a possible answer to how to make public services more efficient.
For the fourth session in our Emerging Insight Series of webinars we explored what the use of AI means for work that is founded on responding to human need, where ethical practice is essential. Can the use of AI co-exist with ways of working in social care that require critical thinking? How does relationship-based practice remain the central tenet of a practice where AI is used? What are the implications, challenges and opportunities for improving both the quality of social work practice and the quality of social work supervision?
For this webinar and discussion we were joined by:
- Professor Beth Weaver, Professor of Criminal and Social Justice, School of Social Work and Social Policy, University of Strathclyde
- Professor Tarsem Singh Cooner, Professor of Social Work and Digital Media, University of Birmingham and co-chair of the West Midlands Social Work Teaching Partnership AI Interest Group and Dr Caroline Webb, Research Fellow, AI & Digital Health Research and Policy Group, University of Birmingham, and co-chair of the West Midlands Social Work Teaching Partnership AI Interest Group
This series of webinars is open to anyone with a professional or personal interest in and responsibility to support children and families in Scotland, the UK and anywhere in the world. This includes:
- Practitioners in social care, health, and education
- Service managers responsible for shaping and delivering key services
- National and local policy leads and decision-makers
- Local service commissioners
- Parents and carers
- Students and researchers of social care
Download the webinar transcript
Download Professor Beth Weaver's slides
Download Professor Tarsem Cooner and Dr Caroline Webb's slides
Source material
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Working with AI: A Guide for Social Workers: https://pureportal.strath.ac.uk/en/publications/working-with-ai-a-guide-for-social-workers/
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Generative AI, critical thinking and social work practice – an Insight paper published by IRISS: https://www.iriss.org.uk/resources/insights/generative-ai-critical-thinking-and-social-work-practice
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Do we need yet another body to help local government harness the potential of AI? https://inlogov.com/2025/05/27/do-we-need-yet-another-body-to-help-local-government-harness-the-potential-of-ai/
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Artificial intelligence and ethics – a video series with Professor Tarsem Singh Cooner: https://www.youtube.com/@TSCooner
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