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Miss Lindsay Giddings

Profile summary

Professional biography

Lindsay is the Programme Lead for Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Apprenticeship social work provision at the OU. She is a lecturer in social work and also an associate lecturer for KE322 (Young Lives, Parenting and Families). Lindsay has been a registered social worker for over 15 years. Prior to working in Higher Education, Lindsay worked as a social worker and senior practitioner specialising in work with children with disabilities and transitions. Alongside work in local authorities, she also completed independent work including fostering assessments and life story work with children in care.

Lindsay is an external examiner for two institutions and a peer reviewer for a number of journals.

Research interests

Lindsay is co-lead of the Social Work Research Group at the OU, an active group that meets bi-monthly and includes people interested in a wide variety of areas of social work research and scholarship.

The main theme that unites Lindsay’s research interests is the social work workforce and issues around resilience, satisfaction at work and stress and burnout. Lindsay's doctoral research focuses on retention within the social work workforce and utilises IPA (Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis). Lindsay is seeking to understand how people in stay in children and family’s social work roles for longer than the career average of eight years in the UK.

Lindsay has a keen interest in the climate crisis, and how this intersects with social work. Together with Dr Gillian Ferguson, Lindsay completed a research project in 2023 looking at social work regulation and education and the response to the climate crisis. Developing on this work, they are now completing a further project that considers social work students’ knowledge and understanding of the climate crisis. Gillian and Lindsay have presented on their research to colleagues and will be presenting at conferences in the summer. They also have a journal article in press.

Since moving to work in Higher Education, Lindsay has developed an interest in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) She is interested in how academics develop their identity as education practitioners, as well as how practitioners from professional backgrounds move into the SoTL space. Lindsay is currently involved in an international collaborative writing group, working with international colleagues to develop an understanding of how we can foster sustainable relationships within in-person and online teaching in Higher Education.

Lindsay is currently leading a TEF (Teaching Excellence Fund) funded project related to the education of Practice Educators in England, as well as being involved in a project led by Dr Gillian Ferguson that is seeking to develop post-qualifying learning for social work practitioners in Scotland in the area of child protection.

Teaching interests

Lindsay is currently module chair of the new Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work modules K834 and K835. Lindsay is co-chair of the postgraduate social work module K832 (Developing Social Work Practice). 

Previously, Lindsay has worked on production for the social work law module (K271), the social work apprenticeship End Point Assessment module (KXY324), and the rewrite of the level 1 social work and social care module (K123). Lindsay was co-chair of the module team for the level 1 undergraduate social work module K113 (Foundations for Social Work Practice), and part of the module team for the postgraduate social work module K833 (Advancing Social Work Practice). She was an Academic Conduct Officer for a number of years and a member of the specialist Fitness to Practice group.

Lindsay also works as an associate lecturer, teaching on KE322 (Young Lives, Parenting and Families).

Publications

Development of a virtual reality simulation for practitioners (2023-09-25)
Simpson, J. E.; Haider, S. and Giddings, L.
Social Work Education; The International Journal ([Early Access])


[Book Review] Making the most of your social work placement by Paula Beesley (2021)
Giddings, Lindsay
Journal of Social Work, 21(3) (pp. 625-627)


A Straightforward Guide to Healthcare Rights and Law for Patients, Carers and Practitioners (2023-05-25)
Cornock, Marc and Giddings, Lindsay
ISBN : 978-1- 80236-149-0 | Publisher : Straightforward Publishing | Published : UK


Writing your life: Developing social workers’ writing skills (2023-10-02)
Giddings, Lindsay
In : The Social Work Show (2 Oct 2023, Manchester, UK)


Making writing a visible dimension of professional social work practice (2023)
Giddings, Lindsay
In : The BASW UK Annual Conference 2023 (13 Jun 2023, Aston University, Birmingham)


Fake it until you make it? Developing a SoTL identity (2023)
Giddings, Lindsay
In : ISSOTL23: Context Matters (8-11 Nov 2023, Utrecht, Netherlands)


Understanding why children’s social workers stay – an interpretative phenomenological analysis. Reflections on the pilot study (2019)
Giddings, Lindsay
In : JSWEC 2019 (9-10 Sep 2019, Manchester)


At the Intersections of SoTL: Transfer and Transformation, Diversity and Inclusivity: A review of ISSOTL22 (2023-04-04)
Giddings, Lindsay
The International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, UK.


Top tips for newly qualified social workers (2019-10-23)
Giddings, Lindsay
Community Care