<p>British Journal of Social Work Vol. 42 no.&nbsp;7 (Oct. 2012), p. 1256-1274</p> <p>Available in library.&nbsp; See journal shelves.</p> <p>Available online.</p>

The Social Work Reform Board is undertaking an ambitious programme of reform in the UK. This includes enhancing the professional status of social work and reforming social work education. The nature and purpose of service user and carer involvement at all levels of social work education need to be considered alongside this. However, the nature of meaningful involvement of service users and carers in advanced post-qualifying education has not been clearly articulated. A qualitative study was conducted that involved twenty-nine stakeholders—service users, carers, social workers, lecturers and managers—to help understand what constitutes meaningful involvement at this level of education. We found four predominant models (consultation, partnership, political and user control) that have different implications for how service users and carers may be engaged in advanced post-qualifying social work education. Further research is required to understand the effect of these different models on outcomes for social workers and the service users and carers they work with.