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Mr James Ganpatsingh

Profile summary

  • Central Academic Staff
  • Lecturer
  • Faculty of Wellbeing, Education & Language Studies
  • School of Health, Wellbeing & Social Care
  • Social Work
  • james.ganpatsingh

Professional biography

James has been involved in social care for 20 years, spanning work with community-based, local government and national third sector organisations. He has mostly worked with children and their families in a mixture of casework, group work and specialist assessment roles, as well as in roles training and supervising staff. Before joining the OU, James worked as a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at London South Bank University for six years where he was Course Director for the MA in Social Work.

As as a central academic / lecturer for Social Work at the Open Univeristy, James is involved as a module team chair for KXY315, a final year apprenticeship placement module. He is also involved as a team member on other social work modules (K216, K315, KXY324) and was recently involved in some writing for production on the new first year BA module - K123.  

Research interests

James is currently undertaking an Education Doctorate at London South Bank University with a focus on neurodiversity and social work.

Teaching interests

James has taught across a range of Social Work modules, at Apprenticeship, BA and MA levels. He is interested in methods and theories for social work, social work with children and families, group work, working with parents, social pedagogy and humane, creative and participatory approaches in research, practice, teaching and learning.  

Impact and engagement

James most recent publications and presentations include:

Ganpatsingh, J. (2019). Creating space to think and feel – Reflections on teaching, learning and practice in social work, with insights from social pedagogy. International Journal of Social Pedagogy, 8(1): 6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.444.ijsp.2019.v8.x.005.

‘Using a narrative approach with students – supporting humane practice in challenging contexts’ | European Association of Schools of Social Work Conference, Madrid | 2019

James has previously been involved in a national project supervising and training group workers on working with the parental relationship as part of work with children and families. He has presented on this work at the following conferences:

‘Findings from the ‘Parents as Partners’ UK pilot: implications for social work education and practice’ | Joint Social Work Education Conference | 2015.

‘What working with co-parents means for colleagues in health and social care’ Parents as Partners London Conference | 2014.

James has also previously acted as a peer reviewer for the International Journal of Social Pedagogy and British Journal of Social Work. 

External collaborations

James is a member of BASW (British Association of Social Workers), a fellow of the HEA (Higher Education Academy), and is a registered as a Social Worker with Social Work England.