DrMargaret Spencer

Margaret joined the Social Work program in the School of Education and Social Work as a lecturer in 2014. My original professional qualification was in nursing. I then completed a degree in theology and graduated as a social worker from the University of Sydney in 1994.

I have over 30 years professional experience working in community based contexts championing the rights and needs of individuals and families constructed as “hard to reach” or as having “complex care needs.” Prior to taking up my current position, I coordinated the Intellectual Disability Rights Services’ advocacy program for parents with intellectual disabilities involved in child protection investigations and care proceedings. Since 2009, I have been appointed by the NSW Attorney General to the position of judicial officer (community member) in the Guardianship Division of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

In 2007, I was awarded my doctorate from the University of Sydney. My doctoral research involved the development and piloting of a collaborative and accessible assessment process to facilitate shared decision-making between family workers and parents with intellectual disabilities about supports required for parenting. The thesis is entitled “Beyond measure: understanding and planning support with parents with intellectual disabilities.”

Over the past 23 years I have forged strong relationships with National and international researchers and practitioners in the area of parenting with intellectual disabilities. I am currently an executive member on the Parenting Special Interest Research Group (SIRG) of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IASSIDD) and member of the Australasian Society for Intellectual Disabilities.

Since joining the Social Work program, I have coordinated and taught across many units of study in the undergraduate and MSW(Q) programs including Professional Practice, Social Work Practice, Field Education and Ageing. I also lecture on disabilities topics in units of study across both programs as well as in units of study in the Sydney School of Education and Social Work’s Special and Inclusive Educationprogram and the Faculty of Health Sciences’ Graduate Diploma in Developmental Disabilities Studies program.

I am the contact person in the Social Work program for students with disabilities. In 2016, I was the Acting Director of the Institute of Open Adoption Studies; and I am currently the Director of Social Work Field Education. Since 2016, through DFAT’sNew Colombo Plan Short- Term Mobility Program, I have led student field trips to Indonesia to explore social work in an international context.