Leadership and Management in Social Care PgCert: Social work facilities

Practice Learning Suite
About our modern teaching environment

Practice Learning Suite

The Practice Learning Suite is a purpose-built facility where social work students have the opportunity to learn and to practise key social work skills.

Social workers undertaking continuing professional development courses develop their assessment and intervention skills and other skills such as mentoring, teaching and providing reflective supervision.

What's available?

The suite is divided into several sections including:

a seminar/case conference room for a maximum of 20 people;
a simulated living-room and front door to assist in developing skills relating to home visits;
five interview rooms simulating work environments;
a control room with two-way mirror and viewing monitors; and
all rooms have fitted cameras and microphones so that activities can be recorded.

A flexible, creative space

The suite has been designed to be a multi-functional space which allows flexible use. The furniture is all portable and can be changed according to the simulated activities required.

The small rooms can be used for practising communication skills and simulating supervision sessions.

The large room can be used as a teaching or seminar room and can be set up as a simulated case conference room or duty desk.

Participants have the opportunity to engage in creative skills development activities and benefit from live supervision and feedback from the recorded material.

About our modern teaching environment

There is a wide range of facilities at our Kingston Hill campus, where this course is based.

Kingston Hill campus Kingston Hill is a leafy, hillside campus situated about three miles away from Kingston town centre. It is a quiet, secure place to study with easy access to London, meaning it provides the best of all worlds for our students.

Kingston University has made, and continues to make, major investments in buildings and equipment at the campus during recent years. Recent developments include the new Kingston Business School building, an extension to the LRC and a new student restaurant (Foodstore).

Find out more about the Kingston Hill campus in the virtual tour.

Kingston Business School

The new £26million Kingston Business School building stands at the heart of the campus providing both teaching and social spaces for our students.

The Business School building, which opened in 2012, provides plenty of spaces for staff and students to learn together and a bright, airy atrium with a cafe, laptop bars, sofas, tables and chairs for informal learning.

The variety of learning and studying spaces throughout the building make it both a stimulating and peaceful place to study.

Find out more about the Kingston Business School building in the virtual tour.

Learning resources centre

One of the highlights of the Kingston Hill campus is the modern learning resources centre (LRC), called the Nightingale Centre after Florence Nightingale, who was a regular visitor to Kingston Hill.

The LRC provides a spacious and attractive place for students to meet and study and features a cafe, more PCs and zoned study areas. Long opening hours give you plenty of access to specialist education books, journals and online resources.

Find out more about the Nightingale Centre in the virtual tour.

Computer and online facilities

There are many computers (PCs and Macs) available for you to use across the Kingston Hill campus when you need a place to study. Access to the wireless network across the campus means you can also work from your laptop or mobile device.

Using IT to support your studies is crucial. Kingston has an innovative virtual learning environment called StudySpace. This allows you to access course materials and contact fellow students and staff while away from the campus.

Postgraduate student facilities

For postgraduate students only, you can also use the dedicated Postgraduate Student Suite on campus. The Postgraduate Student Suite at Kingston Hill (based in the Kingston Business School building) includes a computer room with PCs and a printer, and a separate group-work study room.