Social Work BA(Hons): Course features

• We provide this course in partnership with:
  • local social care and social work agencies;
  • service users; and
  • carers.
• These stakeholders contribute to all aspects of the course, including planning, teaching, review and management.
• You benefit from an inter-professional Faculty with some modules taught jointly with health professionals. This mirrors the increasingly inter-professional environment of social work practice.
• There is a strong focus on professional practice with opportunities to learn in skills workshops and laboratories. You gain:
  • a sound grounding in practice skills within the University at Level 1; and
  • direct practice experience with service users at Level 2 (see below for further details).
• We build on our strong partnerships with practice agencies to offer a wide range of practice learning opportunities in the statutory, voluntary and private sectors.
• The fully modularised programme allows you to accumulate academic credits as you progress through the course. This means that we can be flexible and respond to the changing practice environment.
• We encourage collaborative and participative approaches to teaching and learning. We recognise a diversity of learning styles, encouraged through tutorial group 'learning teams'.
• We have a well-established student peer mentoring scheme.
• We offer an employment-based programme for students supported by their employers. This is offered on a full-time basis only.
  
• We have a strong commitment to equal opportunities and provide a supportive learning experience for our highly diverse student group.
• We recruit students of all ages, from school leavers to people in their 50s. Whatever your age, you will not be alone and we are supportive of mature students.
• We are also committed to widening participation in higher education. We have a strong tradition of recruiting from access to social work/higher education courses.
• We have an established framework for post-qualifying continuing professional development and Masters-level programmes. This contributes to our exciting intellectual environment and a rapidly developing research profile.
• The course is delivered from the leafy Kingston Hill campus. This parkland campus benefits from modern buildings and good quality facilities.
• For more details of life as a social work student at the joint Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences, please visit www.healthcare.ac.uk/schools/social-work.

Practice placements

You undertake two 100-day placements at Levels 2 and 3. These are progressive so:

• you build up a detailed portfolio of your work experience, which forms the basis of your assessment;
• you receive guidance from an over-seeing practice teacher who provides regular tutorials to help develop your practice skills; and
• you assume a increasing level of responsibility for your practice as the course progresses, giving you experience of working independently.

The practice placements are assessed against the competence-based National Occupational Standards, which are a required part of the curriculum.