Teaching, assessment and accreditation

Teaching, assessment and accreditation

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 one; and
• direct practice experience with service users at level two (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.

Practice placements

You undertake two 100-day placements at levels two and three. 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.

This degree is approved by the General Social Care Council (GSCC), which means that graduates can apply for registration as a social worker with the GSCC. The term "social worker" is a protected professional title that can only be used by those who hold a GSCC-approved qualification.

The qualification is a generic one, which means that graduates are qualified to practice in any area of social work, although there is room to explore particular areas of interest. The post-qualifying framework provides opportunities for specialist training.