Pencils are being sharpened as students across England prepare to begin the first ever social work degree this autumn. John Hutton, former health minister, announced the new training programme for social workers in March 2001, with assurances that it would transform the profession.

The new degree replaces the 14-year-old Diploma in Social Work (DipSW). Academic institutions' final intake of DipSW students will take place in January.

Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) has 55 undergraduates studying for the social work degree, a third of whom are aged 18 or 19. Aidan Worsley, head of social work at MMU, says the new degree is a professional qualification requiring students "to show they can walk the walk and get out there and be a social worker".

He says MMU is looking at ways to involve service users in the development of its degree and believes this approach will benefit students. MMU's social work degree is also linked with youth work.

The University of Bradford also has 55 undergraduates starting full-time on its degree course this autumn. Next year it plans to run a masters course and a part-time version of the degree. Social work programme director Pat Wilkinson says she is excited about the degree: "The opportunity to focus on practice and be responsive to a whole range of social work employers is much greater with the degree."

Wilkinson wants her students to have a well-rounded view and be confident of their skills: "They will need to appropriately challenge managers' skills and be able to make a decision based on their own judgement." This is a skill that was highlighted as lacking in the Victoria Climbi' case, she adds.

One of the most significant parts of the new degree is the increase in practice learning. Under the DipSW, students had to complete just 130 practice days in two placements. Now each university will have to decide how they divide the 200 days of practice learning opportunities over three different placements. Some, such as MMU, are leaving the practice learning until years two and three, while others will offer placements in every year. The new phrase "practice learning opportunities" reflects a move away from placements solely in traditional social services settings.

Finding suitable practice placements for DipSW students was often a challenge for universities and there are concerns that with a rise in practice days, this pressure will intensify. To help, the government last April announced £7m extra funding to cover the costs of increased practice learning days. In autumn 2002, the Department of Health established a practice learning task force, hosted by social care training organisation Topss England. The task force will operate until December 2004 and is liaising with the voluntary, statutory and private sectors, user and carer-led organisations and higher education institutions to create more opportunities. Task force project manager Fiona Waddington says people are working hard to meet the target of increasing practice learning opportunities by 50 per cent by the end of its remit.

The degree introduces a "practice assessor" as the professional who teaches and assesses the student on a placement. In the past this was done by a qualified practice teacher. Some in the sector fear the change will lead to a reduction in the quality of assessments. It also begs the question, if they are all assessors, who does the teaching?

Konnie Lloyd is co-chairperson of the National Organisation of Practice Teachers. She says there is "tremendous concern" that the role of the practice teacher will be diluted. "The role of the practice assessor is complex and understanding what students do is essential because they will be assessing students at different levels."

Waddington says while she understands the professionals' concern, she insists they have nothing to worry about. "The baseline is that anyone involved in assessing the development and learning of a social work student has to undertake training." She adds that the task force has a target to increase the numbers of practice assessors by 50 per cent by December 2004.

The idea of increasing the number of practice days has won Worsley's support: "It reminds academics that practice underlines all our ivory tower teachings so we don't just have a discussion about Karl Marx but what social work means to the guy in the street." He says longer placements will make students better at their jobs "because if they are not then we have done something wrong".

However, he adds north west England has experienced a shortage of agencies offering suitable placements. Wilkinson agrees: "The lack of placements in the past has been horrendous, particularly in statutory agencies."

When the idea of a social work degree was first mooted, there was a concern that it would create a two-tier system within which those social workers without a degree would lose out. Wilkinson disagrees that the degree will be valued more highly: "When in employment, most employers forget what qualification staff have."

Lloyd says what matters most is the quality of people graduating from social work courses. The only gap, she says, is the one between what newly qualified social workers are capable of and what their hard-pressed employers want them to do.

The sector, adds Worsley, is used to social workers having different qualifications but still doing the same job. He adds: "I would be extremely saddened if a two-tier system was the result."

The student
Bob James is 35 years old and lives in London. He has worked in therapeutic units and residential homes dealing with young people with challenging behaviour for 12 years. Before starting a social work degree at Middlesex University in September, James was an assessment worker for families in child protection cases at children's charity NCH for 18 months. While studying he hopes to do agency work part-time at NCH and other organisations. James says he was motivated to do a social work degree because he "couldn't move any further in the profession without that credibility". He says: "I want to refine my expertise and my knowledge so my assessments are more effective." He believes the three-year degree has more emphasis on practice and performance than the DipSW, which also appealed to him. He admits that when other people ask him what course he is studying he thinks twice before telling them because of the stigma the profession attracts.  He chose Middlesex University because he felt it was the most student-focused: "The teaching staff have been very supportive without compromising their wishes to maintain excellent standards." When he finishes his degree he would like to continue working with adolescents and conduct research into intervention models for different ethnic groups.

The lecturer
Helen Cosis Brown is principal lecturer and social work curriculum leader at Middlesex University. The university has 34 undergraduates enrolled on its social work degree, including 10 who are sponsored by their employers.  Middlesex University has provided social work qualifications for 30 years and Cosis Brown says the new degree contains elements of its previous DipSW course. She is pleased with the degree's module on communication skills. Students' interviews with clients, played by actors, are recorded and assessed by tutors and students must produce analytical essays on their interviews.   Cosis Brown agrees with increasing practice learning days and says having to assess pupils' suitability before they undertake practice is important. "The first assessment can weed people out and it's about safeguarding the social work agency providing the practice, the pupil and clients."  She believes ensuring enough agencies offer appropriate practice learning opportunities will remain a challenge for London's universities. "DipSW students had some choice over their placements but it's not like the choice available 20 years ago."  Employers might view those with the new degree more favourably over time, she says. But she adds that with the current recruitment and retention problems, employers will be happy to take on competent staff regardless of the level of their qualification.   

Course work
A total of 66 universities have been accredited by the General Social Care Council (GSCC) to offer the new degree. The GSCC has approved 87 social work degree courses, six of which are at postgraduate level. Last month, 2,340 students started the new degree. The first students were enrolled at Central Lancashire, Chichester, Middlesex, Plymouth, Portsmouth and Teesside universities. Not all courses started this year, some will begin in 2004.

The practice teacher
Dave Bosworth has been practice learning officer and practice teacher at Nottingham Council for one year. He was previously a qualified social worker in the local authority's community learning difficulties team and has worked in social care for 12 years. During the 1990s, Bosworth taught in Africa as part of Voluntary Services Overseas. This experience inspired him to return to teaching and combine it with his career. "I never lost the desire to teach and as soon as I could I did a part-time practice teacher award because it was the most rewarding part of my job." He says the new degree is one of the most important changes in social work. "It raises it to graduate level. What social workers do is eminently professional and should be reflected in the qualification required to practice it." Bosworth says the degree's commitment to 200 days of practice learning is a "very positive" move. However, he says ensuring enough organisations provide practice placements and practice assessors will be a challenge for universities and agencies alike.  His one concern is the change from practice teacher to practice assessor. "Using a practice assessor suggests a student will perform certain tasks for assessment, whereas having a practice teacher implies that a student will learn from an experienced and qualified teacher," Bosworth says.