A shadow is hanging over social work degree courses that might see graduate social workers unprepared for life on the front line. The problem is not with the students, but those who teach them. The academic workforce is ageing and is not being replaced by new blood. It seems that social workers are reluctant to step into the shoes of retiring lecturers. As June Thoburn, emeritus professor of social work at the University of East Anglia, says: "You often see lectureships advertised and then readvertised because it is so difficult to appoint at entry level."
This is something that Pat Wilkinson, head of social sciences and humanities at the University of Bradford, knows only too well. She has first-hand experience of trying to recruit social work lecturers and says that it can be "very difficult" as would-be lecturers do not always believe they have the necessary skills.
This point was proved recently when she sought to recruit a student practice placement co-ordinator and received a multitude of applications. "Had this been for a lecturer's post we would have shortlisted many of the applicants for it," she says. "But people seem to feel confident enough to apply for a placement post but then sell themselves short of applying for lectureships."
One reason for the dearth of applicants is that to be considered for a lectureship a social worker must have three years' post-qualifying experience, a post-graduate qualification and be able to show they have had their own research or articles published. Wilkinson admits: "This is a tall order."
Social workers are also put off from applying for lectureships by rates of pay. A new lecturer on the first level of the academic pay scale is likely to receive an annual salary of around £26,000. If a social worker is experienced and has a post-graduate qualification they are likely to be earning more than this. Wilkinson says that Bradford University is able to negotiate the salary it offers to new lecturers but concedes that people are put off from applying because of money.
If fewer social workers choose to go into academia there is a danger that, ultimately, the subject will be taught by academics who do not have practical social work experience. This is something that Thoburn, who qualified as a social worker in 1963 and spent 25 years lecturing, believes is already happening on some courses - and with negative consequences for the students.
"The risk is if the lecturer is not a qualified and experienced social worker they are not going to give examples from social work practice - they are not going to fire up students."
She recognises that other professionals can have a positive role in teaching social work but thinks that social work students should really be taught by a person who is qualified in the discipline. If students have not had competent teachers, Thoburn adds, then once they qualify they may be "bewildered when faced with working in multi-disciplinary settings."
Another outcome of not having enough lecturers to go around is that some of the social work courses could be forced to close. Bridget Robb, professional officer leading education, training and workforce development at the British Association of Social Workers, anticipates this happening. "I would not be surprised if some of the smaller courses merged. Over the next few years we may see some significant change in university provision of courses and the location of where they are delivered."
But this is not the view of the General Social Care Council, which approves all social work degree courses in England and Wales. Steven Trevillion, the GSCC's head of education social work, says that during the approval process the GSCC assesses whether there are enough suitably qualified social work lecturers to deliver the programme; a course cannot run if it does not have the required teaching staff available.
So how can practitioners be tempted into the hallowed corridors of universities? Robb, who speaks from experience having recently stopped lecturing after 20 years, thinks that while social workers are in front-line practice they should also be encouraged to develop the skills needed for lecturing, and that one career direction should not be favoured over the other.
Robb cites the successful track record of the health sector, where masters programmes are often undertaken by health workers, as something social care could emulate. "BASW wants people with doctorates in social work. Having this will make it easier to have the debate about social work being a legitimate academic discipline."
Trevillion agrees there should be a "greater flow" between academia and front-line practice and that the barriers between these two areas of social work need to be broken down. "Academia should not be seen as a black hole from which nothing emerges."
This could be addressed by encouraging more people to continue working as a practitioner while they lecture part-time - an approach that has successfully been adopted in primary care. Thoburn, Wilkinson and Robb all initially worked like this before going into lecturing full-time.
Wilkinson says that practitioners could be encouraged to enter academic life if universities paid them more. She says this approach should go hand-in-hand with making the profile of the profession more exciting to encourage people to join it.
The potential shortage of social work lecturers is something the Social Care Institute for Excellence is taking seriously, according to Mike Fisher, its director of research and reviews. Scie is working with the Economic and Social Research Council, the Scottish Institute for Excellence in Social Work Education and the Joint Universities Council to fund a review into the quality of social work research carried out by lecturers in universities. It is due to report its findings in February 2006.
Fisher says that as academics retire, universities are losing experienced lecturers who have been relied upon to produce evidence-based practice. In turn, this results in universities facing greater pressure to produce more research, which means they are unlikely to recruit lecturers who are not actively involved in research. He adds: "There is a real need for social work lecturers to prove themselves. A university lecturer has a wider range of responsibilities than other academics, such as being responsible for practice learning."
If practitioners can't be persuaded to go into teaching then Fisher predicts that in 10 to 15 years the sector will have a major problem on its hands - to the detriment of students and service users.
