the social work degree should remain generic, according to the recommendations of experts.

an evaluation of the degree, commissioned by the government and published this week - read here for the full document - says that there "appears to be no evidence" to change the generic base of the qualification. the evaluation does not recommend any radical changes to the degree, arguing that it needs time to bed down first....

it remains to be seen what the government's reaction will be... there have been fears of a split in line with the seemingly increasing divergance of the workforce into children's and adult's specialisms in terms of policy anyway

 should the degree remain generic? does the degree need a radical overhaul?

By leaving the degree generic, there is the oppertunity for the students to be able to get a flavour for which area they want to work in. Having to make a desicion which area you want to specialse in whilst you are still undertaking your training is restrictive and unfair.  It is through the placments and the experiance of the course as a whole that the choice should come. I was under the impression the the PQ was were you undertook the specilist training.

i think it is important that the degree stays generic. this is because i think that for example if we work in adults services it is important to have knowledge of children as the adults we work with could well have children and vice versa. 

I think it should be generic for the first two years and then students should be given the option to specialise in children or adult services.

I think that it should remain generic but there should be an opportunity to have a wider variety of placements. When I did the degree two years ago we had two placements of 100 days each, one in the first year and one in the third. Whilst I enjoyed both placements I do not feel that it gave me the same breadth of experience that I got when I trained as a nurse.  I think it would be better to have at least 4, 50 day placements in different areas to give you a really good idea of the options available when you qualify.  Unfortunately, many people prefer to do what they know (myself included) and try and get jobs in areas where they have had placements on qualification.  However, it appears that placement opportunities are limited for students at present and unless this changes there are always going to be large gaps in knowledge on qualification.

Yep, I agree with the previous posters that the degree should remain generic. I have lots of reasons for this. Firstly, students of social science or other undergrad degrees dont always know what area of work they want to enter. A generic degree allows them time to learn about a variety of areas. Secondly I feel that if the degree were specialised the focus would change from one which places emphasis on basic principles, values and skills of social work which are an should be transferrable to any situation. It is crucially important that we do not lose the very basis of our profession. Thirdly, many social workers move around from one area to another during their career and need some basic knowledge of a variety of areas and finally, a generic degree attracts people to the course for that very reason, they like the flexibility of it and the opportunity to learn about a wide variety of areas.

I do also agree with skirmish who suggested more shorter placements. Two 100 day placements is open to discouragement of students because of bad experiences with personality clashes with placement teachers etc. Four 50 day placements would help to encourage students who had a bad experience in one to regain their self esteem and confidence in 3 others. I know of two fellow students of mine who failed a placement because of problems with placement teachers. Their degree shouldnt rest to such a large extent on the opinion of one person. And yes, skirmish you are right, placement opportunities are limited and that is a big problem.

Having said all that, I did two placements... one in a hospital... one in child protection... and yet my first job is in intellectual disability. I do not feel that not having had a placement in intellectual disability has had any bearing on my ability to do a good job, because I have been instilled with faith in my transferrable social work skills which I learned in my generic degree course.