Council proposes new education awards

The General Social Care Council has proposed three new social
work post-qualifying awards.

Professor Steve Trevillion, head of social work education at the
GSCC, told delegates at a session on training and education that
the awards were the result of its consultation on the structure of
post-qualifying awards, which finished last week.

The proposed awards are a graduate diploma in specialist work, a
post-graduate diploma in advanced social work, and a masters
degree. All awards would include a significant element of practice
learning.

The existing post-qualifying awards were set up in 1990. But
Trevillion said the structure needed to be reformed “because of the
advent of the social work degree, workforce regulation and changing
social work roles”.

Patrick Ayre, senior social work lecturer at Luton University,
said that students who completed post-qualifying awards found that
their “confidence, skills and prospects were enhanced”.