Regulation council proposes training and education shake up

The General Social Care Council has proposed three new social
work post-qualifying awards, a session at Community Care
LIVE on training and education heard.

The awards were proposed in the GSCC’s consultation on
training and education structure, which finished last week

Professor Steve Trevillion, head of social work education at the
GSCC, told delegates that the proposed awards are: graduate diploma
in specialist work, post-graduate diploma in advanced social work,
and a masters degree. All awards will include a significant element
of practice learning.

The existing system of post-qualifying awards was set up in
1990. They contribute to the minimum 90 hours or 15 days of study
necessary to complete the three-year registration social work
period. However, Trevillion said: “The structure needed to be
reformed because of the advent of the social work degree, workforce
regulation and changing social work roles.”

He said that the new awards should be linked to minimum
standards and to a system that will enable universities to accept
and exchange credits for other awards such as the social work
diploma. They should also be focused on practice assessments and
joint working with other professionals from health and housing.

The existing awards are run by 17 regional consortia, each made
up at least one employer and one education body. Asked whether the
GSCC will take on a greater regulation regarding the awards,
Trevillion said that its function was to ensure minimum educational
standards and relevancy of the course and not to be prescriptive or
takeover their running.

Sue Rastrick, a social worker with Kent Council, told delegates
of her experience of completing a child care post-qualifying award.
She said that even though it was difficult finding time to study
while doing a full-time job, completing the awards was worth it. It
gave her greater confidence in her work and she felt it
“contributed to improving the public’s image of social
work”.

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