Social work degree to be revamped

The quality of social work training has come under the spotlight this week, with the General Social Care Council signalling an overhaul of post-qualifying training including making it a condition of re-registration for every social worker in England.

The regulator said that newly qualified social workers were being landed with an increasing number of “complex and risky” cases such as Baby P for which they needed greater expertise.

Although it was welcomed as a major step forward when it was introduced in 2003, some experts believe the social work degree course may be failing to prepare students for the real world. Graduates from the first degree course intakes have a catalogue of complaints: from peers passing their course without much effort or commitment, to the constant struggle to gain essential on-the-job experience because of a lack of available practice placements. Read Corin Williams’ investigation.

Meanwhile, a new report reveals that a significant minority of newly-qualified social workers in Wales are receiving supervision less than once a month.

A survey for the Care Council for Wales found that 22.8% received professional supervision less than once a month and 24.1% received line-management supervision less than once a month. In three-quarters of cases, professional and line management supervision were delivered in the same session.

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Expert guide: social work degree