MPs want funding review to exclude social work degree students who are not up to scratch

The children, schools and families select committee called for a review of the funding arrangements for social work degree courses to be carried out to prevent unsuitable students being kept on courses for financial reasons.

The MPs said they had heard concerns that it was too easy to pass both the academic and fitness to practice elements of social work degrees.

It also heard suggestions that the regime for funding degree places, run by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, penalised universities for failing students, a process which encouraged colleges to persevere with unsuitable students.

The report also criticised the current performance monitoring system for courses, under which universities report annually to the General Social Care Council on whether they are meeting standards but are only inspected every five years.

It said the GSCC – or possibly Ofsted – needed to take a “much more active role in quality assurance”.

Related articles

Expert endorses MPs’ proposals for chief social workers

MPs demand overhaul of social work training system

GSCC backs new roles and tasks of social workers project

Taskforce survey: Social workers feel ‘tied up in bureaucracy

Taskforce issues call for national college of social work