Homelessness ‘only touched on’ by half of universities delivering social work courses, research finds

Homelessness is only touched on as a topic by half of universities delivering social work courses, research has found.

While most higher education institutions would like to deliver more teaching of homelessness on their social work programmes, some reported struggling to do so for reasons including pressures on the curriculum.

At the same time, a majority reported offering placements in homelessness settings, but identified challenges in delivering them.

The findings come from a project examining if and how multiple exclusion homelessness is integrated into social work qualifying courses in England, which was led by the Health & Social Care Workforce Research Unit (HSCWRU) at King’s College London.

The study was a follow-up to a four-year project looking at safeguarding responses to self-neglect by people experiencing homelessness, which found among other things that social workers may be underprepared for working with people experiencing MEH, including because of limited teaching.

The research was based on responses to a call for evidence from representatives of 39 of the 81 social work education providers in England, and interviews with social work academics, homelessness organisations providing practice placements and students.

Homelessness ‘touched on’ in half of courses

The call for evidence found that:

• Half of universities touched on homelessness within other topics in their social work programmes.
• About a quarter taught a one-off lecture or seminar.
• A further quarter provided more extensive coverage of homelessness in their curricula.

Whether the topic was directly taught or touched on, it featured most commonly in modules on law and/or policy, which was the case for 35% of respondents.

Involvement of people with lived experience

Just over half of respondents reported some involvement of people with lived experience of homelessness in their courses, however, this often referred to being part of an expert by experience panel for the course.

It was rarer for people with lived experience to deliver talks, despite the value placed on this, as this was dependent on individual connections and availability.

Most respondents (78%) said they would like to offer more teaching on homelessness. The minority of this group who cited specific barriers pointed to pressures on the curriculum as the biggest obstacle, followed with a lack of staff expertise, specialist resources and lived experience input also mentioned.

A significant majority (85%) offered the possibility for placements in homelessness settings, whether occasionally or regularly, but stakeholder interviews identified barriers with delivering them.

Challenges delivering homelessness placements

These included courses being under pressure to provide statutory placements and students placing greater value on these because of their perceived advantage for future employment. Also, in some cases, larger universities secured all the placement opportunities in homelessness settings, while respondents also reported students having jobs that prevented them working the hours required by outreach services.

Students, academics and homelessness agencies alike described placements as “eye-opening” for those who went on them, both in terms of building their skills in relationship-based practice and advocacy and in challenging their biases and assumptions.

However, respondents expressed concern that prior classroom-based learning did not always sufficiently prepare students for these placements, both because of the unpredictability of the work and the need for a grounding in the subject matter.

Some students also reported feeling isolated because of the lack of social workers in the setting.

Homelessness seen as ‘niche’ topic

Research co-author Karl Mason, senior lecturer in social work and master’s course lead at Royal Holloway, University of London, said: “Those at highest risk of homelessness often have care and support needs related to mental or physical ill-health or substance use or are care leavers or migrants.

“As a result, social workers are highly likely to encounter and support people at risk of or experiencing homelessness. However, we found that this topic is still seen as niche in many institutions offering social work education”.

“Including homelessness in curricula can be integrative for students, helping them to see the links between a range of social work topics, from adult safeguarding and mental health to ecological theory and social policy.  It also offers the potential for students to identify and reflect on the values that prevail in society and our profession in relation to homelessness”.

The study, co-authored by HSCWRU research fellow Jess Harris, includes a number of resources that social work courses could potentially use as part of a homelessness curriculum.

Peer network for specialist practitioners

It follows a report last year, also written by Harris, that found specialist social workers were helping improve outcomes for homeless people but their role remained rare, isolated and usually temporarily funded.

HSCWRU has supported the establishment of a network for specialist homelessness social workers to provide them with peer support and the opportunity to share resources.