Memorandum submitted by the University
and College Union
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The University and College Union would like
the Committee to consider the strategic provision of social work
courses to ensure that adequate provision is available in all
regions.
Without strategic provision of courses, there will
continue to be problems in filling social work vacancies in many
regions across the UK.
INTRODUCTION
— The University and College Union is the
largest trade union and professional association for academics,
trainers, lecturers, researchers and academic-related staff working
in further and higher education throughout the UK.— UCU
has a number of members who are actively involved in the teaching,
training and development of social workers and social care professionals.
Our members have hands on experience of the challenges faced by
the social care profession and are at the forefront of ensuring
that the UK has a well-equipped, well trained and professional
social care workforce in the future.
— UCU has concerns about the strategic
provision of social work and related courses within the higher
education sector, as demonstrated by the closure of the University
of Reading School of Health and Social Care earlier in 2009—the
area is now without adequate training provision.
WRITTEN EVIDENCE
1. Strategic provision of training for social
workers and social care professionals is of great importance to
the University and College Union.
2. At the moment there seems to be no overarching
strategy in the provision of social care courses, indeed there
have been departmental closures in areas where social workers
are sorely needed (see case study).
3. The UCU would like to see a strategic
plan—which will entail funding considerations both in teaching
and research—to ensure the provision of social work and
social care courses across the UK. Course provision should be
rationally planned to ensure access to courses for all of those
who would consider entering the social work profession and to
ensure all regions have access to highly trained social workers
and care professionals.
4. A number of issues stem from the point
of actually having enough people in the social care workforce
to provide the much needed service; these issue encompass the
basic necessity of filling vacancies, to the "Every Child
Matters" aims of ensuring continuity of care for children
within the care system. UCU believe that there has never been
a better time to assess the system and make changes to help the
needs of some of the most vulnerable people in society.
5. There must be an assessment of the availability
of social care courses to ensure:
(a) The supply of adequate numbers of social
workers (a) nationally (b) across different regions.
(b) That people who wish to enter into the social
care profession can find a course local to them should they need
to.
(c) The availability of part-time study.
(d) The availability of courses for professional
development.
(e) That course fees and student debt do not
erect a barrier to those wishing to enter into social work.
6. Progress on those points specified above
can only enhance the provision of social services nation-wide
and will benefit social services across the spectrum, from ensuring
vacancies in understaffed departments are filled, to meeting the
"Every Child Matters" aims such as continuity of care
for those in the social service system.
7. There are two main factors that UCU considers
vital in addressing the training and education of the social care
workforce, and in meeting the assessment criteria already stated:
(a) University decision-making in regard to course
provision eg course establishment, course cuts, and departmental
closures. A cut at one university could currently leave a region
without the supply of social workers if needs to fill vacancies
(see Case Study.)
(b) Funding of higher education social care departments
in (a) research and (b) teaching. Funding decisions and mechanisms,
like the Research Assessment Exercise, have major impacts on the
decisions universities make. Recent experience has shown that
even if a department is offering high quality teaching, if the
RAE results are not favourable, then the department may not be
saved from closure.
8. As already stated, many issues around
social care stem from the basic ability to train social workers.
These issues will range from general availability of social workers
to ensuring continuity of care for people within the social service
system.
9. It is because of the vast importance
of ensuing provision is available to train social work professionals
that the University and College Union would like the committee
to consider the strategic provision of social work courses.
CASE STUDY
10. The University of Reading recently took
the decision to close its School of Health and Social Care.
11. The staff within the department and the University
in general were opposed to the closure, as was the Reading University
Students' Union. The proposed closure was also opposed by a number
of local groups including Reading Borough Council and representatives
from West Berkshire Council. The British Association of Social
Workers stated at the time that the closure could lead to a huge
problem in filling social work vacancies in the area. It was widely
recognised that the University of Reading School of Health and
Social Care provided a service for the wider community and contributed
to the continued supply of social work professionals in the wider
Berkshire area. The Department was profitable and well established.
12. The decision was taken by the University
Council with very little consultation; indeed by the time consultation
was sought it seemed that the decision had already been reached.
13. Throughout the campaign to save the
School of Health and Social Care, the UCU encountered a number
of students and potential students, who felt very let down by
the proposals and perplexed as to why such a decision was being
taken.
14. Among those who joined the campaign
were local single mums. They would not be able to move to another
area in order to study as their jobs and family life meant that
Reading was the only option for them. Mature students who were
considering social work as an option for reskilling were denied
the chance to take up such a course and undergraduate students
in the department were worried that they would not be able to
advance their studies further because of the closure. Local employers—the
six Berkshire unitary authorities plus Hampshire and Surrey—sponsored
employees to undertake qualifying and post-qualifying training
at Reading; this will now cease. This is all entirely antithetical
to the government's widening participation agenda and has deprived
the Reading area of what would have been highly skilled and trained
local people who really care about the area.
15. Against the wishes of the local community,
the University Council voted to close the department, seemingly
going along with the wishes of the Vice-Chancellor. There was
no further accountability, no further discussion—the decision
was made arbitrarily and many members of the local community are
still struggling to understand why.
16. UCU has severe reservations about a
system that ignores the wider local need for such vital public
servants as social workers in the very week that Lord Laming's
report was published.
April 2009
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