Training of Children and Families Social Workers - Children, Schools and Families Committee Contents


Memorandum submitted by Nottingham Trent University

SUMMARY

  Initially we would like to make the general point that we strongly disagree with much of the evidence submitted to the Social Work Task Force by the Children's Workforce Development Council, which we feel is inaccurate and makes spurious unsubstantiated claims about the current nature of social work education.

While there are undoubtedly some criticisms which can be made of social work education (as of anything) we feel that the overall attack launched on the quality of social work in general and of social work education in particular, is misplaced.

We consider that the framework is in place to improve and enhance social work education at both qualifying and post qualifying level, though some changes need to be made, especially around flexibility.

  Employers need funding to allow social work practitioners time off and workload relief for the workforce to really benefit from enhanced level of qualification. More attention needs to be paid to the emotional side of social work, rather than procedural and technical aspects.

ENTRY ROUTES TO THE PROFESSION

1.  Are entry routes to social work sufficiently flexible to encourage mature entrants, re-entrants and people considering a career change?

  On the whole we would say yes, but there is some discrepancy between the academic standards of some applicants who come via non traditional routes—in a nutshell, the younger, post A level applicants tend to have higher academic qualifications but less life experience; older applicants tend to be alternatively qualified but are likely to have more relevant life and professional experience. For people envisaging a career change there is always the issue of finance, and it may be worth considering modelling some of the schemes currently in place to encourage mature entrants into teaching. There is also an issue as to whether many 18 year olds really have the maturity to embark on a career as a social worker; although a few do, these are the exception.

STRUCTURE OF TRAINING

2.  Is a three-year bachelor's degree/two-year master's degree the right format and level for initial social work training?

  Yes, there doesn't seem any point in changing this but there may need to be alternative training routes for experienced professionals changing careers. We also consider part time, sponsored qualifying training ("grow your own") has potential to be further developed.

3.  Following initial training, how should newly-qualified social workers be equipped with the further skills and experience they need?

The NQSW pilot is a good initiative which we fully support and which should be rolled out to all local authorities. However, we are concerned about the attitude of some local authorities in terms of: as long as a case is allocated, it doesn't matter who to. This attitude pervades some teams and is extremely unhelpful in introducing social workers to the complexities of the role of a professionally qualified social worker. It also devalues the profession in not allowing for personal growth and skill development.

CONTENT OF INITIAL TRAINING

4.  Is the generic social work degree fit for the purpose of training children and families social workers? Is there sufficient scope for specialisation?

  Social work is a holistic discipline: to ensure safety and maximise life chances for the most vulnerable children, social workers are working with the most disadvantaged and damaged adults. They need to have knowledge and understanding of mental health, drug and alcohol misuse and domestic violence; prospective social workers interested in these issues from an adult perspective also need to understand how these difficulties affect children. There is a serious danger that in the laudable drive for integrated services around children, we will lose sight of the need for close working relationships between adult and children's services. This danger is likely to be increased if the degree is made a specialist qualification. The call for a specialist degree is a knee jerk reaction to current issues, and one which in the long run will not serve the interests of vulnerable children. We therefore support the idea that the third year of the degree should be linked to more specialist training, but would resist the idea of the whole degree being made specialist.

5.  Does the content of training reflect the tasks social workers will be asked to undertake when in employment?

Some agencies feel that this is not the case. Universities need to (and do) work with agency partners to ensure that the curriculum meets the needs of employers, but sometimes employers have unreasonable expectations. Some students on level 3 placements (3rd year) are expected to take on almost full responsibility for working with very complex cases—this is before they are even qualified. The rationale is, this is the real world, get used to it. However, we wouldn't expect a trainee surgeon to be shown the operating theatre, given a knife and told to get on with it. That's what it feels like for some of these students. It may be the case that younger students find this attitude more difficult to cope with.

6.  Is the balance of knowledge, skills, values and experience correct?

This is always under review, and is a difficult balance to strike. One of the challenges in teaching of any sort, but particularly in social work, is accommodating different learning styles and needs. By implication, some of the candidates who have the interpersonal skills needed to be a good social worker may not have the academic or scholarly background to achieve a "good" degree, but may still become a good social worker. On the other hand, social workers need skills of critical analysis and assessment, and must be able to express themselves adequately in writing. The danger is that increased prescription around how the degree should be taught may not play to the strengths of either the student or the lecturer. "The balance between project work, group work, individual supervision and lectures appropriate for the realities of the job that social workers will undertake" is an area that is under continual scrutiny by the teaching staff at this university, and we are surprised that anyone (I refer here to the CWDC submission to the Social Work Task Force) thinks this is not so. This is our job. We would be very happy to provide information to contribute to an "analysis of current activities" which the CWDC suggests.

QUALITY

7.  How effectively does the General Social Care Council regulate the quality of training?

  Satisfactory but there is increasing confusion between the role of the GSCC and the CWDC in the training of social workers.

8.  How can the quality, suitability and supply of practice placements be assured?

This is a continuing issue but one way we are trying to address this is by working with our agency partners to link practice assessor training ("Enabling Learning" in the PQ framework) directly with placement provision. However, as already stated, agencies must be aware that placements are an integral part of training, not just another pair of hands.

9.  Has the switch to degree-level qualification improved the calibre of recruits and the effectiveness of newly-qualified social workers?

Approaching this from the perspective of one who is concerned mainly with teaching at PQ level, I would say definitely yes.

SUPPLY OF INITIAL TRAINING

10.  What factors influence whether higher education institutions offer social work qualifying courses?

  Partly level of local demand for social workers and whether the course is financially viable.

11.  How effectively do the DCSF, DIUS, and the Children's Workforce Development Council ensure adequate training capacity and workforce planning?

It isn't possible to answer this question from our perspective.

POST-QUALIFYING TRAINING AND CAREER PATH

12.  How can the quality, suitability and take-up of post-qualifying training be assured?

  See below.

13.  What factors influence the continuing development of newly-qualified social workers and their future career decisions?

See below.

14.  How well do employers support the development of social workers?

See below.

    — CWDC has stated that the current PQ framework is not fit for purpose for training social workers in child protection. The current PQ framework is designed as a professional development programme for all child care social workers, and as such it offers a CPD follow up to the degree course for social workers in all aspects of children's social work.— We consider our PQ Specialist Award in Child Care Practice to be very successful, particularly in that part of it is delivered in the social work agencies, and designed jointly with them. HEIs have a responsibility to reach out to their social work agency partners to meet their needs for training social workers and join together as full partners. This is what we aspire to do and we feel it is a model which could be followed by other regional partnerships.

Development of the PQ programme in the current context

    — While the Specialist Award isn't in itself child protection training, we completely disagree that it is not fit for purpose.— Lord Laming recommends that the Department "should introduce a fully funded, practice focused children's social work post graduate qualification"—we argue that the basis of this already exists in the current PQ programmes which have been developed relatively recently (within the last three years). However, we acknowledge that there is a lack of flexibility in the present regulatory framework which makes it difficult to fit different modules within the Specialist Award.

    — We are working with our agency partners to develop two new modules as stand alone CPD training and which would also be part of progression to a Master's degree. These courses are "Leadership in the Context of Safeguarding Children" and "Promoting Good Outcomes for Looked After Children". This will also fit within the structure of the Specialist/Higher Specialist and Advanced Award. A more flexible PQ framework allowing a choice of different modules could meet the need for safeguarding/child protection training within the existing framework, and meet the need to develop a Masters level training progression.

    — The ability of practitioners to undertake (and complete advanced) level training is greatly affected by the ability of their employers to support them with time off for study and workload relief. One of our current PQ candidates had her caseload increased to 40 children during the middle of the course, because of a management decision that all cases should be allocated. Many agencies are very good about supporting their practitioners but this commitment needs to come from all, and until the staffing situation improves in social work teams, this is unlikely to happen.

15.  How well are social workers trained to deliver front-line supervision?

    — The provision for this in existing social work training at any level is very weak, and our "Leadership" module will try to address this. There needs to be much more emphasis on the complex emotional elements of social work, and much less on the process and procedural aspects.

May 2009







 
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