Memorandum submitted by Mr Graham Stuart
MP
INSUFFICIENT NUMBER
OF PLACEMENTS
FOR SOCIAL
WORK STUDENTS
THREATENS THE
SAFEGUARDING OF
CHILDREN, MP SAYS
A survey undertaken by Graham Stuart MP, a member
of the House of Commons' Children, Schools and Families Select
Committee, has found that social work lecturers are increasingly
worried about the lack of sufficient placements for their students.
Mr Stuart asked heads of social work departments
at 79 universities across England to rate the quality and availability
of child and family social work placements provided by Local Authorities
(LAs). The key findings of the survey are:
— The quality of social work placements
provided by Local Authorities is generally seen to be of a high
standard, with 86% of respondents saying that statutory (LA) placements
are either "good" or "excellent".
— The main problem with placements is that
Local Authorities fail to provide them in sufficient numbers.
Less than a quarter of respondents (24%) think that the number
of statutory placements is adequate.
— 41% of respondents said the main
reason for the low number of statutory placements available is
that there are no incentives for LAs to provide them. This has
become particularly evident since the Government recently decided
to no longer include placements in the Key Statistics set (related
to Key Performance Indicators) for LAs. This means LAs will no
longer have to report to the Department on how many placements
they provide.
— Another major reason for the inadequate
number of statutory placements available is that social workers
are not obliged to take on students. They do not get any form
of reward for taking on students (be it financial, status or reduced
workload), so the incentive to provide placements is low, according
to 33% of respondents.
"It is absolutely clear from these findings
that Local Authorities do not provide sufficient placements for
social work students", said Mr Stuart. "The Government
must accept their share of responsibility for this. They took
the short-sighted decision to remove Local Authorities' duty to
report on how many placements they provide, thus doing away with
any incentive for Local Authorities to meet demand. The losers
will be the children and families in need of support from social
services. Universities have to reduce their intake of social work
students as a result of this problem, potentially leading to a
significant shortage of social workers in the future. The shortage
of placements also means that the training students do receive
may be below par".
In addition to stressing the lack of incentives
for Local Authorities to provide placements, one third of respondents
(33%) said the lack of a requirement for social workers to take
on students results in too few placements. Social workers take
on students principally out of "goodwill and professional
commitment", according to one head of department. Moreover,
the lack of support provided for social workers who do take on
students was highlighted by almost three out of four respondents
(72%) as a major obstacle to securing enough placements. Heavy
workloads and no workload relief for social workers who take on
students means that they are unable to prioritise teaching over
their front-line duties.
Some respondents also pointed out that the high
pressure on social workers results in many students being treated
as "unpaid staff". One respondent spoke of a "student
[on] an inner city LA placement where she was carrying a high
caseload including child protection cases virtually unsupervised".
Mr Stuart added that: "It is unacceptable
that students are being used as additional staff when they have
not qualified as social workers and are still in the process of
training. Staff shortages should not be solved by giving students
their own unsupervised caseloads. This can have detrimental effects
on the children and families who receive support and can also
result in an unsatisfactory learning experience for the student.
Instead, we must ensure that we have enough placements of a good
standard so that we enable social workers to achieve their full
potential. Financial or workload relief must be given to social
workers who take on students, perhaps in addition to including
teaching as part of their job description as is already the case
in the health sector".
Another finding of the survey was that a significant
number of students complete their social work training without
having been taught or assessed by a qualified social worker. At
the moment there is no national requirement to be supervised by
a qualified social worker, and according to the survey this is
the case for around 14% of students. One respondent said that
"the lack of social work[er] presence has been problematic
and has led to some students completing a placement without coming
into contact with a social worker". Another said that "ultimately
there is a real risk for our students that they are simply learning
to drive badly and that this will deplete their later capacity
to deliver high quality social work".
Mr Stuart said: "The standard of children's
services in England relies on the quality of our social workers.
For students not to receive proper training, and to not even come
into contact with a qualified social worker during three years
of study, is absolutely unacceptable. Local Authorities must be
incentivised to provide a sufficient number of placements, and
social workers must be given the support needed to teach the next
generation. Too many children are so badly failed by the system
which is supposed to protect them. Meanwhile, the Government is
jeopardising children's safety by not taking social work training
seriously. Unless the Government acts now, I'm afraid it might
not be long before we see another tragic case like Baby P happen
again".
I. RESULTS OF
SURVEY:
Q1. Overall, how do you rate the quality of child
and family social work practice learning opportunities (PLOs)
provided by Local Authorities (LAs)?
|
| Excellent | 16.66%
| of respondents |
| Good | 69.44%
| |
| Satisfactory | 11.11%
| |
| Poor | 2.77%
| |
| Very poor | 0%
| |
|
Some comments given by respondents (comments have been copied
directly from questionnaire response):
— Very often the agencies expect students to be
competent in practice and are unwilling to support their learning
if they cannot hit the ground running.
— The lack of social work presence/role has been
problematic and has led to some students completing a placement
without coming into contact with a social worker.
— The overall quality of placements provided by
Local Authorities is very good.
— I have been very surprised and impressed given
current pressures that our placement learning opportunities locally
have been as good as they have been.
— There is an increasing tendency to place operational
efficiency above educational needs.
Q2. What proportion of PLOs provided by LAs offer a good quality
learning experience?
|
| 100% | 11.76%
| of respondents |
| 91-99% | 29.41%
| |
| 81-90% | 29.41%
| |
| 71-80% | 14.70%
| |
| 61-70% | 5.88%
| |
| 51-60% | 0%
| |
| 41-50% | 8.82%
| |
| 31-40% | 0%
| |
| 21-30% | 0%
| |
| 11-20% | 0%
| |
| 0-10% | 0%
| |
|
= approx. 16% of total number of placements that do not offer
a good quality learning experience (error margin: +/- 5 percentage
points)
Comments:
— We are very happy with the quality of local authority
placement provision.
— 30% or so of practice teachers do not have sufficient
skill to support younger, less experienced students, and do not
have the time or resources to improve their skills, or they are
too busy generally to support students (of whatever calibre),
and place unrealistic demands on them in terms of caseload.
Q3. Generally, how satisfied are you that LAs provide enough
PLOs of a satisfactory or good standard to meet the needs of your
students?
|
| Enough most or all of the time | 24.32%
|
| It varies from year to year | 35.13%
|
| Not enough in most years | 40.54%
|
|
Comments:
— Acute shortage of PLOs. This results in having
to cut intake of students = fewer qualified social workers. Also
has to take placements that are poor or inadequate because of
the lack of enough placements.
— I have been in this work for 17 years and it has
been a problem for 15 years or so.
— We struggle to get enough LA placements and, because
of this we are forced to use increasing numbers of private and
voluntary placements, which are of varying quality.
— This is because Practice Assessors are expected
to offer a PLO based on their goodwill. Providing PLO's is not
part of the LA infrastructure that offers protected time or financial
rewards.
— The inclusion of an expectation that experienced
staff will mentor students as part of their work would all help
Q4. What are the main obstacles to securing adequate PLOs (both
in terms of quantity and quality)?
— Partly from an over-reliance on targets and risk-averse
bureaucracy which stifles innovative and humane approaches to
social work practice that still safeguards and protects.— Where
placements are available we cannot always take them up because
many of the child care teams insist the student has a car because
of the nature of the work and a need to cover a wide geographical
area. Students do not always have a car, or cannot afford to run
one even if they have a licence.
— Front line workers are stressed, busy and do not
receive work load reduction if they have a student—cannot
prioritise student placement over their front-line duties.
— When the social work degree was launched with
its increased emphasis on learning in practice, insufficient resources
were provided to respond to this.
— Student placements are provided principally because
of personal goodwill and professional commitment.
Q5. How satisfied are you with the teaching and assessment
available within LAs for PLOs?
|
| Always Good | 25%
|
| Mostly good but sometimes not satisfactory |
72.22% |
| Often not satisfactory | 2.77%
|
|
Comments:
— Many practicing social workers are not able to
keep up to date with theory.
— We have cohorts of students going into placement
with practice assessors who have less academic knowledge (through
Dip SW training) than the third year degree students will already
have. Need for more post-qualification training.
— Ultimately there is a real risk for our students
that they are simply learning to drive badly and that this will
deplete their later capacity to deliver high quality social work.
— The requirement that students be supervised by
qualified social workers has been removed (at a national level).
Q6. What proportion of your students has at least one local
authority PLO in which they are taught and assessed by a qualified
social worker? Please give an approximate percentage:
|
| 100% | 37.14%
|
| 91-99% | 17.14%
|
| 81-90% | 20%
|
| 71-80% | 5.71%
|
| 61-70% | 5.71%
|
| 51-60% | 2.85%
|
| 41-50% | 8.57%
|
| 31-40% | 0%
|
| 21-30% | 2.85%
|
| 11-20% | 0%
|
| 0-10% | 0%
|
|
= approx. 14% of total number of students who are not taught
and assessed by a qualified social worker (error margin: +/- 5
percentage points).
Comments:
— Students desperate for more LA placements.
— All students will have at least one placement
where they will undertake statutory work, although this can be
a loose definition and actually mean undertaking a placement in
a group care setting for children or in a School where we have
to "fight" to avoid students being used as teaching
assistants
Q7. In your opinion, are there any LAs that offer particularly
good PLOs?
— Bournemouth Borough Council.— Brighton
& Hove Council.
— East Riding of Yorkshire.
— Hampshire County Council.
— London Borough of Harrow.
— London Borough of Hillingdon.
— Slough Borough Council.
— Southampton City Council.
Q9. Do you have any further comments regarding the quality
of PLOs provided by LAs?
Main obstacles to finding sufficient placements for students
(both in terms of quantity and quality), and percentage of respondents
who highlighted the respective issues in the questionnaire:
Regulatory:
— LAs not required to provide PLOs/ Removal of PLOs
as Key Statistic (KS1) D59 for LAs has resulted in a fall in number
of PLOs overall: 41% of respondents mentioned this in the questionnaire.
Comments from respondents (unaltered):
— Government intervention [should] require LA's to become
directly involved in the provision of practice learning in a structured
way.
— When provision of PLOs was a Key Performance Indicator
for local authority SSDs the quality and quantity was higher and
consistent. This changed recently and there has been a marked
decrease nationally
— There has been an erosion of national standards,
infrastructure and motivation for LAs to provide PLOs. It would
be a mistake to blame individual LAs when the environment has
been so hostile to quality preservation.
— PLO's need to be reprioritised. This will not
happen unless they are reflected in Performance Indicators
— Lack of coordinated approach to PLOs (unlike in
health sector)/It is not a requirement for social workers to take
on students: 33%
Comments:
— Qualified social workers are requested to take
a student—it is not compulsory as in the health model of
student mentoring in nursing. If a qualified worker is expected
to take a student and this is linked to incremental salary raise—or
linked to re-registration with the GSCC we would be in a better
position to access quality stat placements.
— Introduction of personalisation: 5%
— Too focused on targets and bureaucracy: 5%
— Limited training budgets/Removal of ring-fenced
funding for social work education in LAs: 10%
— No national standards for practice teachers/demise
of Practice Teaching award: 36%
Comments:
— The demise of the Practice Teacher Award has had
an effect on the quality of teaching and assessment that is delivered.
This has increased the difficulty of assessing the suitability
of practice teachers. The current five day award in our view is
totally unsatisfactory.
— Since the demise of the GSCC Practice Teacher
Award and the introduction of the PQ Framework practice teaching
has demised in its status.
— There is a lack of specific training for Practice
Assessors within a national framework.
— Since the demise of the GSCC Practice Teacher
Award and the introduction of the PQ Framework practice teaching
has demised in its status.
— No national requirement to be supervised by a
qualified social worker: 3%
— Introduction of new legislation taking up social
workers' time/requirement for additional training: 3%
Practical:
— Little support for practice teachers/Problem of
heavy workload and no workload relief for social workers/No other
rewards (financial, status, etc) for taking on students: 72%
Comments:
— The workload planning for Practice Assessors within
a local authority does not always take into account the responsibility
of student supervision; this can result in the student getting
a less than satisfactory learning experience.
— Employers are under such pressure that they seek
students that they perceive to be fit for practice (ie turn students
into unpaid staff).
— Staff shortages/high staff turnover/vacancies/
Lack of suitable/qualified practice teachers: 49%
Comments:
— The managers' understanding of the students' level
of competence and learning can result in inappropriate case allocation
to students. This can be a result of staff shortages; students
then become "unpaid workers".
— Student from an inner city LA placement where
she was carry a high caseload including child protection cases
virtually unsupervised.
— We have cohorts of students going into placement
with practice assessors who have less academic knowledge (through
Dip SW training) than the third year degree student will already
have.
— Lack of space in teams/lack of desk space: 21%.
Comments:
— In established and fully staffed social work teams,
students generally have a very positive experience in which they
are able to further develop their confidence, knowledge and skills.
— Students unable to drive/problem of travel costs
since these were capped: 15%
Other:
— LA or team restructuring/local pressures in LAs:
38%
Comments:
— LA reorganisations have impacted dramatically
on quality and the willingness of teams and in situ practice teachers
to take a student. In particular reorganisations after Baby P
cases and 2003 Laming Report.
— Local Authority constant restructuring and gate-keeping.
On the ground, Practice Teachers remain committed and keen. Organisationally,
there is some administrative turmoil and lack of clarity about
the allocation of placements.
— Our LAs do their best to provide good quality
PLOs often in often trying circumstances.
— The general mood within LA PLO providers is one
of making the best they can from the resources available to them
at a time of change both internally and also externally
— Reluctance in LAs to provide PLOs/lack of commitment
from LA senior management: 15%
Comments:
— We constantly seem to be battle against decisions
that are taken at a higher level but which impact dramatically
on front line staff that are committed to student learning.
— Student numbers have increased: 13%
II. 39 out of 79 recipients responded to the questionnaire
(49.4%)
III. The survey was undertaken by Mr Stuart's Westminster
office, and is not part of any official inquiries or reports by
the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee.[30]
30
Whilst the survey was undertaken by Mr Stuart's Westminster Office,
and it is not a document produced by the Committee, Mr Stuart
has submitted it as evidence to the Committee's inquiry. Back
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