Social Work

Structure & Teaching

Year one

In the first year you will study a total of three taught units which incorporate a range of topics covering social work theory, research approaches, and ethics and diversity within social care environments. You will also spend 70 days on a practice placement.

Here are the units you will study:

• Bridging Unit: You will gain a grounding in the social sciences and an understanding of social work theory and practice. It will equip you to engage with the practical and theoretical challenges raised within the course, as well as allow those who are more familiar with social work to develop their knowledge in this area.
  
  
• Researching and Contextualising Social Work: You will develop your knowledge of research approaches and be able to apply such approaches to real-world situations within social work. You will gain an understanding of the changing social work environment and the contemporary challenges faced by social workers.
  
  
• Empowerment, Inclusion, Service Users and Social Work Methods: Through a combination of personal reflective journals and creative and performance activities, this unit will enable you to understand the motivations, experiences and actions of service users within a clear ethical framework that recognises and promotes diversity. It will explore the methods used by social workers to intervene in a range of situations and settings, as well as enable you to develop a critical understanding of the way contemporary social work deals with issues of power/empowerment, care/control and social exclusion/inclusion.
  
  
• Practice Placement One: All students on courses leading to a social work qualification are required to undertake assessed practice in relevant placements and meet the requirements of the Health and Care Professions Council and the Professional Capabilities Framework developed by the College of Social Work. You will spend 70 days on the first-year placement. You will be assigned a practice teacher/assessor who directs, supports and evaluates their practice development and achievement. You will be expected to undertake three analyses of your practice and have your practice observed on three occasions.

Year two

During your final year you will cover a further two taught units and undertake a dissertation. To conclude your studies, there is a second practice placement consisting of 130 days in a different social work situation.

Here are the units you will study:

• Policy Analysis and International Welfare: This unit reflects the expectation that students at Master's level should exhibit higher critical and analytical skills. It provides a framework for the evaluation of policy development and implementation, and builds on the unit Researching and Contextualising Social Work. Studying this unit will enable you to look at social work and social policy developments internationally in the context of contemporary social work practice.
  
  
• Empowerment, Inclusion and Service Users: This unit builds on the stage one unit around empowerment and social work methods. Its focus is on the service user/carer experience, but involves you evaluating how creativity can be used in working with service users, alongside a critical evaluation of the impact of service user involvement on social work education.
  
  
• Dissertation: You will write an 8,000-word dissertation, which will be submitted as part of the assessment for this unit. You will also be expected to defend your dissertation before a panel consisting of academic staff, practitioners and service users/carers. Those undertaking an international placement will be expected to produce a comparative analysis.
  
  
• Practice Placement Two: You will undertake a second practice placement of 130 days, during which you will be expected to undertake five practice analyses and have your practice observed on five occasions. You will have the option of undertaking up to 60 placement days overseas in a social work teaching institution with which we have links.

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