Social Work International Practice Education members

Education of Social Workers in Sheffield, UK - Sheffield Hallam University

Social work education in Sheffield Hallam University began in the late 1960s. Initially the discipline of social work was located within a Department of Social Sciences where two awards were offered, a joint social work and social science degree (four years) or a two year course for students with considerable social work experience. In the mid 1990s the social work provision at Sheffield Hallam changed to a three year Bachelors degree, BA Social Work, as a qualifying award and a range of post qualification awards at Master's level were developed, leading to the Advanced Award in Social Work. The discipline of social work now sits in the Faculty of Health and Wellbeing.   

The team currently offers several courses which lead to the qualification in social work and registration to the profession:

• BA (Hons) Social Work Studies
• BA (Hons) Applied Nursing and Social Work (Learning Disability)
• MA Social Work

In addition there are foundation courses:

• Foundation Degree Working with Children Young People and Families
• Foundation Degree Youth and Community Work - validated by the National Youth Agency.

For qualified social workers there is a range of inter-professional courses at Post graduate (Pg) level including:

• MA Collaborative and Therapeutic Work with Children and Young People
• MSc Health and Social Care Leadership
• MSc/Pg.Diploma /Pg.Certificate Health and Social Care Practice
• Pg.Diploma Leading in Health and Social Care
• Pg.Certificate Managing in Health and Social Care

There are plans to provide the full range of post qualifying courses by 2008 in the new national Post Qualifying Framework:

• Social Work in Mental Health Services
• Social Work with Adults
• Leadership and Management
• Practice Education

Beginning in September 2007 will be:

• Children and Young People, their Families and Carers - in collaboration with the British Association of Adoption and Fostering (BAAF).

The social work team also contribute to the Doctorate Professional Studies award and supervise doctoral social work students. Two members of the social work team are located primarily in Centre for Health and Social Care Research; this includes the Research Professor of Social Work, Mark Doel. Most of the team are involved in research and publications in their specialist area, which includes international social work.

The Faculty of Health and Wellbeing, where social work is now located, has a national reputation for interdisciplinary teaching and research. The Faculty was awarded a Centre for Excellence in Inter-professional E-learning. The links for the social work group are particularly strong with Occupation Therapy and with some branches of Nursing. Social work tutors, with expertise in children and family work, are linked to the department of Education.

International work has been part of the team's work since the 1980s with long standing Socrates Erasmus links including the Hogeschool van Utrecht and Høgskolen i Oslo. The SWIPE project is the second recent Erasmus Curriculum Development Project; the former helped the team develop a European Social Work award at Master's level for post qualifying provision. There are active links currently with all the SWIPE members as well as Gozo in Malta, Durban in South Africa and Emden in Germany. The team is also engaged, with social workers in Georgia, in establishing the social work profession there, supported by European Union Tempus funding.

Growing numbers of students have been going into Europe and beyond for international placements for five years. Sheffield Hallam has also welcomed incoming students from our partner European universities. In the Faculty there are also many incoming international students at Master's level in the field of physiotherapy and nursing.

 
Social Work and Social Work education in the UK and in England  
 
Professional Association British Association of Social Workers (BASW) is the professional body for social work www.basw.org.uk

Registered Profession. The four countries of the UK each have a Social Care Council which registers, regulates conduct and training and supports qualifying and post qualifying social work education. These bodies are:

General Social Care Council (England)  
Care Council for Wales (CCW) 
Scottish Social Services Council (SSC)    
Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISC)

Social Policy  Department of Health (DoH) is the Government department with overall responsibility for social work education its website covers new developments in social work and social care education and practice www.dh.gov.uk This responsibility is shared with the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) for children’s services www.dfes.gov.uk. Both sites give information about policy relevant to UK social work, education and health.

Research see The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) –funded by the Department of Health, is concerned with developing and evaluating the knowledge base for social care in England. Its publications include knowledge reviews on key topics for social work practice. It hosts the electronic library for social care (eLSC)- www.scie.org.uk  A similar body in Scotland is the Scottish Institute for Excellence in Social Work Education (SIESWE) this Institute, based at the University of Dundee, aims, through a partnership of nine Scottish universities, practice agencies and government bodies, to transformational contribute to change in social work education.

Social Work in Higher Education SWAP a Higher Education Subject Centre for UK social work and social policy, based at the University of Southampton. Its main aim is to promote high quality learning, teaching and assessment in social work through activities and a website containing news of developments in social work. www.swap.ac.uk  Julia Waldman is a Learning and Teaching Adviser employed by SWAP to develop international perspectives in the UK. jw@socsci.soton.ac.uk

Quality Assurance The Quality Assurance Association for Higher Education  (QAA) provides a quality assurance service for UK higher education. They have developed academic benchmarks for social work degrees. www.qaa.org.uk

Employers  Skills for Care previously called The Training Organisation for Social Care -(TOPSS- 2000-2005) is an employer led organisation concerned with developing a strategy in England for the training of the social care workforce and setting National Occupational standards for social care. Skills for Care covers Adult Social Care in England http://www.topssengland.net/  and the Children’s Workforce Development Council is responsible for services working with children and young people www.cwdcouncil.org.uk.

Harlow, E. (2004) Why don't women want to be social workers anymore? New managerialism, postfeminism and the shortage of social workers in Social Services Departments in England and Wales. European Journal of Social Work, 7 (2) 167-179.  (A good account of English social work)

Lyons, K.(2002). European and international perspectives in British Social Work Education: Some past developments and future prospects Social Work in Europe. 9 (2) 1-8

Shardlow, S. Nelson, P.(eds)(2005) Introducing Social Work. Russell House Publishing: Lyme Regis, Dorset