'My expectations remain the same. The student has to be competent to practise' : practice assessor perspectives on the new social work degree qualification in England

Research has emphasized the importance of practice learning to social work qualifying education but has tended to feature social work educator and student perspectives more strongly than the views of those responsible for assessing students' practice in the field. This article draws on 195 responses to a postal questionnaire sent at two points in time to practice assessors working with students from nine social work qualifying programmes run in six higher education institutions collected as part of the evaluation of the new social work degree qualification in England. While practice assessors described changes in their role and in the opportunities available to students, they also emphasized continuities, particularly in the skills that they expected students to possess. The key difficulty they identified was the heavy workload resulting from combining their role as practice assessors with their other responsibilities at work. Increases in the number of social work students and changes to the organization of services are likely to create further pressures on practice assessors. Given that these issues are faced by a number of different professions, the article concludes that there is potential for future studies to look at the experiences of practice educators across different professional qualifying programmes

The ‘Making’ of Social Workers: Findings from Interviews with Managers of Newly Qualified Social Workers

Social work education, social work practice and social work skills have been long-standing policy interests in England but the views of line managers of newly qualified social workers (NQSWs) have not always informed debate. This paper reports on interviews with 23 line managers which asked about their experiences of managing NQSWs. Interviews were held across a diverse range of English local authorities in 2009–2010 and covered participants’ general expectations of NQSWs and how far these have been met, or not; support and induction arrangements for the newly qualified; and how the managers responded to variability among their newly qualified staff. The study participants present their management style as being combinations of modelling, workload and staff management, being open, and exercising their judgment over NQSWs. This suggests that they already possess many of the skills needed to assess NQSWs in their Assessed and Supported Year in Employment and that these should be built upon. We locate our findings within the wider literature highlighting the lack of attention paid to the experiences of social work line managers and the diversity that can be found within them

Organisational factors, job satisfaction and intention to leave among newly qualified social workers in England

Satisfaction with different organisational elements and aspects of work contributes markedly to overall levels of job satisfaction and intention to leave. For newly qualified social workers (NQSWs), especially immediately after graduation, self-perceived competence and their confidence in their educational preparation are also important. This article reports on a longitudinal study following 280 social work students into social work employment in England using data collected as students and six months after graduation. We focus on their experiences as NQSWs, thus only including those working in social work jobs, reporting the relative importance of their satisfaction with different work elements, such as supervision and job engagement. These are used to construct a model of NQSWs' overall satisfaction and intentions of leaving their social work jobs. The model incorporates NQSWs' perceptions of how well their degree courses prepared them for their current social work jobs in addition to personal, organisational and specific role characteristics. Using statistical techniques of factor analysis and regression modelling we highlight the complexities of how job satisfaction is constructed and we argue that the data reveal the importance of team support and self-efficacy in relation to whether social workers are thinking about leaving their current social work jobs

Content and Purpose of Supervision in Social Work Practice in England: Views of Newly Qualified Social Workers, Managers and Directors

Social work supervision is receiving renewed attention internationally with calls for it to be remodelled and given greater priority, this paper uses data from a longitudinal study in England, which involved: three online surveys of Newly Qualified Social Workers (NQSWs); an online survey of Directors and face-to-face interviews with 23 social work managers which enabled us to investigate the receipt of supervision and its provision. Data on the frequency of supervision were analysed in relation to other job-related factors reported by NQSWs alongside information on NQSWs' views of the content of supervision. Findings suggest a tapering of supervision for social workers as they become more experienced but the overall level of supervision appears to be both limited and variable. NQSWs appreciated supervision from managers, and this affects their engagement with their work. Managers reported pressures of time in providing sufficient supervision. Directors conveyed their perception of the importance of supervision but indicated that there may be blurring of supervision as more structured support for NQSWs becomes part of the requirements for those in their first year in the profession. Greater attention should be given to investigating the effectiveness of supervision and to the support of those managers who are expected to provide it

A degree of success? Messages from the new social work degree in England for nurse education

In September 2008 the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) approved plans to change pre-registration nursing education in England to an all-graduate qualification in 2015. In 2001 the Department of Health announced a similar decision for social work qualifying education and the first graduate-only qualifying programmes began in 2003-2004. This article presents findings from a national in-depth evaluation of the social work degree in England and describes ways in which efforts have been made to improve the quality of social workers, raise the status of the profession and link practice and theory as part of the transformation to a degree level qualification. Messages for nurse educators are drawn in the light of the professions' commonalities. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.In September 2008 the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) approved plans to change pre-registration nursing education in England to an all-graduate qualification in 2015. In 2001 the Department of Health announced a similar decision for social work qualifying education and the first graduate-only qualifying programmes began in 2003-2004. This article presents findings from a national in-depth evaluation of the social work degree in England and describes ways in which efforts have been made to improve the quality of social workers, raise the status of the profession and link practice and theory as part of the transformation to a degree level qualification. Messages for nurse educators are drawn in the light of the professions' commonalities

Using vignettes to evaluate the outcomes of student learning : data from the evaluation of the new social work degree in England

This paper reports the use of vignettes as a methodology to analyse the extent to which the new social work degree programmes enabled students to develop their analytical and reflective capabilities. Two vignettes, which focused on children and families and adult social care respectively, were developed for the study. Students were asked to respond in writing, from the perspective of a social worker, to a standard set of questions at the beginning (T1) and end of their degree programme (T2). Considering the responses to all questions across the two vignettes, a series of scales was developed to measure the key themes which had been identified by qualitative analysis. These included ‘Attention to process of relationships’ and ‘Social/structural/political awareness’. Responses were also rated as ‘descriptive’, ‘analytic’ or ‘reflective’. Students from six universities in England participated. From an original sample of 222 students, it was possible to match 79 T1 and T2 responses. Analysis of variance demonstrated statistically significant increases in nine of the 11 themes and increases in ratings for analysis and reflection. In conclusion, vignettes can be used to produce both qualitative and quantitative data in respect of changes in students' acquisition of knowledge and skills over time