What is reflection?

There are many definitions of reflection, but essentially it is about thinking things through carefully, considering things from different perspectives and possibly restructuring the way that we see things.

In many ways, it is about the way we think. Reflection also helps us to learn from experiences. When the learning from reflection is put into practice, this becomes reflective action/reflective practice.

Why is reflection so important for students?

It is generally agreed that reflective practice is important in social work. However, it is worth asking a student why they think there is an emphasis on critical reflection. When we understand why we need to do something, it generally motivates us to develop our skills in that area.

Reflection is vitally important for social work in general, but it is perhaps even more important for students, because it is so closely linked to the process of learning. A deeper approach to learning involves critically reflecting on new ideas and linking them with existing knowledge.

Taking a reflective approach means the learner will understand the knowledge they acquire and apply their learning to new situations. Deep learning assists with problem solving and making wider connections, resulting in a new and different understanding.

Sometimes students are not always aware of the importance of reflection and see it as simply something that is required as part of their portfolio evidence.

Supporting students to recognise the vital importance of reflective practice and asking them to read around the subject will be important if they lack commitment.

Reflective questioning

It can be very tempting for practice educators to ask information-based questions in supervision to find out what is happening for the people who are receiving support and to ensure the student is meeting agency requirements. They may also be tempted into providing solutions, advice and guidance to students.

This often cuts across students developing as truly reflective practitioners. Learning is much more likely to occur where a practice educator asks reflective questions to assist the student to consider the situation and find their own solutions. This also role models good practice in social work.

People sometimes look to practitioners to provide the solution, which can lead to them developing ‘learned helplessness’. Social workers who are able to use their skills to support people to develop their own ‘solutions’ are generally better, more effective practitioners.

McClure (2002) suggested that reflective practice is about a process of dynamic questioning and developed a range of “reflective questions” that can be used to assist in reflective practice – either in writing or in reflective discussions. The following questions are adapted from those suggested by McClure for use in supervision with a student:

• Tell me about what you did…
• What were you aiming for when you did that?
• What exactly did you do?
• Why did you choose that particular action?
• What theories/models/research informed your actions?
• What were you trying to achieve?
• What did you do next?
• What were the reasons for doing that?
• How successful was it?
• How do you know? What criteria are you using to judge success?
• What alternatives did you have?
• Could you have dealt with the situation any better?
• How would you do it differently next time?
• How do you feel about the whole experience?
• How did the person/carer/other worker feel about it?
• How do you know they felt like that?
• What sense can you make of this considering your past experiences/what we have discussed/your university studies (and so on)?
• Has this changed the way in which you will do things in the future? How?

Skilled, dynamic reflective questioning very often leads to more questions rather than ‘answers’. This can be very challenging for students who feel a pressure to ‘know’ something.

I find it useful to explain that even after over 30 years in social work I don’t know things. Sharing this with students can be helpful because the creation of uncertainty through reflective questioning and reflective practice more generally may create a crisis of confidence.

A willingness to live with uncertainty is important to social workers. In his report into the death of Victoria Climbié, Lord Laming introduced the phrase “respectful uncertainty” to describe the attitude social workers need to maintain in their work (Lord Laming, 2003).

References

Lord Laming (2003)
The Victoria Climbié Inquiry
Command Paper 5730

McClure, P (2002)
Reflection in Practice: Making Practice Based Learning Work
University of Ulster

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For Community Care’s 50th anniversary, our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone who has inspired you in your career.

In this entry, student social worker Louis Peakes writes a letter addressing his cohort at the University of Hertfordshire, who have been a source of inspiration and support for him during his social work journey.

To my fellow level six cohort studying Social Work BSc (Hons) at the University of Hertfordshire.

I want to thank you all for being part of this journey that can often feel lonely (especially when writing assignments!). I am privileged to have shared the room with such a diverse group of people, all with their individual talents and expertise, that I’m sure will go on to do great things.

A special thanks to our lecturers for giving us their time, sharing their years of knowledge and wisdom, and, most importantly, for putting up with us!

You have all shaped me into a better person and a better professional.

It feels like we have so far to go, but we are nearly there. We can do this. The world needs us, so never give up.

When entering the world of social work, you can sometimes feel like you’re a drop of water in a vast ocean.

On that note, I finish with the wise words of Samuel L Jackson:

“Take a stand for what’s right. Raise a ruckus and make a change. You may not always be popular, but you’ll be part of something larger and greater than yourself. Besides, making history is extremely cool.”

How to nominate a colleague

For our 50th anniversary, we’re expanding our series My Brilliant Colleague to include anyone who has inspired you in your career – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.

Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by either:

• Filling in our nominations form with a letter or a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.
• Or sending a voice note of up to 90 seconds to +447887865218, including your and the nominee’s names and roles.

Despite the need to provide your name and role, you or the nominee can be anonymous in the published entry.

If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com.

The number of social work students registered in Scotland has fallen for a second consecutive year, with student poverty cited as a factor.

Student numbers fell by 2.7% in 2023-24, from 1,998 to 1,944, following a a 5.2% drop the year before, according to the Scottish Social Services Council’s (SSSC) annual snapshot of the registered workforce.

The SSSC said that higher education institutions (HEIs) had reported that poverty and cost of living pressures were factors in a drop in the numbers applying to social work courses.

Student-led campaign for improved financial support

The news follows a student-led campaign to improve financial support for those studying social work in Scotland, to prevent hardship and attrition from courses and provide equity of support with those studying to become health professionals.

The Scottish Government has addressed the campaign’s aims in part, extending student loan access to postgraduate social work students ineligible for a bursary from SSSC and increasing practice learning support from £350 to £750 per placement.

However, campaigners, who are backed by the Social Workers Union and Scottish Association of Social Work, have warned that this is insufficient.

They have called for annual bursaries of £7,500 for third- and fourth-year undergraduates, who may currently only obtain means-tested support worth £8,400 to £11,400 a year, mostly in the form of loans. By contrast, nursing, midwifery and paramedic students receive non-means tested bursaries of £10,000 in each of their first three years and £7,500 in their fourth year.

The Scottish Government has also announced plans for a social work apprenticeship – open to those with or without a degree – to provide a new route into the profession in Scotland.

Decrease in student numbers linked to poverty

A spokesperson for the SSSC said: ‘There has been a slight decrease in social work student numbers and HEIs have cited a reduction in applications in part due to student poverty and financial/ cost of living pressures.”

For SASW, national director Alison Bavidge: “The fall in numbers of social work students is in the context of almost existential crisis of funding for services, sky-high workloads and burnout.

“To address this we must support students with fair bursaries and good quality placements and also make social work a more attractive profession to enter and stay working in. We know how rewarding social work can be but the unsustainable and ever-increasing pressures being faced by those who join the profession are taking the joy out of our work.”

Apprenticeship scheme ‘must be rolled out quickly’

She backed for an apprenticeship, adding: “This will enable an earn-as-you-learn, workplace route into the profession, culminating in a social work degree and hopefully a post as a NQSW. This is very much welcomed and needs to be rolled out quickly.”

However, while welcoming improvements in support for postgraduate students, Bavidge said that “undergraduate students still lack support and there is still no parity with other public sector professions”.

Leadership body Social Work Scotland also expressed hope in the impact of the apprenticeship.

‘More routes into social work needed’

“We hope to see more new routes into social work to help mitigate the reported reduction in workforce numbers and welcome the recent Scottish Government announcement regarding the social work graduate apprenticeship programme,” a spokesperson said.

“Implemented well and resourced appropriately, this programme will help the profession grow whilst also promoting an inclusive and diverse workforce.”

The number of registered social workers in Scotland rose for the second consecutive year, increasing from 10,826 to 10,914 in 2023-24, according to the SSSC’s figures.

Campaigners have welcomed a boost to social work student support in Scotland but say more is needed to prevent burnout and provide equity with those studying to become health professionals.

From this month, eligible undergraduate and postgraduate students will receive a £750 grant from the Scottish Government for each of their two placements, up from £350 per placement in 2023-24.

The practice learning support grant, administered by regulator the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), is designed to cover the costs of travel, subsistence and other practical requirements to support students while on placement.

Student-led campaign

Its introduction follows a student campaign – backed by the Social Workers Union (SWU) and Scottish Association of Social Work (SASW) – to increase levels of financial support, particularly for undergraduates on placement.

The campaign called for annual bursaries of £7,500 for third- and fourth-year undergraduates, not only to support them to complete their placements, but also to tackle inequalities in the support they received compared with healthcare students.

Currently, undergraduate students in Scotland spend nine months working full-time on placement in their third and fourth years but, during their course, can only access means-tested support worth £33,600 to £45,600 (from 2023-24), mostly in the form of repayable loans.

By contrast, nursing, midwifery and paramedic students receive non-means tested bursaries of £37,500 during their four-year courses.

Extra money ‘welcome but enough’

Leading campaigner, David Grimm, who recently completed his course, said the practice learning support grant would “help ease some of the pressure on students who are working and managing case work as part of their degrees”.

However, he added: “It does not provide enough to help students to live while studying and working in placements. Many end up burning out due to the pressure, dropping out of courses or building up unsustainable debt.”

Fellow campaigner Lucy Challoner said: “While we welcome the steps forward, we need to see a pathway towards equality with other public-sector degree courses.”

Union vows to continue campaign

For the SWU, general secretary John McGowan said: “We understand the financial pressures the Scottish Government is facing, but the students’ campaign is about two basic principles, that people should be fairly compensated for doing frontline work in the public sector and that students on social work courses should be treated like their peers on nursing and paramedic degrees and receive bursaries while on placements.

“Until these principles are met, we will continue to back the students in their campaign.”

The news follows a Scottish Government pledge to introduce an apprenticeship scheme to provide a new route into the profession.

Social work bursary levels have been frozen for a tenth consecutive year, the Department of Health and Social Care revealed today.

The decision means that payments for students on undergraduate or master’s courses are worth between £1,150 and £1,800 per year less than they were in 2014, as measured by the Bank of England’s inflation calculator (see table below).

Also, the cap on the number of additional bursaries per year – 2,500 for undergraduate courses and 1,500 for postgraduate programmes – has also been frozen, in this case at a level set in 2013. The caps mean that not every student receives a payment.

As previously, undergraduate bursaries are only available to students in their second and third years, while master’s students who are allocated a bursary receive their payments across the duration of their course, alongside a £4,052 contribution to their tuition fees.

In addition, universities’ funding for placements through the education support grant (ESG) will be frozen for a tenth successive year, at £20 per day for practice placements and £10 per day for skills development days.

The confirmation about the value of bursaries and numbers being offered comes with less than two months to go until courses start for the 2024-25 academic year.

As a result, universities have not known until today how many bursaries they had been allocated, preventing them from nominating students to take them up.

This meant students had no certainty over whether they would receive a bursary, prompting warnings from academics that disadvantaged trainees would not take up places on their courses.

A delay in confirming social work bursary arrangements in England for 2024-25 risks preventing disadvantaged applicants from taking up places, academics have warned.

The government is yet to confirm bursary allocations for universities this year, with less than two months to go until courses start.

This means students who have been offered a place on master’s courses do not know if they will be funded to carry out their studies, potentially deterring some from taking up their places, warned the Joint Universities Social Work Association (JUSWA).

The delay also affects students about to start the second year of their undergraduate degree, who also do not know if they will receive a bursary.

‘Fundamental equality and inclusion issues’

JUSWA chair Professor Janet Melville-Wiseman said the delay would particularly affect applicants who were employed, had caring responsibilities or were in poverty.

“Anyone in employment will need to give at least a month’s notice or longer and there is now less than two months before most courses will start,” she said.

“For anyone with caring responsibilities, they will also need time to arrange alternative (and often expensive) care.  The later they do that the more expensive that care is likely to be, and the less likely care providers will still have capacity.

“For those already living with poverty they may experience this as devaluing them, or not valuing them and their wish to contribute to our profession and a significant barrier to them entering university.  These are fundamental equality and inclusion issues.”

Bursary process

Since 2013, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has allocated 2,500 bursaries per year to students starting their second year of a three-year undergraduate social work course, along with 1,500 to trainees beginning a master’s qualification, which tends to take two years.

Bursaries generally continue for the remainder of the person’s course, but the cap means not everyone in the eligible years of study receives one.

Each HEI running a social work course receives a fixed number of bursaries for newly eligible applicants and must then nominate students for these, with trainees then applying to the NHS Business Services Authority for the funding.

Allocations for HEIs are confirmed on an annual basis, through guidance published by the DHSC. Last year’s guidance was published on 24 May, setting a deadline of 28 July 2023 for HEIs to nominate students for a bursary.

Election impact

Melville-Wiseman said JUSWA had told civil servants that universities needed to receive their bursary allocations by early May each year for the process to run smoothly.

Though the guidance could not have been published during the pre-election period, this did not start until 25 May, 2024, which meant that “bursary allocations were already late when we entered that period”, according to Melville-Wiseman.

“It is astounding that there is not a transitional phase whereby bursaries are allocated and confirmed for this year with a plan to review them in the next 12 months including with input from key stakeholders such as our membership,” she added.

“It is not a good message to the sector and the mainstream courses that provide the majority of new recruits into the profession.”

The situation with fast-track courses

Bursaries are an entitlement for students on the three fast-track courses, Frontline’s Approach Social Work scheme, Think Ahead and Step Up to Social Work.

Fast-track bursaries are also much more generous at between £18,000 and £20,250 for courses lasting just over a year, compared with £4,862.50 or £5,262.50 per year for undergraduates and £3,362.50 or £3,762.50 for those on master’s courses.

Fast-track trainees also receive free tuition, unlike undergraduate students, who are liable for fees of, generally, £9,250 a year, while master’s candidates with a bursary receive a £4,052 contribution to their fees per year, covering less than half the cost.

Universities ‘unable to meet Social Work England standard

Melville-Wiseman said the situation meant HEIs were unable to fulfil one of the requirements set for them by Social Work England’s education and training standards.

Standard 1.6 states that universities must “ensure that the admissions process gives applicants the information they require to make an informed choice about whether to take up an offer of a place on a course”.

Guidance on the standards says that this should include providing them with information on “the costs of the course, including accommodation and other associated costs where relevant, and any options for funding”.

The situation also sparked significant concern from the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) England and the Social Workers Union.

In a joint statement, BASW England national director Maris Stratulis and SWU general secretary John McGowan said: “At a time of a recruitment crisis in the profession and social care, social work employers, the government and system leaders cannot afford for social work education bursary allocations not to happen.”

BASW and SWU urge bursary reform

They also urged reform of the bursary system to increase the generosity and accessibility of payments.

“We’ve heard personally from many students about the financial hardship and difficulties they are facing,” said Stratulis and McGovern.

“Student bursaries for the majority of UK students are unequally distributed and limited in number. Social work is an incredibly complex and rewarding job. We need to support the next generation of social workers, create conducive learning environments and ensure recruitment and retention of social workers is at the heart of government policy.”

Their statement follows a call for increased investment in social work bursaries, to attract more people into the profession, in the adult social care workforce strategy, published last week by Skills for Care.

The DHSC did not comment on the issue, with the new government urgently reviewing commitments made by its predecessor.

Most social work students in Northern Ireland are struggling financially but the region’s executive says it cannot fund an increase in the payments they receive.

Almost three-quarters of students said they were unable to make ends meet (23%) or struggling to do so (50%), in response to a British Association of Social Workers Northern Ireland (BASW NI) and Social Workers Union (SWU) survey, whose results were published this week.

Majorities of respondents said they were heating their homes less (70%), borrowing from family or friends (59%), taking on debt (58%) or doing more paid work (55%) in response to increases in the cost of living.

The situation was worse for those with caring responsibilities, who made up a majority (55%) of the 302 respondents to the online survey of Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University students, carried out in January and February this year.

Almost four in five of the full sample said rising costs had had a significant (41%) or moderate (37%) impact on their mental health, while almost a quarter (23%) said they were considering postponing or leaving their courses because of the financial pressures they were facing.

Quarter of students considering leaving studies

Significantly greater proportions said their financial situation was already affecting their studies, with two-thirds saying they were finding it difficult to focus because of the associated worry and 53% that they were spending less time on their studies because of the need to work more.

Home students studying full-time on either three-year undergraduate or two-year relevant graduate courses receive £4,000 plus £500 for travel costs associated with practice placements, annually, through the region’s student incentive scheme.

Almost all respondents (98%) said the £4,000 payment was insufficient to meet the costs of doing the degree, with 55% saying it needed to be increased by at least £3,000.

According to BASW NI, the payment has been at the same level since at least 2008 and would be worth £6,280 had it been uprated in line with inflation.

Similarly, 93% said the travel allowance was insufficient to meet incurred costs, with 58% saying it needed to rise by £500 a year or more.

Call to increase bursary payment

On the back of the results, BASW NI and SWU called for the student incentive scheme to be increased to £7,000 a year.

BASW NI chair Orlaith McGibbon said increased support for students was vital at the time of a “staffing crisis” in the region, with vacancy and absence levels of between 26% to 41% in children’s services family intervention teams, according to last year’s report from the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in Northern Ireland.

This situation triggered a strike among children’s social workers in Belfast earlier this month and ongoing industrial action short of a strike.

“Our student social work colleagues are the future of our profession and it is deeply worrying that they are facing hardship as they train to support others,” McGibbon added.

“We urgently need more social workers and the survey finding that almost a quarter of all social work students are considering leaving their studies because of financial pressures must be addressed.”

Department ‘unable to provide more assistance’

However, the Department of Health in Northern Ireland said increasing it could not fund an increase in the student incentive scheme payment.

“The department notes the BASW NI and SWU research and recognises the additional hardship faced by students undertaking professional training due to the cost-of-living crisis,” said a spokesperson.

“Regrettably though, given the extremely challenging budgetary situation, the department is currently unable to provide more assistance to students than it does at present.”

Health minister Robin Swann has described his department’s 2024-25 budget settlement, largely derived from a UK government block grant, as “entirely inadequate”.

Non-statutory placements make up over half of practice learning provision for social work students in Scotland, leaving some graduates underprepared for practice, research has revealed.

The lack of placements in local authorities is driven by underfunding and practice educator shortages, said a report commissioned by regulator the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) and the Social Work Education Partnership (SWEP), an alliance of sector leaders that oversees the education system.

Meanwhile, a Scottish Association of Social Work survey on students’ PLO experience has found that the lack of statutory practice learning opportunities (PLOs) is undermining students’ mental health and confidence.

Decline in provision of statutory placements

The SSSC/SWEP-commissioned report – based on written evidence from stakeholders, data analysis and research with councils, universities third sector bodies, practice educators and students – found the relative provision of statutory placements had declined in recent years.

While councils provided about 54% of PLO days in 2018-19, this had fallen to about 48% by 2022-23, with the proportion offered by third sector agencies rising from 46% to 52% over the same period.

The study said there were reported cases of students qualifying without any statutory experience, a point that was reflected in SASW’s survey of 344 students and newly qualified social workers, 17% of whom had not undertaken social work tasks during their placements.

More NQSWs not prepared for practice

As a result, councils were reporting more cases of newly qualified social workers (NQSWs) not being suitably qualified for practice in statutory settings, meaning they needed greater levels of support on taking up their post, said the SSSC/SWEP-commissioned report.

One in five NQSWs who responded to the SASW survey said they felt “completely unprepared” to start their career in social work, while it also revealed that the lack of statutory PLOs was undermining students’ mental health.

Overall, 59% of students reported that their placement experience had adversely affected their mental health, with students who commented further citing the fact that their PLO offered little or no opportunity to take on social work tasks as the main factor.

“Students stated their voluntary sector placements left them uninspired, bored or frustrated which had a bearing on their confidence and mental health,” said the SASW report.

The SSSC/SWEP-commissioned study, produced by regional PLO support and development body Learning Network West, said that, though third sector placements could be “extremely rich learning experiences”, graduates needed to be “comfortable with the exercise of statutory authority”.

Practice educator shortages

A key driver of the shortages of statutory placements was a lack, or unavailability, of practice educators to supervise students, said the report, entitled Social Work Practice Learning Funding: Research and Evaluation.

Practice educators interviewed for the research reported barriers to them taking on students, including limited management support, employers not reducing their workload in their core role, vacancies in their team and the need to provide additional supervision to NQSWs.

The 12-month length of the practice learning qualification (PLQ) course and limited provision was another factor limiting supply of practice educators.

Also, some social workers were promoted to team managers after completing the PLQ, leaving them with no time for practice educator work.

While practice educators said they would welcome financial remuneration for this work, some local authorities said they did not support this, seeing it as part of a social worker’s role to support students. Though some did provide a financial incentive, the level varied considerably, from £100 to £1,500.

Some councils were turning to independent practice educators to fill the gap, though this was at greater cost. The SSSC/SWEP-commissioned study also identified an “increasingly problematic” trend of practice educators not supporting students in their own workplace while carrying out independent work for other employers.

Independent practice educators ‘unregulated and underpaid’

The report said that supervision by independent practice educators was now “the most prevalent practice for PLOs”, with self-employed practitioners generally used by voluntary organisations, who did not employ their own.

While council-employed practice educators are registered with SSSC, by virtue of their social work roles, the report raised concerns about there being no requirement for self-employed independent practice educators to be so.

“Thus, there are no CPD requirements or other regulatory processes in place,” said the study.

By the same token, independent practice educators who contributed to the research criticised the lack of support, feedback and quality assurance they received for their work, while also saying they were significantly underpaid for the work that they did.

Third sector agencies are paid £28 per day for PLOs, with £18 of this generally given to the independent practice educator.

Self-employed practitioners told researchers that this did not account for costs including preparatory work, travel expenses and the need to provide additional support to struggling students, while they also pointed to the fact that they did not receive sick pay, holiday pay or pension contributions.

Funding shortages

Funding for PLO providers – which is paid by course providers – had been static from 2008-22, at £28 per day for third sector and private agencies and £18 for local authorities, though in 2022, councils’ rate for assessed placements was increased to £28.

However, participants in the research said funding was inadequate to cover the costs of PLOs. These include pre-placement planning and administration, supervision and management of the student, practice observation, assessment and post-placement administration and quality assurance, as well as training of practice educators and link workers.

The SSSC/SWEP-commissioned report also found there was a lack of financial planning in, and accountability for, the use of PLO funding, meaning it was not used strategically.

Course providers, meanwhile, said the administrative fee they receive for placements – which is £2 per student per day, capped at a maximum of £40,000 per year per institution – was insufficient for planning, developing and co-ordinating placements.

Calls to increase funding and boost practice educator payments

The report’s recommendations included:

• An immediate increase in PLO funding. The report estimated that a 38% uplift would be needed to account for ground lost to inflation.
• Replacing the daily PLO fee with two flat-rate fees – one for each of students’ placements – paid directly to providers, not via universities. It said this would remove the administrative costs of monitoring how many days a student had done on placement, and shift the focus on to desired outcomes and results.
• Replacing the administrative fee for universities with a flat-rate fee for sourcing, matching, co-ordinating and quality assuring PLOs and for supporting link workers and practice educators.
• Creating a central system for administering funding to remove inconsistencies and improve data collection.
• Requiring PLO providers to plan for, and report on, their use of funding, to ensure more strategic use of resource.
• Councils and other employers providing financial remuneration for, and reducing caseloads, for practice educators and link workers.
• Practice educators having contractual expectations in relation to supporting students.
• Increasing payment levels for independent practice educators.
• Independent practice educators being regulated by SSSC and placed on a national register to ensure they meet professional standards.

Recommendations under consideration

SWEP’s national strategic partnership group, which includes representation from councils, universities, the third sector, SSSC, government and service users and carers, is currently considering the report’s recommendations.

In a statement, SWEP said there was general consensus that:

• There was significant complexity around the funding of PLOs, partly due to the fact that individual agencies had differing responsibilities and accountabilities.
• This could be seen as an opportunity to provide quality assurance of placements.
• Consistency of approach would be advantageous.
• The report provides the opportunity for investment in practice learning.
• The system should be reviewed to make it “simple, centralised, standard, consistent and accountable”.

Employers to face stronger practice learning responsibilities 

For SSSC, acting director of workforce, education and standards, Laura Lamb, said ‘We are committed to supporting improvement in the provision of practice placements and student experience of these and will continue to work with other key stakeholders as a member of SWEP to progress the development of the action plan to address recommendations highlighted within the Social Work Practice Learning Funding: Research and Evaluation report.

She said revisions to the regulator’s code of practice for employers, due to come into force in May 2024, “strengthens the responsibility of employers in providing learning and development opportunities to enable workers to strengthen and maintain their skills, knowledge and practice”.

Practice learning requirements under review

Lamb added that SSSC was also “currently reviewing the practice teaching and learning requirements which the university programmes we approve must follow”.

“These specify the requirements for the number of days, the type of setting, who can assess the students practice etc,” she added. “This will be an opportunity to ensure greater consistency in the provision of practice placements and experience for students. We plan to have the revised requirements in place for the start of the new academic year.2

Lamb’s colleague, Cheryl Campbell, SSSC’s acting head of education and standards, said this review would also address the role of practice educators, in the light of the report’s recommendations for the group.

Wales had seen a drop in applications to social work courses in recent years but an increase in the value of bursaries may have helped reverse this trend.

A 2022 report for Social Care Wales found only about 200 of the 350 or so social workers needed each year were joining the profession.

The cost of training was key, especially for postgraduate courses, where the bursary had failed to keep pace with rising tuition fees.

Boost to bursaries

In response to the report, and a campaign led by social work students and supported by unions and professional bodies, the Welsh Government announced a significant increase to bursaries in July 2022.

The undergraduate bursary increased by 50%, from £2,500 to £3,750 a year, while the postgraduate equivalent, which had been £6,640 since 2010, almost doubled, to £12,715 per year.

This compares favourably to social work bursary levels in England – but lags behind funding for other professions, such as nursing.

There are a fixed number of bursaries available each year – currently 224. Students must have lived in Wales for at least a year and be doing an approved degree or master’s and cannot be getting financial support from an employer to train.

Key differences with England include the fact that undergraduates in Wales can get the bursary for all three years of study – albeit at a lower level – while in England it is only available for years two and three.

“Ours is slightly more generous, but not dramatically so,” explains Tom Slater, education quality assurance manager at Social Care Wales.

“The differences are primarily around some of the criteria, the way it is administered and in terms of additional allowances.”

The impact of more generous bursaries

There is evidence the increased bursary has encouraged applications. Social Care Wales says it currently has 320 new students registered for the academic year 2023-24 with up to 20 more in the process of being registered.

On 1 January 2024, there were 816 social work students on the register in total, compared with 710 on 1 January 2023.

David Wilkins, programme director for the MA in social work at Cardiff University, says numbers have more than doubled, with 52 students starting the course this academic year.

“You’d have to think the bursary has made a difference,” he says.

Making ends meet

But it is still tough for students.

“Almost all work a considerable number of hours and probably couldn’t make ends meet if they didn’t,” Wilkins says. “We definitely see the impact in terms of mental wellbeing and energy levels.”

Victoria Ngulube is in her first year of the MA at Cardiff and receives the postgraduate bursary.

“It makes a huge difference because I don’t have to worry about student finance to pay tuition fees,” she says. “But you certainly can’t live on it.”

She does an online call centre job two days a week and feels there should be more financial support to help all students cover everyday costs.

Grow your own

In recent years, local authorities in Wales have developed or expanded “grow your own” schemes, where existing staff are supported to do social work training.

Courses are funded by the local authority, and participants – who are not eligible to claim the bursary – carry on working while studying.

“Often they live locally, have family and are committed to staying, so we’ve got a very good retention rate,” says Gill Paul, workforce development manager at Cyngor Gwynedd Council.

About five years ago, the ratio of sponsored to direct entry students was roughly 1:5, but Social Care Wales says there are now 130 sponsored students compared with about 190 direct entry.

The regulator provides funding to local authorities for grow your own schemes and other initiatives, through an annual workforce development grant.

Better staff retention

Conwy County Borough Council is currently sponsoring six staff to do the Open University social work degree.

“It’s definitely a really good way to utilise resources. And actually, we get the benefits because the grow our own workers are still working for us and learning on the job,” says strategic director for social care and education Jenny Williams.

These staff have existing skills which feed into their social work training – and they can then put this new learning and knowledge into practice in their paid work.

Williams estimates it costs £10,000-15,000 to get someone qualified, not including the cost of supervision, practice education or releasing people for study days or placements elsewhere.

There are currently no plans to pilot social work apprenticeships in Wales, although Social Care Wales says it is open to working with partnerships that wish to develop a programme.

“Grow your own is filling that niche in a way,” says Slater. Instead, he says the focus has been on expanding routes into social care below degree level, such as the level four social services practitioner role.

This (and a newer apprenticeship version of the level four qualification) are designed to be equivalent to the first year of an undergraduate degree and can be used on some programmes in lieu of year one.

New training routes

Williams, who heads up the Association of Directors of Social Services Cymru’s workforce leadership group, believes it is time to explore new training routes.

Master’s students unable to complete the academic element of their course still graduate with a postgraduate social work diploma that allows them to register.

However, this applies to a very small number of students. And there is no route in Wales that allows you to gain a social work diploma (unlike the Step Up to Social Work programme in England).

“What we have now is too traditional,” says Williams. “Other professions have more pathways and routes into those professions.”

There are mixed feelings about the idea of introducing fast-track schemes, like those in England.

But Samantha Baron, director of the British Association of Social Workers Cymru, says this should not be ruled out.

“The greater the variety of routes into social work, the greater the breadth of candidates,” she says. “However, I’d want to ensure public money is kept within the public system.”

From the government’s proposed national rules to cap the use of agency workers and World Social Work Day to social work students’ financial struggles and journalists’ reflections after spending a day shadowing practitioners, here’s 2023 in review.

January

Picture posed by model (credit:
Viacheslav Yakobchuk/Adobe Stock)

In January, a social worker wrote about his experience in a placement he had been forced to leave after being treated with disrespect by staff.

The piece resonated with many practitioners, who took to the comments to share their own placement stories.

Here’s a snippet:

“The first indication that something was wrong at this placement was when I opened a door for a staff member who was carrying outdoor equipment. The staff member abruptly said “move” and brushed past me. I considered this to be extremely rude but dismissed it as I thought it may have simply been a one-off incident. However, similar such instances persisted.”

February

(credit: vinnstock / Adobe Stock)

In February, the Department for Education proposed national rules to reduce the cost and use of locum staff in statutory children’s services.

Those included capping the rates councils could pay for agency staff so that locums were paid the equivalent of permanent staff, banning the use of project teams and barring early-career practitioners from agency work.

Months later, following consultation, the government watered down its original proposals, ditching plans to cap agency social worker pay to the level of permanent staff.

March

Pictured: Dr Muzvare Hazviperi Betty Makoni with a group of overseas social workers recruited through Morgan Hunt and trained by Social Care Empowering
Photo credit: Dr Makoni

In March, we marked this year’s World Social Work Day by interviewing social workers who have come to work in the UK from overseas. We spotlighted their strengths and brought awareness to the obstacles they faced.

“The values of social workers that I work with are second to none,” said Chris Armstrong, the business director of recruitment agency Morgan Hunt’s social care branch.

“Their natural empathy and solid, string and passionate direct work are unbelievable.”

April

Photo: hakinmhan/Adobe Stock

Following the news of the government shelving its plan to introduce the Liberty Protection Safeguards to replace the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, a piece by lawyer Tim Spencer-Lane set out what that would mean for social workers.

May

Photo by AdobeStock/my_stock

In May, a poem from practitioner Jessica Taylor on the highs and lows of working in social work touched the hearts of many readers.

June

Photo by Allistair F/peopleimages.com

In June, we wrote about the lack of financial aid social work students from England, Wales and Scotland received  while studying to join the profession.

We spoke to Emma, a single mother of two from Scotland, and Omar Mohammed, who, at 19, was travelling four hours a day for his course, working a part-time job and was the sole carer of his nine-year-old sister.

Here’s a snippet:

“[…]Literally every bit of free time I had was [spent working],” says newly qualified social worker Omar.

“I’d never go out or buy myself something unless it was a necessity. I’d never do something that I was interested in or engage in a hobby. If I ever had money, it would be spent on my sister. It was extremely tight, definitely a challenge.”

July

Photo: Sanja/Adobe Stock

In July, a major survey of over 1,000 children’s social workers in London and the South East found that discrimination was leading minoritised practitioners to quit permanent local authority posts for agency ones.

“The [black and global majority] workers we spoke to do not describe making this decision by choice, but rather expressing a feeling of being forced to do so due to poor experiences, lack of support and economic necessity,” said the Big Listen report.

Read our full rundown of the survey.

August

Photo: olyphotostories/Adobe Stock

In Community Care Inform’s July podcast episode, Dan – a care-experienced young person living in semi-independent accommodation – shared his experiences of, and advice for, social workers.

Dan shared his perspective on how social workers and services worked with him from his early teenage years, and what he would have liked to have been different.

September

Photo: iStock

At the end of May, four journalists from the Community Care team spent a day shadowing practitioners at Wandsworth children’s services.

Read all about the home visits, direct work, family therapy, unit meetings, genograms, small wins, difficult decisions, risk, trauma, and public transport. And snacks – never forget the snacks.

October

Photo by ink drop/AdobeStock

In October, as Barbie took over cinemas worldwide, a social worker’s take on the infamous speech at the end of the movie struck a chord with practitioners.

November

Credit: bankrx AdobeStock

In November, unions agreed to accept employers’ local government pay offer for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, following an eight-month-long dispute.

The pay rise was £1,925 for staff outside London earning up to £49,950, with a 3.88% hike for those on higher wages than that. Outer London staff received a £2,226 rise while colleagues in inner London got a £2,352 increase up to a defined salary threshold.

The deal was worth about 4-6% for social workers, despite unions asking for a 12.7% pay rise in February to exceed inflation, which was then about 10%.

Read our full report.

December

Photo: Chris Titze Imaging/Adobe Stock

To round up the year, in December it was announced that a record 100,495 social workers in England had renewed their registration with Social Work England!

This was the highest proportion recorded in the four renewal rounds since Social Work England took over the regulation of social workers in England in December 2019.

What Community Care article resonated the most with you in 2023? Tell us in the comments below.