A university has deferred making a final decision on contentious proposals to scrap two of its social work courses.

Durham university had been expected to make an announcement in June regarding the future of its Masters degrees in social work, and in international social work and community development.

A review led by Professor Tim Clark, the university’s pro-vice-chancellor for social sciences and health, had proposed closing the courses in 2019, citing questions over their long-term viability.

But the university told Community Care that no decision would be taken until at least the end of the year, when evidence from a consultation on the review findings will have been evaluated.

“A considered approach is being taken to a number of points that have emerged from the consultation,” a spokesperson said. “These will be presented to the School of Applied Social Sciences at the end of this term.”

The spokesperson added that applications for both courses are being taken for autumn 2018.

‘Dismay’

The delay comes in the wake of anger at the plans both from within the university and externally.

A letter from staff involved in delivering the courses expressed “dismay” over the potential closures; Community Care understands that there was also a robust discussion of the issue at the School of Applied Social Sciences’ board of studies in June.

Jon Bryan, regional support official for the University and College Union (UCU), which has also opposed the proposals, said he welcomed the university’s further consideration of the issue.

“External stakeholders and various pressure groups across the region clearly voiced their concerns and this has been listened to,” he said. “We said at the time that the courses are well-known and highly thought of in the sector, and those who graduate value what they achieve, and our view on that has not changed.”

Bryan added that, should Durham decide to proceed with the course closures, the UCU would be looking for guarantees of no compulsory redundancies.

A government-backed fast-track training scheme for social workers has opened for applications.

The Step Up to Social Work programme, will take on 550 graduates for its fifth cohort, which starts in January 2018. Applications close on 5 May.

Trainees on the 14-month course receive a bursary of more than £19,000 and have their tuition fees paid. The minimum entry requirement is a 2:1 degree or a 2:2 degree plus a higher level qualification. The course is delivered by regional partnerships of councils and universities.

Children’s minister Edward Timpson said the scheme offered a “fantastic opportunity” for people to enter social work and help children and families.

“We want all young people to be able to go as far as their talents will take them, and part of that is making sure childhood is a happy and safe time in their lives.

“I have been inspired by previous graduates of the programme, and I’m sure this year will be no different. I look forward to meeting the next generation of social workers who will be transforming children’s lives.”

Isabelle Trowler, the chief social worker for children, said: I know from my own experience what a challenging and fulfilling career child and family social work is, and I’m pleased to see that this programme is encouraging more people to consider it.

“Programmes like this one are attracting hundreds of talented graduates each year, who could make a real difference to the lives of children and families.”

The government has previously said it wants 3,000 children’s social workers have qualified through fast-track routes by 2021. Ministers are investing £100m in Step up to Social Work and the Frontline fast-track programme in a bid to meet the target.

The number of people enrolling for social work degrees has fallen for the fourth year in a row.

A Skills for Care report found that the number of students joining postgraduate and undergraduate social work courses in England slipped from 4,590 in 2013/14 to 4,410 in 2014/15 – a 4% decline.

Enrolments have been declining from a peak of 5,750 students in 2010/11, the year that Parliament backed increasing the cap on tuition fees to £9,000 a year. However, the figures do not include enrolments on graduate programmes such as Frontline or Step Up to Social Work.

Postgraduate courses have seen the steepest decline with enrolments falling from 1,540 in 2013/14 to 1,400 in 2014/15. Undergraduate enrolments fell from 3,050 for 3,010 in the same period.

The report also found that the number of graduates leaving university with a social work qualification is now at its lowest since 2009/10. In 2009/10 a total of 5,220 students completed a social work degree, in 2014/15 there were 4,700.

Women continued to account for an increasing majority of students – 86.4% in 2014/15 compared to 83% in 2011/12.

Supply and demand mismatch

The percentage of graduates entering employment as social workers continued to rise, up from 64.3% in 2013/14 to 66.7% in 2014/15 but the actual numbers becoming social workers fell from 3,020 to 2,890 in the same period.

The report said the figures have “implications for workforce planning because the number of graduates is likely to continue to fall” given the declining number of enrolments.

Skills for Care’s report also noted that social work graduates are less likely to find employment if they graduated from areas with more students. The North West, for example, was the region with the highest number of students qualifying in social work but it also had the lowest proportion of students finding a social work job within six months.

“This may be due to a supply and demand mismatch at regional and local level,” said the report. “In such cases, those graduates who are unable to find employment as social workers would have to either relocate or take employment in an alternative role.”

Postgraduates favoured

The report also found that people with postgraduate social work qualifications are more likely to find social works than undergraduates. An estimated 72% of postgraduates found social work jobs within six months compared to 64% of undergraduates.

“This may be due to these graduates having greater work and life experience,” said the report.

By Di Galpin

The integration of health and social care has been a key objective for successive governments in the UK. Whilst some focus on the role of merging of budgets to promote closer integration between the two sectors, higher education institutions (HEIs) are increasingly turning their attention to the content of courses they provide to individuals who make up the workforce.  A number of HEIs have developed, and deliver, joint integrated degree programmes, which combine both nursing and social work education.  These usually focus on learning disability or mental health nursing and social work.

The extension of an integrated approach to learning is being developed by the Health and Care Professions Council, who are currently reviewing the standards of education and training (SETs) for the health and social care professions it regulates. One area of change being proposed relates to inter-professional education and the introduction of a requirement in the standards for learners to have the opportunity to learn from, and with, learners and professionals in other relevant professions.

However, whilst new approaches to integrated learning in health and social care has the potential to be a positive step forward, is it really enough to achieve authentic integrated practice on the frontline?

Research gaps

There is some research on those who have undertaken a joint educational pathway, as mentioned above, however, limited research exists on the experiences of ‘dual-qualified‘ social workers, ie those who hold both a social work qualification and an allied professional qualification such as nursing, teaching or counselling for example. Little is known of their influence on promoting an integrated approach to service delivery, at a cultural and strategic level within organisational settings.

The social work team at Plymouth University are currently working with Livewell Southwest, an independent social enterprise and community interest company (CIC) providing integrated health and social care services, to explore the experiences of dual-qualified social workers in the workplace.

We believe the knowledge, skills and experiences of these workers is vital to understanding the support they need to contribute to delivering authentic integrated services.  We want to hear from dual-qualified social workers so that we can take an informed approach to developing an educational approach that both supports their professional development, post qualification, and which also informs employers on how best to maximise their potential to deliver genuine integration in service provision.

If you hold both a social work qualification and an allied professional qualification, the team would like to hear from you. There is a short online questionnaire you can complete, which asks about the qualifications you hold, why you changed professions and your experience of being dual-qualified in your current role, and what support might enhance your professional development.

If you would like to be involved you can contact Di Galpin and the project team at socialworkresearch@plymouth.ac.uk

Di Galpin is academic lead for social work at Plymouth University 

By Robin Miller and Catherine Mangan, senior fellows at the Health Services Management Centre and Institute of Local Government Studies, University of Birmingham

“Some GPs are very prescriptive. They think if someone’s got dementia they need 24/7 institutional care, which isn’t always the case” – a social worker.

“Social work training is varied – they go to college, not necessarily university, I’m not sure there is a university degree for social work” – a GP.

Health and social care professionals all have perceptions about one another. But to make integrated care a reality, it’s important to unpick some of the issues behind the stereotypes.

We know the relationship between GPs and social workers is crucial, but it is often difficult. These services have existed in parallel and communicated only when necessary. In many ways, we have just accepted this as a consequence of their different approach and interests.

Power is also an issue – general practice and social work are the main professions within their respective services and perhaps don’t like to compromise as a result. Both professions have the best interests of the service user at their heart, but often have alternative views on how someone should be supported.

The two services are also very busy and the increasing demands can be a barrier to learning about the other – even though this will make their work more efficient in the long run.

Action research project

We were funded by the West Midlands Academic Health Science Network to undertake an action research project that would explore what the relationship between adults’ social workers and general practice teams is like in today’s policy and practice.

The project had two major components. We undertook some qualitative fieldwork with groups of professionals from the two services, which looked at the current perceptions and experiences of collaboration with one another. The second part was to develop some training materials that would enable the two services to work better together. These materials are hosted exclusively on Community Care Inform Adults.

What did we find?

The negative perceptions professionals had of each other really outweighed the positives and impacted on the working relationships that they had.

There was a very big gap in terms of knowledge and understanding of each other’s roles. For example, GPs didn’t understand the day-to-day social work roles, the cases they hold, funding constraints, or the training they have to undertake.

There was also a very strong sense of hierarchy. Social workers felt GPs were at the top of this hierarchy and this meant there was a lack of constructive challenge between adult social work and general practice teams.

Overall, there was a lack of effective inter-professional working relationships, a lack of effective communication and as a result the joint decisions being made were not as effective as they could have been.

Top tips to help social workers and GPs work better together

1. Don’t be afraid to ask other professionals about their roles and professional backgrounds – if we don’t understand each other, it’s harder to work well together.
2. Encourage your team to share insights into how the other services work – and make sure someone finds out any details no one is sure of.
3. Don’t assume that others will have been kept up to speed with changes within your organisation – be proactive in checking that they understand new initiatives and structures.
4. When a new staff member joins the team, ensure a visit to other health and social care services is part of their induction. This is a great opportunity for someone to start developing contacts and to ask questions that others may benefit from.
5. Incorporate some ‘socialising’ into multi-disciplinary team meetings. This helps to develop that vital personal connection. It might not feel like the best use of time, but deepening your understanding of one another will improve the effectiveness of working relationships.

Final thoughts…

Challenging other professionals is often a hard thing to do, but constructive disagreement is an essential part of developing a holistic response to a service user’s needs.

A record number of social workers are set to head to Community Care Live Birmingham next week.

So far, more than 2,600 social workers and related professionals have signed up for the two-day event, which will feature more than 40 sessions covering the hottest topics in both adults’ and children’s social work.

Community Care Live Birmingham takes place on 10 and 11 May at the Birmingham ICC and is free for registered social workers and local authority commissioners and directors.

The 2,600-plus who have already registered for the Birmingham City Council-sponsored event include social workers from 175 local authorities, representing 80% of the UK.

Radicalisation

At the event children and families’ social workers can learn about how social work is addressing radicalisation in Luton, hear from experts on the issues around the recording of child protection meetings and learn more about the fostering and adoption of children with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

For adults’ social workers there are sessions on hoarding, tackling mate crime against people with learning disabilities and working with people near the end of life among many others.

Managers and commissioners can learn about the initial insights from the Care Quality Commission’s market oversight scheme, get advice on what makes good social work managers and hear about linking payment to better outcomes.

Cheshire West

Community Care Live Birmingham also sees the return of the popular mock courts, where legal experts offer practical advice on how to prepare and cope with court work.

The mock court sessions at Community Care Live Birmingham, which is sponsored by Norfolk County Council, include preparing balance-sheets for court proceedings, the key case law to emerge since Cheshire West and how to cope with cross-examinations.

How to register

You can find out much more about what’s happening at Community Care Live Birmingham in the pre-event guide and sign up to attend the event online.

by Professor Martin Webber

Last year I led a team from the University of York and University of Central Lancashire to successfully bid to run the academic teaching on the Think Ahead programme – the new graduate-entry scheme for mental health social work.

When I first read the report which made the case for Think Ahead, I was sceptical. I’ve since progressed from being a sceptic to a supporter, realising that – while Think Ahead is not a silver bullet – it has the potential to help transform mental health social work.

Like many, I had concerns about Think Ahead. Would the programme give participants enough knowledge and experience before they began practising? Would it focus on applicants with prestigious degrees rather than suitability for the role? Did it herald the introduction of specialisation in social work?

From the outset Think Ahead has taken these issues seriously and worked with social workers, service users, carers, and the wider community to develop its approach. The programme’s genuinely consultative process, which for me started with contributing to Think Ahead’s call for input and culminated in designing the curriculum, has addressed my concerns.

We have planned the programme to ensure participants learn at a rapid but safe pace, stretched and supported in equal measure.

They do six weeks of intense preparation before they enter the workplace, then spend their first year in a unit under the supervision of a consultant social worker (who has legal responsibility for the unit’s cases), with guidance from academic tutors from two very experienced university social work teams.

By the end of the year, when they gain a postgraduate diploma and can apply to become social workers, they will have built up more days of pre-qualifying experience than students on our other undergraduate and postgraduate social work courses.

It’s true that, in amongst applicants from over 140 different universities, Think Ahead has attracted many from Oxbridge and the Russell Group. That means we are reaching a group who are simply not entering the profession at present. We should welcome ambitious, enthusiastic, and talented graduates, provided they share our social work values and have the attributes to make excellent practitioners.

I’ve seen candidates being put through their paces, and once they step into the Think Ahead assessment centre their degree is irrelevant. What matters is how they perform in exercises designed and assessed by social workers and service users.

I would worry about splitting social work into separate specialisms, but that’s not what Think Ahead is doing.

The programme has a strong focus on mental health experience for people aiming to work in the field, which is much-needed given that there are few placement opportunities in community mental health teams. But it includes experience in other services, notably children and families social work teams, and leads to a generic qualification.

Think Ahead isn’t a replacement for specialist post-qualification training, which I strongly believe in, but I have found that difficult to achieve in the current environment. Above all, I applied to lead the development and delivery of the programme’s teaching because I believe it has the potential to make a difference.

It’s an opportunity to bring social work research, education, and practice closer together. The training model involves academics more in practice education and assessment, which allows participants to enhance practice skills with theory and research. This particularly supports training in evidence-informed social interventions, which most courses can only achieve at an introductory level.

More than that, Think Ahead is an opportunity to influence the future of mental health social work. The role’s identity has become too closely bound with its statutory functions; we need to challenge the bureaucratisation and medicalisation of mental health services, and unlock the therapeutic potential inherent in social work. To this end, Think Ahead is working closely with Ruth Allen and her colleagues implementing the Social Work for Better Mental Health strategy.

Social workers need to engage not only with individuals with mental health problems, but also with their families and friends, and the communities in which they live. The social dimension of mental health care is frequently neglected, and social workers are best placed to do something about this.

There is consensus about this vision amongst social work practitioners, managers, leaders, educators, and students – which has come through strongly in national discussions convened by Think Ahead – and as defined in The Role of the Social Worker in Adult Mental Health Services. I believe Think Ahead has the potential to catalyse change, and as a result to significantly improve outcomes for people experiencing mental health difficulties.

My position has always been to critically engage with new initiatives like Think Ahead, and I intend to continue doing just that.