Social Work

Reasons to choose Kingston

• This course is accredited by Social Work England. Once you graduate, you can apply to register with Social Work England so you can start work as a qualified social worker.

• Kingston is ranked top in London for Social Work (Guardian University Guide 2025).

• Kingston is part of a sector-leading social work teaching partnership network with nine local authorities and three voluntary organisations.

• Our commitment to high quality teaching has been recognised with a Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) Gold rating. The University has received an overall rating of Gold, as well as securing a Gold award in the framework's two new student experience and student outcomes categories.

About this course
This course offers hands-on experience of social work theory, perspectives and models of intervention, and a foundation in ethics, diversity, social policy and law. You’ll study mental health, disability, ageing, adoption, fostering, substance misuse, youth justice, safeguarding, domestic violence and practice research. You’ll learn directly from people with lived experience and social workers in practice. You’ll develop your skills in our award-winning Practice Learning Suite through simulated interactions with people with lived experience.

We have a wide range of placement opportunities throughout South West London and Surrey, including child protection, youth justice, mental health, vulnerable adults settings, schools, drugs and substance misuse services.

Future Skills
Embedded within every course curriculum and throughout the whole Kingston experience, Future Skills will play a role in shaping you to become a future-proof graduate, providing you with the skills most valued by employers such as problem-solving, digital competency, and adaptability.

As you progress through your degree, you'll learn to navigate, explore and apply these graduate skills, learning to demonstrate and articulate to employers how future skills give you the edge.

At Kingston University, we're not just keeping up with change, we're creating it.

Career opportunities
This is an exciting time to enter social work and a very high percentage of graduates quickly obtain qualified social work posts. There are excellent employment and career opportunities in the statutory, voluntary and private sectors for qualified practitioners. Social workers increasingly work in integrated inter-professional teams in social care, health, education and criminal justice settings.