Social Work

Do you want to work within the community to encourage change and help others? We can help you harness your passion and become a confident and fully qualified social worker, allowing you to make a positive difference in vulnerable and disadvantaged people's lives.

Our social work degree is approved by Social Work England, and is designed to give you the knowledge, practical experience and connections that will allow you to kickstart a successful career in social work.

What’s more, our social work courses are ranked in the top 25 in the UK overall, and 2nd in the North West for students satisfied with teaching (Guardian University Guide 2023 Results).

Course Overview
On this course, you’ll get hands-on experience and the chance to talk to and work with people in the care system. You will gain insight into your future profession with 170 days of placements (70 days in year two and 100 days in year three). Our expert tutors will teach you theory through lectures, seminars and hands-on practice using facilities including hands-on training for social practice including simulations of home visits, hospital discharge meetings and court work. You will learn to work as a team and develop leadership skills to boost your confidence and future career.

You'll benefit from our great reputation as a provider when applying for jobs. Upon graduation, you will be eligible to apply for registration as a social worker with Social Work England. You'll be in the ideal position for a career as a professional social worker or practitioner.

On this course you will

• Have access to people with lived experience of social work services, allowing you to speak to people who have had social workers in their lives. They will talk to you about their experiences within social work.

• Learn from lecturers who take pride in being approachable and caring for your health and wellbeing. They will provide excellent support to you throughout the programme.

• Study social work using transformative learning, including simulations of hospital discharge meetings and mock case conferences. Our mock hospital ward and mock house will help you develop your practical skills.

• Be taught by registered social workers with many years of experience in both adult and children services. Their experience is used to guide your learning in real-life scenarios.

• Complete 170 days of professional placements, allowing you to gain real-world experience and boost your key skills ready for when you become a qualified social worker.

What you will learn
Social workers assist and support the most vulnerable people in society either by protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse or through supporting people in overcoming and dealing with addiction, illness, or disability.

As part of this programme, you will engage with complex issues that impact diverse communities and affect contemporary social work practice. You will gain experience and confidence through supervised practice, developing the knowledge, skills, and understanding needed to excel in Social Work. Within our Institute of Health, you will have the opportunity to engage with students in other disciplines in authentic ways, gaining a wider awareness of their roles and how to work in multi-agency teams. For example, experiential learning opportunities, such as our court day experience take place throughout each year.

We also offer the option to study 1 year of our Health and Social Care IFY before beginning this course. Not only will this prepare you to succeed in your BA, with key modules in academic and professional skills as well as baseline introductions to mental health and human anatomy, it is also ideal for those applicants who do not hold the required qualifications for direct entry but are passionate about pursuing social work. You will also be supported by our academic team to make a strong application to your chosen transfer course.

Year one

• Law and Social Policy
  Introduction to social welfare, social policy, and social work legislation.
• Politics, Discrimination and Social Justice
  Introduction to a range of theories and debates regarding inequality, social justice, diversity, and the distribution of power present within contemporary society.
• Professional Skills 1: Core Skills for Working with People
  Introduction to the professional skills that are core to social work practice and essential when working with people with a variety of needs.
• Development through the Life Course
  Develop an understanding of human development through the life-course.
• Experts By Experience
  Gain an in-depth understanding of how service users and carers experience social care and social work intervention.
• Safeguarding Adults and Children
  Introduction to the knowledge required to identify safeguarding issues for both adults and children and to formulate actions to protect vulnerable people.

Year two

• Professional Skills 2: Applying Models of Assessment and Intervention in Practice
  Build upon Professional Skills 1 by extending and developing your key skills set for social work practice.
• Understanding and Developing Research and Evidence Based Practice
  Learn to critically evaluate research findings in published research and utilise the findings as a basis for evidence based practice.
• First Placement
• Reflection on Practice
  Learn to reflect upon core social work knowledge, values, and skills.
• Working with Children
  Build on knowledge of social work theory and social work legislation relevant to the field of children and families work.
• Working with Adults
  Build on knowledge of social work theory and social work legislation relevant for the field of adult social work.

Year three

• Professional Skills 3: Specialist Skills for Social Work Practice
  Building upon the previous two Professional Skills module, this module will equip you with the advanced and specialised social work skills required for practice.
• Dissertation
• Critical Evaluation of Social Work Practice
  Develop the ability to critically reflect, analyse and evaluate the knowledge, values, and skills developed throughout the programme and identify how theory, models of intervention, research and professional values can be synthesised in the field.
• Organisational Factors and Leadership in Social Work
  Develop an understanding of the organisational contexts of social work practice.
• Contemporary Issues in Social Work
  Enhance understanding of current issues which influence or impact contemporary social work.
• Final Placement

Formative assessment is an assignment that provides students with the opportunity to practise a task that is similar or relevant to the actual assignment (summative assessment) that they will be set for the module.

Students will complete a formative assessment task to receive feedback that will help them prepare for graded assignments.

Summative assessment refers to the graded assignment that may contribute to the final degree classification. The summative assignments for each module have been designed to develop an aspect of the knowledge, skills, and values required of students to be social workers.