Social Work

If you want a career where you can make a real, positive difference to the lives of people and communities in vulnerable circumstances, then our Social Work degree is the ideal course for you.
This professionally accredited course will give you the academic knowledge and practical workplace experience to begin a career as a registered social worker.

You will spend half of your time on placement with social work agencies, learning through observation and practice, and the other half being taught on our Singleton Park campus.

You will develop excellent research and analytical skills and learn to communicate your ideas effectively both verbally and in writing.

Our course is recognised by the regulatory bodies in the other UK nations, so on completion, you can register as a qualified social worker.

We have exceptional links with social services agencies in south and west Wales, and in local authority and voluntary sectors, offering placements in a range of settings.

You can study some modules through the medium of Welsh and may be eligible for internal scholarships or financial support through Coleg Cymraeg.

In Year 1, you will typically study areas including: Human Growth and Development; Undertaking and Using Social Work Research for Practice; Introduction to Social Work; Social Work Services in a Diverse Society: Ethics, Values and Anti-Discriminatory Practice; Introduction to Social Work Law; Social Work in Practice; and Practice Learning. Modules have Welsh language options.

In Year 2, you will typically study areas including: Theories and Perspectives in Social Work; Social Work in Practice; Legal issues in Social Work and Social Care; Practice Learning; and Preparation for Practice Learning. Modules have Welsh language options.

In Year 3, you will typically study areas including: Critical Practice in Child Care; Applying Knowledge to Enhance Practice; Practice Learning; Preparation for Practice Learning; and Critical Practice in Adult Community Care. Modules have Welsh language options.

We are proud to provide an outstanding educational experience, using the most effective learning and teaching approaches, carefully tailored to suit the specific needs of your course. Apart from a small number of online-only courses, most of our courses consist of in-person, on-campus teaching, enabling full engagement with your lecturers and fellow students.

Practical skills sessions, lab work seminars, and workshops predominantly take place in person, allowing for group working and demonstrations. We also operate virtual labs and Simulated Learning Environments which will facilitate greater access to training opportunities in the future. However, our approach also includes the use of some online learning to support and enhance traditional face-to-face teaching.

Online learning may take place ‘live’ using software such as Zoom, allowing you to interact with the lecturer and other students and to ask questions. Lecture recordings also allow for more flexibility to revisit material, to revise for assessments and to enhance learning outside of the classroom. Some modules have extra resources in Canvas, such as videos, slides and quizzes enabling further flexible study.

During your degree, you will have 33 hours of teaching contact time for each 20 credit module. We teach through a variety of methods including lectures, seminars and tutorials.

Practice is an integral part of the course with 50% of the course, or 200 days, spent in practice with social work agencies, where you will have the opportunity to learn through observation, rehearsal and performance.

We assess your learning through written essays, oral presentations, group work tasks, IT-based exercises and portfolio work.

Practice placements are assessed by a combination of written work and professional assessments using the National Occupational Standards for Social Work.

This course may offer some modules taught through the medium of Welsh or bilingually for students who consider themselves to be fluent Welsh speakers. For more details on the provision available see the Welsh Provision expander below.