Social Work England has introduced higher standards for education providers, including requirements to support students’ health and wellbeing and offer at least 200 days on placements.
The regulator’s new education and training standards, which came into force on 1 September, also include additional requirements for admissions and higher standards on involving people with lived experience in courses.
But academics said the standards reflected longstanding practice and there were respects in which they needed to go further.
Social Work England consulted on many of the new standards before it went live as the regulator in 2019 but did not include them in its initial education standards, which were adapted from those used by predecessor the Health and Care Professions Council and involved less stringent requirements.
The new standards were due to come into force last year but were delayed due to the pandemic.
Pastoral support for students
Social Work England’s new standards require educators to ensure students “have effective educational and pastoral support to progress through their course and meet the professional standards when they qualify”.The regulator’s previous standards included no requirements on social work education providers to do this.
Under the new requirements, educators must ensure students have access to confidential counselling services, careers advice and support and occupational health services.
Minimum number of placement days
The new standards require providers to ensure that students spend at least 200 days, including up to 30 skills days, on placement in at least two different practice settings that provide contrasting experiences.At least one of these must be a statutory setting and provide students with experience of sufficient numbers of statutory social work tasks involving high-risk decision making and legal interventions.
This is a return to the requirements that existed prior to the HCPC taking responsibility for social work education in 2012, but it has long been standard practice on courses since.
However, during the first coronavirus lockdown, the fact that Social Work England did not specify a minimum number of days meant providers were not in breach of standards if they had to cut, reduce or delay placements.
Under the new standards, unlike their predecessors, providers must also ensure that, while on placements, students have appropriate induction, supervision, support, access to resources and a realistic workload.
