The new social work degree in England: fresh policies and

new students?

Shereen Hussein*

Social Care Workforce Research Unit

King’s College London

* On behalf of the Evaluation of Social Work Degree Qualification in England Team

JSWEC 2009

Methods

Multi method evaluation 2004-2007– Series of national online surveys for students

• Around 3000 responses– Secondary analysis of enrolment data provided by

General Social Care Council (GSCC)• A total of over 25,000 students records from 2001-06

– Telephone/ email surveys of HEIs providing degree programmes (195 responses)

– Case studies of six randomly selected HEIs providing nine qualifying programmes (315 people)

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Recruitment• Enrolments have increased since new degree was

announced in 2001

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More of the same or different? (1)• Need ‘a highly skilled, valued and accountable workforce

drawn from all sections of the community’ (Options for Excellence)

• Similarities with DipSW– Fewer than 20 per cent are men

– Around 20 per cent are from a black and minority ethnic group

– Around 10 per cent have a disability

• Differences from DipSW– Around 10 per cent define themselves as Black African

– Almost 15 per cent are aged under 20

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More of the same or different? (2)• A statistically significant correlation between

gender and ethnicity among both DipSW and new degree students.– Men were more likely than women to come from a

Black background.

• Age distribution among women was significantly different from that among men students both for the DipSW and the new degree.

– Women were significantly younger than men.

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More of the same or different? (3)

• The proportion of students identifying themselves as Black was significantly different from White students or students from Other ethnic backgrounds across both the last three cohorts of the DipSW and the first three cohorts of the degree. – Black students tended to be older

– With the advent of the new degree, the proportion of young (<25 years) Black students has increased to 18 per cent but remains much lower than that among white students

• So far as the data provided– There was an evident decline on both employment based and part

time routes since the start of the new degree when compared to the DipSW

– May partly be attributed to changes in the way the GSCC record data

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Summary of recruitment data (1):• Increase in number of students

• Decline in flexible routes (employment based and part time)– Possibly temporarily (more evidence needed)

• Clear evidence of an increase in the diversity of social work students in terms of their (younger) ages and ethnicity.

• Men and certain ethnic groups eg Asians continue to be under represented.

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Summary of recruitment data (2):• The proportion of students with disabilities

appears broadly static– around 10% - slightly higher than % of students

declaring disabilities at all higher education institutes (DIUS 2009).

• This poses considerable challenges if the aim of achieving a workforce that reflects the population it serves is to be achieved but this of course is naive (eg in terms of age/frailty etc).

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Students’ characteristics and progression

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Summary of progression

• Younger students more likely to withdraw• Pass rate are significantly lower among

students from Black and other ethnicity • Fail and referral rates higher among Black,

other ethnicities and students 45 years old or more

• Further work with more data showed these difference are still significant for the next cohort (Hussein et al 2009)

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Explanations? (1)

It's just the expectation that we should take on younger students which…I find extremely difficult because they have limited life experience and…they may have some better educational qualifications but they're just children.(Case studies, Admissions Tutor, Time Two)

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Explanations? (2)

• ‘...we seemed to be put under pressure in the first year to take 18 and 19 year olds... some of them turned out well... a number of them, not surprisingly, have struggled and there's ones who have even left. And the quality of work they did was not very good...either written work or on placement.’

(Case Studies, Senior HEI/Social work Staff, Time Two)

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Explanations? (3)

I think I noted too that this might be something internal to some of the community, but there seems to be a…larger number from the Asian communities coming through the social work. Particularly…it’s beginning to be seen as an OK profession for … a bit gender related, for largely the young women in those communities.

(Case studies, Programme leader, Time One)

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Explanations? (4)

The ‘struggle’ in practice placements by younger students was reiterated by other staff members:

The younger students, the 18 year old students, that is a worry to me. Some of them are extremely enthusiastic and bright, but finding placements for them and placing them in the statutory sector worries me.'

(Case Studies, Practice Learning Coordinator, Time One).

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Implications & discussion

• Practice placements

• Peer and teacher-students relationships

• Academic attainment and progression

• Entry requirements and diversity

• Career progression

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References: • Evaluation of Social Work Degree Qualification in England

Team (2008) Evaluation of the New Social Work Degree Qualification in England, Final Report to the Department of Health, Glasgow School of Social Work, Sharpe Research and Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King’s College London.

• Hussein S., Moriarty J. and Manthorpe J. (2009) Variations in progression of social work students in England: Using Student Data to Help Promote Achievement: Undergraduates fulltime students’ progression on the social work degree. Full report, the General Social Care Council, London.

• DIUS (2009) Disabled Students and Higher Education, Higher Education Analysis, Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills

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Research team

Glasgow School of Social Work

Sharpe Research

King’s College London

Joan Orme Endellion Sharpe

Jill Manthorpe

Gillian MacIntyre

Shereen Hussein

Pam Green Lister

Jo Moriarty

Kate Cavanagh (1951-2008)Stirling

Martin Stevens

Beth Crisp (Deakin)

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