BSc (Hons) Social Work

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

This module builds upon teaching themes and your learning at Level 4. In line with the requirements of the Practice Capabilities Framework (PCF), the module aims to support you to demonstrate your Professional Capability at end of First Placement level (British Association of Social Work, 2018). The module teaching will provide you with the foundation for your practice, with teaching focused on; completing the Level 5 Practice Learning Documentation (including a practice learning agreement), identification of learning to date and placement learning needs, supervision, direct observations, linking theory to practice and the opportunity to develop your self-awareness and critical reflection in practice.
As well as preparing you for practice, 70 placement days are attached to this module. Within the placement element, you will work with social work practitioners, people with care and support needs as well as other professionals and will be provided with learning opportunities to develop knowledge, skills and values enabling you to demonstrate the End of First Placement Professional Capabilities as well as an ability to work within Social Work England’s Professional Standards for Social Work.
Within a designated placement setting, you will take responsibility for your conduct, practice and learning as well as demonstrating your professional development by developing your skills of relationship building and undertaking interventions in collaboration with people with care and support needs.
The module will assist you in developing your appreciation of critical reflection on your own professional journey and viewing this as a key skill for becoming an effective practitioner, able to respond to changing service contexts.

This module has been designed to support you to recognise key concepts and underpinning knowledge about social work assessment and intervention to promote change with people who use care and support services. You will examine a range of assessment and intervention methods and approaches within the social work process, and you will be encouraged to explain and distinguish between the various intervention approaches and models of assessment through a range of teaching and learning strategies. The module aims to orientate you to the breadth of relevant social work knowledge and skills, as well as the language and key terms used within assessment and intervention processes. This module builds upon learning at Level 4 and aims to support you to extend and develop further practice -based skills which can then be applied within an assessed practice learning opportunity. The 70-day placement offered at Level 5 will afford you the opportunity to apply the knowledge, skills and values developed in this module in practice with people who use care and support services and other professionals in practice settings, whilst demonstrating professional practice informed by the PCF and Social Work England’s Professional Standards. A key standard that underpins this module is the use of assessment and intervention to promote the rights, strengths and wellbeing of people, families, and communities.
In accordance with Social Work England’s Professional Standards, the module will assist you in developing knowledge and skills for working in partnership with people who use care and support services to identify their strengths and needs, challenge disadvantage and promote rights. By assisting you to develop skills in recognising and using power and authority in the assessment process and developing knowledge of where interventions are necessary, the module will contribute towards ensuring that social work interventions are proportionate and in the best interests of people who use care and support services.

The purpose of this module is to enable you to understand and explore the detailed application of the law in relation to social work practice in statutory, voluntary and community contexts, and in which it applies to children, young people and adults when your role is concerned with safeguarding and promoting the well- being of individuals, families and carers. You will examine the interface between the law, social work values and social work ethics, in order to consider how legal and policy frameworks are used to promote and sometimes restrict the rights of service users. You will also have an opportunity to consider how the law may be used to promote anti–oppressive and inclusive practice. You will reflect upon the complexity of contemporary universal and national laws, and the social and political contexts within service delivery settings. You will also develop your learning in relation to values, diversity, law and social justice within the Professional Capabilities Framework

This module aims to support you to move from an ability to draw on an understanding of social and psychological factors in interpreting situations to apply critically such knowledge in interpreting risk and promoting resilience. You will explore ways of using evidence to inform decision-making and interventions and draw on techniques for appraising the usefulness of evidence. This will inform your consideration of resilience and risk as key themes for understanding human development and be contextualised by an understanding of theories for interpreting human development, such as attachment theory. This module will further equip you with the underpinning knowledge needed to work effectively with individuals from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences.

This module aims to build on your learning from the Year 1 “Academic Information Skills and Critical Reflection” module (SW4005). It aims to support you to move from being able to locate and make an initial critical appraisal of knowledge towards a deeper understanding of different forms of research evidence and their value for social work practice. The curriculum will therefore focus on developing your skills in evaluating the quality and relevance of research. This is with a view to supporting your ability to inform your future practice with high quality and up to date evidence and engage in effective lifelong learning. The assignment will invite you to explore and critically appraise research-based knowledge in an area of your interest relevant to social work practice.