Practice Placements
As part of your studies in social work you will be assessed on academic assignments across the many courses (also known as modules or units) that you will study whilst attending your university. Alongside the academic modules you will also undertake assessed Practice Placements (also known as Practice Learning Opportunities).
Social work is a relational profession and therefore it is essential to offer you the opportunity to apply knowledge, skills and experience gained in your studies and through your own work or life experience in many cases, in a practice setting with service users and colleagues in the field.
Please follow this link to watch a video in which Shahirah Bakar, a social work graduate from Brunei who studied in Scotland, talks about her experience of placements: https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/1_ph3zwoql
The number of days on placement can vary but most universities provide 170 days split into two placements taking place in MSc/MSW years 1 and 2 (BSc years 3 and 4). You should check the exact arrangements with your university. These are usually full time placements (usually 9am-5pm) where you work, on an unpaid basis, within an agency setting. A half day study time is generally allocated to each student weekly during placement.
Practice placements are provided by social work and social care services in local authorities and the third sector (often called voluntary sector). The variety of settings in which social work is practiced is vast and the placements on offer through your university course will reflect this.
Students of social work are expected to contrast the specialist areas of service delivery in these periods of assessed practice. For example, a student may undertake a placement with a children and families focus in Placement 1, followed by a focus on adult services in Placement 2. It is not always possible for students to undertake a placement in a statutory service for a number of reasons, for example, many require students to drive and have access to a car. Your university will, however, ensure that you have two contrasting experiences so you can develop your knowledge and gain an understanding of the social work role in different settings.
Where Will My Placements Be?
Placement agencies exist across the country and whilst your university will aim to match you with a placement within easy travelling distance from where you are living this is not always possible. This is because some agencies will not offer placements every time, some will require students to have access to a car and those within the university who are undertaking the matching process will consider your particular learning and practical needs alongside all the other students in your year group. It is important, therefore, that you prepare for the likelihood of having to travel some distance to get to placement. This can be time consuming and expensive so please factor this in when getting ready to start your course.
Assessment
The Standards in Social Work Education and Ethical Principles set out the knowledge, skills and competences that Social Workers need, and guide the design of approved education programmes, and the criteria by which students will be assessed.
The Framework for Social Work Education with requirements for social work programmes is available on the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) website https://learn.sssc.uk.com/siswe
This applies to the assessment of practice in order to qualify and practice as a social worker in the UK/Scotland. You will be required to register with the SSSC as part of your admissions process.
You will have a Practice Educator (also known as a Practice Teacher) who will have responsibility for facilitating your learning and assessing your practice guided by criteria set out in the Standards in Social Work Education (SiSWE). They will continuously assess your progress throughout placement. The Practice Educator will complete reports at the midway and end points of your placement and will make a recommendation of the outcome to your university. You will be required to pass the placement in order to progress to the next stage of study or to qualify in the case of your final placement.
Support and Supervision
Your Practice Educator will be a practitioner with an additional qualification who is based within the agency or may be an independent or off-site Practice Educator. In either case you will meet with that person weekly for a minimum of 1.5 hours to receive support and supervision.
You may also have an identified Link Supervisor (also known as Link Worker) who will support your day to day placement requirements and may be a senior or experienced agency based practitioner within the team in which you are placed. This person will usually arrange your induction, shadowing opportunities, work allocation and give regular on-site guidance to you during placement. They will contribute their assessment of your practice to the Practice Educator’s mid-point and end point reports.