SWEP was established in early 2019 and has since worked on developing and implementing a national infrastructure.
One of the main initial objectives of SWEP is to ensure that all social work students have access to high-quality Practice Learning Opportunities (PLOs), particularly in statutory settings within Local Authorities. This is essential for developing a skilled and competent social work workforce and for enhancing career pathways.
At present, there is no formal national infrastructure in place that supports PLOs. PLOs take place within both statutory and voluntary services across a wide range of settings. Data from 2020-21 shows that nationally, only 46.8% of all PLOs took place within a Local Authority setting, meaning that many students are qualifying without this practice.
The current model in Scotland for securing PLOs for social work students is based on goodwill between host organisations (both Local Authority and Third Sector) and Higher Education Institutes (HEIs). The shortcomings of the existing goodwill approach are well documented and continue to present challenges to all partners involved.
The impact upon placements throughout the pandemic has magnified the fragility of the current approach and the need for solutions to ensure that students can qualify on time and with adequate preparation for their Newly Qualified and Supported Year in practice. The challenges facing the provision of statutory PLOs are particularly acute, with Local Authority PLOs being on a downward trajectory for several years.
Overarching Principles
SWEP have given substantial consideration to models that currently exist in other countries and other professions. The future model of infrastructure must be bespoke to the needs, professional landscape, and geography of Scotland.
The analysis of key current challenges faced in Scotland helped inform our overarching principles:
- Partnership working between HEIs and Employers should be at the centre of social work education from the outset of the degree course and throughout.
- Promoting a shared professional learning culture through knowledge exchange and research in all parts of qualifying education and social work practice.
- Social work students across Scotland should have consistency of experience and equity of opportunity, regardless of their geographical location, qualification route, or academic institution.
- Workforce planning should begin at the point of entry to social work qualification routes, ensuring that we are training enough social workers to deliver high-quality services and achieve policy directives.
- All social work students undertaking qualification routes via Scottish HEIs should be guaranteed that at least one of their assessed PLOs takes place within a Local Authority setting.
Stakeholder Engagement (Key Messages)
The SWEP Programme Office has led on in-depth stakeholder engagement. Sector partners include HEIs, Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), Employers (both Local Authority and Third Sector), Students, Scottish Government and more. Partners attended engagement sessions to discuss and provide expertise on current successes, local and national challenges, areas of risk, interdependencies and broader issues.
The key messages which arose include:
- The challenges presented by a lack of robust workforce planning and no link between workforce planning and pre-qualification education.
- The need for better support, ongoing development, Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and real investment for those involved in management and assessment of students.
- The lack of remuneration or protected time for Practice Educators and Link Workers.
- The lack of governance and quality assurance for Practice Educators and Link Workers.
- The challenges presented by the current inconsistent approach to student matching.
- Negative experiences of imbalanced partnerships and variable communication between HEIs and PLO providers/employers.
- Concerns that the current curriculum isn’t aligned with the realities of frontline practice.
- Challenges faced due to variations in paperwork for student assessment between HEIs/courses.
Timeline
Initial proposals were agreed upon in early 2022, however this work was subsequently paused due to a Scottish Government wide funding review. The work recommenced in Autumn 2023, with full stakeholder engagement taking place from March 2024.
This timeline sets out the work underway and anticipated across 2024:
