Program Overview

BA (Hons) Social Work

Overview

The BA (Hons) Social Work program is designed to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and values necessary to become a confident and fully qualified social worker. The program is approved by Social Work England and is ranked in the top 25 in the UK overall, and 3rd in the North West for students satisfied with teaching (Guardian University Guide 2023 Results).

Course Structure

The program consists of three years of full-time study, with a focus on transformative learning, hands-on experience, and the development of practical skills.

Year One

• Law and Social Policy: Introduction to social welfare, social policy, and social work legislation.
• Politics, Discrimination and Social Justice: Introduction to a range of theories and debates regarding inequality, social justice, diversity, and the distribution of power present within contemporary society.
• Professional Skills 1: Core Skills for Working with People: Introduction to the professional skills that are core to social work practice and essential when working with people with a variety of needs.
• Development through the Life Course: Develop an understanding of human development through the life-course.
• Experts By Experience: Gain an in-depth understanding of how service users and carers experience social care and social work intervention.
• Safeguarding Adults and Children: Introduction to the knowledge required to identify safeguarding issues for both adults and children and to formulate actions to protect vulnerable people.

Year Two

• Professional Skills 2: Applying Models of Assessment and Intervention in Practice: Build upon Professional Skills 1 by extending and developing your key skills set for social work practice.
• Understanding and Developing Research and Evidence Based Practice: Learn to critically evaluate research findings in published research and utilise the findings as a basis for evidence based practice.
• First Placement: 70 days of social work placement.
• Reflection on Practice: Learn to reflect upon core social work knowledge, values, and skills.
• Working with Children: Build on knowledge of social work theory and social work legislation relevant to the field of children and families work.
• Working with Adults: Build on knowledge of social work theory and social work legislation relevant for the field of adult social work.

Year Three

• Professional Skills 3: Specialist Skills for Social Work Practice: Building upon the previous two Professional Skills module, this module will equip you with the advanced and specialised social work skills required for practice.
• Dissertation: Independently managed social work dissertation, focused on a specialist research topic of choice.
• Critical Evaluation of Social Work Practice: Develop the ability to critically reflect, analyse and evaluate the knowledge, values, and skills developed throughout the programme and identify how theory, models of intervention, research and professional values can be synthesised in the field.
• Organisational Factors and Leadership in Social Work: Develop an understanding of the organisational contexts of social work practice.
• Contemporary Issues in Social Work: Enhance understanding of current issues which influence or impact contemporary social work.
• Final Placement: 100 days of social work placement.

Teaching and Assessment

The program uses a transformative learning approach, which seeks to develop students' understanding, self-awareness, and re-evaluation of their experiences through new knowledge. This approach is facilitated through task-oriented learning, authentic learning, and the understanding of what others communicate in respect of values, ideas, feelings, and morality.

Assessment methods include:

• Formative assessment: assignments that provide students with the opportunity to practise a task that is similar or relevant to the actual assignment.
• Summative assessment: graded assignments that contribute to the final degree classification.

Entry Requirements

• 104-120 UCAS Tariff Points
• GCSE English Language at C/4 or above
• Functional Skills Level 2 in English and Adult Literacy are also accepted

Tuition Fees

• £9,535 (UK)
• £16,900 (International)

Additional Costs

• Books: up to £200 per year
• Stationery: £30-£40 per year
• Clothing and Equipment: smart casual clothes for placements
• Other: £20 for the University of Cumbria's annual social work conference

Selection Criteria

• Commitment to Social Work
• Motivation for choosing Social Work
• Attributes that would be brought to the profession
• Understanding of what social care is and involves
• Excellent communication skills
• Potential to succeed as a health professional

Contextual Admissions

The University of Cumbria uses contextual admissions to make sure that it is accessible to everyone who has the potential to succeed. Qualifications and grades are considered alongside other information that helps universities to identify potential and widen access to university level study.