The new social work degree in England: fresh policies and new students?

1
The new social work degree in England fresh
policies and new students?

• Shereen Hussein
• Social Care Workforce Research Unit
• Kings College London
• On behalf of the Evaluation of Social Work
  Degree Qualification in England Team

2
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)

3
Recruitment

• Enrolments have increased since new degree was
  announced in 2001

4
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

5
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.

6
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 (lt25 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).

9
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 whichI find extremely difficult
  because they have limited life experience
  andthey 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 alarger number from the Asian
  communities coming through the social work.
  Particularlyits 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, Kings 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 Kings 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)