Diversity in Progression and Achievement in the Social Work Degree

1
Diversity in Progression and Achievement in the
Social Work Degree

• A workshop to share learning and experience about
  promoting equality and diversity in social work
  education and training

2
Background and context

• History of the project
• The project team
• The workshop aims
• - up date on research
• - learning from research the expert
• seminar
• - sharing ideas and building strategies

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Key aims of project

• Working together to a common purpose of promoting
  equality and diversity in SWET
• Understanding the complexities of differential
  progression
• Providing a comparative analysis and awareness or
  changing contexts
• Sharing learning to improve practice

4
Principles and process

• Collaborative working drawing on a broad range
  of skills/expertise/data
• Use of multiple research methodologies
• Sharing information/accessibility to research
• Dynamic process from tacit learning to
  adjustments to practice
• Drawing on shared learning to build strategies

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What has been done so far

• Quantitative analyses of DipSW students
  progression for cohorts 1995-98
• Information on 10,891 full time students and
  1,209 part time and distance students
• Qualitative case studies in four sites
• Interviews and focus groups with 34 students, 16
  tutors and 7 university staff
• Expert seminar (March 07) to share ideas and
  views of stakeholders

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Findings quantitative data

• Progression rates were significantly different
• Among different students
• Across different types of HEI
• These students were significantly less likely to
  complete on time
• Men
• Students with any form of disability
• Students from BME groups
• Some indication that diversity of student cohort
  has mixed effect on individual progression

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Findings case studies

• Issues identified included
• Existence of support systems on programmes and
  within the HEI.
• Role of learning support and student counselling
  services
• Willingness of students to access these services
• Delays resulting from under recognition of issues
  such as dyslexia before students begin a
  programme
• Issues about identity and belonging
• Programme organisation, such as arrangements for
  practice placements

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Findings expert seminar

• Widening participation strategies their impact
  upon student support resources
• Role of tutor in SW courses impact of large
  student numbers
• Ensure SW curriculum does not replicate
  structural inequalities
• Difficulties in practice learning provision
  impact upon student achievement progression
• Range of approaches to suit student group

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Findings expert seminar

• Skills for Care funded project
• ?support for BME students in practice learning
• ?support for practice assessors
• Project funded by HEI WP budget
• ?poor standard of written work, emerged during
  practice learning
• ?Black women, mature, negative education
  experiences

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Findings expert seminar

• Strategies
• Specific modules Approaches to learning (MMU)
• Learning for Professional Practice
  (UoB)
• Study skills
• Mentoring Peer support/ e-buddy systems
• On-line support e learning use of VLE
• University systems Study support
• Support for second language speakers
• Disability support
• 
  STAR boards (UoB)
• Personal tutor role Monitoring student progress

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Findings expert seminar

• Developing a strategic approach to retention
• Embed notions of support for learning into the
  whole programme, not just for minority students
• Early identification of additional support needs,
  disability, language, caring responsibilities,
  etc.
• Pre-course engagement strategy
• Taster days
• On-line support
• Reading lists, etc.
• Information on assessment
• Coherent approach to e learning and virtual
  learning environments
• Linking programme team with institutional support
  systems
• Early engagement in personal tutor relationship

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Current work

• New in-depth analyses cover
• Nine academic cohorts (1998-07)
• Full and part time students
• DipSW (1998-04) and new degree (2003-07)
• 48,652 enrolments
• Longitudinal data on 33,036 students progression
  records
• Early stage in the analysis but hope to
• Examine individual and HEI effects
• Multilevel modelling
• Look at differences in deferrals and
  referrals separately

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Early results

• Trends in students profile
• Slight change in ethnicity with more students
  identifying themselves as Black during the last
  few cohorts
• Almost uniform proportions of students with
  disability with a similar distribution by type of
  disability
• Results
• Slightly more referrals than deferrals during
  03-04 cohort
• Diversity in proportion of students referred or
  deferred according to ethnicity still exists over
  the years

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Next steps in analyses

• In-depth analyses of
• Changing SW students profiles
• Students progression taking into account
• student characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity,
  disability, financial support, previous
  educational attainment)
• group composition
• programme type (under or post graduates)
• HEI effects
• Multilevel modelling techniques
• Relative importance of individual and HEI effects
• Differentiate between probability of being
  referred or deferred separately

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Collaboration for in-depth explanatory
qualitative analysis

• DH Social Care Workforce Research Initiative
• Team of researchers from Goldsmiths, University
  of London
• Builds on previous and current quantitative and
  qualitative analyses of the group
• Undertaking In-depth explanatory qualitative case
  studies in eight social work programmes
• focusing on the experience of BME, gay and
  lesbian students and students with disabilities

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Group members

• Regulators (GSCC)
• Helen Wenman, Bharat Chauhan, Gwynne Jones
• Researchers (SCWRU)
• Shereen Hussein, Jo Moriarty, Jill Manthorpe
• Social work educators
• Amanda Thorpe Jane McLenachan
• Researchers/educators (Goldsmiths College)
• Claudia Bernard, Anna Fairtlough, Joan Fletcher