Specialist Social Work (Adults) (Children and Families) BA

About the Course

This programme will develop your in-depth knowledge and understanding of a specialist area of social work, and will help you to apply this knowledge in practice.

The programme follows two pathways:

Adults
Children and Families

It covers all the units of the National Occupational Standards for Social Work in direct work with users of social care services and carers. It draws on knowledge and understanding of service users’ and carers’ issues to actively contribute to strategies and practice which promote service users’ and carers’ rights and participation, in line with the goals of choice, independence and empowerment.

Aims

You will learn to think critically about your own practice in the context of the General Social Care Council codes, including the embedded values and national and international codes of professional ethics and the principles of diversity, equality and social inclusion. This is related to a wide range of situations, including those associated with inter-agency and inter-professional work.

Using theories, models and relevant up-to-date research, you will learn to manage your own work effectively and demonstrate a capacity to plan for, and respond to, change in organisational, inter-organisational and team contexts.

Enquiries

Keith Goodman
School of Health Sciences and Social Care
Brunel University
Uxbridge
Middlesex
UB8 3PH

Tel: +44 (0)1895 268767
Email: socialwork@brunel.ac.uk

Special Features

Mary Seacole Building: the home of the School of Health Sciences & Social Care

The multi-million pound building houses over 1,500 people following the relocation of the school from the Osterley Campus.

The School of Health Sciences and Social Care students benefit from a diverse range of student-focused facilitie. The facilities are available to the students across all of our courses within the school.

The Biosciences Teaching Laboratories, located in the Heinz Wolff Building, were recently refurbished to bring them up to date with modern lab equipment and student learning material.

Within the Mary Seacole Building, students benefit from a range of modern facilities including a gym, resource rooms, practice rooms with a range of training aids, laboratories with modern learning equipment, art rooms, keep-living suite, observation rooms and work rehabilitation rooms. The building also includes some of the best skill teaching rooms for those in the practice profession.

Course Content

Core Modules

Adults Pathway

Critical Perspectives on Assessment and Direct Work with Adults (15 credits)
Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults, Critical Decisions in Work with Adults: Law, Policy and Practice (15 credits)
Working Together to Promote Independence, Well Being and Choice: Critical Perspectives on Multi-agency Working (15 credits)
Assessment of Specialist Practice (15 credits)
Enabling The Learning and Assessment of Others
Research Project (30 credits)

Children and Families

Critical Perspectives on Direct Work with Vulnerable Children, Young People and Families (15 credits)
Safeguarding Children, Critical Decisions in Child Care: Law, Policy and Practice (15 credits)
Working Together to Safeguard Children: Critical Perspectives in Multi-agency working (15 credits)
Assessment of Specialist Practice (15 credits)
Enabling The Learning and Assessment of Others (15 credits)
Research Project (30 credits)

A total of 90 credits are required for the award of the Graduate Certificate in Specialist Social Work.

A total of 120 credits are required for the award of the BA in Specialist Social Work.

Teaching and Learning

Teaching methods include:

Lectures
Small group and large group seminar discussions
Role play
Videos followed by discussion
Case discussions
Practice assessment
Tutorial support
Online eLearning
Personal study involving directed reading and assignment preparation
Supervision by line manager

Assessment

Assessment includes a critical career review; a case study; practice assessments; and a research project.

Employability

Brunel has always placed great emphasis on developing graduates who can innovate and implement, and who can add value to society through their industry. Brunel students become the kind of graduates who employers want to recruit, and as a result they currently enjoy the 13th highest starting salaries in the UK. This success is down to a several factors.

Combining academic study with work experience
Creative and forward-looking subjects
An award-winning careers service
Working while they study
The entrepreneurial spirit

For more information, go to our Employability page.

Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey

These statistics relate to graduates from a number of different pathways – Biomedical Sciences, Biochemistry, Forensics, Genetics, Human Health, Immunology.

Graduates from these subjects tend to fall broadly into two groups – those who wish to work in life science professions and those who use their degree as a route into careers that are not directly related to the subject studied.

In 2010/11, six months after graduating:

57.4% of graduates with a first degree were in employment
29.4% were in full-time further study
2.9% were combining work and study

Fees for 2013/14 entry

£420 per 15 credit module.

We are introducing over 700 scholarships for 2013, meaning that one in five applicants who join Brunel next year will receive financial support from the University. See our fees and funding page for full details

Fees quoted are per annum and are subject to an annual increase.

Entry Requirements for 2013 Entry

Recognised Social Work qualification (CSS, CQSW or DipSW) with a minimum of 240 credits or equivalent.
Current employment in direct practice as a social worker and registration with the General Social Care Council.

Candidates must provide satisfactory evidence that they are:

suitable for post-qualification education;
able to work directly with service users including those from different backgrounds, of different ages, and with different needs;
likely to benefit from the programme;
capable of meeting the assessment requirements.

All candidates must be nominated and supported by their employing agency, which will undertake to provide support and appropriate learning opportunities.

Applicants with other qualifications and experience will be considered on an individual basis. APL (Accreditation of Prior learning) will be applied to credits gained on social work qualification courses, and will be considered on an individual basis for those who have already completed parts of the previous Post Qualifying Award in Social Work. The University will apply a maximum to the number of credits for which APL will be granted. Successful applicants will not be permitted to register for the BA programme until they have gained the credits for the appropriate Consolidation module as Associate students, or have satisfied APL requirements for this module.

English Language Requirements

IELTS: 7 (min 6.5 in all areas)
TOEFL Paper test: 600 (TWE 5)
TOEFL Internet test: 100 (R20, L20, S20, W20)
Pearson: 66 (59 in all subscores)
BrunELT 70% (65% in all areas)

Brunel also offers our own BrunELT English Test and accept a range of other language courses. We also have a range of Pre-sessional English language courses, for students who do not meet these requirements, or who wish to improve their English.