Do you want to make a real difference in people's lives? Study social work with us and you could enter a variety of careers working with children, families, young offenders, crime victims, people with disabilities and anyone else in need of a helping hand.
Social workers are professionally qualified staff who assess the needs of service users and provide care and support to those in need.
They work with individuals, families and organisations to provide a suitable package of care. Your education, training, and practical experience will help you to interpret the problems individuals face and support them in finding solutions.
You will need to have a high level of commitment, be quick thinking and provide a good level of judgement to succeed in this role as well as take on a lot of responsibility for the decisions you make.
"I look at situations in a different way and the course has made me want to become a social worker more than ever." - Charlotte Chambers, BA (Hons) Social Work student
Entry onto our Social Work courses will depend on your level of expertise and experience and you will be required to register with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Any experience gained in Social Care, whether voluntarily or paid will be beneficial in commencing a career in Social Work. If you don't have a degree then you should consider the BA (Hons) Social Work. Those with a relevant degree and experience may consider studying the MA Social Work.
The following courses can be studied to become a qualified Social Worker.
Social work training requires students to carry out 200 days of assessed practice in a placement setting. Practice placements represent 50% of the course and whilst there you will be required to apply knowledge, skills and values to the practice setting. Currently, placement days take place over 30 days in Year 1, 70 days in Year 2 and 100 days in Year 3. You are required to participate on a full time basis, 7 hours per day whilst on placement.
If offered a place on the course, you will be provided with more information about the placements and will be sent a form to complete for consideration for placement allocation.
Being a Social Worker does not stop on registration. Opportunities exist for current and practicing Social Workers to develop their knowledge and skills further. To find out more about our post qualifying programmes visit our section on undergraduate courses or postgraduate courses.
The Service User and Carer Participation in Social Work group consists of Service Users, Carers, associated representatives and organisations and aims to contribute to improving the quality of life of Service Users and Carers. It does this by being engaged in developing and monitoring the processes by which Service Users and Carers are included at all levels of the University of Wolverhampton’s social work programmes.
There are many different specialism options within social work which you can choose to enter after appropriate induction and training. Career development may involve a change of role within a specialism, for example from child protection to fostering and adoption. It is also possible to transfer from one specialism to another, for example from working with children to working with the elderly.
