PG Dip/MA Social Work (Children & Families)

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Why study PG Dip/MA Social Work (Children and Families) at BU?

If you already hold an undergraduate degree and are interested in specialising in work with children and young people, this is the ideal social work course option
This course is an intensive full-time training programme that could see you start a career as a social worker in just 14 months, whilst receiving a Department for Education bursary in addition to course fees
This generic social work qualification covers all aspects of child and family social work and working with adults required to be eligible for registering with Social Work England as a Social Worker
You’ll have the option to continue your studies from a Postgraduate Diploma to a Master’s by undertaking a dissertation which will be self-funded
The Department of Education funds this course through local authorities including Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council and Wiltshire Council, with all applications being made directly to them
Statutory placements throughout the course mean you will gain lots of relevant experience operating in real-world settings and will develop strong working relationships with those already in the profession.

Find out more about the content of this course.

Course approval

This course is approved by Social Work England, which means you’ll be eligible to apply for registration as a social worker on successful completion of the course.

Image description — Carer and service user partnership group

Next start date:

January 2022, January 2024, January 2026

Location:

Bournemouth University, Lansdowne Campus

Duration:

14 months to complete the PG Dip

Entry requirements:

Essential criteria

You will need:

a degree-level qualification in any discipline except social work from a UK higher education institute or an approved overseas equivalent
a minimum 2:1 level 6 degree qualification, for example, an honours degree or a graduate certificate, or, a minimum 2:2 honours degree plus a postgraduate qualification (level 7 or above) for example, a master’s degree or a postgraduate certificate/ postgraduate diploma
to have GCSEs in English or English Language and Mathematics at grade C or above, or the new grade 4 and above (or an approved equivalent)
to have completed your degree, final year students are not eligible to apply
to show evidence of your qualifications (such as certificates) and be able to upload this to the application form – this is mandatory for overseas qualifications (please ensure you have relevant electronic versions to hand prior to submitting your application)
to have a minimum of 6 months full-time (or equivalent) direct experience of working with vulnerable children, young people and/or families/carers or adults, either in a paid or voluntary capacity
to live in England
a driving licence and use of a vehicle in some locations, or to confirm that you’ll be able to travel for work if you do not have a vehicle
to complete an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check

Applications which do not meet all of these criteria will not be assessed.

Course details

This course is an intensive full-time training programme that could see you start a career as a social worker in just 14 months, whilst receiving a Department for Education bursary in addition to course fees.

Although this qualification is in Children and Families Social Work, it qualifies as a generic social work qualification. On this course you will usually be taught by a range of staff with relevant expertise and knowledge appropriate to the content of the unit. This will include senior academic staff, qualified professional practitioners, demonstrators, technicians and research students.

Applicants for this course should apply directly to the Department for Education via their website. Candidates will then be jointly interviewed by local authority representatives and the University.

Download the programme specification (pdf 467kb)

Core units

Developing Professional Relationships in Social Work (Readiness for Direct Practice) for Social Work with Children and Families: You will develop knowledge and understanding of the essential personal and interpersonal skills needed to develop effective relationships with the diverse range of people in our society. The unit is underpinned by research and theory and students will be expected to reflect on their own communication patterns as well as what is needed for excellent social work practice. Through reflection on their own experiences, it will also provide the essential preparation students require to develop and demonstrate their readiness and safety to undertake practice learning in line with the national regulatory requirements.
The Child’s Journey: You’ll advance your knowledge and understanding of child development and behaviour and different sociological and psychological explanations for this. You will be encouraged to consider the interplay of psycho-social factors on the lives of children and young people, exploring a range of influences on human development including the impact of gender, ethnicity, sexuality and disability.
Law & Social Policy for Social Work with Children & Families: You will develop a critical understanding of law and social policy, social work values and ethics and considerations relevant to child and family social work. You will explore the implications of social work values and ethics and how they apply to the promotion of the best interests of children and young people.
Applying Social Work Models and Methods for Social Work with Children and Families: You will gain essential knowledge on models and methods used in social work practice with a particular focus on how these can be applied when directly working with service users. The unit equips you with an understanding of the complex and multi-layered nature of social work, including the challenges of practicing professional social work with a diverse range of social work service users and carers. The aim is to offer you insight into a range of models and methods used in current social work practice using a problem based learning approach. This includes the use of case studies and simulations to help the students in translating theoretical knowledge into practical applications.
Parenting Capacity for Social Work with Children & Families: This unit will help you develop an in-depth understanding of the multiple factors that contribute to parental mental health, substance-related and domestic violence-related problems and, crucially, the impact upon the child, including child development.
Working with Children and their Families: In this unit you will develop knowledge and understanding of social work in the context of professional practice with children and their families; including responsibilities, analytical skills and knowledge, practical skills and professional accountability in social work practice with children and their families. This Unit is underpinned by research and evidence based judgements and you will develop their understanding and competence in assessment and intervention. Students are expected to examine their own beliefs and values in relation to protection work and to build on their previous learning in both theory and practice.
Two Statutory Placements (70 & 100 days): You will gain essential practice experiences required in meeting the regulations of the professional body.

Programme Specification

Master’s qualification

If you would like to complete the full Master's, you will complete the above units as well as two additional units:

Team Working for Service Improvement: You will develop the skills of working in small inter-professional teams to design and develop a service improvement or product to enhance the experiences of people who use services and / or their carers.

and

Critical Literature Review: You’ll gain skills and knowledge for undertaking a critical literature review in an aspect of social work and acquire and apply well-grounded research, research mindedness and research literacy skills in social science to undertake an intellectually challenging and in-depth literature review exploring a topic relevant to contemporary social work practice.

Dissertation: The dissertation is the keystone of all master’s degree pathways and draws on conceptual, theoretical and practical knowledge, developed in other units of the programme. You will undertake a synthesis of research literature, demonstrating a systematic understanding and critical awareness of current social work issues.

Department for Education

Programme specification

Programme specifications provide definitive records of the University's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry. If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance.

Programme Specification

Placements

As part of the course, you’ll undertake two separate work placements of a combined total of 170 days. This will help you gain invaluable hands-on experience of social work, but it is also essential to meet the regulatory requirements of the professional body. During the placement you will be expected to integrate theory and practice and to complete a practice learning portfolio. The practice learning placement will facilitate the development of your social work skills, knowledge, critical analysis and evidence-based application of knowledge.

The wide range of placements include social work teams delivering services to children and families, hospital social work teams, residential and day care settings, drug and alcohol services, mental health services, supported housing and homelessness schemes and projects for young people experiencing home and school difficulties.

Your application

Applicants for this course should apply directly to the Department for Education via their website. Candidates will then be jointly interviewed by local authority representatives and the University.

For Social Work, we are looking for applicants who:

Have an awareness of the role of a Social Worker within society
Have a non-judgemental attitude, an appreciation of diversity and self-awareness, flexibility and openness to new ideas
Can demonstrate relevant skills such as listening, negotiating and advocacy
Have life experiences which may have influenced the applicant to think about a career in social work.
We particularly encourage applications from male and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as we aspire to make the programme, and the profile of social work practitioners, more diverse and representative of the children, families and communities they support.

Apply now

Relevant experience

Students are expected to have relevant experience in social work and/or social care and show that they have learnt from this experience. The longer and more varied that experience, the better. Examples of the sort of experience that candidates often have are:

Employment as a carer in a residential home
Being a volunteer in an agency working with young offenders
Paid or voluntary work in a day centre for people with physical disabilities, learning disabilities, or mental health problems
Work on summer play schemes and/or after school clubs
Personal experience as a service user or carer.

Interview

Entry requirements

General entry requirements

For January 2022 entry:

Essential criteria

You will need:

a degree-level qualification in any discipline except social work from a UK higher education institute or an approved overseas equivalent
a minimum 2:1 level 6 degree qualification, for example, an honours degree or a graduate certificate, or, a minimum 2:2 honours degree plus a postgraduate qualification (level 7 or above) for example, a master’s degree or a postgraduate certificate/ postgraduate diploma
to have GCSEs in English or English Language and Mathematics at grade C or above, or the new grade 4 and above (or an approved equivalent)
to have completed your degree, final year students are not eligible to apply
to show evidence of your qualifications (such as certificates) and be able to upload this to the application form – this is mandatory for overseas qualifications (please ensure you have relevant electronic versions to hand prior to submitting your application)
to have a minimum of 6 months full-time (or equivalent) direct experience of working with vulnerable children, young people and/or families/carers or adults, either in a paid or voluntary capacity
to live in England
a driving licence and use of a vehicle in some locations, or to confirm that you’ll be able to travel for work if you do not have a vehicle
to complete an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check

Applications which do not meet all of these criteria will not be assessed.

The skills and experience you’ll need to demonstrate

You’ll need to:

have the emotional resilience to become an effective social worker
understand social work theory and research
be aware of the risk indicators of different forms of harm to children
demonstrate intuition and logic in decision-making
show the ability to record accurate child and family assessments
have an understanding of the Knowledge and Skills Statements for child and family social workers - which all applicants will be assessed against
be familiar with the Professional Capabilities Framework for social workers (entry level)

International entry requirements

You can find details of the international qualifications we accept, and what level of study they apply to, on our entry requirements for non-UK students' page.

Please see below some examples of the qualifications for entry:

China: 学士学位 (Bachelor degree) with a minimum of 70% overall
India: Bachelor’s degree (4 years) from a recognised HE institution with a minimum overall result of 60% or second division
Nigeria: Bachelor's degree from a recognised institution with a minimum classification of 2:1
Thailand: Thai Bachelor's (Honours) degree from a recognised higher education institution with a minimum GPA of 3.0/4.0
Turkey: Bachelor’s degree (Lisans Diplomasi - four years) with a minimum overall GPA of 2.7/4.0
Vietnam: Bachelor's degree/Bang tot nghiep dai hoc with an average score of 75/10, or a Master’s degree/Thac si.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language, you will need to provide evidence that you can understand English to a satisfactory level. English language requirements for this course are normally:

IELTS (academic) 7.0 overall with a minimum of 6.5 in each component, or equivalent.

View further information about our English language requirements.

Bournemouth University International College offers a number of pre-sessional English and preparatory programmes to prepare international students for postgraduate study at BU. Admission to the degree is guaranteed on successful completion of your course to the required level.

You can also find further details of the international qualifications we accept, and what level of study they apply to, on our international entry requirements page

Careers

Employment opportunities include work within Local Authorities' Children and Families teams and all aspects of social work with children, young people and their families.

Course changes

Changes for 2022 entry

Date	Changes to this course
14/01/22	Where the change was made: Key next start date Change: This course runs every 2 years and has a January intake only, the start dates have therefore been updated to January 2022, January 2024, January 2026 Previous text: January 2022, September 2022, January 2023, September 2023.

Changes in 2017

Date	Changes to this course
20/07/17	Where the change was made: Full entry requirements Change: Incorrect IELTS requirements were previously published. Updated to: IELTS (academic) 7.0 overall with a minimum of 6.5 in each component, or equivalent. Previous text: IELTS (academic) 7.0 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each component, or equivalent.

PG Dip/MA Social Work (Children & Families)

Why study PG Dip/MA Social Work (Children and Families) at BU?

Course approval