Social Care Student Week

This week the Guardian Online Social-Care-Network has been focusing on students, with a raft of articles relevant to new trainee social workers:
What advice would I give to my younger self on social work by Blogger Ermintrude,
Top tips for social work students from a variety of professionals,
What kind of social work student will you be (Quiz),
How Nana Mary inspired me to start my social work MA by Tara Reynolds,
Busting the myths about social work by Louise Tickle, 
Should UK universities take social work education more seriously? by Claire Burke, comparing the Finnish model,
Social work is an extremely hard fight. But it's a worthy one, by newly qualified soical worker Rebecca Novell.

New SCIE student page

SCIE - Social Care Institute for Excellence - has a new student page with the latest information and guidance for students of social work. See the new page here. SCIE carries a lot of useful information on social care and social work, assessment and personalisation.

British Journal of Social Work

The latest issue of the British Journal of Social Work, April 2010 Volume 40, no. 3 is now available on line via the library catalogue. This months articles include:
Selwyn, J. (2010). The views of young people on being cared for by an independent foster-care provider.
Parker, J. (2010). When things go wrong! Placement disruption and termination: power and student perspectives.
Glavani, S. (2010). Working with alcohol and drug use: exploring the knowledge and attitudes of social work students.

Social Work Education

Raising Standards: social work education in england 2007-08 published by the General Social Care Council, should be of interest ot everyone involved in the education and training of social workers, particularily in the wake of the "Baby P" case and the government Social Work Taskforce review. The author's maintain that it is important that employers and other stakeholders have realistic view of the readiness of newly qualified social workwers to under take the complex task of social work.

College of Social Work referendum

The British Association of Social Workers is holding a referendum of its members, to garner support for the establishment of a professional College of Social Work, independant of plans being drawn up by the Social Work Reform Board, reflecting BASW disillusionment with what it sees as an England-centric model, too closely tied to government and lacking the independence necessary to transform standards, empower and promote social work as a profession to the media and public. The ballot will be concluded by the end of April.

Social work after Baby P

Eleanor Brazil, working as interim deputy director of social work in Haringey Council explains how change has been implemented to rebuild confidence since the Baby P scandal. See Guardian February 24, 2010. Changes included establishing multi-agency teams, staff recruitment and reorganisation of referral and assessement processes.
A poll carried out by the General Social Care Council has found that most social workers beleive that newly social workers lack key skills in risk assessment vital to ensuring the safety of children and vulnerable adults. Respondents backed the recommendations of the Social Work Task Force, that  an assessed year in employemet post training is essential to building a confident and experienced workforce.

Building user & carer involvement in social work education

This At A Glance publication from SCIE aims to provide help with the mandatory requirement for Higher Education Institiutions offering the social work degree, to consult with service users and carers to ensure that their needs and opinions are reflected in the design and development of courses.

Assessing student social workers suitability: university procedures compared

Currer, C. (2009) Assessing student social workers' professional suitability: comparing university procedures in England. British Journal of Social Work, 39(8), pp. 1481-1498. Currer compares procedures in English Universities and finds that social work educators, in their role as gatekeepers to entering the profession, vary in their processes for determining fitness of students to practice, and concludes that greater guidance from the General Social Care Council is required.