Practice learning is an integral part of social work training, giving students the opportunity to start to put their knowledge into practice. In some areas the supply of quality placements is not keeping pace with student intakes and there are particular shortfalls in the provision of statutory placements. This concerns us because of the impact both on the quality of training and on employment prospects of graduates, as some employers will only consider graduates who have had a local authority placement.

The GSCC has therefore recently written to all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) reminding them of their responsibility to ensure that they supply suitable and sufficient placements for their students if courses are to retain their approved status. We have also said that HEIs must reduce their intake of students where there are not enough quality placements available.

To help to tackle the issue of inadequate placements the GSCC, together with the Children’s Workforce Development Council and Skills for Care, has developed a set of standards defining quality in a placement. We are looking at introducing a requirement for HEIs to meet these standards from next year. We are also working to clarify what is meant by a statutory placement so that we can be sure that each of these placements provides the preparation that a student needs in order to go into practice.

It is critical that employers and HEIs work more closely together to improve the provision of good quality practice placements which enable students to achieve their learning outcomes and which are properly supervised and assessed. This would include the greater involvement of senior social work staff in the design, and management of courses. The GSCC is working closely with other organisations and the Social Work Task Force to support and encourage closer collaboration to achieve this aim.

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This is something as a student I am currently very concerned about. I was lucky enough to be offered a statutory placement after a fantastic shadowing experience. However, when my university was informed of the availability of the placement there appeared to be a reluctance to contact them to confirm the placement. This was despite me requesting them to contact the local authority team as soon as possible. This is very frustrating and difficult to understand when it appears apparent there is a shortage of statutory placements. Unfortunately as there was no contact from my university with the setting offering the placement the placement was offered to a student from a different university. The local authority in this case had waited 5 months to be contacted so I cannot blame them at all for offering this placement to someone else. This has left me feeling let down and disheartened.

Anna
27 Nov 2009

While my first year placement was excellent I do know of students who suffered through placements with poor supervision and only tangential relevance to the world of social work. I would have thought that, as well as targeting HEIs, it is the local authorities that need to be bringing more pressure on social work teams to offer statuatory placements and ensure they have enough qualified practice assessors on staff to offer this. Unfortunately the taking on of students takes a back seat in the priorities of many employers.

Colin Dinnie
10 Sep 2009

what happens to the students who can't be allocated a statutory placement? Can we try to find our own placement or do we have to leave this up to the university? I think it is vital that all students are given statutory placements not only as this increases employment prospects but also because students need this experience to become competant social workers.

lorraine bishop
10 Sep 2009