Social work provides an opportunity to ensure fair and just treatment for those who might not be able to do so for themselves and can be a hugely rewarding career for anyone with an interest in safeguarding the human rights of others.

This programme is designed to provide the professional knowledge and skills needed to qualify and practice as a registered social worker. Through an integrated learning approach, students are supported to develop as competent, confident, analytical, and reflective practitioners who can work safely and effectively in complex, challenging environments to make a difference in the lives of people and society.

Interprofessional learning is at the core of this programme, enabling students to learn, develop, and collaborate with students from other disciplines in health and social care, including Nursing, Occupational Therapy, and Physiotherapy students. Students may take advantage of the excellent research environment and opportunities available to build on links between social work practice and research to undertake their own real-world research study. The programme benefits from strong international links providing chances for focused teaching and study visits further afield.

Each year there will be an option to undertake practice placements, supervised and assessed by a practice educator. These allow students to apply the theory and practice of social work in varied and challenging settings with a focus on health and social care.

Supporting the youngest to the oldest in society, social work will take practitioners from hospitals to care homes, and schools to communities as they help people through some of the best and most challenging times of their lives. Social workers could find themselves guiding a young person through their mental health journey, helping a family to grow through adoption, or supporting vulnerable people to improve their independence and wellbeing. Providing this level of support in someone’s life can be an incredibly rewarding experience.

While the job can be a humbling one, it is also a testing career. Working with vulnerable people can mean facing potentially difficult situations, but being a social worker means having the ability to find a way to work through those situations to benefit the person at the heart of it.

Graduates from the programme have gone on to work in a broad range of social work settings, including children’s services, adults services, mental health trusts, and in a range of independent and voluntary sector organisations.