Why study social work?
Social work is a dynamic profession which is developing and changing in response to new policy, educational and training requirements. Our social work team are committed to supporting these new initiatives and to ensuring that both new applicants to the profession and experienced practitioners are offered opportunities for personal and professional development in order to meet the challenges of contemporary practice.
Our social work courses are well established and underpinned by our commitment to anti-oppressive practice, social justice and human rights, together with the collective practice and academic experience of staff and expertise of service users and carers. We aim to help students develop a reflective and critical approach to practice and to the knowledge, research and theory which informs it.
Social work learning and teaching in the university has a particular focus on the multi-professional context of social work practice and on the applied knowledge base of the discipline. Social workers are required to work within complex professional systems and environments and students undertake joint learning with other professions including education, nursing, medicine, occupational therapy and physiotherapy at all levels of social work education and training.
All social work courses and activities are run in partnership with local authority and other employers; with users of services and carers and with health and social care trusts. These strong partnerships ensure practice relevance in all we do and sound opportunities in practice learning.
We have experience across all areas of practice and offer particular expertise at post qualifying level in relation to mental health, adult services and leadership and management. All social work courses are approved by General Social Care Council and we offer a wide range of opportunities for studying social work at both qualifying and post qualifying level, where flexible study patterns support those who are engaged in practice. Current research interests within social work are in the fields of child death; professional development, resilience and social work theory.
Undergraduate courses in social work
Postgraduate courses in social work
- Advanced Social Work MSc
- Approved Mental Health Practice PGDip
- Social Work MSc (PGCert PGDip)
- Social Work (Professional Doctorate)
