BASW questions proposed 78 new checks on social work educators by regulator

Published by Professional Social Work magazine, 17 October, 2022

Social Work England’s proposed statement on the knowledge, skills and behaviours education providers are expected to equip students with has received critical feedback from social workers.

The readiness for professional practice statement was put out for consultation by the regulator in June. It said this was needed to give students “a clear framework of the skills they can expect to develop during their time in training” and to streamline a "confusing" and "crowded" landscape of guidance.

If adopted, the regulator will inspect and judge social work educators against 78 knowledge, skills and behaviour (KSB) descriptions students should be able to demonstrate upon qualifying.

But BASW England members questioned the need for the new statement when the BASW-owned professional capabilities framework (PCF) and other profession-owned guidance already exists.

Responding to a BASW England consultation on the proposals, one social worker said: “I was under the impression that the PCF aimed to identify the specific skills and behaviour that are required of courses to ready student to meet the professional standards – which is already in place?

“I am not clear how these statements meet this requirement or change any aspect of the way courses are already delivered.”

Another said: “The volume, the sheer complexity and confusion of how these new statements will intersect and interface with the PCF does not seem to have been considered.”

One respondent expressed concern about the regulator being the main reference: “Social Work England’s closeness to government makes it difficult to know how much is influenced by social work and how much is government pressure.

“While we may agree with many of the knowledge, skills and behaviour statements now, this approach could pave the way for a future revision of social work that departs from the profession’s values and ethics.”

Social Work England said engagement with social workers indicated they "want things to be clearer, simpler and less complicated".

As well as the PCF, England’s chief social workers have created post-qualifying standards (PQS) knowledge and skills statements for practice with adults and children and families.

Added to this is the quality assurance in practice learning (QAPL) framework.

Social Work England said it was also "important to bring the assurance of social work education closer to regulation and public protection".

It said: "The readiness for professional practice guidance will form part of our inspection and assurance of all courses of initial social work education and training in England after the end of the current reapproval cycle.

"While many courses will already reflect the areas we set out in the guidance, for others reflecting 'readiness for professional practice' will require change."

But one respondent to BASW England’s consultation said: “There is a danger of a two-tier system and confusion with the PCF etc due to the amount of detail and potential blurring with the professional standards.”

Another said: “Social work education does need to evolve, but we also need to consider that the profession is in crisis and there is a real need to avoid increasing more bureaucratic tick-box exercises. We are struggling with recruitment and retention – we really don’t want to put people off either.”

The danger of extra bureaucratic burden was highlighted by another respondent: “The KSB statements are necessary for our role, but they don’t have to be so extensive. As a social worker who’s been in the job for many years, I think as a profession we keep adding more and more layers of bureaucracy. This is not necessary and takes workers away from meeting people’s needs and managing risks.”

However, another member believed there was a need for greater consistency: “In my experience, students are given different messages, have very different experiences and therefore have very different expectations about what social work is in practice, what their knowledge, skills and behaviour should be and how accountable they are.”

As a result, said the respondent, some students “feel their courses set them up to fail in practice”.

They added: “The KSB statements would frame their education from the outset, particularly because it would be a requirement and overseen by Social Work England.”

In its conclusion, BASW England said there was a “lack of support and substantial challenge from our membership on any attempt to conflate, confuse replicate or replace the PCF”.

It added the new KSBs “will exacerbate and intensify an already overcrowded social work education landscape” and create “additional burdens for social workers”.

Social Work England said it plans to publish the KSB statements this autumn. Development of the readiness for professional practice guidance will run throughout 2023.