The College of Social Work endorses Manchester’s social work degrees

The University of Manchester’s social work degree programmes have become one of the first five higher education institutions (HEIs) to be endorsed by the College of Social Work.

The College of Social Work has launched the endorsement scheme for higher education institutions aimed at providing a kite mark of quality to qualifying social work degree programmes.

The scheme assesses whether colleges and universities are implementing reforms identified as necessary to improve the quality of social work education in England.

The first five degree courses in social work have been endorsed by the College’s ratification panel after they successfully completed a rigorous assessment process to ensure all the scheme’s quality criteria are being met.

Manchester joins Middlesex University, University of Brighton, University of Central Lancashire and University of Lincoln courses which have all been endorsed after being assessed against a set of quality criteria. The assessment is over and above the threshold standards required by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) that HEIs must demonstrate in order to deliver a social work degree programme.

Kate Johnson, the College’s Education Advisor, said: “The College has worked with representatives from across the sector to create its latest endorsement scheme, which acts as a means of identifying, highlighting and celebrating quality in qualifying social work degree programmes.
“Endorsement of qualifying social work degree programmes by The College, in its role as the professional body for social work, is an important step in implementing sector agreed reforms in social work education, including a consistent provision of high quality social work degree programmes.”

Professor Alys Young, Professor of Social Work, Education and Research at The University of Manchester, said: “We are very pleased to have had our course endorsed by The College in recognition of our high standards of teaching. This endorsement process is a step forward for social work education in terms of raising quality standards. We particularly appreciated the input of the service users and carers as part of this process.” 

Professor Hilary Tompsett, Board member of The College of Social Work said: “College endorsement will help reassure employers, people who use services, carers and students that endorsed degree courses are in line with the improvement agenda and will produce high calibre newly trained social workers to enter the profession. There are many more applications for endorsement in the pipeline and we look forward to adding more HEIs to the list of endorsed programmes in the coming months.”

A list of all endorsed course providers will be published on The College website to help prospective students and social worker employers with their course selection.
 

Notes for editors

The College of Social Work’s endorsement scheme ensures higher education institutions meet stringent course quality criteria, including:

Use of the Professional Capabilities Framework in designing their programmes
Selection procedures in line with College guidelines on calibre of entrants
Service user, carer and practitioner involvement in all aspects of the programme
Collaborative partnerships have been formed and recorded in a Memorandum of Co-operation.

The Social Work Reform Board (SWRB) reforms for social work education, based on the Professional Capabilities Framework, were passed to The College of Social Work for further development and implementation in October 2011. They include new arrangements for admissions and selection, a new degree framework and new arrangements for securing sufficient high quality placements.

Further information about all The College’s endorsement schemes
The College of Social Work is the centre of excellence for social work, upholding and strengthening professional standards to the benefit of the public. We are an independent membership organisation that aims to provide a strong, unified voice for social workers and play a leading role in the development of social policy.

Media contacts
Jane McCormick - Jane.McCormick@tcsw.org.uk  020 8453 2924/ 07939 592965
Kate Bermingham - Kate.Bermingham@tcsw.org.uk  020 8453 2925