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Social Work

Entry requirements


A level

B,C,C-B,B,B

Access to HE Diploma

D:21,M:24

60 credits, 45 must be graded at Level 3

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

DMM

Scottish Higher

B,B,B,C-A,A,B,B

T Level

M

UCAS Tariff

104-120

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About this course


Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Subject

Social work

Do you want to work within the community to encourage change and help others? We can help you harness your passion and become a confident and fully qualified social worker, allowing you to make a positive difference in vulnerable and disadvantaged people's lives.

Our social work degree is approved by Social Work England, and is designed to give you the knowledge, practical experience and connections that will allow you to kickstart a successful career in social work.

What’s more, our social work courses are ranked in the top 25 in the UK overall, and 2nd in the North West for students satisfied with teaching (Guardian University Guide 2023 Results).

**Course Overview**
On this course, you’ll get hands-on experience and the chance to talk to and work with people in the care system. You will gain insight into your future profession with 170 days of placements (70 days in year two and 100 days in year three). Our expert tutors will teach you theory through lectures, seminars and hands-on practice using facilities including hands-on training for social practice including simulations of home visits, hospital discharge meetings and court work. You will learn to work as a team and develop leadership skills to boost your confidence and future career.

You'll benefit from our great reputation as a provider when applying for jobs. Upon graduation, you will be eligible to apply for registration as a social worker with Social Work England. You'll be in the ideal position for a career as a professional social worker or practitioner.

**On this course you will**

- Have access to people with lived experience of social work services, allowing you to speak to people who have had social workers in their lives. They will talk to you about their experiences within social work.

- Learn from lecturers who take pride in being approachable and caring for your health and wellbeing. They will provide excellent support to you throughout the programme.

- Study social work using transformative learning, including simulations of hospital discharge meetings and mock case conferences. Our mock hospital ward and mock house will help you develop your practical skills.

- Be taught by registered social workers with many years of experience in both adult and children services. Their experience is used to guide your learning in real-life scenarios.

- Complete 170 days of professional placements, allowing you to gain real-world experience and boost your key skills ready for when you become a qualified social worker.

**What you will learn**
Social workers assist and support the most vulnerable people in society either by protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse or through supporting people in overcoming and dealing with addiction, illness, or disability.

As part of this programme, you will engage with complex issues that impact diverse communities and affect contemporary social work practice. You will gain experience and confidence through supervised practice, developing the knowledge, skills, and understanding needed to excel in Social Work. Within our Institute of Health, you will have the opportunity to engage with students in other disciplines in authentic ways, gaining a wider awareness of their roles and how to work in multi-agency teams. For example, experiential learning opportunities, such as our court day experience take place throughout each year.

We also offer the option to study 1 year of our Health and Social Care IFY before beginning this course. Not only will this prepare you to succeed in your BA, with key modules in academic and professional skills as well as baseline introductions to mental health and human anatomy, it is also ideal for those applicants who do not hold the required qualifications for direct entry but are passionate about pursuing social work. You will also be supported by our academic team to make a strong application to your chosen transfer course.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

England
£9,250
per year
EU
£9,250
per year
International
£16,000
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

Carlisle - Fusehill Street

Department:

Law and Social Science

Read full university profile

What students say


How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Social work

Sorry, no information to show

This is usually because there were too few respondents in the data we receive to be able to provide results about the subject at this university.


Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

98%
UK students
2%
International students
10%
Male students
90%
Female students
71%
2:1 or above
21%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
E
B

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Social work

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£16,120
low
Average annual salary
97%
med
Employed or in further education
51%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

19%
Welfare and housing associate professionals
19%
Childcare and related personal services
18%
Welfare professionals

We're short of social workers - so if you want a degree that is in demand, then this could be the one for you! There's a shortage of social workers all over the UK, and graduates can specialise in specific fields such as mental health or children's social work. If you decide social work is not for you, then social work graduates also often go into management, education, youth and community work and even nursing. Starting salaries for this degree can reflect the high proportion of graduates who choose a social work career - social work graduates get paid, on average, more than graduates overall, but not all options pay as well as social work. This is also an unusual subject in that London isn't one of the more common places to find jobs - so if you want to get a job near to your home or your university this might be worth thinking about.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Social work

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£21k

£21k

£19k

£19k

£22k

£22k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

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