Social Work

We want you to be a step ahead when you graduate, so we offer:

• courses designed with employers
• tutors with professional industry knowledge
• hands-on learning through Live Briefs, internships and placements
• Ruskin Modules that help develop the skills employers value.

Alongside your course, there are lots of other opportunities to build your skills and experience:

• add value to your CV with an ARU Certificate of Professional Development
• get involved in a thriving volunteering programme
• develop your brilliant business ideas
• work with businesses to make a social impact.

We’re here to help you develop your CV and find that all-important role after graduation. Our Employability Service offers tailored career appointments, advice on writing your CV, help to complete job applications, and much more. You’ll have 24/7 access to an online Careers Centre too, which is packed with useful resources.

The support continues after you graduate, with lifelong access to our Alumni Career Centre.

Find out more about careers support at ARU.

During your Social Work degree, you’ll spend 170 days out on placement.

All of our students do two practice placements: 70 days in Year 2, and 100 days in Year 3. You’ll benefit from:

• the chance to learn from registered social workers
• covering both adults and children
• experience of working in different settings
• experience of working directly with people accessing services.

Both placements are an invaluable opportunity to learn in the workplace and you’ll cover a range of topics such as engagement, assessment, interpersonal skills, interventions, safeguarding and the appropriate use of authority. One of your placements will involve statutory tasks, including legal interventions.

We’ll make sure that you get a range of settings to best support your training.

You'll go on placement in and around Peterborough and/or with any placement providers in neighbouring areas.

It’s likely that you’ll have to travel as part of your placement, so you’ll need your own transport to visit people in areas where public transport may not be available.

If you don’t drive or have a car, please keep in mind how this might affect your placement options. Some 70-day placements might be accessible, but for your 100-day/final placement, local authorities and statutory placement providers will not accept non-driving students due to the need for timely fieldwork, like home visits and accessing county-wide located services.

Placements may also involve travel up to 1.5 hours from the university campus you’re studying at. If you live outside East Anglia we’ll try to find a placement closer to you but this cannot be guaranteed.

First placement (70 days)

You’ll have an opportunity to integrate theory and practice in your assessment and intervention when working with individuals, families, carers, groups or communities. You’ll be able to reflect upon your own values and beliefs and confront any conflict with the principles and values underpinning social work practice, with guided supervision.

There are opportunities to advocate for what is in the best interests of the service user, promoting service user voice and encouraging their independent choices. You'll undertake tasks such as interviewing service users to gather information, reviewing care plans, undertaking home visits, and needs versus risk assessments to promote relationship-based practice.

You’ll be guided to develop and understand the process of critical reflection and evaluation as a tool for improving professional practice.

Second placement (100 days)

You’ll undertake more complex tasks to demonstrate your developing knowledge, skills and values. Tasks can include completing a single assessment or life story work if working in a children’s team, or undertaking a Mental Capacity Act (2005) assessment if working in an adults' team.

We'll assign much longer pieces of work to deepen and sharpen your social work skills in readiness for qualifying as a social worker. You’ll engage with assessment, intervention and the management of risk within complex situations.

You'll also develop an ability to manage and be accountable for your own social work practice in an organisational setting, making competent use of supervision and support.

There is a dedicated placements team that will work closely with you to plan for both placements.

Practice Educator (PE)

You’ll be assigned a Practice Educator to support you during your training and assess your practice over the duration of the placement.

PEs are social workers trained in the teaching and assessment of students on practice placements. They meet the Practice Educator Professional Standards (PEPS) and their role is to support you in integrating theory and knowledge from university into practice. They are responsible for the assessment of your practice.

Placement Tutor (PT)

Your Placement Tutor will also be a critical support person for you on placement. They are a member of the university. Most of our placement tutors are academics within the Social Work team, so you’ll know them.

The PT will attend meetings at the placement site to ensure that the placement is set up in a way that’ll meet your learning needs and the University’s requirements. They're also there to support you if you have any difficulties during the placement. Your PT is your first point of contact for all placement-related matters.

Assessments are your opportunity to show the skills and knowledge that you're gaining. We use a number of assessment methods including assignments, presentations, learning journals, portfolios, patchwork texts (short pieces of writing, or ‘patches’), poster design, role play, and placement portfolios.

Placements provide you with the opportunity to work towards meeting the requirements of the Professional Standards and the Knowledge and Skills Statements. You'll need to pass both placements, alongside all academic modules, in order to qualify for registration as a Social Worker with Social Work England.