Program Overview

If you want to have a positive impact on people’s lives by providing solution-focused support for social and interpersonal difficulties as well as promoting human rights and wellbeing, then social work could be the career for you.

One of your key roles as a social worker will be in safeguarding vulnerable children and adults, working directly with people to support choice and independence. From providing early intervention to enable a family under pressure to stay together through to supporting someone with mental ill-health, social work is challenging and often emotional, but also a very rewarding career with a variety of routes and specialisms open to you once you qualify.

We have over 50 years’ experience training people to become social workers in the super-diverse and cosmopolitan city of Birmingham. Our BSc (Hons) Social Work degree programme will equip you with the skills and knowledge you need to meet the professional competencies required of a social worker and make a difference to people’s lives.

Our BSc (Hons) Social Work degree programme is designed to support you to become an excellent practitioner able to work with children and adults in a variety of social work settings spanning voluntary organisations, children and families, youth justice, adults and mental health. Successful completion of the degree will enable you to apply for registration with the social work regulator, Social Work England, and to hold the protected title of “Social Worker”.

What's covered in this course?

We provide an academic learning with you as students at the centre of our planning. While we do deliver some online lectures, most of your time will be spent in sessions on campus and in service delivery settings within the community on practice-based placements, reflecting the nature of social work as both an academic and practical discipline.

You will learn in a range of ways, including lectures, workshops and seminars, complemented by online resources and independent study. Your lecturers and tutors will include experienced social work academics, current practitioners, academics from other relevant disciplines, and service users and carers who are ‘experts by experience’. Each will assist you to develop the knowledge, skills, values and professional capabilities you will need for effective social work practice in today’s complex world. By bringing together these elements, you will learn to identify and navigate the complexities of social work to promote and protect wellbeing.

The course involves direct practice experience through professional (work experience) placements. These are provided by our practice partners in both the second and third year of the course. While on placement you will be supported by a team of people, including a dedicated and qualified practice educator who will always be a registered social worker. Our practice partners include Local Authorities, and established private, independent, and voluntary sector agencies.

Recent changes to our course plan mean that you will experience a range of assessment methods in addition to written assignments, such as role plays and presentations.