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Social Work

Entry requirements


112 UCAS Tariff points from a minimum of 2 A Levels (or equivalent).

112 points from Access to HE Diploma

GCSE/National 4/National 5

3 GCSEs at grade C, or grade 4, or above, including English.

112 UCAS Tariff points acquired from BTEC Level 3 Diplomas are accepted.

112 UCAS Tariff points from Scottish Advanced Highers are accepted. 112 UCAS Tariff points from Scottish Highers are accepted

UCAS Tariff

112

UCAS Tariff points from a minimum of 2 A Levels (or equivalent).

You may also need to…

Attend an interview

About this course


Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Subject

Social work

If you thrive on the unexpected and want to make a difference in people’s lives, social work could be the career for you. Our degree course is nationally recognised and will enable you to register with Social Work England (SWE) as a Social Worker.

Social work is about empowering people and supporting them towards being independent. Social Workers help people to function, participate and develop in society. Our course provides the knowledge, values and skills you will need to qualify as a Social Worker. But social work isn’t just about what you learn: it’s also about who you are. You’ll need qualities such as patience, honesty, sensitivity, tolerance, persistence and sound judgement. As a student, you’ll train to assess people’s circumstances and needs. Working alongside other professionals, you’ll plan, provide, review and evaluate services. You’ll become skilled in problem-solving, and understand how to set up supportive activities with individuals, families, groups and communities. Learning to assess the risks facing vulnerable children or adults, and how to set up and measure protection plans for them will be key. You’ll also gain a thorough understanding of your legal powers and duties. Our course is full-time, and features presentations and role play as well as more traditional lectures and seminars. We work closely with our SUCI (Service User and Carers Involvement) group. This gives you a chance to discuss with people who have experience and opinions about social care and use their feedback to improve your practice.

All of our students do two practice placements – 70 days in Year 2, and 100 days in Year 3. One of these placement will involve statutory tasks, including legal interventions. Both placements are an invaluable opportunity to learn in the workplace and you will cover a range of topics such as engagement, assessment, interpersonal skills, interventions, safeguarding and the appropriate use of authority.

We’ll make sure that you get a range of settings to best support your training. It’s likely that you’ll have to travel as part of your placement, so you’ll need your own transport to visit service users in the community, where public transport may not be available.

Modules

Year one, core modules
• Standards and Skills for Social Work Practice 1
• Contemporary Issues in Social Work
• Safeguarding in Context
• Applied Social Work Theories

Year two, core modules
• Social Work with Children and Families
• Research - Evaluating Knowledge and Evidence in Practice
• Ruskin Module
• Social Work with Adults
• Standards and Skills for Social Work Practice 2

Year three, core modules
• Sustainable Social Work
• Understanding Professional Practice
• Undergraduate Major Project
• Standards and Skills for Social Work Practice 3

Assessment methods

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’, built up week-by-week), poster design and placements.

Tuition fees

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

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course locations:

ARU Peterborough

Cambridge Campus

Chelmsford Campus

Department:

School of Education and Social Care

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

87%
Social work

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

Teaching and learning

93%
Staff make the subject interesting
90%
Staff are good at explaining things
90%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
98%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

93%
Library resources
96%
IT resources
90%
Course specific equipment and facilities
80%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

98%
UK students
2%
International students
9%
Male students
91%
Female students
85%
2:1 or above
11%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
C
C

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.

£27,500
high
Average annual salary
98%
med
Employed or in further education
92%
high
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

94%
Welfare professionals
2%
Health professionals
2%
Business, finance and related associate 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.

£29k

£29k

£32k

£32k

£29k

£29k

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 is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.

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Course location and department:

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

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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?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here