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Social Work

Entry requirements


A level

B,B,C

112 UCAS Tariff points

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

DMM

112 UCAS Tariff points

UCAS Tariff

112

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About this course


Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Subject

Social work

**Your first step towards a career as a registered social worker this course equips you with the knowledge skills and resilience needed to improve the lives of vulnerable adults children and families.**

Approved by Social Work England this degree offers graduates eligibility to join the professional register after which you can pursue a career in social work across a range of settings.

The course prepares you to work in a rapidly changing complex and unpredictable sector offering the most up-to-the-minute knowledge skills and practice. It combines work-placement experience practical skills development and academic study with a focus on applying theory to practice.

You first study the foundations of social work including social policy; human growth and development; relevant legislation for professional practice; and working with people. Later units explore issues contexts and interventions in social work along with two work-placement opportunities and a final-year research project.

**Why choose this course?**
- The quality of our teaching ranked top for student satisfaction out of 77 HE institutions offering the subject (Complete University Guide 2023)

- Explore every aspect of the professional social work role; how it relates to other areas; and the ethical challenges of balancing initiative with accountability

- Progress with the support of academic staff who have all been practising social workers some of whom continue to practise alongside their academic work

- Benefit from the University of Bedfordshire’s new Health & Social Care Academy run in partnership with local councils and NHS Trusts to recruit and train the next generation of health and social care workers

- As a graduate you can apply for professional registration as a qualified social worker with Social Work England

- Open up career paths across a variety of sectors including local authorities the NHS education authorities prison service private agencies and voluntary organisations

Modules

Areas of study may include:
- Social work process
- Human growth and development
- Foundations for social work practice
- Diversity and difference
- Professional practice in a range of social work and related agencies
- Social work theory and methods of intervention
- Working within and across different welfare contexts
- Understanding the experiences of people who use services

Every effort is made to ensure this information is accurate at the point of publication on the UCAS website. For the most up-to-date information, please refer to our website.

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:

Bedford Campus

Luton Campus

Department:

School of Society, Community and Health

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.

83%
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

88%
Staff make the subject interesting
94%
Staff are good at explaining things
83%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
94%
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

75%
Library resources
83%
IT resources
85%
Course specific equipment and facilities
56%
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?

99%
UK students
1%
International students
16%
Male students
84%
Female students
48%
2:1 or above
9%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
C
A

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.

£18,000
low
Average annual salary
100%
med
Employed or in further education
78%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

59%
Welfare professionals
16%
Welfare and housing associate professionals
5%
Teaching and educational 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

£31k

£31k

£32k

£32k

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.

Explore these similar courses...

Higher entry requirements
Birmingham City University | Birmingham
Social Work
BSc (Hons) 3 Years Full-time 2024
UCAS Points: 128
Nearby University
University of Hertfordshire | Hatfield
Social Work
BSc (Hons) 3 Years Full-time 2024
UCAS Points: 120-128
Same University
University of Bedfordshire | Luton
Criminology and Sociology
BSc (Hons) 3 Years Full-time 2024
UCAS Points: 96-112

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This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.

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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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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.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

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