Social Work
Entry requirements
A level
GCSE English Language 6/B or Literature 6/B, GCSE Maths 6/B
Scottish HNC
Preferred relevant HNC subjects are Social Services, Social Sciences, Childhood Practice, Counselling, Healthcare Practice, Health & Social Care, Working with Communities and Law or Legal Studies, A in Graded Unit and relevant social care experience. Year 2 entry: relevant HNC/HND plus minimum six months relevant and challenging work experience is normally expected for Year 2 Direct Entry. All applicants must hold: a full Mathematics qualification at the minimum of SCQF Level 5 eg National 5/Intermediate 2 at C or, Credit Standard Grade in Mathematics/Applications of Mathematics an English qualification at the minimum of SCQF level 5 or equivalent
Scottish Higher
English (or a social subject) B, Maths/Applications of Mathematics National 5 C and an English qualification at the minimum of SCQF level 5 or equivalent
UCAS Tariff
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About this course
Social workers have a responsibility to promote the rights of powerless people, and protect the vulnerable and disadvantaged.
Why Social Work at Strathclyde?
Benefit from a blend of university and agency-based opportunities.
Prepare for the challenging role of a social worker through opportunity to interact with service users and their carers.
Complete three placements in social work and not-for-profit settings.
Validated by the Scottish Social Services Council.
Study abroad in one of our partner institutions.
Benefit from high levels of staff interaction.
Work placement
During the course you’ll undertake three placements - one observational placement in Year 2 and an assessed placement in Years 3 & 4.
These placements take place in a variety of social work settings across the west and southern coast of Scotland, including social work departments and voluntary organisations. You’ll get the opportunity to work with children and young people, older people and adults and people with disabilities or mental health problems and people who use criminal justice services.
Students are required to register with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) including protecting vulnerable groups scheme (PVG). This is for successful applicants applying to courses which involve placement opportunities (working with children, young people and vulnerable adults).
Your Career
Graduates work in all levels of social work including senior management positions, local authorities and in the independent sector.
Recent graduate roles include:
Criminal Justice
Social Worker
Residential Child Care Worker
Tuition fees
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The Uni
University of Strathclyde
Social Work and Social Policy
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.
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
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
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.
Top job areas of graduates
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.
£32k
£31k
£37k
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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Teaching Excellence Framework (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?
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