Consultation on the introduction of readiness for professional practice guidance

• Introduction
• Why are we introducing this guidance?
• How have we developed the guidance?
• Summary of key proposals
• How we are consulting
• How to respond
• Consultation questions

Introduction

As the regulator for the social work profession, we set the standards for social work education and training in England, and the professional standards we expect social workers to meet when they qualify. In October 2024, we published our knowledge, skills and behaviours statements (KSBs) which were developed following extensive consultation with the sector and input from our Education and Training Advisory Forum. We have since refreshed the KSB statements to provide clarity about how we expect the KSBs to be used and what they should achieve. The statements outline the knowledge, skills and behaviours that we expect all social work students to be able to demonstrate prior to graduating from a qualifying social work course.

They were designed to:  

• improve consistency in outcomes achieved in initial social work education and training 
• ensure that students are adequately prepared to meet the professional standards, apply to join our register and begin their practice upon graduating   

Publication of the KSBs has also allowed us to support the development of new frameworks and guidance to ensure they are aligned to our regulatory requirements. This includes the pending revision to the apprenticeship standard, the development of the Early Career Standards (ECS) for newly qualified children and family social workers and the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE). As part of this ambition to ensure a more streamlined approach, we have amended our approach to the KSBs to align with post qualifying frameworks, such as the Early Career Development Programme.  

We have engaged with a range of stakeholders including: course providers, employers, people with lived experience of social work, and students. We have also discussed our approach to developing this guidance with our Education and Training Advisory Forum as well as some of our partners. The feedback was used to inform the proposed guidance. 

We are committed to consulting with the profession and public when we make changes to our approach. We also want to hear from those who may be impacted by any proposed changes.  

We want to hear from people that these changes will affect and everyone with an interest in social work, including:

• social workers
• employers of social workers
• organisations representing the interests of social workers
• people with lived experience of social work
• people providing, assessing, or funding education and training for social workers and prospective social workers 

1. To what extent do you agree that the readiness for professional practice guidance: 
   • supports course providers to map their courses to the knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBs)? (Please give reasons for your answer)
   • supports course providers to be able to monitor student progression towards meeting the KSBs across the duration of the course? (Please give reasons for your answer).
   • makes clear that the KSBs are a framework that students must demonstrate competence in, prior to graduation? (Please give reasons for your answer).
2. To what extent do you agree that the refreshed layout of the KSBs:
   • provides clarity for students on the development of their professional behaviour and what they must know and be able to do prior to completion of their course? (Please give reasons for your answer).
   • enables course providers to integrate the KSBs into both academic and practice based learning? (Please give reasons for your answer).
3. To what extent do you feel you understand:
   • the relationship between the education and training standards/guidance and the readiness for professional practice? (Please give reasons for your answer).
   • how the standards/guidance and the readiness for professional practice should be used together? (Please give reasons for your answer).
4. To what extent do you agree that the language used within the guidance reflects current social work practice? Please give reasons for your answer. 
5. To what extent do you agree that the progressive threshold points are set at the right times to assess students’ progression? (Please give reasons for your answer). 
6. Is there anything you don’t understand about the purpose or content of the guidance? 

Questions across all proposals:

1. Do you think that the proposed guidance could have a positive or negative impact on people with any of the following protected characteristics? 
   • The Equality Act (2010) lists nine protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership and pregnancy and maternity.

(Please give reasons for your answer).

If you would like a copy of the questions by email, please contact us at consultation.responses@socialworkengland.org.uk 

A separate consultation is currently taking place in relation to the proposed changes to our education and training standards and supporting guidance which can be found on our website. We propose to implement these changes from autumn 2027. We’re consulting now to give course providers adequate notice of changes that may affect their courses. However, an independent review of Social Work England is currently ongoing, and the outcome of this consultation may be shaped by the findings from the review.