Consultation response on readiness for professional practice

Published: 27 January 2023

• Introduction
• What we consulted on
• How we consulted
• Who responded?
• What you said
• What we will do
• What happens next?

Introduction

As the specialist regulator for social work, we set the standards for safe and effective social work education and training in England. We inspect all courses against these standards. This means that we assure the public’s confidence that graduating students are capable of practising safely and effectively when they apply to join the register.

In July 2022 we launched a 14-week public consultation to inform new guidance on readiness for professional practice. This new guidance will set out the knowledge, skills, and behaviours we expect student social workers to demonstrate in order to apply to register with us. It is an initial step in our ambition to assure consistency in outcomes for students qualifying from education and training courses.

The following is an overview of the consultation, including a summary of our activity, who responded and the feedback we received.

What we consulted on

Early work in this area began in 2021 with initial preparatory scoping and mapping undertaken by our professional advisors, in association with our then Education and Training Advisory forum. We first publicly discussed our thoughts on introducing new guidance on the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for social work practice at 3 pre-consultation workshops in early 2022. These were attended by social workers, students, people with lived experience and representatives from national organisations.

We also held sessions with our education quality assurance inspectors, and with members of our National Advisory Forum.

The feedback from the workshops was broadly supportive of our proposals, and made clear that:

• The education and training landscape for social work is crowded. This can lead to confusion around whether requirements are optional or mandatory, while creating an administrative burden for educators, employers and students.
• Social Work England would be best placed, as the professional regulator, to streamline requirements for initial education and training.
• There is a risk of inconsistency in how students are being prepared to meet the professional standards. This is particularly true within placement settings and through the assessment of their practice based learning.
• Making changes to social work courses takes time. This should be progressed in collaboration with experts within the sector.

We used this feedback to develop our knowledge, skills and behaviour statements. We shared initial drafts of the statements for comment with registered social workers working across Social Work England. For example, our regional engagement leads and partners, including our education quality assurance inspectors. These statements then formed the basis of our readiness for professional practice consultation.

How we consulted

Our regulations require us to consult when we make substantive amendments to our rules (Social Workers Regulations 2018 (as amended), regulation 3(5)). Although the introduction of new guidance has no impact on our rules, we wanted to hear from those who may be impacted by the introduction of new guidance and use this feedback to further inform the knowledge, skills and behaviour statements.

We made this information accessible via our website. We promoted the consultation through emails to stakeholders, our newsletter and on our social media channels.

We published a proposal on our website, along with an accompanying consultation document, explaining the knowledge, skills and behaviour statements.

We offered a number of ways for people to feedback on our proposals. We (did all of the following):

• asked targeted questions in an online survey
• encouraged feedback by email (consultationresponses@socialworkengland.org.uk)
• held 5 public online events with people from across the country
• met with representatives from national organisations
• consulted with our regional engagement leads

Who responded?

We received 63 responses to the consultation survey, 28 of which were from organisations. 14 individual survey responses were from social workers who are also practice educators. We counted, read and analysed every response we received.

In the online survey, we asked people to what extent they agreed with our proposals. Respondents could rank their level of agreement on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The scale helped us to understand the extent to which people supported our proposals. The survey also had space for respondents to write the reason for their scores and any additional comments.

As well as the survey, we collated and analysed feedback received from 5 public consultation events which took place from July to October, and by email. All of the consultation feedback has been considered and will inform our decision-making.

What you said

Knowledge, skills and behaviours

Content of the statements

Respondents generally felt that the knowledge, skills and behaviours statements capture what a student should be able to demonstrate by the end of their initial education in order to meet the professional standards. The average approval rating was 3.75 out of 5.0.

Positive comments from those who strongly agreed or agreed highlighted that the statements:

• were clear, holistic and easy to understand
• were applicable across most areas of practice
• would align well with existing frameworks (such as the Quality Assurance Agency Benchmark Statements for Social Work)
• were outcomes focused
• could help to improve consistency across routes of social work initial education and training

Of those who provided a more neutral score of 3, respondents commented that they felt that the statements were too vague, or too broad. Some who disagreed commented that the statements were not as detailed or comprehensive as existing frameworks. They suggested they could be improved with the addition of further content.

We were grateful to receive feedback from a number of organisations on the content of the statements, offering their expert advice for strengthening specific areas of the knowledge, skills and behaviours which they felt were not adequately emphasised. These areas included (all of the following):

• mental health
• international social work
• understanding the use of the self and resilience
• digital skills
• domestic abuse
• child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation

We received further feedback from individuals on areas that they would like to see emphasised within the statements, such as (all of the following):

• peer learning
• reflective practice
• a focus on legal literacy
• multi-agency working
• anti-racist practice
• critical thinking

Structure of the statements

Respondents were less confident that the statements are structured in a way which is clear and easy to understand. The average approval rating was 3.53 out of 5.0.

Feedback from respondents who agreed or strongly agreed expressed that the statements were clearly worded. They told us that the language used was generally in plain English, which made the statements accessible and engaging to read. We noted that most respondents felt that the language used across the statements should be as simple as possible, and remain free from complex technical terms or jargon.

We received consistent feedback from respondents who were undecided, or who disagreed, that the structure and length of the statements could be improved and streamlined. For example, through the addition of sub-headings. This was a common topic of discussion at our consultation events. Some attendees felt that there were too many statements, and they would be easier to digest if they were more concise.

Another theme for discussion was repetition across the knowledge, skills and behaviour statements. Some respondents felt that this was a helpful step to build a student’s understanding across the 3 distinct areas. Others felt that this added unnecessary duplication.

Appropriateness of the categories

Respondents generally felt that ‘knowledge, skills and behaviours’ are appropriate categories for the social work profession. The average approval rating was 3.78 out of 5.0.

Specifically, we found that the majority of respondents agreed with ‘knowledge’ and ‘skills’ but that there was less consensus around the status of ‘behaviours’. Some felt uncomfortable with ‘behaviours’ and regarded the word to be punitive, or disciplinarian. Others welcomed the addition of ‘behaviours’ as a category, as this would align with the expectations (both of the following):

• across other regulated professions
• within the Apprenticeship Standard for social work (set by the Institute of Apprenticeships and Technical Education).

Some respondents felt that ‘values’ would be a more appropriate category than ‘behaviours’. Others offered suggestions such as ‘conduct’, ‘professionalism’, or ‘practice’. The importance of social work values and ethics was a common area of feedback from survey respondents, and a repeated area of discussion at our consultation events. It was felt by many attendees that social work values are integral to preparing students for practice, and to the identity of the social work profession. They felt that values should be emphasised within the statements.

The 'crowded landscape'

We found that feedback at the consultation events mirrored the themes and comments reported as part of the consultation survey. This included discussions on how new guidance on knowledge, skills, behaviours and values from Social Work England could have a positive impact on social work education. However, this was balanced with reflections on the challenges to developing and implementing new guidance within an already ‘crowded landscape’.

This emerged as a theme across questions in relation to the knowledge, skills and behaviour statements. We found that the most respondents generally agreed with the statements, but were concerned about duplication and confusion with existing frameworks which pre-date the professional standards. For example (both of the following):

• the Professional Capabilities Framework
• the Post Qualifying Standards (previously known as the Knowledge and Skills Statements (KSS)) published by the Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care

This was further highlighted to us in organisational responses from the Association of Directors for Children’s Services (ADCS), Skills for Care and BASW.

Overall, we received clear feedback from the majority of respondents on the need to streamline the current landscape of frameworks that inform course curricula and content. This will ensure consistency and clarity in how students should demonstrate that they are able to meet the professional standards. It was acknowledged by many respondents that this should be approached collaboratively. They told us that, as the professional regulator for social work, Social Work England should show leadership in creating a less crowded landscape of requirements for students, practice educators and educators. However, it is important to recognise that the requirements of a statutory regulator may be different from optional guidance and frameworks.

We generally received a positive response when we asked respondents if they would welcome the opportunity to work further with us, as we continue to develop new guidance on readiness for professional practice.

Implementation

Another theme of discussion at our consultation events, and within survey responses, related to questions about (both of the following):

• implementation of the knowledge, skills and behaviour statements
• how this would impact areas such as the development of course curricula and the assessment of practice-based learning

This was of particular interest to education providers. They often raised questions regarding the status of the different frameworks that they currently use to inform social work courses. They requested further clarity in this area.

What we will do

We have listened to, and carefully considered, all of the feedback. We will be re-drafting and re-structuring the knowledge, skills and behaviour statements in order to inform our final guidance on readiness for professional practice.

We will continue to explore the issue of the ‘crowded landscape’ in initial social work education and training. We will use our influence as the specialist regulator to seek to streamline requirements in line with our professional standards and our regulatory approach.

As described in our consultation documentation, we are not planning to implement the full and final guidance on readiness for professional practice until after the end of the current reapproval cycle (in 2024). However, it is our intention to publish the guidance in September to October 2023, ahead of the end of the reapproval cycle.

We will work collaboratively with education providers to agree a plan for implementation. This will provide clarity, consistency and sufficient time to make any necessary course changes (in line with our ongoing course approval and monitoring activity).

We will also ensure that implementation of the new guidance aligns with (both of the following):

• our wider ambition to review the education and training standards
• our intention to develop a closer relationship with practice educators

In order to progress this work, we have appointed an associate advisor for education and training, Associate Professor Dr Kevin Stone. We will also be recruiting an expert group to work with us into 2024, as part of our reconfigured education and training advisory forum.

Content

We will review the content of the knowledge, skills and behaviour statements in line with the feedback we have also received from organisations such as Skills for Care, NHS Digital, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s Office, the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse, Against Violence and Abuse (AVA), local authorities, education providers, Principal Social Worker networks, ADCS and BASW. We will also consider feedback from individuals on areas of the statements which could be emphasised in relation to key areas of practice.

We will also consider wider developments which may impact social work practice, including the outcomes of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care and implementation of Health and Care Act 2022 reforms. We understand that as a profession, social work will continue to evolve and change in response to our society and the communities that we work with. The statements will provide a baseline of knowledge, skills and behaviours relevant to a specific point in a social worker’s professional journey (at the beginning of their career).

We will ensure that our requirements as the specialist regulator for social work continue to take a whole profession approach.

Structure

We will need to balance the desire to include additional detail and content in the statements, while ensuring that they are of a digestible and useable length for students and educators. We will act on feedback to include further categories and sub-headings across the statements. This work will be informed by our associate advisor for education and our expert group.

We will ensure that the knowledge, skills and behaviour statements are mapped to the professional standards in the full and final guidance. This will ensure that the new guidance supports education providers to develop course content which prepares students both:

• for practice
• to demonstrate the professional standards by the end of their qualifying course

We will also work with key stakeholders to map the final version of the statements against parallel regulatory frameworks. For example, the Apprenticeship Standard for Social Work. We will continue to explore if our requirements can be further embedded within those set by the Institute of Apprenticeships and Technical Education. We will engage with the Quality Assurance Agency regarding future review of the Subject Benchmark Statement for Social Work.

Categories

We will consider the role and status of values and ethics within the statements, in consultation with our associate advisor for education and our expert group. Specifically, whether ‘values’ should be included as a separate category within the statements. Or, whether they should feature elsewhere within the full and final readiness for professional practice guidance.

What happens next?

Whilst the formal consultation closed on 7 October 2022, we remain committed to an ongoing conversation and collaboration with everyone who has an interest in social work.