“You should consider training as a social worker if you genuinely care about people overcoming oppression and disadvantage”

Hundreds of pupils getting their A level results today will find out if they got the grades to start a social work course this autumn. Social Work England regulates almost 300 courses in England, including undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, fast track courses and apprenticeships. We want graduates from all routes to be ready to apply to our register. They must meet our professional standards and give a consistently excellent standard of support to the millions of people in society who rely on social work.

Social worker Dr Kev Stone started his journey into the sector at the age of 15 and has dedicated his career to social work practice, education and training. He provides expert advice on the plans in our approach to social work education and training and chairs the Education and Training Advisory Forum.

We talked to Kev about his background, role and advice for social work students.

Why and how did you become a social worker?

In the nineties, when I was 15, I got a part-time job working in Salvation Army hostels in my home city of Bristol. I saw a lot of life, with people facing homelessness, drug and alcohol and mental health challenges. I was inspired by a social worker called Margaret Mitchell. Sadly, she’s not with us any longer, but it was her passion for social work that made me want to join the profession. I was also caring for my father, who had mental illness, so I had some lived experience to contribute.

Margaret encouraged me to apply for university. I studied social work at the University of Gloucester and then the University of Bristol. I was with a brilliant cohort of fellow students who just wanted to go out into the world and make a difference. We shared the same values, beliefs and ambitions for what we wanted to achieve as social workers.

I really didn’t enjoy school and I struggled to learn. I left with only one GCSE grade C. I have since enjoyed studying and learning but had to manage dyslexia. It was only during the third year of my first degree that I was finally diagnosed. Once I got some adjustments in place, I just took off.

I went on to practise and then register as a social worker and do further studies, including a doctorate, and later a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. I've never thought about working in a different sector since then. I enjoyed studying social work so much, that I’ve never stopped.

My value set sits neatly with social work, and it's always felt like the kind of place where I could thrive as a professional. Now I’m a researcher, published author, education inspector, associate professor and director of social work at the University of Warwick and honorary associate professor at the University of Plymouth. I specialise in mental health practice, and the sociolegal impact of mental health legislation. I still practice as an approved mental health professional (AMHP).

Who should consider training to be a social worker?

You must be passionate about social justice, human rights and how it affects lives. It’s about wanting to influence and change outcomes for people facing challenges. You should consider training as a social worker if you genuinely care about people overcoming oppression and disadvantage.

What is working well in social work education and training in England?

We’re still attracting a high calibre of students with the right values, and I hear lots of positive feedback about their experiences. There’s a lot of innovative course providers, plus excellent examples of co-production with people with lived experience of social work.

It’s great to see new routes, such as apprenticeships and fast-track courses, giving people from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to train as social workers. However, I hear of more students who need to fund their courses by holding down a part-time job alongside studying. I don’t know how they manage to do that alongside the demands of the course and placements, but they do, and all credit to them.

Why did you want to take up this role at Social Work England and what does it involve?

It felt like a fantastic opportunity to get involved with a strategic project that’s bringing people together to improve the future landscape of social work education. I chair the Education and Training Advisory Forum with deputy chair Amanda Fitchett, assistant professor at Coventry University.

We issued an open invite for applications and have representatives from the education, statutory and voluntary sectors. Plus, members of the National Advisory Forum with lived and learned experience of social work. I am grateful to be working with so many specialists in different areas of practice and focus.

We have been working with the outcomes of Social Work England’s public consultation to refine knowledge, skills and behaviours statements. These will form the ‘readiness for professional practice’ guidance for course providers. Our next step is to map their implementation, through further conversations with the sector. We’re holding workshops in the autumn.

The aim is to have one streamlined set of standards that have been developed in partnership with and work for education providers, students, placement providers, practice educators and employers. They need to bring clarity and consistency, plus the formality of enforcement which is missing in the current myriad of requirements.

What needs to change in social work education and training in England?

We must take a whole system approach to reform. The knowledge, skills and behaviour we teach should translate seamlessly into practice across the hundreds of different roles and settings in social work. The current generation of social work students are more likely to move between these. Our focus should be on equipping them to remain in social work throughout their career, whichever aspect of it they want to try.

The main challenge is making sure students graduate with consistent skills, knowledge and behaviours wherever they study. There is a complex web of voluntary standards and frameworks for students and tutors to navigate, which has evolved over a number of years in the absence of a specialist regulator.

We’ve now got the opportunity to simplify and strengthen this landscape under a regulatory framework, so that everybody starts their practice from the same place. Stretched social work teams need more clarity about the support their newly qualified social workers will need when they come to fill their vacancies. The public need more reassurance that all new social workers can offer the same high standard of support.

This is one of the reasons why Social Work England set up the Social Work Education and Training Advisory Forum. The new new readiness for professional practice guidance aims to help course providers offer consistent experiences. It will eventually form part of our regulatory requirements and inspections by Social Work England’s Education Quality Assurance team.

Finally, what is your advice for today’s social work students?

I learnt so much from my days with the Salvation Army, so my advice would be for students to look beyond the statutory sector. Get involved in some charitable activities and voluntary work to broaden your skills.

Choosing to study social work is definitely not an easy option. You’re going to be challenged academically and emotionally. You are learning how to help people navigate some of the hardest times in their lives.

My biggest piece of advice for students is, when the going gets tough, you must find a way to retain that vision and passion for social work that inspired you to apply in the first place. Keep your social work values at the centre of the work you undertake.