BSc (Hons) in Social Work

• Choose a career where you can make a real impact on the lives of vulnerable people
  • Gain vital real-world skills on practical work placements in each of the three years
  • Learn from staff, service users, carers and practitioners who ensure teaching material is interesting, challenging and up-to-date
  • Join a course that is approved by Social Work England
  • Top 15 for Social Work in The Guardian's Best Universities UK 2022

Do you want to gain the professional skills to make a difference in people’s lives and society? Through expert teaching and quality placements, our specially-designed Social Work degree will help you achieve this.

Social Work at Winchester aims to ensure you understand the impact of the wider social context in which people live. It seeks to challenge inequality and to intervene, support and empower people to make positive decisions.

The focus of the programme is on working with people of all ages who may be vulnerable and at risk. Fundamental to good social work is your ability to develop a critically reflective practice where you are able to deal with complex dilemmas in a confident and competent manner.

The programme works closely with service users, carers and a wide range of professionals to ensure you gain a deep level of understanding of issues across the social care arena. You gain professional knowledge of human behaviour and social processes in a legal context. You critically explore different forms of oppression and inequality in society and develop key skills to challenge disadvantage and marginalisation.

In Year 1, you start to explore key social work concepts and theories and develop basic professional skills in preparation for your first practice placement in Year 2. By the end of the first year, you demonstrate 'readiness for direct practice' evidenced through your progress.

As part of the first year, students are required to undertake a number of days of shadowing in a social care environment in order to prepare them for their forthcoming practice placements in years 2 and 3.

Year 2 includes a practice experience of 70 days. You are placed in a social care agency which has been screened by members of staff and you are supervised by a qualified social work practice educator. On completion of this practice learning, your performance is assessed.

Year 3 is more complex and prepares you for practice. The final 100-day practice experience is supported by teaching at the University. You continue to work under the supervision of a qualified social work practice assessor but are expected to demonstrate increasing skill in your practice, greater ability to integrate theory and practice, assumption of more responsibility and more initiative in the role of student social worker.

Few careers offer as many opportunities to support people as social work. Graduates go on to careers in social work or related professional roles in the social care, voluntary and independent sector, and health and education sectors.

Accreditation

This programme is approved by Social Work England which means you’ll be eligible to apply for registration as a social worker on successful completion of the course.

Our BSc Social Work programme will be undergoing Social Work England's reapproval process during 2022/23.

The University of Winchester empowers students to reach their full potential and make a difference in the world. Set in Winchester, a beautiful, quintessential English city with a rich heritage and vibrant contemporary culture, the university’s friendly and compact campuses give students the benefit of city and campus living. We are well situated with excellent transport links allowing you to reach London or the coast in an hour, and Southampton Airport is just a 10-minute train journey away.

The university offers a selection of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees that are taught across our five faculties:

• Faculty of Business and Digital Technologies: A modern, forward-thinking faculty offering a range of disciples including Accounting, Economics, Business Management, Computer Science and Marketing.
• Faculty of Education and the Arts: Has a long and established history of providing high-quality degrees, and is home to the Institute of Education, Department of Education and Childhood Studies, Department of Performing Arts, and School of Media and Film.
• Faculty of Health and Wellbeing: Outstanding degrees that are committed to progressing health and well-being for all life. The faculty includes Nursing, Physiotherapy, Social Work, Animal Welfare and Sports degrees.
• Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences: Passionate about what makes us human, we offer research-led teaching and outstanding support in Anthropology; Archaeology; History; Psychology; Social Sciences including Politics and Geography; Philosophy; English and Creative Writing.
• Faculty of Law, Crime and Justice: Bringing together the department of Law and the department of Policing, Criminology and Forensics, the faculty uses an interdisciplinary approach to offer a dynamic range of degrees that offer the use of specialist facilities.