Whether you work with children and young people, adults or in mental health settings, this programme provides all that you need to achieve the crucial first level GSCC PQ award in your area of specialist social work practice as well as the academic award of the Graduate Diploma in Post Qualifying Specialist Social Work. For other professionals this programme offers you a Graduate Diploma in the Helping Professions.

For Graduate Diploma PQSSW

Social workers - a social work qualification. This is usually a GSCC approved award at Degree or Masters level or equivalent.

For Graduate Diploma Helping Professions

Other applicants - an equivalent professional qualification and 120 credits at Level 2/3.

All applicants need to be located within a health/education/social care setting.

The following requirements apply:

• The PQ candidate has the agreement of their employer to participate in the programme
• The PQ social work employer appoints a PQ work-based mentor who can verify that the student's practice meets the GSCC requirements and report on this to the UEL Practice Assessment Panel
• The candidate has the opportunity to supervise and assess a student social worker/or equivalent
• The practice of the PQ social work candidate will be directly observed by the line manager and PQ work-based mentor
• The candidate has the employer's permission to bring anonymised case material into the classroom for exploration and analysis.

• Achieve an integrated academic and professional qualification by gaining a Graduate Diploma. For PQ social work students, this is at the same time as you successfully meet the requirements for one of three possible GSCC Post Qualifying professional Awards.
• Engage with the underpinning principles of the GSCC PQ framework through this learning process. These principles include consultation with service users in all aspects of learning and assessment; recognising and working with the inter-professional context of the work; working closely with health, education and social care employers to develop a work force that meets the complex needs of individual clients, groups and communities.

Knowledge

• Consolidating and extending practice from the point of initial qualification in relation to relevant national occupational standards
• Supervising and assessing the practice of another
• Recognition and application of key policy and legislation within a specific client context

'Thinking' skills

• Reflective and analytic approaches to your own practice and the practice of your peers
• Use of adult learning and supervision theory to guide the interventions made by your supervisee in the interests of the client
• Recognition of the ethical dimensions of policy and practice and the implications these have for you as a specialist practitioner

Subject-Based Practical skills

• The ramifications of inter-professional and inter-agency practice and the possible points of intervention
• Client specific approaches to working with risk and uncertainty
• Integration of key principles for contemporary practice within your own professional approach

Skills for life and work (general skills)

• Developing an enabling and facilitative style to your work with and for clients and carers
• Integrating a reflective approach into your every day practice
• Consolidating an analytical attitude to theory and knowledge

The expected duration of this programme is 1.5 years. Students will attend this programme on one or one and a half days day per week (depending on the Semester) and take one or two modules per day/half day. The rest of the time students on this programme will generally be in their work role in their work setting.

This three semester programme begins in February, Semester B (two 20 credit modules), then September, Semester A (1 half 40 credit module) then February, Semester B (the remaining half 40 credit module).

The structure of this programme is an adaptation of the modular degree scheme
It is not generally possible to bring together modules from one field with modules from another to produce a combined programme. This is because each module is undertaken in part fulfilment of both the academic and the professional award and for those registering for the graduate diploma in fulfilment of the Graduate Diploma Helping Professions. Other modules would not be mapped against the academic/professional award requirements in the same way.

In order to gain an honours degree you will need to obtain 360 credits including:

• minimum of 120 credits at level one or higher - Year 1 of DipSW or equivalent
• minimum of 120 credits at level two or higher - Year 2 of DipSW or equivalent
• A minimum of 120 credits at level three or higher - This programme

In order to gain an ordinary degree you will need to obtain a minimum of 300 credits including:

• A minimum of 120 credits at level one or higher
• A minimum of 120 credits at level two or higher
• A minimum of 60 credits at level three or higher

In order to gain an Associate Certificate you will need to obtain a minimum if 20 credits at level one or higher

Knowledge is developed through

• Lectures and seminars introducing PQ students to key policy and legislative developments relevant to the specialist roles that characterise work with the different client groups
• Lectures and seminars to enable PQ students to develop their specialist communication and intervention skills in the interests of service users and their carers
• Skills workshops and workplace learning that focuses on the development and integration of new aspects of specialist roles including supervising others.

'Thinking' skills are developed through

• Analytic analysis of case study presentations
• Reflective presentations of work place interventions in practice and supervisory roles
• Consideration of the contribution that structured supervision makes to developing reflective practice
• Ethical considerations of the implications of any and all proposed approaches to work with different clients as individuals, groups and communities.

Practical skills are developed through

• The integration of classroom and workplace learning in achieving each of the academic and GSCC award requirements
• Direct observation of PQ social work students' practice by employer appointed PQ work-based mentors
• Presentation of by PQ social work students of a portfolio of work place assessment and verification to the UEL Practice Assessment Panel.

Skills for life and work (general skills) are developed through

• Reflecting, analysing and evaluating policy and practice as a member of each seminar group
• Specialist skills relating to the particular client groups eg working with people with learning difficulties involves learning about 'Multimedia Advocacy' including : Audio-visual literacy - Use of symbols, images, video, sound and multimedia technologies as communication tools.
• Placing the client and carer at the centre of practice whatever the role or client group.

Knowledge is assessed by

• Evidence in the written assignments that the PQ student has achieved the learning outcomes of the individual modules
• Written assignments will evidence that the skills learned by the PQ student on the programme include: consolidating their practice with reference to the national occupational standards; developing the capacity to supervise and assess the practice of others including student social workers; working effectively with the clients in their setting with reference to relevant policy and legislation and an understanding of inter-professional context.

Thinking skills are assessed by

• the integration of a reflective approach to the learning, teaching and assessment of each module
• formative assessment through the submission of the project proposal and summative through the completed dissertation
• PQ social work students are required, with the help of academic tutors and workplace mentors, to integrate their practice based and classroom learning in relation to the academic and professional award requirements.

Practical Skills are assessed by

Evidence of the ability to manage time to achieve the learning outcomes of each module and the ability to prepare assignments using appropriate resources.

Practical skills of PQ Social work students are assessed by

• Direct observation of practice with service users
• Verification by the PQ work-based mentors that the PQ student's practice meets the requirements of the specialist GSCC awards
• Submission of a portfolio (to the UEL Practice Assessment Panel) that includes a brief report on the student's practice by the PQ work-based mentor, completed reports from line-managers and others based on direct observation of practice and PQ student s reflection on the feedback they have sought and received from service users.

Skills for life and work (general skills) are assessed by

• The organisation required to attend a level 3 academic and professional programme and achieve its outcomes whilst also working effectively in a social work setting
• The confidence acquired from thinking analytically about one's own role and task and assisting others to do like-wise
• The sense of perspective that is possible when recognising that in consolidating, extending and developing specialist practice knowledge, values and skills, the service user and carer, who is at the centre of the work is likely to benefit.