The Department for Education (DfE) introduced Social Work Teaching Partnerships (SWTPs) in 2015, aiming to raise the quality of social work practice. Education providers have recently been informed if they were successful in accessing phase 3 of SWTPs. If you will be incorporating your programme into a SWTP, or are developing a new programme, you will need to consider whether this impacts how the programme meets our standards.
In the past, we have found that education providers needed to make changes to meet the DfE defined ‘stretch criteria’. Changes considered as enhancements still may impact on the way our standards are met. The most frequently noted changes were the following.
Changes to range of practice-based learning available, focus on statutory placements.
Involvement of SWTPs in admissions process, some changes to criteria.
Embedding Knowledge and Skills Statements in curriculum and assessment.