Social Work

Please check the Sheffield Hallam University website for the latest information.

Course Summary

- Become an ethical practitioner drawing upon local and global perspectives.

- Gain social work and mental health experience with children, families and adults.

- Undertake social work practice placements in a range of settings.

- Develop your analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills.

- Graduate with professional registration with Social Work England (SWE).

Over three years you’ll learn to integrate legal frameworks, statutory duties and interventions that impact individuals and communities. You’ll interpret research evidence and link theory to practice, while shaping your personal and professional value base. Through our collaborative relationship with the South Yorkshire Teaching Partnership (SYTP), you’ll gain practice learning experiences across five local authorities in the South Yorkshire Region.

How You Learn

At Sheffield Hallam, all our courses are designed to engage you with the world and challenge you to think in new ways. You’ll get to collaborate with others, and you’ll be taught in a supportive environment where you can thrive.

On this course you’ll experience a blended approach to learning and teaching – on campus, online and in work placements – which mirrors how you’ll work in practice. You’ll be taught in class by academic staff who are research-active, both locally and internationally. We’ll be joined by international social work researchers who help you challenge and be part of real-life social work research, in groups or individually.

You’ll learn in active and independent ways – across teaching, practice and individual study. During two placements (80 days and 100 days) you’ll learn from people who access services, with support from inter-professional colleagues, a practice educator and supervision as an individual and in groups. You’ll also return to Hallam on several ‘recall days’ for peer support, skills development and critical reflection.

Course topics

Our BA Social Work (BASW) course is compliant with the Hallam Model, embedding a person centred approach to your professional knowledge, skills and behaviours in practice. You’ll learn the underpinning knowledge base required for social work placements, preparing to work collaboratively with practice partners and multi-agency working, supporting wellbeing and empowerment in practice. You’ll engage in specialist simulation facilities through workshops and digital technologies – e.g. courtroom and mental health tribunals.

You’ll develop your inter-agency collaboration skills for future careers in inter-professional contexts – learning from students across the college who represent a range of professional health and social care groupings. This will ensure you have the required foundations for social work in a variety of contexts and diverse group work settings.

In the libraries and learning spaces across the university and online, you’ll take an international approach to social work – individually or with student project groups to encourage collaboration, professional curiosity, problem-solving and critical reflection. You’ll also be able to discuss your research with your research group and potentially present your research findings during placement – meeting the professional leadership domain of the Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF) for Social Work (BASW 2018).

Through case studies and real-world examples explored with practitioners and people with lived experience, you’ll be intellectually challenged by national and global social work problems. You’ll develop evidence-based solutions, portfolios of evidence and transferable employability skills – preparing you to successfully register as a professional who makes ethically sound assessments and research-informed decisions.