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GSCC calls for improvements in quality of student social worker placements

1 min read Social Care
The General Social Care Council (GSCC) has renewed its calls for higher education institutions and local employers to work effectively together to drive up the quality of practice placements for student social workers.

The body's publication A Report on Social Work Education in England 2009-10 has identified significant trends in social work education, including a decline in the number of local authority placements being provided to students.

In 2009/10, 44 per cent of practice placements were provided by local authorities, down from 47 per cent in 2007/08. Following the GSCC’s monitoring of social work degree courses in 2009/10, two-thirds of higher education institutions were asked to make some improvements to the quality of practice placements.

Hannah Prescott, a social work student in the second year of her masters degree at the University of Central Lancaster, said: "There is a limit to what you can learn in tutorials and at lectures. Good communication, the ability to form relationships and an understanding of people’s needs are essential parts of being a social worker and these can only be learned through good practical experience."

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