we’re helping you make social work reform a reality

1. Spring 2012 we’re helping you make social work reform a reality NOPT conference July ‘12

2. NOPT Conference Practice Educator Professional Standards (PEPS) and Holistic Assessment

3. Background and Update • PEPS developed with the social work sector over the last 4/5 years; endorsed by the Social Work Reform Board (July 2011) • Stewardship passed to the TCSW in November 2011 • FAQs developed through queries and engagement • Final guidance statement presented to TCSW Education Advisory Implementation Group (end of April) published in June. • Links to other practice learning resources on TCSW website

4. Status and ownership • Health Professions Council will register social workers who meet their ‘Standards of Proficiency for Social Work’. These are threshold standards for safe and effective practice. • TCSW will own these more extensive expectations for practice learning and they will become part of the criteria for TCSW’s endorsement of initial social work courses. • Endorsement will support and supplement the regulatory function of accreditation, carried out by the HPC. It will not be a formal requirement, but as the HPC expects programmes to reflect the requirements of their professional body, the easiest way of demonstrating this will be through endorsement.

5. Common queries - the last placement Does the practice supervisor need to be a RSW? • Placement criteria for statutory interventions: where the practice educator is not on-site, the student will work alongside a social worker who must be in a post requiring registration. • Normally the placement supervisor (RSW), • In exceptional circumstances, where this cannot be provided, the student must have the additional support of working alongside a social worker in a post requiring social work registration in order to undertake the required statutory tasks • Students should not be the sole social work representative in a setting

6. Maintaining currency PEs can maintain currency through: • taking full responsibility for a SW student at least every two years; in line with HPC’s re-registration requirements, record role within ‘scope of practice’ • taking responsibility for one student and one other professional social work learner (e.g. NQSWs or trainee AMHPs) assessed against the PCF during a three year period. • Taking an active, ongoing role in practice education • Partnerships of employers and HEIs need to be satisfied that the PE is capable of meeting the standards and ‘keeping up to date’.

7. Assessment and direct observation • PEs should be directly observed teaching, assessing and supervising student social workers. • Provide additional evidence by September 2015, if required, to meet the revised guidance • The final assessment of the PE needs to be made jointly by employer and HEI representatives

8. Implementing the Practice Educator Professional Standards Equivalent existing qualifications • Practice Teacher Award • Higher Specialist Awards in practice education (that meet PEPS assessment requirements) Developing pathways for Stage 1 and Stage 2 • Refresher programmes • Top Up programmes • In house or HEI routes • Options for academic accreditation • Links to developing assessors and supervisors for NQSWs in preparation for ASYE

9. Requirements for on and off site practice educators

10. Consistency and pragmatism ‘high quality placements are supervised and assessed by practice educators who meet nationally agreed benchmark standards. … these will achieve greater consistency in the content, quality and outcomes of courses so that everyone can have confidence that social workers are the best prepared they can be to start work.’ Building a safe and confident future: Maintaining momentum - Progress report from the Social Work Reform Board(p 30 )

11. The Professional Capabilities Framework • Will be the sole framework for professional development in SW, owned by TCSW • Provides comprehensive framework for professional development across all areas of SW practice regardless of setting/user focus • Shows and enables progression through career levels (e.g. risk, complexity, efficacy) • Based on capability rather than competence • Moves focus in practice learning from collection of evidence to assessment of professional capability • Role of practice educator more important in terms of making professional decisions about capability

12. Competence-based assessment may: • Fragment knowledge • Provide partial evidence across competencies that is often descriptive • Not give a sense of the work with the service user • Not give a sense of progress • Mean that a disproportionate amount of time is spent on gathering pieces of evidence • Impede analytical understanding of professional roles, responsibilities and the process McNay M, Clarke J, Lovelock R, The Journey towards Professionalism in Social Work: Conference paper JSWEC 2010

13. Assessment using the PCF PCF articulates and exemplifies complexity and interdependency of skills, knowledge and values ‘the nine capabilities should be seen as interdependent, not separate: they interact in professional practice, so there are overlaps between the capabilities, and many issues will be relevant to more than one capability. Moreover, understanding what a social worker does can only be complete by taking into account all nine capabilities.’ TCSW May 2012

14. Holistic Assessment Assessment is progressive over a period of time (e.g. initial qualifying placement, ASYE), leading to effective summative assessment. Assessment must be consistent with the appropriate PCF level descriptor, and include sufficiency, range and depth of evidence across all nine domains. Individual capability statements will be important in terms of providing detail of expectations for each domain, and particularly significant to identify gaps, areas of development or concerns.

15. Holistic Assessment 4. The assessment process and judgement must be trustworthy, reliable and transparent (e.g. include clear guidance in handbooks, be undertaken by professionals with appropriate knowledge and skills, include triangulated evidence, audit trails) 5. Evidence must include the ability to reflect critically, including reference to different sources of knowledge and research. 6. The learner will contribute evidence for assessment but the professional judgement of sufficiency must be made by a registered social worker (at initial qualifying level assessors must meet the PEPS).

16. Minimum basis for robust judgements – not new but refreshed! observations of a range of examples of practice in different settings by different observers over the period of ASYE recommendation by registered social worker informed by Knight (2006)

17. Guidance materials to support holistic assessment (TCSW and Skills for Care) understanding what is meant by holistic assessment http://www.collegeofsocialwork.org/uploadedFiles/TheCollege/_CollegeLibrary/Reform_resources/holistic-assessmentASYE1.pdf principles for critical reflection principles for involvement of people who use services and carers

18. Guidance materials to support holistic assessment at ASYE (TCSW and Skills for Care in partnership) assessment report template examples of completed assessment reports direct observation template case studies across Adults and Children’s demonstrating holistic assessment, process and standard to be reached.

19. www.skillsforcare.org.uk www.skillsforcare.org.uk