Advanced Adult Social Work PGCert

Postgraduate

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This course aims to enable you as a social worker to develop your career from early social work practice through to teaching, mentoring, and assessing others.

Year of entry

2024-25

Location

Coventry University (Coventry)

Study mode

Part-time
Online/Blended

Duration

1 year part-time
2 years part-time

Course code

HLST175

Start date

September 2024

How to apply

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Course overview

This Postgraduate Certificate course in Advanced Adult Social Work is designed for social workers who have completed their social work pre-registration training, are in employment, and wish to enhance their career prospects via gaining a postgraduate level qualification.

Joint Top Modern University for Career Prospects

Guardian University Guide 2021 and 2022

5 QS Stars for Teaching and Facilities

QS Stars University Ratings

Top 5 UK Student City in England (Coventry)

QS Best Student Cities Index 2024

Why you should study this course

This course aims to develop your capacity to evaluate, review and improve approaches and systems, and apply learning effectively at an appropriate level using relevant methodologies, ensuring continuous improvement
This course can be delivered on a part-time basis and can be taken over a one-year or two-year period to meet the needs of social workers who wish to study alongside their professional practice as part of their continuing professional development
This course aims to provide opportunities to develop your critical understanding of global and national issues and insights of social work practice
This course aims to give you the opportunity to become an expert practitioner, an agent of change and be ‘leadership ready’
Opportunities may also be available within the faculty to progress your studies beyond the Postgraduate Certificate to a full master’s degree (subject to successfully completing the PGCert, an application to a master’s course and additional fees).

What you'll study

The curriculum for the course aims to allow you to meet the Practice Educator Professional Standards (PEPS) stage 1 requirements where you should begin to form some knowledge of the role of teaching and mentoring others as you develop your social work career in more senior positions. An additional module on this qualification route – ‘Advanced Critical Practice: Adult Social Work’ focuses on enhancing your knowledge in adult social work practice. All modules are mandatory.

Modules

The Developing Practitioner in Social Work - 20 credits

This module aims to develop your professional social work practice. You will engage with your employers in a year of assessed and supported learning while applying knowledge, skills and theory to your own practice. This reflective practice will be encapsulated within the assessment, which requires you to submit a nationally recognised portfolio that critically assesses your own practice.

Compulsory

Mentoring, Supervision and Assessment in Practice Part 1 and 2 (PEPS Stage 1) - 10 credits each

This module forms two parts that aim to prepare you to act as enablers of others’ learning by developing knowledge of theories, concepts and processes of practice education in the context of an explicit value base. You will develop knowledge and skills in relation to:

Organising opportunities for the demonstration of assessed competence/capability in practice
Enabling learning and professional development in practice
Managing the assessment of learners in practice
Mentoring and supporting learners and colleagues in contemporary care settings.

Compulsory

Advanced Critical Practice: Adult Social Work - 20 credits

This module aims to facilitate and support the continuing professional development of Registered Social Workers. The module enables you to further extend and deepen your knowledge and skills in respect of essential aspects of contemporary practice in Social Work. The content of the module draws on the “Social Worker” career level statements of the Professional Capabilities Framework for Social Workers and the Knowledge and Skills Statements for Social Workers in Adult Services.

Compulsory

We regularly review our course content, to make it relevant and current for the benefit of our students. For these reasons, course modules may be updated.

How you'll learn

The course is delivered on a part-time basis and can be taken over a one-year or two-year period to meet the needs of social workers who wish to study alongside their professional practice as part of their continuing professional development.

It will be delivered using a blended learning approach of:

classroom teaching
online discussions
online tasks
project work.

This course can be offered on a part-time basis. Whilst we would like to give you all the information about our part-time offering here, it is tailored for each course each year depending on the number of part-time applicants. Therefore, the part-time teaching arrangements vary. Request further information about part-time study.

Teaching contact hours

For the course, you will have 32 hours in seminars, 7 hours of tutorials, 10 hours in workshops, and 426 hours of work-based learning. You will also undertake 125 hours of self-guided learning.

The contact hours may be made up of a combination of face-to-face teaching, individual and group tutorials, and online classes and tutorials.

As an innovative and enterprising institution, the University may seek to utilise emerging technologies within the student experience. For all courses (whether on-campus, blended, or distance learning), the University may deliver certain contact hours and assessments via online technologies and methods.

Since COVID-19, we have delivered our courses in a variety of forms, in line with public authority guidance, decisions, or orders and we will continue to adapt our delivery as appropriate. Whether on campus or online, our key priority is staff and student safety.

Assessment

This course will be assessed using a variety of methods which will vary depending upon the module.

Assessment methods include:

supervision notes
direct observation
presentations
written assignments
nationally recognised portfolio.

The Coventry University Group assessment strategy ensures that our courses are fairly assessed and allows us to monitor student progression towards achieving the intended learning outcomes.

Entry requirements

Typical offer for 2024/25 entry.

Applicants must hold a professional qualification in social work and be registered with the relevant regulator.

All applicants will normally have two years post qualification experience in order to comply with the requirements of the Practice Educator Professional Standards.

Applicants to the course will be required to supervise a social work student/learner, sourced by the university and its collaborators, for the modules Mentoring, Supervision and Assessment in Practice parts 1 and 2.

Accreditation for Prior Learning (APL) and Accreditation of Prior (Experiential) Learning AP(E)L is in accordance with University regulations as set out in paragraph 7b.3.2 and 7b.3.3 of the regulations for taught postgraduate courses.

We recognise a breadth of qualifications; speak to one of our advisers today to find out how we can help you.

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Fees and Funding

Typical offer for 2024/25 entry.

Student	Full-time	Part-time
UK	Not available	£3,733

For advice and guidance on tuition fees³and student loans visit our Postgraduate Finance page.

Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching, assessments, facilities and support services. There may be additional costs not covered by this fee such as accommodation and living costs, recommended reading books, stationery, printing and re-assessments should you need them.

The following are additional costs not included in the tuition fees:

Any optional overseas ﬁeld trips or visits: £400+ per trip.

*Irish student fees

The rights of Irish residents to study in the UK are preserved under the Common Travel Area arrangement. If you are an Irish student and meet the residency criteria, you can study in England, pay the same level of tuition fees as English students and utilise the Tuition Fee Loan.

**EU Support Bursary

Following the UK's exit from the European Union, we are offering financial support to all eligible EU students who wish to study an undergraduate or a postgraduate degree with us full-time. This bursary will be used to offset the cost of your tuition fees to bring them in line with that of UK students. Students studying a degree with a foundation year with us are not eligible for the bursary.

How do you know if you need to pay UK or international tuition fees?

We carry out an initial fee status assessment based on the information you provide in your application. Your fee status determines your tuition fees, and what financial support and scholarships may be available to you. The rules about who pays UK (home) or international (overseas) fees for higher education courses in England are set by the government's Department for Education. The regulations identify all the different categories of student who can insist on paying the home rate. The regulations can be difficult to understand, so the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) has provided fee status guidance to help you identify whether you are eligible to pay the home or overseas rate.

If you meet all the criteria required by any one category, including any residence requirements, your institution must charge you the home rate. You only need to find one category that you fit into.

Facilities

As this course is taken as a blend of online and in-person teaching, a large portion of it will use our online teaching platform which is currently Aula. This course is also part of the School of Psychological, Social and Behavioural Sciences and therefore any in-person teaching will take place in our school buildings. Our aim is to offer you sector-leading facilities⁴.

Aula is an online teaching resource, allowing you to interact with online lectures, receive detailed feedback quickly on all assessments and communicate to your fellow students in an online learning community.

Careers and opportunities

Upon successful completion of the course, you should be able to:

Demonstrate that you have developed your social work practice and achieved the outcomes via the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) or its equivalent
Demonstrate that you have developed a comprehensive and critical understanding of the requirements of the Practice Education Professional Standards (PEPS) Stage 1 and their application to the theoretical underpinnings of adult learning and the supervision and assessment of others
Demonstrate skills and knowledge aligned with the relevant levels of the Professional Capabilities Framework and the Knowledge and Skills Statements
Evidence a critical understanding of practice education paradigms, an awareness of ethical dilemmas, and consolidate your learning around anti-oppressive practice when working with students and newly qualified social workers (NQSW).

All students on the course will already be in employment as qualified social workers. However, the course aims to enhance employability through a variety of initiatives including providing the opportunity for the further development of transferable skills (e.g. communication and assessment skills, leadership and mentoring skills).

These skills help develop the qualities needed for employment in circumstances requiring sound judgement, personal responsibility and initiative in complex and unpredictable professional environments.

You will also have access to the Talent Team and can be supported with writing CVs, job applications, etc.

How to apply

UK students

To apply to study for a postgraduate course at Coventry University, you can apply online.

Full-time applications

Part-time applications

For further support or more information about your course get in touch with us today.

+44 (0)24 7765 2222

ukadmissions@coventry.ac.uk

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Disclaimers

Coventry University together with Coventry University London, Coventry University Wrocław, CU Coventry, CU London, CU Scarborough, and Coventry University Online come together to form part of the Coventry University Group (the University) with all degrees awarded by Coventry University.

¹Accreditations

The majority of our courses have been formally recognised by professional bodies, which means the courses have been reviewed and tested to ensure they reach a set standard. In some instances, studying on an accredited course can give you additional benefits such as exemptions from professional exams (subject to availability, fees may apply). Accreditations, partnerships, exemptions and memberships shall be renewed in accordance with the relevant bodies’ standard review process and subject to the university maintaining the same high standards of course delivery.

²UK and international opportunities

Please note that we are unable to guarantee any UK or international opportunities (whether required or optional) such as internships, work experience, field trips, conferences, placements or study abroad opportunities and that all such opportunities may be unpaid and/or subject to additional costs (which could include, but is not limited to, equipment, materials, bench fees, studio or facilities hire, travel, accommodation and visas), competitive application, availability and/or meeting any applicable travel, public authority guidance, decisions or orders and visa requirements. To ensure that you fully understand any visa requirements, please contact the International Office.

³Tuition fees

The University will charge the tuition fees that are stated in the above table for the first Academic Year of study. The University will review tuition fees each year. For UK (home) students, if Parliament permit an increase in tuition fees, the University may increase fees for each subsequent year of study in line with any such changes. Note that any increase is expected to be in line with inflation.

For international students, we may increase fees each year, but such increases will be no more than 5% above inflation. If you defer your course start date or have to extend your studies beyond the normal duration of the course (e.g. to repeat a year or resit examinations) the University reserves the right to charge you fees at a higher rate and/or in accordance with any legislative changes during the additional period of study.

⁴Facilities

Facilities are subject to availability. Access to some facilities (including some teaching and learning spaces) may vary from those advertised and/or may have reduced availability or restrictions where the university is following public authority guidance, decisions or orders.

Student Contract

By accepting your offer of a place and enrolling with us, a Student Contract will be formed between you and the university. A copy of the current 2023/2024 contract is available on the website for information purposes however the 2024/25 Contract is currently being updated so please revisit this page before submitting your application. The Contract details your rights and the obligations you will be bound by during your time as a student and contains the obligations that the university will owe to you. You should read the Contract before you accept an offer of a place and before you enrol at the university.