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2023 - 20242024 - 2025
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Open days

14Oct
Goldsmiths, University of London - Undergraduate Open Day
Undergraduate
Make sure you check on the university, college or conservatoire website for any updates about course changes as a result of COVID-19.

Course summary

Drawing on current research across the social sciences, government guidance, and legislative frameworks, this degree focuses on the issues that are key in facilitating your professional and academic development as a social worker. Why study BA Social Work at Goldsmiths

  • The BA is both an academic and professional qualification, and is therefore ideal if you're interested in pursuing a professional career in social work
  • We'll equip you with the knowledge, values and skills you'll need to practise as a reflective and ethical social worker, equipped for the challenges of contemporary social work practice
  • Our social work programmes are highly regarded by potential employers within London and further afield, and our graduates have an excellent record of securing employment; they've gone on to work in local authority children's services departments, adult services departments, and independent sector and voluntary sector agencies such as the NSPCC, Family Action and Mind
  • The degree includes practice placements in two settings and with different service user groups, so you'll be able to gain invaluable real world experience.
  • You will cover areas of human growth and development; community; needs and services; law and organisational contexts of social work; and research methods. Specific learning will include mental health and disability, and social work processes of assessment, planning, intervention and review
  • We'll encourage you to think deeply about human rights and social justice, and to embed these values in your practice
  • Social work education at Goldsmiths has a long and distinguished record – you'll be taught by established social work academics and associate lecturers who have considerable research and/or practice experience in their fields
  • The degree also prepares you according to the Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF), the Quality Assurance Agency subject benchmark for social work, and the Department of Health's requirements for social work training
South East London teaching partnership
  • The Department of Social, Therapeutic and Community Studies at Goldsmiths has entered into a formal Teaching Partnership with the Royal Borough of Greenwich, the London Borough of Southwark and the London Borough of Lewisham for the delivery of social work education at Goldsmiths.
  • As a result, social work practitioners, from all levels within these three local authorities, are involved in the delivery of the BA in Social Work, delivering or co-delivering lectures, workshops, seminars and group work.
  • This means that there is a very close relationship with practice with many opportunities for students to hear directly from social work practitioners about statutory social work. You will be encouraged to make links between anti-oppressive practice, the social work values, the legal framework, theories, methods and skills of intervention and social work practice throughout the course.
Excellence in practice and teaching Goldsmiths has a long tradition of social work education, and our programmes are internationally regarded as excellent in both practice learning and critical studies. They also have a strong focus on anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive practice. We have a lively programme of research taking place in diverse areas. Our research informs and underpins our teaching and students are invited to share our interests as well as develop their own through undertaking a small scale research project and developing their research mindedness in a final year extended essay. Students who successfully complete the degree will have met the standards set out by Social Work England (SWE) and will be eligible to apply to SWE for registration as a social worker. Please note the BA Social Work only accepts applications for first year entry and does not accept applications for deferred entry.

Modules

The degree aims to provide you with the value, knowledge and skill base for social work practice, and is organised around study units, workshops, lectures/seminar courses, projects and private study. The teaching and learning opportunities centre on the key areas of the social sciences and their application to social work practice, as well developing your intellectual capacity, and the skills necessary to get you ready for practice. There is an expectation that you attend at least 85% of all aspects of the programme. The structured learning includes specific learning in:

  • human growth and development, mental health and disability
  • Social work theories and methods; assessment, planning, intervention and review
  • communication skills with children, adults and those with particular communication needs
  • law, and partnership working across professional disciplines and agencies
  • social science research methods, including ethical issues
Practice is central to the degree, and there will be practice placements in two settings and with different service user groups (eg child care and mental health). The learning on the programme builds over the three years and prepares you to apply your knowledge to practice situations. We work closely with a range of practice organisations in the Greater London Area. The placements are allocated by our placement tutor and matched with individual profiles. In some instances you may have to travel long distances to your placement organisation. You will need to cover the cost of travel to your placement. You will be expected to work the core hours of the placement agency. At Goldsmiths we recognise:
  • the unique contribution that all students bring as individuals to the programme in terms of their personal qualities and life experiences
  • that professional training builds on the uniqueness of each individual by facilitating the student’s exploration of the values, knowledge base and skills of social work practice
  • that it is the student’s responsibility not only to develop a technical acquaintance with the framework of social work practice but also to demonstrate competence through its application in practice
  • that social workers are at the interface of society’s attempts to promote welfare
Social workers have a dual responsibility to act within the state’s welfare framework and also to recognise the pervasive influence of oppression and discrimination at an individual and a structural level in most of the situations in which they work. We will prepare you for this professional responsibility. Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.

Assessment method

You’ll be assessed through a combination of presentations, role play, written reflection, portfolio, practice placements, practice placement portfolios, examinations and extended essays.

How to apply

31Jan

This is the deadline for applications to be completed and sent for this course. If the university or college still has places available you can apply after this date, but your application is not guaranteed to be considered.

Application codes

Course code:
L500
Institution code:
G56
Campus name:
Main Site
Campus code:
-

Points of entry

The following entry points are available for this course:

  • Year 1

Entry requirements

Qualification requirements

You must also have: A minimum of four months' full-time (or part-time equivalent) relevant work experience: one months' experience when you are applying, and a further three months by the time you start the degree. Please make sure you read our work experience guide for more information about the experience that we accept. The ability to communicate clearly and accurately in spoken and written English. Fitness to train requirements.

Please click the following link to find out more about qualification requirements for this course

http://www.gold.ac.uk/ug/ba-social-work/

Additional entry requirements

Admission tests

Criminal records declaration (DBS/Disclosure Scotland)

Health checks

Interview

Institutions Own Test (IOT)

BA Social Work written test. If you pass the online verbal reasoning test you'll be invited to sit this test which requires you to reflect on a text in relation to social work. This test is to provide evidence of: your ability to communicate clearly in written English; your commitment to core social work values and your capacity for critical reflection. The test takes place on a PC at Goldsmiths. The paper is assessed and on the basis of this, progression to the next stage of the assessment process will be decided.

English language requirements

TestGradeAdditional details
IELTS (Academic)6With a 6.0 in writing and no element lower than 5.5

Unistats information

Operated by the Office for Students
92%
Student satisfaction
No data
Employment after 15 months (Most common jobs)
No data
Go onto work and study

The student satisfaction data is from students surveyed during the Covid-19 pandemic. The number of student respondents and response rates can be important in interpreting the data – it is important to note your experience may be different from theirs. This data will be based on the subject area rather than the specific course. Read more about this data on the Discover Uni website.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

No fee information has been provided for this course

Additional fee information

To find out more about fees and funding, please check our undergraduate fees guidance or contact the Fees Office https://www.gold.ac.uk/ug/fees-funding/
Social Work at Goldsmiths, University of London - UCAS