Social Work Practice Placement

Social Work Practice Placement

Portfolio - 2016–2017

Templates and Guidance

MA Full-time Social Work

BA (Hons) Full-time Social Work

BA (Hons) Part-time Social Work

Contents

Section 1:PortfolioFront sheet1

Checklist/contents pagefor Completion of Portfolio2

Section 2:Social Work Practice Placement Student Agreement4

Section 3:Learning Agreement Meeting Guidance10

Section 4:Learning Agreement11

Section 5:Recording of Placement Attendance25

Section 6:Critical Reflection of Practice Guidance27

Section 7:Critical Reflection of Practice - template28

Section 8:Direct Observation of Student Practice Guidance29

Section 9:Direct Observation of Practice - template30

Section 10:Midway Practice Educator Report34

Section 11:Record of Supervision40

Section 12:Overview of Social Work Student Interventions/Experiences41

Section 13:Service User and Carer Feedback42

Section 14:Professional/Colleague Feedback43

and On-site Supervisor Report44

Section 15:Final Practice Educator Report45

Section 16:Quality Assurance in Practice Learning53

Section 1: Portfolio Front-sheet

Practice Placement Front Sheet
Student
Practice Educator
On-site Supervisor (if applicable)
Placement details
(delete as applicable) / First placement 
Last placement  / Adults 
Children  / Field 
Day 
Residential 
Team name/Agency
Placement Address
(with postcode)
Start Date of Placement: / Placement end Date:
Number of days completed / Cohort: / BA/MA
FT/PT
Year 1/2/3/4
PersonalTutor
Placement Tutor

Completed portfolios need to be submitted to the i-centreby 2pm on the submission deadline date (please see specific dates in the practice placement guide).

Students who are unable to submit by this date for any reason are required to apply toStudent Services for an extension.

Checklist and contents page for the Completion of the Portfolio

Please tick to confirm that you have included the following documents in the final submission:
The student, PE and OSS must complete the on-line QAPL feedback survey (see Section 23 and signature box below).
Practice Placement Front-Sheet
StudentPlacement Agreement
Learning Agreement
Records of attendance for entire placement
Critical Reflection of Practice – 4 (70-day placement) – 5 (100-day placement)
Direct Observations – 3 (70-day placement) – 4 (100-day placement)
Practice Educators Midway Review
Record of SupervisionDates
Overview of Student Social Work Interventions and Experiences
Service User and Carer Feedback – including methodology and anonymised
Professional/Colleague Feedback
On-site supervisor report (if applicable)
Final Practice Educator Report
Copy of Late Submission Request (if applicable)
Portfolio is presented in an A4 Ring binder (not a lever-arch file) and no plastic wallets have been used.
All documents are anonymised (apart from section A of LAM, Midway, Final Report and DOs)
All documents are signed with original (handwritten not typed) signatures.
Student / Signature and Date
I have completed the QAPL Survey as directed in Section 16 of this portfolio.
Practice Educator / Signature and Date
I have completed the QAPL Survey as directed in Section 16 of this portfolio.
OSS / Signature and Date
I have completed the QAPL survey as directed inSection 16 of this portfolio.

Section 2: Student Placement Agreement

Section 1: Before the Placement Starts

Please read this document prior to completing your Practice Placement Profile Application and sign the agreement. You must comply with the conditions set out below during the completion of your BA (hons) Social Work and MA Social Work.

1.2.Completing your Placement Profile Application

It is important that you complete your practice placement application form carefully as there is enormous competition. Agencies decision to invite you in for a pre-placement meeting will be entirely based on the information that you present on this form. It is essential that you pay close attention to detail and get support in completing sections where required.

We advise that you approach this form in a similar manner to a job application. Attention must be paid to formatting, spelling and grammar.

As with job applications, you should use this form to sell yourself to prospective placement agencies, giving full details of your experience, achievements and interests.

The form should be completed in such a way as not to discourage any potential practice learning agencies. You should guard against being too specific in your requirements; the aim is to give you opportunities to develop transferable social work skills. If you are too specific about the type of practice learning opportunity you want and the form is too heavily directed towards it, you may have to redo the form if we cannot match you.

We strongly recommend that you seek support from the Employability Service who can help you complete the form. You can also begin to talk to them about future career plans, if you have not done so already. The Employability Service website can be found here;

1.2.1Re-writing the Placement ProfileApplication Form

If we read the form and feel that it needs re-writing or editing, then it will be returned to you for further work. You are expected to return the form within 5 working days.

If you do not provide enough information the form will be returned to you as it is our experience that potential practice learning agencies are reluctant to meet with students who have not given the application form much thought.

You may consider seeking support from your tutor and/or the Employability Service in Student Services. We will not keep returning forms and will only send back those that we feel have substantial elements which need addressing, or are missing essential information.

1.3.Rejecting your practice placement

You cannot reject the placement that is offered to you. The placement that is offered will be within the maximum recommended travel time of 1.5 hours and will meet your learning needs. In matching students to placements we do everything we can to ensure we support you in meeting your career aspirations.

1.4.Late Submission of Placement Profile Application

Please be advised that if you fail to submit your application pack or associated forms by the deadline will have a significant impact on your progression. There is a national shortage of placements and it is important that we can match students to placements at the earliest opportunity to ensure that every possible opportunity is available to them. If you do not hand-in your completed Placement Profile Application form by the required date it is possible that a placement may not be found for you.

1.5.Preferences of placements

The College of Social Work (2012) stated that students should have two different placements noting the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)requirement that the student trains and qualifies with a broad experience and understanding of the profession, this includes a variety of settings, service user groups, ages and methods. The view is that a broad experience should contribute to all students developing a ‘think family’ perspective which will then form the foundation for the development of specialist skills post-qualification.

In your final placement under the arrangements set out by The College of Social Work and the HCPC it is a requirement that students undertake tasks that prepare them for the statutory aspects of a social worker’s role. Preparation for statutory social work should be defined by the tasks undertaken by the students on placement, rather than the setting (e.g. local authority or type of placement.

However, in order to help you fulfil the criterion of gaining a broad experience, we have divided user groups into broadly Adults and Children’s focused services.

Whilst there is not a choice of placements as such, it is often helpful to the Practice Learning Co-ordinator (PLC) for you to indicate your career aspiration, even if it is vague at this point, so that this can be taken into consideration when matching you with placements. We ask you to do this in the email that is sent with your application.

1.6.Communication by the Practice Learning Team

You are requested to submit your application as per the instructions in Document 1: submitting your placement profile.

Chelmsford and Thurrock students:

Cambridge and Peterborough students:

Please note that the majority of communication by the Practice Learning Team is by email to your university address. Please make sure you check this regularly.

After we receive the application forms we check content and presentation. Some forms are returned for review and resubmission by the students (as noted above).

We then start matching students to placements. You will be advised if your details have been sent to an agency for consideration by an email. Where possible we will send you a link to their website and expect you to carry out research on the agency and the needs of the service users it supports. Please do not contact the agency, at this stage they are deciding if they want to invite you in for a pre-placement meeting and you will be contacted you once they have made this decision.

Please let the Practice Learning Team know by email if you are invited for a pre-placement meeting/interview and if the placement has been agreed.

Sometimes agencies agree to review student applications, but decide at a later date that they can no longer provide this opportunity for a variety of reasons. We will email you and advise that the agency can no longer offer you the placement, noting that this is no fault of yours. We will then look for a new placement for you.

Some students will hear about their placement soon after their application is submitted, others may hear very close to the start date of the placement. Please do not worry, we haven’t forgotten you and are working hard to find a suitable match for you.

The placement team is extremely busy finding and matching students to placements, whilst we love to hear from students it would be really helpful if you can only contact us if it is really urgent.

1.7.Agency Rejecting Student Applications

Sometimes agencies decide students are unsuitable to be placed in their agency due to a poor placement profile application form or the level of competence demonstrated during the pre-placement meeting. The University is required to find students one further placement opportunity and if the student fails to secure a practice placement during this time, then the university will review the student’s performance in line with the Suitability Procedures and university regulations.

The placement team will write to the student and his/her academic tutor giving them feedback following an agency rejection of the student at application or pre-placement meeting. It is important that you meet with your tutor and/or the Employability Service in Student Services to discuss and learn from the feedback given, giving yourself every opportunity to succeed on the next occasion.

1.8.Disclosure and Barring Service Check

All agencies offer practice placements subject to a satisfactory DBS check. A practice placement can be terminated if the DBS check brings up any criminal convictions that were not previously disclosed by the student. You will need to confirm that you have in your possession a current DBS check, and that you are in a position to present this to your practice placement agency prior to confirmation.

If you have a positive DBS you should discuss this with the Practice Learning Co-ordinator and s/he can advise you on how to make agencies aware. It is your responsibility to ensure that the agency are aware of your DBS and its contents prior to the placement starting, the best way to manage this is to ensure you discuss with the PLC at the earliest opportunity.

The university cannot share information with any agencies about your DBS unless you expressly ask us and provide written consent for us to do so. However, all agencies will expect to know prior to you starting the placement if you have a positive DBS and it is your responsibility to give them this information. If you fail to share this information it will be taken very seriously, and a referral made to the Director of Studies for your suitability to practice to be reviewed.

You must show a copy of your DBS check to the agency before you start your placement.

1.9.Accessibility

The university cannot guarantee you a practice learning opportunity that suits you perfectly in terms of your chosen area/personal commitments. When considering limitations on the type of practice learning, please tell us what would be absolutely impossible for you to manage.

It is the student’s responsibility to alert the tutor and the PLC to any extenuating circumstances that need to be considered. It is expected that students plan and manage any child care responsibilities prior to starting placement. However, if for example you have to care for a disabled child/relative or are disabled yourself then it is important that you let your tutor and the PLC know and complete the form that is part of Practice Placement Profile Application pack. This should ensure that relevant adjustments are made and support put in place where required.

1.10.Starting your placement

Due to the high demand for placement opportunities the university cannot guarantee that placements will start on the due date specified in the course handbook or any other published material. There are a number of factors, many of which are outside of the university’s control, which can impact on the availability and timing of placements. In these circumstances a student might find that the start of their placement is delayed and on occasion this delay may be of an extended duration.

Therefore, please observe that a late start will result in a late finish so students are instructed not to book holidays in the summer period and be aware that they may be unable to undertake any form of paid employment until their placement dates are confirmed. In the final year a late placement might result in delays in completing the programme and thereby registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC.)

If a delayed start for your placement means that the date you finish will be beyond the portfolio submission date stated on the calendar, you MUST apply to Student Services for an extension.

1. During the Practice Placement

2.1.Travel issues

2.1.1.Car insurance

If you will be using your car in the course of a practice placement, the insurance cover must include an endorsement that the policy covers use for business purposes by the student personally. It is a student’s responsibility to see that his/her policy covers this.

A business use certificate of insurance at the relevant level of cover must be shown to the practice educator and or an appropriate manager.

Student’s must have a full and valid drivers licence.

2.1.2.Travel Time

We aim to place students within an hour and a half travel of their home address or the campus where they attend for study. If a student travels to the campus for study then it is expected that they can travel to that same geographical area for their placement.

2.1.3.Use of car/public transport

The NHS bursary contributes a fixed sum towards practice learning placement travel expenses and awards an additional sum within the bursary in recognition of such expenses. It is expected that student take the responsibility for budgeting for their travel expenses across the two placements. Placement providers will pay for travel expenses incurred only when undertaking placement business.

2.2.Attendance

2.2.1.Days and hours worked

Most practice placements are attended during the ordinary working day but practice placements can require evening work.

Whilst on placement, you are required to work the usual length of the working day for that agency. This must be a minimum of 7.5 hours. There is a placement timetable which identifies the days when you are on placement.

Students must not attend practice placement on a University day unless in exceptional circumstances and with the permission of the module lead.

2.2.2.Timesheets

Students are required to complete a timesheet every month and ensure that they are signed on a weekly basis by their on-site supervisor/practice educator. Students are required to keep copies of the time sheets, which must be shown at their midway meeting and confirmed by the university representative. All copies of their timesheets are to be handed in with their final portfolio.

2.2.3.Sickness

If you are unable to attend placement due to ill health then you are required to email the social work Practice Support Officer on the first and last day of your sickness episode:

Chelmsford:

Cambridge and Peterborough:

You must of course contact your placement agency immediately and speak to your On-site Supervisor (OSS) /Practice Educator (PE).

If you are unable to attend placement for more than one week then you must forward a doctors certificate to the practice learning team.

1. Policies and Procedures within the Practice Placement
2. Comply with agency policies

Students are expected to comply with all relevant policies and procedures within the agency. This includes health and safety (including fire prevention, and moving and handling), confidentiality, handling of service users’ property, protection of children and vulnerable adults, whistle-blowing, smoking, dress code, conduct, equal opportunities and anti-oppressive practices.