Social Work - MSc

The course is a professionally accredited programme leading to eligibilty to apply to become a registered social worker with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). You'll be joining a social work programme that has its history rooted in the principles of equality and social justice.

More about this course

The Social Work MSc course is a professionally accredited programme leading to eligibility to apply to become a registered social worker with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). It has been designed to provide you with the opportunities to achieve the professional standards and capabilities as set out by the HCPC. A key aspect is to develop as a reflective and resilient practitioner.

Our graduates are equipped with the knowledge, skills and a critical understanding of different theoretical perspectives as applied to social work. You'll be joining a social work programme that has its history rooted in the principles of equality and social justice.

Students who successfully complete all modules but not the dissertation module, can be awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work which also allows for registration with the HCPC.

You are assessed via a variety of methods including essays; presentations; video and project work; examinations and work based practice assessment. A key aspect is acquisition of the necessary practice skills in a diverse range of practice settings relevant to social work.

You will undertake supervised practice within at least two different practice settings over a minimum of 170 days during the course. Your previous learning and experience may exempt you from some modules, but not any part of the 170 days assessed practice.

Modular structure

The modules listed below are for the academic year 2016/17 and represent the course modules at this time. Modules and module details (including, but not limited to, location and time) are subject to change over time.

Year 1 modules include:
-Assessment Planning and Professional Ethics (core, 10 credits)
-Communication, Skills and Values in Social Work (core, 10 credits)
-Critical Aspects of Human Growth and Development (core, 10 credits)
-Practice Learning 1 (core, 20 credits)
-Professional Law for Social Work (core, 10 credits)
-Safeguarding Children and Adults (core, 10 credits)
-Social Contexts and Professional Perspectives in Social Work (core, 10 credits)

Year 2 modules include:
-Evaluating Research (core, 10 credits)
-Practice Learning 2 (core, 20 credits)
-Protecting Children and Adults (core, 10 credits)
-Social Work Dissertation (core, 60 credits)

After the course

You will have qualifying status to practice social work (subject to the requirements of registration with the HCPC) and be eligible to become a member of the British Association of Social Workers. Further study opportunities are available through a number of post-qualifying and MA/MSc courses (for example, in practice teaching, childcare and management).

As the course prepares you to be a generic social worker you are not limited to any particular field of social work and our students take up posts in a variety of settings and care groups for example: children and families, adult care to include, mental health, working with older people and learning disabilities.

Moving to one campus

Between 2016 and 2020 we're investing £125 million in the London Metropolitan University campus, moving all of our activity to our current Holloway campus in Islington, north London. This will mean the teaching location of some courses will change over time.

Whether you will be affected will depend on the duration of your course, when you start and your mode of study. The earliest moves affecting new students will be in September 2017. This may mean you begin your course at one location, but over the duration of the course you are relocated to one of our other campuses. Our intention is that no full-time student will change campus more than once during a course of typical duration.

All students will benefit from our move to one campus, which will allow us to develop state-of-the-art facilities, flexible teaching areas and stunning social spaces.

Visit the Social Work - MSc page on the London Metropolitan University website for more details!