Keele University Social Worker Apprenticeship (STV)

Hi, I'm Carolyn Gair. I'm a Lecturer in Social Work and I'm also part of the team that's designed the curriculum for the Social Worker Apprenticeship at Keele. This apprenticeship is aimed at anybody who works with people who cares about people and cares about those wider sociological issues as well. Social workers really bridge the gap between families and adults, or anybody who has a need, and the services out there that can provide that need.

The values that are taught at Keele aligns with what we believe in at Staffordshire Council. With the apprenticeship programme, it's a hands-on approach, so you're learning those skills from the very day that you step foot in the door and when you're going out and you're seeing real practice.

We use a hybrid method of teaching so that different sessions can be accessed in different ways and we've worked alongside our employer partners to design that. We've also got a great range of resources at Keele in terms of our courtroom, our simulation houses, that we can use so that we're providing skills days for social work students.

The apprenticeship is delivered through seven core modules, two of which are placement related modules, and then all of the other modules are around key pieces of learning that social workers need to learn in their pre-qualification training. Apprenticeships are great for employers as well because it really helps people to grow their own in terms of the staff that they have so they can retain staff. It also allows them to create job opportunities for social work apprentices so they can fill a gap.

They'll be able to recruit their prospective social workers at the point of starting their training and be able to support them through the training which would also help with retention.

We want to be training you and supporting you to further your career throughout the local authority. By investing in our staff, you can be the ones that make the difference.

A graduate with this apprenticeship can go to work in any field within social work, be that within children and families, within an adult setting, or within mental health work. There are so many careers available to social workers.

Such a key resource that we're actually saying to staff we believe in you, we know you're doing the role. And then at the end of it, we've invested in you and then you've got employment at the local authority.