Social Work and Community Placements

We use a variety of placements from the statutory (Local Authority), private and voluntary sectors.

Social Work placements are structured in blocks of learning. BSc Social Work students undertake a 70-day full-time block placement in their second year and a 100-day block placement in their third year. MSc Social Work students undertake a 70-day full-time block placement in the first year and a 100-day block placement in their second year. A full-time block placement means that you will be on placement for five days a week for seven hours a day (excluding breaks).

You will have an allocated practice educator who will provide daily supervision and support while you are on placement. Some agencies have separate placement supervisors and practice educators, however there will always be at least one person who will be supporting you on a day-to-day basis. In addition, your personal academic tutor will be available support both at university and while you are on placement. Personal tutors will facilitate learning agreement meetings and interim meetings as well as providing tutorial support when required to look at draft academic work.

If you have a disability or feel that you would benefit from an assessment of your needs, prior to placement, you can ask for the BCU Disability and Wellbeing team to draw up a placement action plan which identifies the reasonable adjustments needed on placement to be shared with the placement provider.

Students are required to complete a placement application form (PAF) which will be screened by the placement academic and administrator. The placement application form contains basic information such as home location, whether you are a car driver and if you have caring responsibilities. The placement application will also include identification of prior work experience and learning needs.  This information will be used to identify and match you to a suitable placement opportunity.

You do not need to arrange your own placements. The placement academic and placement administrator will read your placement application form and allocate you to a placement. While we always strive to meet students’ preferences for placement, this is not guaranteed. You will receive contrasting placement opportunities in different agencies for your first and last placements.

You will receive an email from the placement administrator providing details of the placement agency that you have been allocated to. You will then be invited for an informal interview at the agency, where you will also be asked to provide a paper copy of your DBS certificate. If successful you will be offered a placement.

There is no set travel distance to placement, however during the placement mapping and matching process, the placement academic and administrator will consider home location and whether you are a driver or non-driver when allocating a placement opportunity. 

It depends! Placement agencies usually have office settings, however Local Authority agencies might allow the flexibility for some work to be carried out online from home. We work in partnership with a range of statutory (Local Authority) agencies working with adults, children and families from across the Birmingham region in a variety of different settings, for example mental health, child safeguarding, addiction services and hospital social work. Many teams are located within Birmingham, however we also have partnerships with Local Authorities in areas surrounding the city.  We also work closely with private and voluntary sector organisations such as Barnardos, Women’s Aid and St. Basil’s homeless services, as well as providing placement opportunities within school settings.

No. You will be allocated both placements by the placement academic and administration team.

At the present time, social work students on both the BSc and MSc courses receive some bursary money from the NHS to help towards travel costs on placement. This is allocated on a yearly basis, so is subject to change, and must be applied for. Students who are car drivers are also required to have business insurance.

If there are any difficulties or concerns raised on placement, in the first instance your personal tutor will arrange a three-way meeting with the practice educator to look at resolving the issues and to put an action plan in place if needed. If you are unsuccessful in passing placement at first attempt, a decision will be made at our social work practice evaluation meeting as to whether a second placement opportunity will be recommended.