Does qualifying route inform preparedness for child protection practice? An appraisal of the testimonies of 201 ‘early career’ social workers

Figures & data

Table 1. Social work education pathways by comparison.

Social work education pathway	Undergraduate/postgraduate	Length	Type	Specialism?	Typical financial support available
Bachelors Degree (BA/BSc) in Social Work	Undergraduate	36 months	Traditional University-based	Generic	Tax free bursary £3,362.50- £3,762.50/Yr
Masters Degree (Ma/MSc) in Social Work	Postgraduate	24 months	Traditional University-based	Generic	Tax free bursary £3,362.50- £3,762.50/Yr
Post-Graduate Diploma in Social Work (PGDip) ‘Step Up to Social Work’	Postgraduate	14 months	Fast-track (University facilitated)	Children and Family Social Work	Tax free bursary of £19,833
Frontline Masters Degree in Social Work	Postgraduate	36 months*	Fast-track/Employment based	Children and Family Social Work	Tax free bursary of £18,000-£20,000 (Yr1) Salary up to £34,000/Yr (Yr2 & Yr3)
Social Work Apprenticeship Degree	Undergraduate	36 months	Integrated Degree (University facilitated)/Employment based	Generic	Tax free bursary of ‘up to £24,000’ + contracted salary

*Whilst the Frontline programme advertises itself as a ‘3 year masters degree’, students obtain a ‘Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work and register as a social worker in England’ at the end of their first year on the course (Frontline, 2024)—explaining its conception as a ‘fastrack qualification’. Moreover, most recent figures show that only 65% of students who started the master’s qualification via Frontline obtained it—with many others leaving the programme with the Postgraduate Diploma in social work (Community Care, 2019).

Table 2. Number of participants per data collection stage.

		Qualification Type
Stage of data collection	Number of participants	BA/BSc	MA/MSc	PGDip (‘Step Up’)	Frontline	Other
Focus Group	15	6	4	3	2	0
Questionnaire	170	77	44	21	19	9
Interview	25	7	6	5	5	2

Table 3. Child protection tasks where there was a significant association with participants feeling ‘somewhat well prepared’.

Task	Course	p-value
‘Conducting Section 47 investigations’	PGDip (‘Step Up’)	p < .001
‘Having to challenge other professionals’	PGDip (‘Step Up’)	p = .006
‘Strategy discussions/meetings’	PGDip (‘Step Up’)	p = .006
‘Work[ing] with resistant service users’	PGDip (‘Step Up’)	p = .008
‘Having to challenge parents/carers’	PGDip (‘Step Up’)	p = .013
‘Direct work with parents/carers’	PGDip (‘Step Up’)	p = .019
‘Manag[ing] conflict’	PGDip (‘Step Up’)	p = .020
‘Child protection processes’	‘MA/MSc’	p = .027
‘The need to ask difficult questions’ (‘polite skepticism’)	PGDip (‘Step Up’)	p = .032
‘Understanding child protection terminology’	‘MA/MSc’	p = .037
‘Preparing [child protection] conference reports’	‘MA/MSc’	p = .043

Table 4. Areas where social workers generally felt ‘well’ or ‘ill-prepared’ for child protection practice.

Child protection activity/task	Extremely ill-prepared	Somewhat ill-prepared	Neutral	Somewhat well-prepared	Extremely well-prepared
Managing organizational workforce challenges (i.e. high staff sickness and vacancy rates)	76 (44.7%)	65 (38.2%)	21 (12.4%)	6 (3.5%)	2 (1.2%)
Pressure to work over contracted hours	52 (30.6%)	93 (54.7%)	18 (10.6%)	6 (3.5%)	1 (0.6%)
Pressure to take work home/work in the evenings and at weekends	76 (44.7%)	72 (42.4%)	17 (10%)	4 (2.3%)	1 (0.6%)
The emotional toll	46 (27.1%)	101 (59.4%)	14 (8.2%)	8 (4.7%)	1 (0.6%)
Financial pressures (‘limited available resources’)	99 (58.2%)	49 (28.8%)	12 (7.1%)	7 (4.1%)	3 (1.8%)
The ‘bureaucratic burden’/‘amount of paperwork’	69 (40.2%)	79 (46.3%)	10 (6.4%)	9 (5.3%)	3 (1.8%)
The mismatch between demand for services and available resources	100 (58.8%)	53 (31.2%)	9 (5.3%)	6 (3.5%)	2 (1.2%)
Being the recipient of threats and/or intimidation	68 (40.2%)	86 (50.3%)	12 (7.1%)	3 (1.8%)	1 (0.6%)
Balancing work and personal/family life	78 (45.6%)	77 (45.1%)	10 (6.4%)	4 (2.3%)	1 (0.6%)
Providing verbal evidence	52 (30.5%)	104 (60.8%)	10 (6.4%)	4 (2.3%)	0 (0%)
Caseload pressures (‘high caseloads’)	107 (62.9%)	50 (29.4%)	5 (2.9%)	6 (3.6%)	2 (1.2%)
Being cross-examined in Court	116 (67.6%)	50 (29.4%)	2 (1.8%)	2 (1.2%)	0 (0%)
Searching for and identifying research, theory, and other academic sources to use in assessments and writing	1 (0.6%)	8 (4.7%)	28 (16.5%)	106 (62.4%)	27 (15.8%)
Writing assessments	2 (1.2%)	14 (8.2%)	17 (10%)	108 (63.5%)	29 (17.1%)
Direct work with children	3 (1.8%)	4 (2.3%)	20 (11.8%)	139 (81.8%)	4 (2.3%)
Identifying and assessing risk	2 (1.2%)	5 (2.9%)	14 (8.2%)	144 (84.8%)	5 (2.9%)
Integrating social work theory and research into practice	2 (1.2%)	9 (5.3%)	8 (4.7%)	109 (64.1%)	42 (24.7%)

Frontline. (2024). ‘Programme overview: The curriculum’. https://thefrontline.org.uk/become-a-social-worker/frontline-programme/programme-overview/the-curriculum/

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Community Care. (2019). Frontline master’s Attainment Rate Dropped Across First Three Cohorts, Figures Reveal, 29th August: https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2019/08/29/frontline-masters-attainment-rate-dropped-across-first-three-cohorts-figures-reveal/

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