Partnership, Service Needs and Assessing Competence in Post Qualifying Education and Training

Abstract

Education and training must extend beyond initial qualifying courses into post qualifying professional development throughout a social worker's career if practice is to be most effective in meeting clients' needs. In the United Kingdom a Framework for Post Qualifying Education and Training was introduced from 1990. Revised frameworks have been put in place from autumn 2007 in each of the four home countries of the UK. This paper reflects on lessons learned in implementing these post qualifying frameworks in Northern Ireland. Within the overarching theme of relevance to practice, issues are drawn out under three main themes: (1) partnership working between employers and universities including the importance of leadership from policy makers and senior managers; (2) assessing competence including providing an Independent Assessment Route to increase access and to benchmark professional standards; and (3) meeting service needs including specifying learning outcomes to cover a range of practice contexts and accrediting employer-based programmes. Meeting service needs more closely is identified as a key issue driving the new Northern Ireland Post Qualifying Framework introduced in 2007.

Keywords:

• Professional Education
• Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
• Graduate Education
• Northern Ireland
• Professional Competence
• Social Work

Acknowledgements

The main points in this article were presented in a paper by the first author at the annual conference of the International Association of Schools of Social Work in Durban, South Africa in July 2008. We would like to express sincere thanks to Miss Stephanie Irwin, Chair of the Northern Ireland Post Qualifying Education and Training Partnership (NIPQETP) and formerly Director of Social Services in the Northern Health and Social Services Board, for her helpful comments in the writing of this paper and more importantly for her inspiring leadership of social work education and training. We would also like to thank our many colleagues in NIPQETP, employing agencies and universities who have contributed to our reflections through their informal comments. Views expressed are, of course, those of the authors.