Integrated Adult Social Care now offer Social Work Apprenticeships within the Peripatetic Team at Devon County Council (DCC). The scheme allows you to gain ‘on the job’ experience while working towards an honours degree in Social Work with the Open University (OU).

This 3.5-year apprenticeship is an excellent way for you to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to become a qualified Social Worker. The apprenticeship is full-time or minimum of 30 hours a week. However, there will be off-the-job protected training time to allow you to engage with the academic element of the scheme.

Completing your apprenticeship with us in Adult Social Care has many benefits, including an attractive salary (Grade D: £24,702 – £26,421 per annum, pro rata), an excellent package of benefits (the advantage of being a DCC employee), and the support of a dedicated mentor. You will also have access to a wide range of learning and development opportunities within Adult Social Care to help you progress within your role. In addition, DCC will also cover the cost of your study fees for you.

Social Work England (SWE) has approved the OU degree programme. After successful completion of the apprenticeship, you will gain a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Social Work (England) which will enable you to apply for registration with Social Work England. After which, you will be supported to apply for progression to a Newly Qualified Social Worker role and progress onto our ASYE Programme to continue your career in social work.

You must be keen to learn and motivated to succeed, have direct and varied work experience with adults with care and support needs, who have the potential to take on the challenges and responsibilities of a qualified Social Worker, as well as an International English Language Testing Systems (IELTS) score of 7 (if English is not your first language). Please click here to find out more about the entry requirements.

 

What does the degree element involve?

The BA (Hons) programme has six modules in total, and we hope with support and dedicated training time, you will aim to undertake two modules each year. The first two will provide an introduction to the organisation of social care in the UK and develop your awareness of the different components of good social work practice. In the second year, you will undertake a law module which covers legal issues related to social care and social work, including regulating social care decision-making.

You will then progress through onto a practice-focused (work-based) learning module, which includes a defined period of assessed practice learning. In the final year, there will be a choice from three core adult orientated option modules. Alongside this module, there will be another practice-focused work-based learning module. In these work-based and blended learning modules, you must reflect on your role and document your acquisition of skills and competencies in your portfolio.

Once you have completed the final module, Critical Social Work Practice, there will be a brief period known as the “Gateway and End-point Assessment” where all apprenticeship requirements will be checked.

For more information on the programme and a more thorough overview, visit the OU website.

The Role of the Peripatetic Team

The Peripatetic Team is a dynamic team that works across a variety of Adult Social Care Services and therefore you will have the opportunity to access a wide range of learning opportunities within the programme.

We undertake rotations in various teams across the Devon County Council footprint (community, hospital, or specialist team). Peripatetic support is requested due to an increase in workloads, vacancies within the team or for specific time limited projects.

The movement of our Peri workers into various teams allows our staff to work with adults with a wide range of disabilities and health conditions. This therefore means that they are continually having to develop skills and knowledge in many different areas of practice, which is of great benefit to the future rotational teams they go on to support.