INTO THE WORKFORCE
A study of 2008 and 2009 social work graduates’ employment experiences
How well prepared are new graduates for frontline practice?
Three-quarters of first-year graduates felt well prepared by their degree programme for their
current social work job. However, this was affected by perceptions about their actual job
experiences – most notably, the more graduates felt able to apply their social work values, work
in partnership with service users and take part in learning and development, the better prepared
they felt, and vice versa. While a high proportion overall were enjoying their job, those who
were not were also much less likely to feel well prepared. Two-thirds of second-year graduates
believed that their practice had improved a great deal since starting their present job, and the
proportion thinking their line manager rating their performance very highly also rose. Among
Directors, satisfaction with the quality of newly-qualified social workers improved between 2006
and 2009, the period in which graduates started entering the workforce – though Directors in
Adult services seemed generally more pleased than in Children’s services. This difference may
be because of the numbers going straight into child protection, where the level of skill and
experience required may be higher than many new social work graduates can offer. However,
there was a worryingly high number of newly-qualifieds still looking for a job some months after
graduating, despite high vacancy levels nationally.
What are new graduates’ strengths and weaknesses?
Managers praised new graduates’ energy, enthusiasm and commitment to the interests of service
users. They were more critical of their written English than oral communications, and opinion
was divided about graduates’ assessment skills – though recognising that these developed over
time, and graduates themselves thinking their studies had helped them considerably in
developing analytical abilities. Knowledge of specific items of legislation and current
government policy was sometimes seen by managers as surprisingly limited. Apart from child
protection, the main issues causing graduates anxiety were: knowledge of mental health
conditions (across all settings, not just mental health); risk assessment; dealing with conflict and
hostility; and preparing legal reports.
How can new graduates’ early experiences in the workplace be improved?
In addition to a consistently high standard of social work qualifying education, graduates should
be entitled to continuing professional development. A good induction contributed to job
satisfaction, and was reflected in better perceptions of supportiveness. Attention to aspects of
the working environment would benefit new graduates’ sense of satisfaction and worthwhileness;
these include frequent supervision, a sharper focus on theory and reflection in supervision and in
day-to-day conversations with colleagues, wider opportunities for shadowing and co-working
cases with more experienced team members, good team support, time for relevant learning and
development. Effective caseload management – in terms of quantity, and also space to develop
relationships with service users – would also combat stress and lack of work/life balance.
Explicit recognition that newly-qualified recruits should not be expected to demonstrate the
same level of skill and knowledge as more experienced social workers, but require investment,
would best nurture the next generation to serve society’s needs.
Sharpe Research Ltd and Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King’s College London
September 2011