BASW England response to children’s sector social work teaching partnerships

Skills for Care have announced that they have won the Department of Education (DfE) contract to support employers of child and family social workers completing their funded Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) across the country. They will now be instrumental in ensuring the implementation of the child and family social work, Knowledge and Skills Statement.

The national validation of the programmes will be co-ordinated by TCSW as part of this same contract.

Skills for Care have been supporting adult ASYE since its creation in 2012 and are now working in line with the Knowledge and Skills Statement for social workers in adult services. The internal and external moderation scheme will endeavour to ensure a consistent quality of ASYE programmes across the country. It is believed this will be extended to children's services in the near future.

BASW England Manager Maris Statulis stated: "BASW welcomes a co-ordinated and consistent approach to a national system of ASYE and knowledge and skills quality assurance across children's and adult services.

"Members have reported a fragmentation and inconsistency between the Department of Education and the Department of Health and we hope this announcement will alleviate some of the funding and procedural challenges that create confusion for practitioners and employers.

“BASW is still awaiting the formal announcement of designated pilot areas which will be known as early adopters for teaching partnerships and the provider (or providers) that have won the bid to undertake the testing for the Approved Child and Family Practitioner status.”