Post on 23-Dec-2015
Overcoming Barriers to Social Work Education:
Meeting the WP targetBeverley Crooks and
Cathy Aymer
The ContextThe Context
• Government preoccupations and new qualification for Social Work
• Historical position- age restriction lifted
• English and Maths requirement
• Already started their pre degree courses
• Full time and employment based students
• Intervention needed to enable a group to attend in 2003
Creative Thinking
• Pre 1992 university • Working collaboratively – social work
admissions, central admissions and WP• Interpretation of pre-entry guidance and
making funds available to set up maths programme
• Challenging internal systems• Creativity of intervention and of people
delivering the programme
Student Profile
• Ethnicity, Age,
• Prior experience of and attitude to Maths
• Why Brunel and not other university?
• Scores at diagnostic and at test
• Student comments
• Boundary Crossing
The Research
• Gather the baseline data• Track the student experience over the lifetime
of course• Interview them at end of first year and soon
after the start of year three• What are their outcomes - retention -Scores
in the supported learning module – degree classifications - course leader views
Student Voices
• Boundary crossing
• Confidence building
• Attitude to learning
Conclusions
• Impact on students
• Impact on institutions – the approach to pre entry provision has been institutionalised
• Maintain the recruitment of under-represented students