Has anyone studied Safeguarding?

[Anonymouse007]

Hello Mumsnet,

I have 3 kids (aged 1 to 5). I graduated with a psychology undergrad in 2019 (got a 2:2). I took a year out to look after the kids and now I'm thinking about my future.

Currently, my partner works and I'm at home. He's encouraging me to return to academia because I love it and I want to 'prep' for when I can work in the future (maybe another 2-3 years?).

I'm considering a Master's degree in Safeguarding Adults & Children. My other option is Forensic Psychology MSc.
The Safeguarding course is mostly online and would fit around my personal life. The Forensic degree is outside my city.

My main question is, has anyone studied Safeguarding? Should I just go for it? The modules are really interesting and I think I could eventually train as a social worker.

Doing Forensic Psychology would mean I could register as a Chartered Psychologist in the future (and all the fancy frills and trims that come with being chartered) but the degree is less safeguarding and more science-y.

Any advice from you wise women? It's going to cost me 7k so I want it to be worth it!

SHORT VERSION:
Want to prep for future. Should I study MSc Safeguarding or Forensic Psychology? Looking for experiences of safeguarding & its prospects.

Thank you :)

OP, I went down a similar route in the sense that I did a more general masters because it fit around my family life and it has been a waste of time. Every job I go for wants either social work or health and social care. The jobs I can apply for are entry level, so that was money well spent I now have used all of my student finance so can't even afford to do social work.
My advice would be to hold off the academics until the children are at school, get yourself some relevant voluntary work and then do social work. It's only 2 years and will put you in a much better position. I am doing a social worker's job but my ceiling salary is £20k because I don't have the degree.

What Stormzy said.
I'm a social worker. I think you have a bit of a rose-tinted spectacle view if you don't mind me saying.

I work with adults but have experience of children's social work (I was sworn and shouted at by parents very frequently).

It's never boring, has its occasional rewards but is massively underfunded and under resourced.

I need to have a 2:1 to gain my masters in SW, though exceptions may be made if you'd done a shedful of voluntary work (at what point I was working as a volunteer for 3 different charities to amass pre course experience). There was also an entry exam for the only 25 places. This was just the regular MA course, not the more recent govt schemes which are even more competitive to get on to. Get in touch with the programme leader of MAs at local unis and ask whether a 2:2 would be considered.

I just can't see how a masters in safeguarding would really help your career. Obviously it would do no harm to have it, but you couldn't be a social worker, safeguarding lead in teaching, safeguarding nurse etc without those specific degrees.

I think you need to decide what job you want and map out what you need specifically to get to that.

As others have said the safeguarding one sounds like something a social worker would do to further their professional development. I work in adult safeguarding but this is after a lot of experience in social work. I can't really imagine doing anything else but as has been pointed out already - it is not for the faint hearted.

Thank you for the replies this morning - all very helpful :)

@cakemeupbeforeyougogo (love the name haha) I appreciate that it would not be an easy job at all, probably extremely emotionally and physically draining. However, that hasn’t deterred me yet. I do think I should shadow a social worker (would that even be allowed I wonder, considering privacy/confidentiality?) before taking any big career decisions.
Because I have a 2:2 and little experience of social work (most of my experience is in schools) that’s why I thought the MSc would help boost my portfolio. If I had a 2:1, I probably would’ve just done a MA in SW (or a bunch of other things as I’d have more options).

@zatarontoast Ahh, how unfortunate. Thanks for sharing that, it does make me think twice now. Social work is such a tricky field anyway. Considering how hard it is you’d expect maybe the govt would support potential social workers more to reduce the amount of caseload each individual deals with!

I'm a little confused. What is your aim? To become a social worker? To become a psychologist? To go in to academia? To spend a couple of years studying for the sake of it?

Just adding to others voices, the Safeguarding MSc sounds like the sort of course a nurse, social worker, teacher or doctor would do who is, or wants to become a safeguarding lead.

Doing it on it's own without already have the qualification is nice, and the university will gladly sell it to you, but it doesn't get you any further in a career plan.

@Plussizejumpsuit thanks, yeah that was basically my thinking. Why sit around for a year doing nothing when I could do a degree online that I can afford (for now!) so at least potential employers would see that I utilised my time to learn more and build my portfolio. Even if I didn’t go directly into social work but into an organisation that deals with child exploitation, for example, wouldn’t safeguarding be relevant? I assume so. @Cactuslove the reason I don’t want to be doing nothing for the year or two is because I feel like employers would look down on that, unfortunately.

@StormzyInaDCup that does sound really tough and I do appreciate that it isn’t an easy career. It’s just something I’ve been passionate about, I guess you could say.

@MsStillwell I’d like a career that involves child protection/an element of psychology and working with children but I am trying to work out what I could work towards. The main thing is I can’t work/study on campus for at least a year or two but I don’t want to sit ‘doing nothing’. I know I sound utterly confused, probably because I am!

@AnnaMagnani Yes basically the programme leader told me the course is usually taken by people who already have a relevant career like charity work or nursing.

Agree with @AnnaMagnani. safeguarding course is a nice to have but doesn’t quality you for much.

To be a social worker you would then neee to take another course. If you can afford that go ahead but that’s a lot of cash.

OU do SW courses. Does t have to be Uni based delivery.

I'm a SW. Safeguarding course would be a total waste of money if you want to actually do SW. Also - wouldnt recommend SW as a career at all. I'm stuck in it now as retraining feels impossible with small kids. But it's a high stress job with really shit pay (considering the stress). Do the forensic thing. At least it sounds like it will be better paid.

@Anonymouse007 over the years I've done both, and a lot of work with perpetrators of violent and sexual offences (psychotherapeutic/CBT type work as well as risk management) in custody and community settings, and I worked as a lead inspector for the QA body. I had a relevant BA , Law with psychology, some voluntary work and started with an entry level practitioner role, gradually specialised, lots of continuous professional development, getting on the right projects etc and worked my way up. I'm now in a senior role in a multi agency national team regarding specific types of offending. I have friends who also took a similar route but from practitioner level went into lower level safeguarding officer type roles in other organisations and some have worked up from there, some still do the safeguarding officer roles or standard/senior practitioner roles. It's a lot of responsibility and a lot of stress, but stimulating and rewarding work, you do have to be very very emotionally resilient, I've seen lots of people burn out etc. The pay I'm on now is good but not amazing and it's taken a good 15 years of bloody hard work to get here, entry level practitioner roles (not qualified SW roles) tend to be around 23k , but you can have your further study paid for, flexibility is usually good (but expected in return) , holiday, pension, sick pay are also at the better end of the spectrum. If you want to earn your fortune and retire early this probably isn't the right route!

I'm not a social worker btw , I've predominantly worked in the youth and adult criminal justice/policing sector

@Anonymouse007 youth offending might suit you , roles in a YOI if you live near one or with a youth offending team, they usually require social work qualification or professional qualification in probation (PQuip) plus experience before you can apply

I have just qualified as a social worker :) my first degree was only a 2:2 so don't let that stop you. It meant I wasn't able to get on any of the fast-track schemes step up, frontline etc however I have been able to do the MSC social work at a University, which in hindsight has worked better for me as its not as fast-paced. You can still get a bursary as well which paid for about 2/3rds of my fees and living costs and I did bank work at a local childrens home around this. I really am not sure how an 'online' safeguarding course will benefit you... safeguarding is not about online but real world experience. If now is not the right time for you to qualify as a social worker look into getting some other experience in the mean time, family support. assistant, childrens homes or even looking into adult social care which is also a great field

Thanks for sharing @TaysteesGal. Great that you could get the bursary! Good for you :) I am wondering if I should take a different course instead or just use my free time differently... not sure anymore. It’s all so confusing with very young children in the mix.

@zatarontoast

OP, I went down a similar route in the sense that I did a more general masters because it fit around my family life and it has been a waste of time. Every job I go for wants either social work or health and social care. The jobs I can apply for are entry level, so that was money well spent I now have used all of my student finance so can't even afford to do social work. My advice would be to hold off the academics until the children are at school, get yourself some relevant voluntary work and then do social work. It's only 2 years and will put you in a much better position. I am doing a social worker's job but my ceiling salary is £20k because I don't have the degree.

This in spades. Really good advice

What about educational psychology? I’m not sure of the entry requirements so you would need to investigate.

I am just struggling with what you would do with a safeguarding masters, and it’s 7 grand! Teachers, social workers etc have their own professional safeguarding routes which you would still have to take if you went that way.

What about youth justice or probation?

I have recruited to social work and unqualified social services posts. Experience, and learning from it, comes well above paper qualifications in my book. Don't do nothing, fair enough - but focus on practical experience not an expensive course that will not in itself lead to anything. Also, and sorrto be blunt, your 2:2 would seriously hamper any chance of a career in psychology. It's extremely competitive.

sorry to Darn minuscule phone and big fingers

another in agreement with zatarontoast

The voluntary work I did for a couple of years was an excellent investment in my future when applying for a course (when I was in a position to study - ie the youngest was at school), and then afterwards in applying for jobs.

As someone who broadly works in the fields you seem to be interested in I also think a safeguarding masters would be a waste of time. I would suggest you do a lot more research about exactly what it is you want to do. you say you fancy a career that 'that involves child protection/an element of psychology and working with children' that encompasses a lot of different things. CP SW is one role, clinical psych is another role, within those two roles there will be posts that involve more direct work with CYP but also big aspects of the role that don't involve working with children at all. No one I know who has an official 'safeguarding role' for example safeguarding officer in a LA, i.e that is their actual job as opposed to being a DSL in a school for example, has any direct contact with children at all it is largely administrative. I don't want to be unkind but it sounds like you are in danger of thinking that there are some sort of 'saviour' roles out there that will allow you to 'make a difference'. If you want to work with very vulnerable children directly and actually make a difference through your own caseload etc then the clinical psych route may well be the best one but IME it is very competitive and even then if you end up working in CAMHS etc you may find that it is more about fire fighting than making a difference.

Why not do the masters in social care straight away?

I'm afraid that aim very frankly if your aim is to future proof your career then both of those Masters would be a total waste of money.

Forensic psychologist roles are vanishingly rare. Most of the few people who do work as a 'forensic psychologist' have come to the role via routes through the justice system or health systems. Somebody fresh out of uni with a masters cert in their hand is just not going to find FP jobs even to apply for - let alone have a chance of getting. Universities sell these courses because it's an interesting subject and gets bums on seats - not because it qualifies you to do anything.

Likewise safeguarding. It is part of a job that some people choose to specialise in. You just don't see jobs adverts for 'safeguarders'.

OP, as you said, it's your money. Why not have a go at this career planner before spending it?

www.prospects.ac.uk/planner