Social Work

[MinnieMouse731]

Hi!
Just wondering if anyone could shed some light; I've been accepted into a social work course starting in September.
I'm struggling to find anything online which could point me in the direction of how many days I would need to attend university?
Has anyone done a social work course and could give me a rough idea? I know each university is different but just so I have a rough idea

Does the course info not give you a breakdown of how study is undertaken. Often this is stated in terms of teaching hours and self study hours. Teaching is the attendance hours. Also the course might give info on the curriculum to be covered and how it’s covered. Failing this, email the course Director.

I've been accepted into a social work course starting in September.
I'm struggling to find anything online which could point me in the direction of how many days I would need to attend university?
Has anyone done a social work course and could give me a rough idea?

Which course? Which country?

'A' social work course could be anything

Why don't you email the course administrator and ask for last years timetable?

Thank you! These are all great ideas.

I did look at the course teaching however it just broke it down to placement days: 70 days year 2 and 130 days year

I'll send a message to the university and see what they say

It's for a Bsc Social work undergraduate degree

Do they have the Y1 syllabus on the course page? This might help you see the structure of lectures vs placement.

expect to be in most weekdays in year 1.

The first year of an UG Social Work course is much the same as any humanities undergraduate degree. At the end of it they tend to weed out any people not suitable to go on to placements and redirect them to other degree paths.

Y2 and Y3 you will be on placements for part of the year and a lot of the teaching and contact time will link into that.

Why do you need to know? They may not have worked out timetables give everything else going on.
I would assume you would need full time childcare (if relevant) and that any paid employment would need to be weekends.

Kingston university has a breakdown (pie charts) of annual hours for each year broken down into lectures, self study and placements. This might give you some guidance. Although each university might have differences in optional modules which can vary the study method, core elements are probably very similar. It does give an overview regarding what you can expect and this seems better than your university’s info.

@BubblesBuddy not that I could see; but I'll have another look.

@hatgirl thank you!

@oncemorewithfeeling99 I want to know because a) I need to look around for childcare & b) I need to try and sort finances as I'm potentially becoming homeless due to loosing my job with the coronavirus outbreak so trying to get ahead with if I could work part time as my student loan doesn't cover the rent on my house for the year

@BubblesBuddy thank you! I'll take a look at theirs to give me a rough guide :-)

The problem is that you will need a timetable. The teaching hours are not great but you need to know when they are and decide how and when you will self study. I doubt that a timetable will be available yet but I wouldn’t necessarily assume every day for lectures.

Sorry, I realise my question sounded snarky in text form. It was just meant as clarification. Are you a mature student (over 25)? Sometimes unis have special officers who can advocate for you etc. Might be worth having a look.
Ring or email the department secretary and explain the situation. Ask that they give you the timetable as soon as they know it. But given the situation, it really might not be possible to find out with enough notice to arrange childcare.
Have you looked up any grants you are eligible for? E.g childcare grant? My friend got most of the costs paid by this. So chose a full time childminder place, which enabled her to be flexible with timetable changes.

I am in my first year, the first semester we were in uni 4 days a week. Rather long days too, second semester 2 days for barely 2 hours.

Long days 4-5 days a week.
This doesn't change in any year -
Lots of assignments too

Normally social work courses are very much full time. When I did it I needed full time child care. Also quite a lot of assignments. Some people who did the course did work part-time (usually overnights and/or weekends in residential.
The course was in many ways like a full time job.

I did my social work degree about 10 years ago. At that time the first year was 2-3 days per week in uni. A gentle introduction! Second and third years ended up being full-time during term time with 2 days per week in uni and 3 days per week on placement.

Contact the department - I know someone did from my cohort prior to us starting and got a rough outline of how the structure panned out for my particular course.

I believe the relative I have who did social work was pretty much committed 5 days a week but sometimes on placement and sometimes on campus from what I recall.

It's hard - I get it - I ended up paying out childcare for a term on one day I didn't need last year because of how my own course's placement structure had fallen - annoying, but one of those things really. Once I got onto the actual course and got to know the staff I could get a much clearer picture for future terms - so when my placement day changed I got told well in advance so I could fiddle about with childcare bookings and not need the extra day paying out for.

Hi I started my SW degree 8 years ago and it is a full time course, you will be expected to be available M to F 9 to 5. In the first year you might have an afternoon or 2 you are not in but you will need this to study if you have kids. N years 2 and 3 you have full time work placements and will be expected to work full time. I would have full time childcare in place term time only as that will give you time to study, write dissertation etc and do your placements.it is a full on degree but very rewarding , good luck x

The open university do social work degrees x