Assessing professionalism in social work students: Weeding out bad apples

This professional doctoral research focused on how Practice Educators define and assess professionalism in social work students in England. Social work placements in England are underpinned by the Social Work England Practice Placement Guidance (2023), the Practice Educator Professional Standards for social work (PEPS, BASW, 2022) and the Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF, BASW, 2018). Social work students must undertake 200 days of practice, of which up to 30 can be skills days as part of their qualifying course. Unlike every other element of the BA or MA social work degree, the decision on whether a student passes or fails the placement element is based on continuous assessment undertaken by a Practice Educator (PE). The Practice Educator acts independently to the University, and can be an employee within the agency or an independent PE acting ‘off site’. Practice Educators assess students against the PCF (BASW, 2018), which aims to set out consistent expectations of social workers and covers each stage of their career; from entry to approved courses, right through to strategic social worker. Professionalism is defined within PCF Domain 1.