Are Non-Traditional Social Work Placements Second-Best Learning Opportunities for Social Work Qualifying Students?

The research highlights experiences and perspectives of student social workers, project leaders and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to meet the six key roles, and demonstrate working with the legal framework, risk awareness, and management and assessment skills. It also considers how the developments in England will have an impact upon student social workers within ‘non-traditional’ placements in the future and their implications for the project. Findings suggest that these placements are not second best, but different and raises the more fundamental question as to whether it is becoming easier to practice social work in placements such as these as opposed to those in statutory social service placements.