social work education

Good communication, both oral and written, is at the heart of best practice in social work. Communication skills are essential for establishing effective and respectful relationships with service users, and are also essential for assessments, decision making and joint working with colleagues and other professionals.

This report has been undertaken by the Scottish Social Services Council as part of the Sector Skills Agreement process being carried out by Skills for Care and Development. It sets out a summary of the current and future skills needs of the social services workforce in Scotland. The assessment of current training provision to the sector is set out in the Stage 2 report.

In January 2005, the Social Work Services Policy Division of the Scottish Executive commissioned the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) to undertake research to understand why social work students are undertaking the new social work degree and the postgraduate degree. This resource outlines the key findings of this research.