Overview
Are you looking for a rewarding career that impacts the lives of individuals, families and communities? On successful completion of the Social Work course at Brunel, you’ll be eligible to apply for Social Work England registration which is mandatory to practise social work.
Through a combination of academic expertise and high-quality practice placements you’ll be prepared for your career in social work, where 95% of our graduates are in employment after completing their studies. Brunel is located in London, home to a diverse landscape of social work settings. Our academics have strong connections within the sector and you’ll benefit from excellent work placement experience.
This Social Work England accredited course will equip you with the skills to tackle the challenges faced in social work today including problems such as county lines, cyber bullying, discrimination and extremism. You’ll learn about law, psychology, social policy and sociology, giving you a comprehensive understanding of various approaches. You’ll develop the skills to identify, understand and critically appraise evidence and research which can inform social work practice.
You may be entitled to a Social Work Bursary provided by the NHS. You can find out if you’re eligible and how to apply here. The NHS are advising all NHS Social Work students to send their applications to them by 31 July to ensure they can process them in time for the start of the September academic year.
Dean’s International Scholarship: This course is eligible for a £2,000 fee waiver, per academic year, subject to availability. This Scholarship is for full-time international students only. Find out more.
You can explore our campus and facilities for yourself by taking our virtual tour.
Course content
The curriculum provides teaching in both academic and practice elements. Your learning outcomes will enable you to demonstrate progression in professional knowledge, skills and values through your two years of study. Year one consists of compulsory modules.
Compulsory
- PN5604 - Applied Research for Health and Social CareTo develop the student’s ability to critically understand and conceptualise the process of research and improvement in health and social justice, recognising the impact of research and health improvement, and refinement of critical appraisal and project planning skills.
- SW5632 Year 1 Practice Placement
During the first placement students will acquire professional knowledge, understanding and related practice skills.
- SW5627 Becoming a Social Worker
This module prepares students to understand the profession’s ethical principles and recognise the impact of own values in professional practice. Thus, the ability to demonstrate basic skills in communication and to engage with people to develop effective relationships will be acquired to aid an initial understanding of a range of theories and models for social work intervention.
- SW5630 Legislation for Social Justice
This module gives students an understanding of the legal framework in England for social work and social welfare. Students will learn about the broad range of remedies available to individual service users and carers, groups and communities. Students will learn ethical responsibilities and dilemmas in social work practice.
- SW5628 Human Behaviour Across the Lifespan
This module outline aims to prepare the students in understanding the key theoretical and empirical underpinnings of human development. Applying an understanding of human growth and development to social work practice. Also, aims prepares students to undertake critical observation of children and/or others.
- SW5626 Practicing Social Work
This module is the module that teaches and assesses students in Readiness for Direct Practice. It enables students to develop an understanding of the role of the social worker through three days of shadowing. Students will learn to demonstrate a readiness for practice with social work clients.
- SW5629 Social Justice - Theory, Policy and Practice
This module aims to apply sociological concepts towards a critical understanding of society and contemporary social problems. Understanding the origins, character, and politics of the contemporary social welfare system, and critically engage in competing theoretical discourses, which explain structural and institutional inequalities in relation to gender, disability and employment. Students will also understand the policy-making process and the links between social problems, social policy and social work practice.
- SW5631 Concepts and Perspectives Underpinning Social Work
Equipping students to apply contemporary theoretical perspectives in social work to interpret social problems from both the micro-level of intra-personal and macro-level. Leading students to critically analyse the intersection between theoretical orientations, social work values, and service users. This module also draws a critical understanding of the development, meaning and interpretation of theory within social work.
Compulsory
- SW5635 - The DissertationThis project is designed to conduct an original piece of research in an area of professional relevance and to integrate conceptual and theoretical issues within social work and social care. The topic of research may include a quantitative project focusing on the measurement and analysis of data, a qualitative project focusing on professional (clinical) practice, or a systematic review of the evidence relevant to a question from within the discipline.
- SW5637 Practice Placement 2
By the end of the last placement students should have acquired and demonstrated a range of skills related to the Social Work England standards and the Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF).
- SW5633 Advanced Practice Skills
This module teaches students how to respond to crises and complex issues in practice. The module uses role play scenarios and critical thinking exercises to present students with a range of scenarios that can occur in real life for students to solve as if they were a qualified social worker. Through this learning through role play students learn to identify and manage risk and apply their knowledge and skills to practice situations in a safe environment in which mistakes and good practice can be identified and learnt from. This provides learning that will prepare students to the complexity and crisis they will work with after qualification.
- SW5636 Contemporary and International Perspectives
This module takes student through varying and different perspectives from across the globe. This is to prepare students both for working in other countries, cultures and epochs and to prepare students for the diversity of perspectives and approaches to social work and social issues that they will encounter in the UK. This module provides student with a grounding in how social work is a vibrant and varied profession that repondes to the cultural and sociaetal contexts of the people we work with
- SW5634 Professional Practice
This module which runs across the whole of year two links closely with student experiences of placement in year 2. It provides policy, legal and best practice models and discussion that can be taken into the practice placement and applied. It also provides in depth learning about the UK social work system and how different aspects of the profession work and interact.
Optional
This course can be studied undefined undefined, starting in undefined.
This course has a placement option. Find out more about work placements available.
Please note that all modules are subject to change.
Read more about the structure of postgraduate degrees at Brunel
Careers and your future
Professional Registration
On successful completion of the Social Work course at Brunel, you’ll be eligible to apply for Social Work England registration which is mandatory to practise social work.
Brunel University London has strong partnership links with local authorities such as Ealing and Hillingdon and our postgraduate social work students have a track record of securing social work jobs with our partner agencies. You’re on-track to get a great job when you graduate from Brunel as 95 per cent of our Social Work graduates go onto employment after completing their studies.
Employers and Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) coordinators regularly attend careers workshops where you’ll benefit from intensive training in interviewing skills, presenting a comprehensive portfolio of work and being competitive in the social work market.
Many students from Brunel are offered jobs with their placement provider after they graduate.
Rights to Work in the UK for International Students
International students graduating from this programme may be eligible to apply for a Health and Care Worker Visa that provides the right to work within the UK healthcare sector.
This visa also provides the right for dependants to come to the UK and exemptions from UK health insurance surcharges. Further information about the current benefits of the Health and Care Worker Visa and rules for applying can be found at the UKVI website.
Information on further visa options is available on our Post Study Work Options webpage
UK entry requirements
- A 2:1 (or above) UK Honours degree, or an equivalent internationally recognised qualification, in a non-related subject with the appropriate experience will be considered.
Or
- A 2:2 (or above) UK Honours degree, or an equivalent internationally recognised qualification, in a related subject (e.g. Education, Sociology, Social Policy, Politics, Psychology, Law, Health and/or Social Care).
Applicants must demonstrate how their previous experience in paid employment, or structured voluntary work, with a relevant organisation has prepared them for a career in social work. While there is no formal requirement for a set amount of time spent getting work experience we normally expect at least a year’s full-time (or part-time equivalent) experience. Applicants should also demonstrate what they have learnt from their own life/educational/work/voluntary experiences as appropriate to their life stage and how these have prepared them for a career in social work. Each application will be considered on an individual basis.
An ability to communicate accurately and clearly in spoken and written English and the ability to think critically and analytically.
All applicants will be required to go through a Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS). To ensure candidates’ fitness to study and identify any additional support needs, all applicants will also be required to complete a health declaration
Applicants will need to provide an academic reference from their first degree. If the academic experience is 5 years old a character/employment reference would suffice.
Applicants will be invited to attend an Interview. Applicants will be able to choose whether to attend an online or on-campus interview. Applicants in the UK are encourage to attend an on-campus interview.
Please be aware that to apply for this course you will need to submit an application through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).
Applicants are welcome to apply for the next entry point or the one following that (i.e. deferred entry).
EU and International entry requirements
If you require a Tier 4 visa to study in the UK, you must prove knowledge of the English language so that we can issue you a Certificate of Acceptance for Study (CAS). To do this, you will need an IELTS for UKVI or Trinity SELT test pass gained from a test centre approved by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) and on the Secure English Language Testing (SELT) list. This must have been taken and passed within two years from the date the CAS is made.
English language requirements
- IELTS: 7 (min 6.5 in all areas)
- Pearson: 64 (59 in all subscores)
- BrunELT: 68% (63% in all areas)
- TOEFL: 98 (min 23 in all areas)
You can find out more about the qualifications we accept on our English Language Requirements page.
Should you wish to take a pre-sessional English course to improve your English prior to starting your degree course, you must sit the test at an approved SELT provider for the same reason. We offer our own BrunELT English test and have pre-sessional English language courses for students who do not meet requirements or who wish to improve their English. You can find out more information on English courses and test options through our Brunel Language Centre.
Please check our Admissions pages for more information on other factors we use to assess applicants. This information is for guidance only and each application is assessed on a case-by-case basis. Entry requirements are subject to review, and may change.
Fees and funding
2024/25 entry
UK
£11,550 full-time
£5,775 part-time
International
£23,615 full-time
£11,805 part-time
More information on any additional course-related costs.
Fees quoted are per year and are subject to an annual increase.
See our fees and funding page for full details of postgraduate scholarships available to Brunel applicants.
Scholarships and bursaries
Teaching and learning
Programmes and stand-alone modules will be facilitated as in-person lectures and seminars. To supplement our full timetable of on-campus teaching, learning will be supported with a range of resources on our new Brightspace Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) including, for example, presentation slides, videos, interactive activities, quizzes and articles. Module / block leaders may offer additional briefing, revision, and/or Q&A sessions on online platforms where appropriate. You are expected to attend 100% of your lectures, seminars and placement.
Additional extra-curricular activities;
- Social Work and the Body Conference (a requirement for MSc Year 1s), in-person
- World Social Work Day, in-person
- Wise Choices – the Social Work Careers Day, in-person
Face-to-face activities will give you the opportunity for creating a community environment, they'll enable possibilities for collaboration and support relationships between staff and students. You'll build on soft skills such as professional communication, engagement with people who have a lived experience of social work and you'll develop the ability to analyse face-to-face interactions, which are key in the social work profession. Face-to-face activities will also provide you with opportunities to engage in Interprofessional Learning activities with other divisions which are also teaching on campus.
Feedback & consultation hours, personal tutoring hours, and dissertation supervision discussions will be offered both in-person on-campus and via online platforms. This will allow you to easily receive feedback, advice and guidance without having to travel to campus on a day that you might otherwise not be attending.
Please note that while recordings and online resources will help if you are unable to attend a particular teaching session, learning from the online materials only will not be an adequate substitute for certain aspects of the in-person learning experience. For example, online learning will not be able to replace the experience of being an active participant in a lively in-person seminar discussion on campus. In some instances, recordings will not be undertaken in order to maintain confidentiality such as people with lived experience of social work sharing about their personal circumstances and interactions with social services. Keep in mind that this is a campus-based master's programme, not an online programme – and attendance on campus will be essential to fulfil the attendance requirement for in-person Skills Days as outlined by Social Work England.
Access to a laptop or desktop PC is required for joining online activities, completing coursework and digital exams, and a minimum specification can be found here.
We have computers available across campus for your use and laptop loan schemes to support you through your studies. You can find out more here.
Our teaching approaches are diverse and you’ll benefit from lectures, seminars, workshops, individual tutorials and group tutorials.
You’ll be taught by our research-led academic team. So you can be assured that our teaching and curriculum are relevant and up-to-date.
Should you need any non-academic support during your time at Brunel, the Student Support and Welfare Team are here to help.
Assessment and feedback
You’ll be assessed through essays, presentations debates and group work task designed to give you and us a variety of ways to assess your learning and ensure you learn both the knowledge and skills you will need as a qualified social worker. You’ll complete 180 taught credits of which 60 will be the research project of the dissertation and two contrasting practice placements.
Read our guide on how to avoid plagiarism in your assessments at Brunel.