Karen O’Donnell, Workforce Development Officer

We’ve been so pleased with our partnership with the OU that we’re hoping to run another DD102/K101 cohort of students from February 2016.

Karen O’Donnell is a Workforce Development Officer at Angus Council in Arbroath. The Council has been involved in sponsoring students on the OU’s BA (Hons) Social Work degree programme for 12 years. Karen explains below how sponsorship works and outlines the benefits for those involved.

At Angus Council we sponsor two Open University social work degree students at any one time; in addition, we take a cohort of between 12 and 16 students enrolled on DD102 Introducing the social sciences and/or K101 An introduction to health and social care on a regular basis. A number of factors led to our choosing to work with the OU: our manager studied and qualified with the University, so is a keen advocate; we receive very positive feedback from our students, among whom there is a high pass rate; the quality of the tutorials and the learning materials is also second to none. Before deciding on the OU as our provider, we considered other local universities, but found they didn’t meet all our needs, neither could we release staff to attend University on a full-time basis. Although cost was not the main factor for opting to work with the OU, we did want value for money; for us, it was more an issue of quality and the OU provides this consistently.

Tutors collaborate with us in a variety of ways: for example, they attend face-to-face meetings with our Workforce Development team and manager, have delivered tutorials in the workplace, and are contactable by email. Whilst students are out on placement the OU tutor visits to support our practice educators and students – usually at the start, midway and in the final stage to review students’ progress. We also have a very good relationship with Sue Dumbleton [Senior Lecturer in Health and Social Care] who attends our recruitment events. Sue has helped our organisation ‘grow our own social workers’ by sharing her expertise and knowledge and every year she participates in our internal trainee review process. This enables us to have a frank exchange of views, share student evaluations, and we learn a great deal from one another! My experience of working with the OU has been very positive; we’ve had an excellent relationship over the years. There has always been good support from the tutors and from administrative staff at the Edinburgh office; this was especially welcome in the early years when things were new to us. In addition, the staff tutors are always quick to respond to any queries we may have.

While they are engaged in their studies, learners leave their substantive post and are given the job title ‘trainee social worker’. They receive one day’s study leave a week if they are studying 60 credits and two days if studying 120 credits. They are also given a day in lieu if they have to attend a tutorial at the weekend, are provided with mentor and peer support, and are offered exam preparation workshops (delivered by previous OU students). Learners receive an annual salary of approximately £14,000 while they are studying. The only circumstances in which they don’t receive full funding is if they’re doing a standalone module such as the 60-credit DD102 and are eligible for SASS funding/part-time study fee grant. We also reimburse any travel costs that trainees might otherwise have to fund themselves.

Apart from continuing to earn while they progress through the degree programme, the main benefit to learners of studying alongside working is that they find it easier to link theory to practice. The teams with whom they work also benefit as do those who receive a service, given that the knowledge they receive is up to date and evidence-based. Learners are also guaranteed a job as a qualified social worker at the end of their studies, which makes it a much more attractive career pathway.

Providing sponsorship to staff enables those who don’t have qualifications to develop a career pathway. We find that this definitely improves retention; in the 10+ years that we’ve been offering the OU degree programme, only one sponsored social worker has left – to take up a senior promoted post. Among former students, two are now team managers, one has recently begun studying for the mental health officer award (MHOA), and several are involved in practice learning placements, with roles in mentoring and providing leadership input for the next generation of trainees.

I believe the OU social work route leads to ‘well-rounded’ and ‘well-grounded’ qualified social workers because they generally have more experience when they start the programme and seem more able to cope with the additional demands of a statutory social work organisation such as Angus Council.

One final point I’d like to make is that this ‘grow our own’ programme continues to be a great success and is very popular (we have between 20 and 40 applicants every time we advertise). Unsuccessful applicants are encouraged to register with the OU to study to increase their chances in the following recruitment campaign, and this also helps to meet their CPD. When budgets permit, we offer staff financial help with DD102 or K101.