Scottish Social Services Council

Scottish Social Services Council

We’re delighted to have been able to speak with Lorraine Gray, Chief Executive at Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) about the breadth of work undertaken by the SSSC and why they are more than just professional regulators.

What are the biggest challenges faced by social work professionals in Scotland?

In Scotland, we regulate the entire social careworkforce from social work through to early years, aswell as support workers in care at home and housingsupport services. This breadth means that we need tofocus on a wider perspective of social services, ratherthan specifically regulating social work. Although ourregister is relatively new (we launched in 2003), we willsoon have between 160-170,000 registrants, of which12,000 are social workers – both qualified practitionersas well as student social workers.

As with Social Work England and regulators in Walesand Northern Ireland, we have similar challenges;there are always issues relating to time pressures,knowledge, supervision, support and caseloads. But wedo have clear differences as primarily in Scotland, ourhealth and social care services are fully integrated soit’s a challenge to see how social work fits into this, andhow we can ensure that it retains its own identity.

We are also focusing on the recent publication of theIndependent Care Review. This has been championedby Nicola Sturgeon, and it promises reform of carefor looked-after children. The review has beenindependent, and a core part has been issues relatingto social work education and practice.

Consistency is part of this; how can we develop asystem where a looked-after child has the sameexperience with each social worker? How can weensure that they are having the same childhoodexperiences as peers who are growing up in a familyenvironment?

This will be a long-term goal for us, and we know thatfollowing the publication of the Review it will be on theminds of social work students, as well as experiencedpractitioners.

As with all professional bodies, you place significant emphasis upon Post Registration Training and Learning (PRTL). How important is this for social workers, and what advice can you give to someone to help them make the most of their continuing professional development?

Regardless of where you are based and who you areregulated by, learning and development will always bean important part of a social worker’s role. In Scotland,the continuing professional development (CPD) elementis a requirement in our code of practice. It’s importantthat social workers are continually updating their skills;not just in relation to practice, but also legislation,policy and understanding how social work is becomingincreasingly diverse.

As the regulator, we try to clearly explain to ourregistrants that PRTL isn’t just about formal learningand training courses. It’s about using reflective practiceand making the most of supervision and learningfrom discussions. For newly qualified social workers,you’re always aware that you’re learning from othersevery single day, and this is something that shouldbe encouraged - being involved in conversations andasking for help and support is equally important.

In our view, we want to see registrants seeking outlearning throughout all areas of their practice. Theyneed to be able to reflect on feedback and understandhow to record it. A good tip is to take the time to planand think about what you want to achieve this year –not only will it allow you to seek out opportunities, butyou can start to think about what you are learning andthe difference it’s making to your practice. We alsowant to see registrants taking the time to complete

their records throughout the year; putting it togetherat the last minute is ineffective as you learn so muchthroughout the year that it can be hard to rememberwhat you’ve done. We have a dedicated resourcessection on our website which is freely available forpractitioners to supplement their learning, with newresources added regularly.

As part of your ongoing review of the PRTL processes, you’re looking to ensure that the system is easy to use, effective and links clearly to the SSSC registration process. What have social workers told you throughout your review and what can they expect once the review has concluded?

We know that social workers want something which iseasy to understand, has no duplication and showcasesevidence in a way that suits them. Our new system willbe much more flexible – after all, learning records arepersonal to that individual, so they may want somethingthat works with their learning. They may want to usethe online resource or perhaps use their employers’paperwork or even their own method of recording.What’s more, they want to understand how continuallearning is linked to professional registration, andthey’ve asked us to point them into the direction ofresources throughout their registration.

This is something that is important to us. We knowour registrants. We know where they are based andwhat they are working on. We want to inform them ofresources that are available locally and which will helpsupport them with their PRTL. We want to be proactivebecause we are more than just a regulator; we wantpeople to hear from us and feel that they are gettingadded value. At the moment, we can provide this proactive support manually but we hope in the nearfuture to be able to incorporate automated technologieswhich will facilitate this; whether it’s a quick and easyreminder text or providing details of a nearby trainingworkshop which could be of interest to that registrant.

Over the past five years, you’ve undertaken a Review of Social Work Education. Can you tell us more about this and how social work in Scotland is continually evolving?

It’s certainly been a broad-ranging review. Socialworkers can find details of this on our website, but whatwe were looking to discover was whether social workin Scotland was fit for purpose. Of course, there werechallenges facing the profession and there are thingsthat need looking into, but generally speaking, we’rethrilled to say that our social work is fit for purpose.

A part of our review was to look at social workeducation – for example, should we continue witha generic social work degree or should we break itdown into specialisms? We’ve taken the decision thatfor us, a broad social work degree is the right thing todo. However, we do want to improve links betweenfurther education and social work so that there’s greatermovement into social work degrees. One area ofconcern was regarding practice placements and how

we can ensure that social work students are gettingsuitable placements. It’s been a big challenge, if wetake inspiration from our colleagues in teaching, nursingor medicine; their placements have a much more formalsetup than we do. They don’t seem to be struggling tofind suitable opportunities, so we need to learn what isworking and replicate this in a social work setting.

As part of the review, you determined that a formal partnership should be developed to “support and enable a shared approach to learning”. The Social Work Education Partnership is being established alongside the Scottish Government to facilitate this. Can you tell us any more about the progress of the partnership and what it aims to achieve?

It’s about improving the infrastructure of educationproviders and improving access to placementopportunities.

We should all see it as our responsibility to support thenext generation of learning.

We need to look at what we can do to ensure allstudents can benefit from suitable placements. Arethey happening in proper timescales? Are we giving enough support to both students and lecturers? It’s stillearly days but we need to focus on consistent deliveryof high quality practice learning for all students in thesame way that teaching, nursing and medical studentsare supported.

How much contact do you have with Social Care England and Social Care Wales to ensure consistency of standards across the whole of the UK?

We work closely with the regulators across England,Wales, Northern Ireland and even the Republic ofIreland but our role is different. In Wales, Scotland andNorthern Ireland we are part of the Sector Skills Council,whereas the English equivalent is Skills for Care. Itmeans that we have different responsibilities to that ofSocial Work England, which is why we offer so manymore resources to support social workers with theirlearning; it’s part of our remit.

We all have extremely good relationships and workclosely together because we know that it’s vital for us tobe able to deliver consistent, high quality levels of carethroughout the UK.

Find out more.

For more information about the Scottish Social ServicesCouncil, visit sssc.uk.com