Social Work
Anglia Ruskin University
UCAS Code: L501 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Anglia Ruskin University
UCAS Code: L501 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
112 UCAS Tariff points from a minimum of 2 A Levels (or equivalent).
112 points from Access to HE Diploma
GCSE/National 4/National 5
3 GCSEs at grade C, or grade 4, or above, including English.
112 UCAS Tariff points acquired from BTEC Level 3 Diplomas are accepted.
112 UCAS Tariff points from Scottish Advanced Highers are accepted. 112 UCAS Tariff points from Scottish Highers are accepted.
UCAS Tariff
UCAS Tariff points from a minimum of 2 A Levels (or equivalent).
You may also need to…
Attend an interview
About this course
**Studying Social Work at ARU**
If you’re passionate about making a difference to children, families and adults, our 3-year BA Social Work course – approved by Social Work England – is for you.
**Why should I study Social Work?**
Social work changes lives. We know. We've been training social workers for more than 20 years, and our graduates continue to make a difference to the children, families and adults they work with.
This challenging yet rewarding career will often bring you into the lives of some of the most disadvantaged and marginalised communities.
The chances are you’re naturally patient, honest and tolerant – someone with sound judgement who sees the value in people. We’ll nurture those qualities, while giving you the knowledge and skills you need to qualify as a social worker.
Study with us in Cambridge or Chelmsford and develop your skills out on placement while you are an undergraduate.
Social work is about empowering children, families and adults. It’s a complex job that demands a lot of soft skills, such as communication and partnership working.
As a student at ARU, you’ll learn how to assess people’s circumstances and needs; measure risk; and set up activities with individuals, families, groups and communities.
Working alongside other care professionals, you’ll plan, provide, review and evaluate services and interventions. You’ll become skilled in problem-solving and communication, and gain a thorough understanding of your legal powers and duties.
We work closely with our SUCI Group– Supporting Social Work Education with Lived Experience, so that you can learn directly from people with a lived experience of accessing services. There is ample opportunity to learn on the job too, with 170 days out on placement during your studies.
All of our students do two practice placements. You’ll do 70 days in Year 2, and 100 days in Year 3. One of your placements will involve statutory tasks, including legal interventions. Both placements are an invaluable opportunity to learn in the workplace and you’ll cover a range of topics such as engagement, assessment, interpersonal skills, interventions, safeguarding and the appropriate use of authority.
- If you study in Chelmsford, your placements could be anywhere in Essex, including Thurrock and Southend authorities.
- If you're joining us in Cambridge, your placements could be anywhere in Cambridgeshire.
We’ll make sure that you get a range of settings to best support your training. It’s likely that you’ll have to travel as part of your placement, so you’ll need your own transport to visit people accessing services in the community, where public transport may not be available.
Our Social Work degree course is validated by Social Work England so when you graduate, you’ll be eligible to apply to register as a social worker.
Modules
Year 1:
Applied Social Work Theories
Contemporary Issues in Social Work
Safeguarding in Context
Standards and Skills for Social Work Practice 1
Into ARU
Year 2:
Social Work with Children and Families
Standards and Skills for Social Work Practice 2
Social Work with Adults
Research - Evaluating Knowledge and Evidence in Practice
Year 3:
Wellbeing - ALife Course Perspective
Understanding Professional Practice
Undergraduate Major Project
Standards and Skills for Social Work Practice 3
Assessment methods
Assessments are your opportunity to show the skills and knowledge that you're gaining. We use a number of assessment methods including assignments, presentations, learning journals, portfolios, patchwork texts (short pieces of writing, or ‘patches’, built up week-by-week), poster design and placements.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
Chelmsford Campus
ARU Peterborough
Cambridge Campus
School of Allied Health and Social Care
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if the overall teaching satisfaction score here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Social work
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Social work
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
We're short of social workers - so if you want a degree that is in demand, then this could be the one for you! There's a shortage of social workers all over the UK, and graduates can specialise in specific fields such as mental health or children's social work. If you decide social work is not for you, then social work graduates also often go into management, education, youth and community work and even nursing. Starting salaries for this degree can reflect the high proportion of graduates who choose a social work career - social work graduates get paid, on average, more than graduates overall, but not all options pay as well as social work. This is also an unusual subject in that London isn't one of the more common places to find jobs - so if you want to get a job near to your home or your university this might be worth thinking about.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Social work
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£22k
£32k
£34k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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