Select your course options:
Where Are You Applying From?
How Would You Like To Study?
When Do You Want To Start Your Studies?
Which Campus Would You Like To Study At?
Which Options Would You Like With Your Course?
Why choose the School of Society, Community and Health
Our social sciences courses rank 7th overall in their subject field in the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey 2024; they rank in 1st place for assessment, with top 10 rankings for teaching, engagement and learning community.
Accredited by Social Work England; this accreditation is needed to work as a professional social worker.
Designed for those with a first degree and evidence of relevant experience in social work/care.
About the course
Supervised by experienced practitioners, this practice-based Social Work MSc offers induction, protected workload and weekly study days during placement. It equips you with the skills, ethical principles, deep knowledge, critical awareness and reflexivity needed to pursue a career in this challenging and rewarding field. It also includes an opportunity to develop your research skills via the dissertation project.
Find out if you are eligible for a Social Work Bursary administered by the NHS Business Services Authority.
Course accreditation
Our Social Work courses are accredited by Social Work England. Registration with SWE is needed to work in the sector.
Facilities and specialist equipment
- Access to the Faculty’s range of fully immersive simulation units, moot court, police custody suite and police interview room, preparing you to respond to and manage a range of scenarios
- Close associations with the University’s research schools - such as the Safe Young Lives research centre and the Tilda Goldberg Centre – opening up access to cutting-edge research in the field
Industry links
Strong links with local authorities including Luton, Bedford, Milton Keynes and Hertfordshire, giving a wide choice of placement opportunities.
Current practising social workers and subject specialists from local authority social care teams and other relevant organisations contribute regularly to teaching on the course.
Your student experience
Learn the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to be a qualified social worker, working adults and children in the private, voluntary and independent sectors.
Benefit from two placement opportunities of 70 days and 100 days where you can put your knowledge and skills into practice. All placements are under constant development with our employer partners.
Explore the role of social work; its inter-relationship with other disciplines; and the ethical base for practice where initiative must be balanced with accountability.
Develop a deep and systematic understanding of current theoretical and methodological approaches and acquire the skills necessary for analytical, research-informed practice
Gain the skills in critical reflexivity and emotional literacy that underpin collaborative social work practice and proactive professional development.
Benefit from classroom and placement activities that develop your collaborative and communication abilities, showing you how they can be applied to complex tasks.
Course Leader - Dr Matthew Ellis
My research interests broadly relate to social work with children and young people, and qualitative research methodologies, including narrative, psychosocial, creative and participatory methods. My doctoral research was a longitudinal study focusing on the way that young people construct a narrative identity during therapeutic treatment interventions for harmful sexual behaviour (HSB), as well as the intersubjective experience of practitioners who work with them.
I currently teach across all of our qualifying Social Work programmes and lead on several units covering Social Work theories and approaches, Evidence-informed practice, and Research skills.
What will you study?
Studying our Social Work MSc course will equip you with the in-depth knowledge and skills for qualified social work practice. This course offers significant opportunities to engage in hands-on, practical work such as in our Skills Development and First 70-Day Placement unit. It will equip you with the essential skills and knowledge needed for this placement, and once on placement you will demonstrate through direct practice the core skills needed to support individuals, families and communities. Our unit Working with People: Theories and Methods for Social Work Practice is where you will learn both the theory and practical communication and interpersonal skills to build effective relationships with service users, families and professionals. Our Human Development for Social Work Practice unit will help to enhance your understanding of anti-discriminatory practice and apply this to human growth and development to better understand the varied contexts and characters of social work practice.
At the same time, you will build a critical understanding of structural inequality and discrimination in the field, how this can affect the way service users engage with social work professionals, and the techniques to deal with the conflict or reluctance that may arise from this. This will be particularly relevant in our Social Work Law, Ethics and Values unit where you will also explore the legal and ethical themes in social work practice among diverse service user groups. Here, you will examine legislation that impacts the lives of a diverse range of people who access social work services and critically analyse your role as a social work practitioner in making ethical and legal decisions while challenging inequality and oppression in the field. To add to this, you will explore how society is structured and how the welfare system responds to different social issues such as poverty in our Sociology and Social Policy Perspectives unit.
You will then move on to complete your Last Placement (100-Days) where you will learn to integrate and apply your knowledge of theory, methodologies, research, policy and legal frameworks discussed in the first year. Our unit in Knowledge for Social Work: Critically Reflective and Research-Informed Practice will develop your skills for evidence-based social work practice including equipping you with the reflexivity and ability to draw knowledge from service users. You will also apply this learning to the preparation of a research project relevant to social work. In addition, our unit in Critical Issues in Specialist and Inter-Professional Practice will allow you to examine the legislative, policy, theoretical and practice contexts in which social work operates, and this knowledge will be crucial in supporting your practice. You will be taught to implement best practice by considering elements such as safeguarding and risk assessment in intersecting fields of social work practice.
How will you be assessed?
Your academic learning will be assessed using a range of methods including reflective assignments case studies presentations research tasks examinations and evidence drawn from learning in the work place. Assessments are designed to integrate theory and practice throughout the course and the variety of assessment methods used develops academic and professional skills in writing concisely and drawing on your knowledge with confidence for different purposes and audiences. A summative assignment towards the beginning of the course complements input on expectations of study at M level and personal and unit tutors provide a range of assessment support including tutorials seminars and workshops.
Your practice learning will be supported by practice educators and on-site supervisors and assessed at each stage by the submission of a portfolio at the applicable level of the Professional Capabilities Framework (BASW 2018). Your personal tutor will support your learning in each of your placements and facilitate learning needs identified at the end of the first placement being incorporated in planning your learning in the next.
Overall assessments throughout the course are designed to provide a range of varied opportunities for you to develop increasing confidence and autonomy and ultimately demonstrate your knowledge and skills in all areas necessary for competent practice as a newly qualified social worker.
Careers
Approved by Social Work England (SWE) this course opens up a rewarding career path. In addition to gaining a postgraduate qualification successful students are eligible to apply to the social work regulator Social Work England for professional registration. Once registered you can pursue a professional social work career across a range of settings including within local authorities and many private and voluntary agencies throughout the UK.
Entry Requirements
- GCSE grade 4/Functional Skills Level 2 English
- Safeguarding checks, including an Enhanced DBS, and Occupational Health check are required
- A minimum of 1 year of recent, relevant, experience
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time fee for the MSc Social Work for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £20,000 for your two years of study. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees and living costs. Visit www.gov.uk/postgraduate-loan
Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk
International
The international fee for this MSc for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £33,800. This is the total fee for your two years of study.
For more information, please see international fees
Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email international@beds.ac.uk
