[Sammi3]

:

(Original post by RealityCheckAgain)
Hey I'm there too on the 8th. I was wondering if any has already interviewed at Leeds Met and if they could offer any advice as to the topics discussed?

Hi, just wanted to ask you, you know that 250word essay thing we have to prepare before the interview, have you started yours? if so, what sorts of things have you included? Am so confused that headline they gave its quite wierd

[RealityCheckAgain]

(Original post by Sammi3)
:


Hi, just wanted to ask you, you know that 250word essay thing we have to prepare before the interview, have you started yours? if so, what sorts of things have you included? Am so confused that headline they gave its quite wierd

250 word essay? On my email it just requested I bring a social care reference and complete a suitability form. Did they email you the essay title? Is it the MA you are interviewing for? I am worried now that I might have missed it!

[Sammi3]

(Original post by RealityCheckAgain)
250 word essay? On my email it just requested I bring a social care reference and complete a suitability form. Did they email you the essay title? Is it the MA you are interviewing for? I am worried now that I might have missed it!

Hi, Nope i am being interviewed for the BA, is that what your going for aswell? If so, on ucas track where they gave the time for the interview and stuff if you have a look underneath theres a link for the interview information and there are 3 documents, one is like a thank you letter, one is the suitability form and then there was the essay titles.

[lorrabell]

just got a conditional offer from winchester, prob not my first choice but to be honest i'm so relieved to of least got one offer, still waiting on 2 uni's but will happily go winchester if that's all that's offered

[L2307]

Offers from York, Huddersfield, Leeds met and Hull just waiting to hear from Leeds uni! Soo Happy!!

[lorrabell]

heard nothing at all from york, is this a bad sign??

[Lornacr]

(Original post by Sammi3)
Hi i have a interview at Leeds Met on the 8th, Anyone else have thiers on this day?

For those who have had a interview there, what was it like? what sorts of questions did they ask you? what else did you have to do? Any tips? Did you get an offer?

Im so nervous and scared

Hi,

I'm there on the 8th too!! Good Luck!

[Sammi3]

(Original post by L2307)
Offers from York, Huddersfield, Leeds met and Hull just waiting to hear from Leeds uni! Soo Happy!!

Hi what sort of questions did leeds met ask you, and how did the day there go?

[RealityCheckAgain]

(Original post by Sammi3)
Hi, Nope i am being interviewed for the BA, is that what your going for aswell? If so, on ucas track where they gave the time for the interview and stuff if you have a look underneath theres a link for the interview information and there are 3 documents, one is like a thank you letter, one is the suitability form and then there was the essay titles.

Phew! No, mine is the MA. Good luck with the essay though! David Thompsons 'Understanding Social Work' is worth a read to help you (your local library will have it).

[L2307]

(Original post by Sammi3)
Hi what sort of questions did leeds met ask you, and how did the day there go?

Hi, the interview went ok, they asked a lot of questions revolving around government and politics, why i wanted to be a social worker and also the skills, qualities and knowledge of a social worker. they take about 2-3 weeks to get back to you.

[Sammi3]

(Original post by L2307)
Hi, the interview went ok, they asked a lot of questions revolving around government and politics, why i wanted to be a social worker and also the skills, qualities and knowledge of a social worker. they take about 2-3 weeks to get back to you.

Hi, ouch not liking the goverment and politics bit how would you advise someone to prepare for that part? i feel confident with the skills, qualities and stuff but totaly clueless about the goverment and politics bit.

[miss_colourful]

Hi,

I applied to Birmingham, Oxford Brookes and Edge Hill. Still no offers

But whilst I'm waiting I figured I'd be optimistic and ask for any recommended reading materials for the interview? I know about Community Care, I'm hoping to get some paper copies from a Social Care worker I know...

But other than that can anyone recommend the kind of things I should read up for my 3 (hopefully) interviews?

Thanks in advance.

[jellybeanjen]

(Original post by miss_colourful)
Hi,

I applied to Birmingham, Oxford Brookes and Edge Hill. Still no offers

But whilst I'm waiting I figured I'd be optimistic and ask for any recommended reading materials for the interview? I know about Community Care, I'm hoping to get some paper copies from a Social Care worker I know...

But other than that can anyone recommend the kind of things I should read up for my 3 (hopefully) interviews?

Thanks in advance.

Community Care stopped printing paper copies a couple of months back, so anything you want from them will be on the website - www.communitycare.co.uk I'd recommend that you read up on the Munro Review of child protection, Working Together to Safeguard Children, the new Health and Social Care Bill, personalisation, and the GSCC codes of conduct (though social workers in England will soon be registered by the HPC and the GSCC will cease to be... read up on that change too). If you have access to an academic library, I'd recommend having a look at Anti-Discriminatory Practice by Neil Thompson and A Brief Introduction to Social Work Theory by David Howe.

[miss_colourful]

(Original post by jellybeanjen)
Community Care stopped printing paper copies a couple of months back, so anything you want from them will be on the website - www.communitycare.co.uk I'd recommend that you read up on the Munro Review of child protection, Working Together to Safeguard Children, the new Health and Social Care Bill, personalisation, and the GSCC codes of conduct (though social workers in England will soon be registered by the HPC and the GSCC will cease to be... read up on that change too). If you have access to an academic library, I'd recommend having a look at Anti-Discriminatory Practice by Neil Thompson and A Brief Introduction to Social Work Theory by David Howe.

Right. Thank you so much
I know a bit about the change, it was mentioned at open days.

To find this info should I just Google it? Or are there specific places I can get them...

Would a community library hold some of those books you mentioned?

More questions sorry...

I better get reading then

Thank you again

[jellybeanjen]

(Original post by miss_colourful)
Right. Thank you so much
I know a bit about the change, it was mentioned at open days.

To find this info should I just Google it? Or are there specific places I can get them...

Would a community library hold some of those books you mentioned?

More questions sorry...

I better get reading then

Thank you again

I'd Google all the topics I mentioned, to find newspaper articles or analysis of them, but I hope the links below help with general information:

Munro review

Working Together to Safeguard Children - most recent edition (Note: new version due this year, to tie in with the changes proposed by the Munro Review)

GSCC Codes of Practice

Health and Social Care Bill 2011


A community library may have the books I spoke about, but it depends how good the library is to be honest! My local one definitely has no social work books in it. Buying both on Amazon would cost you under £30 but it's a bit of a pain buying books when you're not guaranteed a place on the course. If you know anyone who is a recently qualified social worker, they may have a copy floating around that you can borrow.

[miss_colourful]

(Original post by jellybeanjen)
I'd Google all the topics I mentioned, to find newspaper articles or analysis of them, but I hope the links below help with general information:

Munro review

Working Together to Safeguard Children - most recent edition (Note: new version due this year, to tie in with the changes proposed by the Munro Review)

GSCC Codes of Practice

Health and Social Care Bill 2011


A community library may have the books I spoke about, but it depends how good the library is to be honest! My local one definitely has no social work books in it. Buying both on Amazon would cost you under £30 but it's a bit of a pain buying books when you're not guaranteed a place on the course. If you know anyone who is a recently qualified social worker, they may have a copy floating around that you can borrow.

Cannot thank you enough

I'm being optimistic and hoping I get in, if I don't I'll apply till I do So I might buy the books and sell them if I don't need them :P

I'll try and reserve them or something to get them from another better stocked library

Thank you SO much. Better get reading and memorising. ;D

[L2307]

(Original post by Sammi3)
Hi, ouch not liking the goverment and politics bit how would you advise someone to prepare for that part? i feel confident with the skills, qualities and stuff but totaly clueless about the goverment and politics bit.

i just looked in the media and at current laws. the community care website is good for government news and politics id suggest looking on there, also bbc website. hope this helps

[mamatee]

(Original post by jellybeanjen)
Hi BPPP,

I'm a current social work student, albeit on the MA course rather than the BA, so I'll try my best to answer your questions.

I've had a very quick browse online (literally 5 mins lol) to see what you meant about the A Level points and the only place I spotted that has an entry requirement as you've described is Chester:

"A minimum of 240 - 260 UCAS points, of which 220 - 240 points must be obtained from GCE A Levels, including a grade C in one subject."

In this case, this would mean they want at least 220 - 240 points to come from full A Levels (so CCC or CCD), and the remaining 20 - 40 points can come from your AS Level. Generally if places specify they want points from A Level or equivalent, this means they will not accept points from AS Levels.

Many universities ask for a social science at A Level (e.g. Psychology, Sociology, Politics). This would provide a useful base for studying social work and would help you to give examples of theories, legislation or areas of study that apply to social work for your personal statement. However, not all universities require this. A more important aspect of social work applications is relevant work experience with children, the elderly and other groups that social workers have involvement with. Universities like to see that social work applicants have some experience that they can apply to the course.

Interviews vary from university to university and may involve a written test, group interview and/or individual interview. There are lots of threads on here and over at the Community Care website forums about social work interviews and the types of questions that are asked, so I would suggest you do a search for those. I had a written test and a group interview. We were given a choice of questions for the written interview relating to different issues in social work (the one i did was about anti-discriminatory practice) and had to write a 40 minute essay trying to bring in theory, policy and legislation. I don't know if this would be as harsh on the BA/BSc courses; a lot of older students apply for the MA so they can be outof practice on writing essays and also a much higher academic standard is expected of MA students. In the group interview, we spoke a little about our work experience and were asked what we thought the relevance of research is in social work. We had been given a newspaper article relevant to social work to read before the interview and then had to discuss it as a group. In a group interview, they're not just looking at what your answer is but how you communicate with others - body language, not talking over people, eye contact, synthesising what other people have said into your points and so on.

Social work has become a very popular course over the last few years. I'd say that this is partly to do with the fact that you get a bursary to study it which is handy when fees and living costs are going up and partly to do with people seeing it as a vocational degree where you'll be guaranteed a job when you're finished (yes it is vocational, but jobs for newly qualified social workers are tough to come by). Offers are harder to come by because of this, and courses fill up quicker than they used to so get your application in early! To give you a little idea, when I applied for my MA in 2009, I managed to get a place in July to start in September; in 2011, the course was full much earlier and the number of applicants had increased three or four-fold.

Personally, I have found the last two years studying social work really tough but definitely worth it. You're constantly learning new things academically and in practice and trying to marry the two together. There's also so much self-reflection involved - what didI do well, what could I do better, if I were in that service user's shoes what would I want, am I allowing my own prejudices into my work, maybe I could have explained that in a more child-friendly way etc etc etc - and I've picked myself to pieces more than I ever thought possible. I've worked some great people on my course who've supported me and challenged me, and some interesting service users on placement who I've really grafted with to see results. There are modules that have really interested me and others that haven't so much. Make sure you look at the different modules available when you're applying to see if what that uni offers is really for you. Placement is such a big part of the course and it's important not to underestimate how hard it is to balance going to uni and doing academic work with going into placement and working at least a 9 - 5 most days of the week. I seriously cannot wait to qualify now and get out there into practice and do the job I've been training to do for what feels like an eternity!

Sorry if that's a bit of a ramble. Please feel free to ask any questions and I'll try my best with them. Also, once you've got a draft PS, I'll be happy to check it through on the PS forum.

Jen xx

HI jen,
your contribution was really helpful. i am a new student to social work, i started this yr 2012 and am still trying to find my way out . Right now i am embarking on my assigment and cant still figure out what and how to answer the question. pls do u have any idea or note on sociology and psycology plss?

[jellybeanjen]

(Original post by mamatee)
HI jen,
your contribution was really helpful. i am a new student to social work, i started this yr 2012 and am still trying to find my way out . Right now i am embarking on my assigment and cant still figure out what and how to answer the question. pls do u have any idea or note on sociology and psycology plss?

Hi Mamatee,

If you let me know the question for your assignment, I might be able to point you in the direction of some helpful books, articles etc. Unfortunately, just saying sociology and psychology is a bit too vague for me to provide anything useful, as every essay I wrote and module I took involved some element from these two areas.

Jen

[mamatee]

thanks JEN. the question are Part 1 – Sociology

A)A key function of social work over the years has been to address issues of poverty and structural disadvantage in society. Using key concepts from sociology provide an explanation of poverty and structural disadvantage in modern society. (1000 words)

B)Drawing upon this theoretical understanding, and by making use of an example from your practice, provide a discussion of how sociological concepts may further your understanding of a service user. (500 words)

Part 2 – Psychology

A)Compare and contrast two theories of understanding personality. (1000 words)

B)Drawing upon one of your chosen theorists, describe how this theory would further your understanding of a service user you are working with. (500 words)

i jus copy and paste the question to u. bt u can read thru and let me no the one u cant be of help. i really appreciate your help. thanks a million.
pls let me no if u need my email add. thanks