Social work, voluntary, part-time, college courses and career.

oldscoil

Hi All.

I am at a bit of a dead end workwise.
I have a job full time, but it's just a job, put it that way.
But I'm thinking of getting into something a bit more challenging, and rewarding!!!!!!

So I have been thinking about social work.

Does anyone have ANY INFO how I can enter this line of work, perhaps voluntary, part time, or even a course i can do, with a view to perhaps building a career in it.
Also, how is this vocation in regards to career, promotion, reccession, pension.

Much appreciated.
Thanks folks.

Amz

Where have you tried yourself?

No point in us suggesting things if you've already tried.

snorlax

i'd say find someone who's a social worker and chat to them ..

Will

I'm a care assistant, not qualified though.
Did voluntary work in my current place for 2 years when I was 15, then applied to work on their relief panel and been there ever since working weekends and holidays. Total of 7 years Love the job.

Moonbeam

http://www.nswqb.ie/ for if you want to become a social worker.

www.fas.ie have courses

www.qualifax.ie for courses in general

snorlax

Maybe posting down in one of the university forums would help too? TCD do a bachelors in social work I believe.

baby and crumble

Hey there,

I just finished qualifying as a sw, so all I can do for you is tell you how I did it.

You need to do either a 4 year degree (Bachelor in Social Studies in TCD if you are a school leaver, entry by LC points, or in UCC which is only for mature applicants, not points based) or a two year masters (MSW can be done in Trinity, UCD, NUI Galway or NUI Cork).

To get onto the MSW you will need a degree in a social science kind of field, OR a degree with a Higher Diploma in Social Policy, which I think can be done in UCD or Galway. Now, my degree was in Philosophy, so I took the H.Dip in UCD option. 1 year, and you have to do courses from all 3 years of the social studies degree, along with specific social work related courses (since they know why people do the course, it's really specifically for people who have a degree who want to go into social work. It gives you a decent idea of what social work entails).

In order to get accepted onto the MSW anywhere you will need a certain amount of hours/months of volunteer or paid work in a field related to social work- as a youth worker, care assistant, etc.

There are usually way more applicants for the courses than places. I know for trinity my year there were over 100 applicants, of which they interviewed 60 for 20 places. I think UCD has 50 or 60 spots, not quite sure.

Really your best bet is to do some voluntary work somewhere to see if you like it, and build up the hours you can use in your applications.

If you decide to go down the training route, it is a tough course, they work you seriously hard. In the second year of the MSW we had a 5000 word essay due pretty much every week, plus group work and presentations. The MSW's have a thesis to complete, plus 2 14 week placements over the 2 years.

I've loved it. I've gone on to start a PhD, so I haven't been looking at the jobs market since about April (when I got offered my PhD) but as far as I know jobs are scarce, mostly because of the HSE hiring embargo. The HSE can't advertise for jobs, but will take on a few people for cover and stuff.

Salary is good, the scale increases are good, and the diversity of areas to work in is massive, although most people will work with kids at some point, usually in child protection. You can move up to a team leader (manager) position within a few years, and principal in about 6 or 7.

Hope this helps!

Zo

Ps- just realised how late i am to the discussion, sorry!

catmcginty1

Hi Zoegh,
What voluntary work or experience did you have going into the Masters? Im interested in doing the SW Masters, Im finishing my social science degree this year in NUI Maynooth and have no experience yet. I was thinking of working next year to gain the experience and apply after that.

baby and crumble

Hi!

Sorry only just getting this reply now.

I did an undergrad in completely unrelated subjects (philosophy and geography?? WHat was I thinking???) but to put myself through college I worked in residential care for adults with intellectual disabilities (ID), part time through summers. When I finished my degree I went and worked full time for 6 months in the same field. Oh, and all through college I was heavily involved in volunteering, with people with ID mostly, but also other stuff.

Technically I think to apply you're meant to have a certain number of hours either paid or unpaid experience in some kind of field, I think it's 2000 hours for TCD, and 9 months for UCD. Can't remember though.

TCD course: http://www.socialwork-socialpolicy.tcd.ie/courses/postgraduate/taught/msw.php
UCD: http://www.ucd.ie/appsocsc/postgraduate/msocsc_soc_work_modea.htm
UCC: http://www.ucc.ie/en/DepartmentsCentresandUnits/AppliedSocialStudies/Text,64701,en.html

I can't find UCG's msw page, sorry.

That could be paid care work like me, voluntary stuff like with Goal or The St. Vincent de Paul (fundraising prob wouldn't count, since you're not really working first hand with people, you know?) and I knew a couple of people in my course who volunteered on phone lines with the Samaritans or ChildLine. Most people in my year had worked in residential settings, either with people with disabilities or kid in care. And while it might be possible to get in with the bare minimum of experience, the more you have and the more varied it is the more you'll get from the course, the more you'll be able to take in, because you'll have a decent background knowledge, you know?

Oh, and an FYI. From my experience of the interview process (it's quite competitive) and UCD seem to prefer people with knowledge of social work stuff, wheras Trinity were a bit more about personality. Like, I wasn't in the top 80 on the list for UCD once the interviews were over, but I got TCD first round, one of 22, so it's weird like that.

Man, I just go on and on, don't I? Sorry.