Social Care course

kob29

Is there anyone here doing social care? A friend is considering it for next year and looking for insider info on what it's like?

shanered

My girlfriend is thinking between social care and social work, would be good to hear more about the two of them, maybe some experience of the course.

irish_girl87

I did a social care course and if I had my time over I would not have done it. The scope is so broad in social care that I had no real experience in any sector when I finished. If people were going for it I would recommend volunteering while at college in an area they would like to work in and to have their placements in the area they would like to work to build up experience. I had my placements in 3 different areas and I now believe I should have had them related to one area but with different agencies.

shanered

sad to see that you want your time back, will pass on d advise tho

Ronan H

I finished my Social Care degree a couple of years ago. I did it part time while working full time in the area. I did the course in DIT...

The course is mainly geared towards childcare, as in, care of children who are under the care of the state as opposed to a creche / montessori (there are separate courses for that). I was working in the disability sector at the time and have since transitioned into child protection.

At present it is very difficult to get work in this area without a qualification, it is almost a legal requirement laid down by national standards that all staff must be qualified. The social care degree, while broad, is, in my opinion, the best entry option for someone considering working in the area, whether it be childcare, disability services, homeless etc., and, as mentioned, is the basic qualification required in most places of employment now.

Here is a breakdown of the course. This is the DIT course but it is broadly similar in all the centres that offer the course around the country.

In relation to the Social Care / Social Work question. There is a difference. Firstly, a Social care degree does NOT qualify you as a social worker, it qualifies you as a Social Care Worker. To become a Social Worker you need to either study a specific straight-through degree such as this one, or else, some post grad courses will allow entry to people who have completed the honours degree in Social Care.

Regarding the work itself, Social Care Work generally involves a lot of face to face, frontline work with young people, people with disabilities etc. You could be working in a house where they live, supporting them with whatever they need, sleeping overnight in the house etc., or you could be working in a day based setting supporting people. The key thing is that it's face to face stuff predominantly, involving all aspects of someones care from personal care to psychological interventions etc. It usually ionvolves a lof of multi disciplinary work also, i.e. working with psychologists, psychiatrists, doctors and any other professionals that are required.

Social Work, while there is some crossover with Social Care work, usually involves managing a persons overall "case", i.e. you may be responsible for managing a number of cases and overseeing them in general, arranging review meetings, sourcing suitable placements for people etc. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty face to face work with clients too, but a lot of the role involves managing each case overall. It will also involve liaising with Social Care Workers on how placements are progressing, and often involves attending court appearances and arranging (and sometimes supervising) access visits with families etc.

There you go! Hope that helps!

Ronan

Edit: The salary scales for Social Care are roughly as follows:

Social Care Worker: 33k - 43k (plus sleepover allowance and unsocial hour premiums depending on the circumstances)
Social Care Leader: 44k - 54k (as above)

prescar

irish_girl87 wrote: »

I did a social care course and if I had my time over I would not have done it. The scope is so broad in social care that I had no real experience in any sector when I finished. If people were going for it I would recommend volunteering while at college in an area they would like to work in and to have their placements in the area they would like to work to build up experience. I had my placements in 3 different areas and I now believe I should have had them related to one area but with different agencies.

Okay, I'm guessing you studied in DIT due to the 3 year work placements? Do you not appreciate that having experience in 3 totally different areas is something most people that want to work in this area would love? I understand some people already have their minds made up on what area they want to work in...however ULTIMATELY it WILL benefit you having experience in other areas too...

Social Work in Trinity is a 4 year course...no work experience included...just 4 years of academic work...Social Care (different to Social Work, but in the same field of work, so therefore are similar in some areas) is broad, yes...however if anyone wants to work in the Caring/Mental Health/Teaching or any other related fields, then they have to cover loads of pointless ****e such as Political Science modules!!!