THE ASYE IN WEST LONDON Presentation by the

THE ASYE IN WEST LONDON Presentation by the West London Social Work Teaching Partnership

THE REGION The West London Social Work Teaching Partnership (WLSWTP) is a partnership of eight Local Authorities and two Universities. The vision of the West London Social Work Teaching Partnership is to create a learning environment across our region that promotes practice excellence. We aim to develop the next generation of social worker while retaining a diverse, high calibre and experienced workforce within West London. Your ASYE in West London We take your continuous professional development across our region very seriously and will support you in undertaking your ASYE in our Boroughs. The local authorities across the region are committed to supporting our NQSWs on the ASYE. The requirements for the programme are as identified by Skills for Care across Adults and Children’s Services.

APPLYING FOR JOBS All job vacancies for newly qualified Social Tips to identify NQSW-specific Workers will be advertised on the vacancies: Council’s jobs pages. Most Local Authorities do not specify It is possible to register for vacancy alerts whether they are looking for a NQSW. on the council websites Look for jobs advertised as “social worker”. Ealing and Hillingdon Council advertise “newly qualified social work” vacancies. Brent Adult Social Care advertise qualified social work vacancies under the title ‘Care Assessor’

THE ASSESSED AND SUPPORTED YEAR IN EMPLOYMENT The ASYE seeks to provide a robust framework within local authorities for supporting NQSWs in their first year of practice. This first year is widely acknowledged as critical in the professional development of an NQSW. Across the partnership we aspire to have a stable, well qualified workforce, managed effectively, receiving regular case and reflective supervision, with clear career pathways and high levels of job satisfaction. Our vision is one where we have reflective and resilient social workers that are professionally curious and want to develop their careers with us

Stages of the ASYE & requirements

THE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS STATEMENT Child and Family Practitioner (KSS) Link to the Children's Social Work KSS Adult Services (KSS) Link to KSS for Adult Social Work

ASSESSMENT There are two key documents that are linked together to support the NQSW and the Supervisor in evidencing the requirements of the ASYE Responsibility of the overview of the whole assessment process and completion of the record of support and progressive assessment lies with the assessor The support and assessment agreement includes the 3, 6 and 12 month reviews The focus is on the NQSWs developing practice The NQSW evidences this through the critical reflective log which is presented to the assessor in advance of the review points Skills for Care have developed and published the Adults documents. The Children’s documents are based on the Adults documents are also available on the Skills for Care website.

SUPPORT Specific WLA and NWL Training programmes alongside monthly critical reflective practice sets for NQSWs. Training is set up for supervisors to help them support their NQSWs

MESSAGES FROM NEWLY QUALIFIED SOCIAL WORKERS Be open to learning Do as much shadowing of conferences, meetings, core groups as you can. Always ask for help when you need, make sure you get supervision time, set time out to complete ASYE work Be positive and ask for further training or more shadowing and observing if unclear. Take time out to read and prepare for sessions. Ask questions to understand clearly or do your own research. Have a low caseload to digest everything early on Seek advice when needed and to be confident in speaking to managers regarding work load pressures Always prepare for uncertainty and have non-judgemental towards client. Prepare in advance and ask questions when not sure or clear about something. Always ask for any additional information you feel you need to know, no matter how silly you might think it is. Ask for help from those around you and don't worry too much- you're on a journey and if you aren't being humble and always looking to learn more you are standing still. Ensure supervision sessions are re-booked and follow them up if delayed, cancelled. Discuss feelings and how you feel you are getting on with manager, discuss problems that are affecting you. Enjoy the journey into social work, be proactive, be a team player and always have the child in mind in every home visit. Be prepared to work hard and be very organised. Plan in advance. Don't put too much pressure on yourself and expect to feel all over the place and useless for the first few months until you find your feet! (Thank you to the 33 newly qualified social workers from Adults and Children’s Services who were on the ASYE