Course Overview

Social work is an incredibly rewarding career that gives you an opportunity to work with people in times of need to achieve positive change in their lives. Northumbria University is proud to have over 50 years’ experience in providing excellent qualifying social work programmes. We are the largest provider of social work education in the North East and boast a team with extensive experience in a broad range of social work contexts. You will learn from the very best during your Master’s in Social work.

Our academics’ research contributes to new practice developments and policy and will directly inform your learning. Current research areas include; child protection and mental health, child sexual exploitation, autism, learning difficulties, mental capacity, social justice, gender and research minded social work practice.

The Social Work MA at Northumbria has both a national and international focus and offers the opportunity to gain experience across cultures. Trips previous students have undertaken include observing social work practice in Greece, Turkey and Northern Ireland.

This Social Work Master’s programme has excellent placements within local networks providing excellent practice learning opportunities (70 days in Year 1 and 100 days in Year 2).

We ensure that all our students are offered two, high-quality, contrasting placements in order to offer the very best and most varied work experience to prepare you for qualified practice. Students are supported by a placement team focused on your learning needs during placements

State-of-the-art facilities at Coach Lane Campus also offer simulated placement settings to help you feel prepared. For example, it may include a mock set-up of a bedroom, living room or kitchen and you may be asked to observe the setting for red flags or indicators that somebody is struggling to cope. We also work closely with our Educators by Experience (people who have accessed services) to ensure that students can draw on real life experiences to support their development.

Social work is a diverse and challenging profession where you will encounter people from a breadth of social, economic, religious, racial, cultural and diverse backgrounds. We are keen to reflect this diversity in our student recruitment and will consider every applicant beyond their professional and academic experience within the context of their life experience too.

Your Future

The Social Work MA here at Northumbria University leads to a master’s in Social Work with the Professional Qualification in Social Work, which enables you to apply to register with Social Work England.

This is the qualification required to practice as a professional social worker. In addition to equipping you with a professional qualification, gaining the MA allows you to progress on to post qualifying courses or to apply to continue with your academic studies at PhD level.

Completing this Social Work MA is an international qualification which will not only enable you to register with social work England here, but may also support you working abroad.

Our previous students have gone on to roles as social workers and many within managerial and leadership positions, influencing policy and change across the social work spectrum. One of our former students was recently nominated for best social worker in the country.