Curious about studying Social Workat Canterbury Christ Church University? We've gathered all the key details—entry requirements, modules, fees, and more. Hear from real students by checking out reviews, or take the next step by booking an open day to explore it for yourself.
Master of Arts - MA (PG)
Main Site
Full Time
Sep 2026
2 Year
Our MA in Social Work is offered through a two year full-time route. It is approved by the regulatory body for the profession, Social Work England (SWE). On successful completion of the programme students will be eligible to apply for registration as a social worker with the SWE. The course has academic, practice and skills components; teaching is done mostly through lectures, seminars and presentations with input from academic tutors, external practitioners and people with lived experience of services (experts by experience). The practice component involves placement learning opportunities in a social work-related agency and organisation with the support of practice educators and onsite supervisors.
Professional accreditationUpon successfully completing the course, you will be eligible to apply for registration to practice as a Social Worker with Social Work England and go on to work in a range of settings meeting the diverse needs of individuals, groups and communities.
Specialist facilitiesOur course is the only one in the UK to use the expertise of the Hydra Foundation to develop your social work skills in interprofessional critical incident thinking and decision-making when safeguarding children and families. You will have access to other simulated environments during your course, such as our simulated social work office and courtroom.
LocationThis course is run at our Canterbury Campus in Kent. Canterbury is just 50 miles south-east of London and less than an hour by high-speed train from St Pancras. Located on a UNESCO World Heritage Site the campus offers state-of-the-art buildings, right in the centre of a vibrant and world-famous cathedral city. You’ll benefit from a campus with excellent learning and teaching resources, music venues, a superb sports centre, a well-stocked bookshop and plenty of coffee bars and places to eat. A short walk away is Augustine House our award-winning library and home to a vast range of learning resources and student support teams.
This module gives you a firm foundation for academic study of social work at postgraduate level, with the ability to be active, self-directed learners, supported to develop thinking independently and critically as the bedrock of professional practice. You will develop greater awareness of social work role and context of social work practice in a globalised world. The module will emphasise themes of professionalism within an interprofessional context, highlighting the importance of working in partnership with service users, families, carers, and multi-agency professionals, in line with Social Work England professional standards and professional capabilities framework (PCF) as the foundational basis for social work practice. The module will include the assessment of Readiness for Direct Practice in accordance with the Professional Capabilities Framework for Social Work (BASW).
The module will introduce you to a range of theories and skills to inform your understanding and assessment of, and work with, expert by experience and carers. Social workers need to be flexible and try to see self and other through multifaceted perspectives (e.g., drawing from ideas and approaches within psychology and sociology and those developed within social work) and draw on interpretations of human development within different sociocultural, material, and discursive contexts throughout the lifespan in their work with individuals, families and groups and communities. Throughout the module there will be a particular focus on developing anti-oppressive, and strengths-based perspectives and practice.
This module introduces you to the processes and products of social research, as well as the methodologies and values underpinning research. You will be supported to use, and develop, research evidence to structure, argue and evidence issues in social work practice. Specifically, you will be supported through the process of conceiving of a research question to producing a research proposal which adheres to scholarly conventions and practices, and which is not only informed by but also informs social work theory, practice, values and/or education.
The aim of the module is to support you to develop sociological perspectives so you may critically explore the ways in which the otherwise seemingly private and personal worlds of individuals are indelibly shaped, and impacted, by structural, systemic, and discursive processes, products, and practices operating within society and culture. Society and culture are presented in the widest sense and as including such things as messages in the media, taken-for-granted everyday practices, organisational practices, everyday conversations, everyday experiences (e.g., of marginalisation and oppression), social policies, social work, and many more.
This is your first practice placement opportunity and will provide a grounding in social work practice that will prepare you for your 100-day statutory placement and becoming eligible to register as a Social Worker. You will be provided with a 70-day practice learning experience within one of our quality audited practice placements along with a required number of skills days. This will enable you to complete the required placement days during this academic year out of the 200-day total across their qualification.
This module builds on your prior learning from across the course as you must draw on your learning from modules and skills days and show you have incorporated this into your understanding of social work practice.
The module will explore current issues and critical debates in social work practice and prepare you to become critically reflective practitioners. Through exploration of the skills of critical thinking and reflexivity, the module will develop an understanding of professional decision-making within the legal and ethical boundaries of social work. You will draw on personal and professional experience to help integrate the theoretical aspects of your work into a framework for good practice. This process will be further informed by exploration of practice-based dilemmas, inter-professional issues and the perspectives of practitioners, and experts by experience.
The module will develop your knowledge, understanding and application of key legislative frameworks, policies, and guidance in social work applicable to children, young people, and adults. The module will examine the interface between legislative frameworks, policy and guidance and social work ethics and values, in particularly promoting a rights-based approach while considering how the law can be used to promote anti-oppressive practice.
This module enables you to develop your knowledge and skills in recognising and responding to safeguarding issues and reporting concerns. You will explore and understand concepts of risk, complexity in decision making and applying policies and procedures in relation to safeguarding vulnerable children and adults against balancing their professional duties within multi-agency interventions. You would critically reflect on safeguarding interventions and consider future practice through evaluation of aspects of rights, risk and autonomy of service users, carers, and their families. The thrust will be on risk analysis, understanding systems and multi-agency processes that promote good practice in safeguarding.
The aim of this module is to draw upon strengths and learning cultivated through the year 1 module entitled Social Work Research and to support and operate alongside and in conjunction with the 1-2-1 work students do with their supervisors. The module will take a workshop approach to provide opportunities for clarification, discussion, debate, dialogue, and support by not only module lead but also peers. Specifically, this module will support students as they develop research ideas formulated in the first year of their MA studies into dissertations which are informed by and inform social work. The module is mainly intent upon supporting students to complete literature-based research dissertations where they are expected to produce reviews which demonstrate systematic principles capable of producing both transparency and reliability (or what may sometimes be called ‘validity’. It is not, however, necessary to produce what is called a systematic review.
This is the your final practice placement opportunity before completing the MA Social Work and becoming eligible to register as a Social Worker. On being assessed as ready to progress from your 70-day placement, you will be provided with a 100-day statutory practice learning experience that meets the expectations of Social Work England along with completing your final required skills days. This will enable you to complete the required 200 placement days across your qualification. This module builds on your prior learning from across the course as you must demonstrate in your practice placement and your academic assignment that you have been able to draw together aspects of your learning across the course and be ready to become a Newly Qualified Social Worker.
4.2Established in 1962, Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) is renowned for its industry-responsive courses, trainin...
