asked Her Majesty's Government:

What measures they have in place to improve levels of retention and recruitment of teachers to social work. [HL4333]

The General Social Care Council’s Code of Practice for Social Care Workers states that social care workers must undertake relevant training to maintain and improve their knowledge and skills and contribute to the learning and development of others.

To support this, under the new framework for social work post-qualifying training, the “Enabling Others” module will equip social workers to supervise and assess social work students and will be available to a wider range of staff than the previous practice teaching award. In addition, social workers will develop skills in practice education through higher specialist awards.

Activities are currently taking place in regions to support the retention, support and development of existing practice assessors. This includes providing sub-regional network groups for practice learning co-ordinators, to update them on current developments within the new framework and to encourage the sharing of good practice.