Advanced Professional Practice, PGCert

The Postgraduate Certificate in Advanced Professional Practice has been developed in partnership with Local Authorities across the East Midlands and Skills for Care. Students will need to complete two modules: 'Leadership, Management and Safeguarding' and 'Leadership and Management - An Action Learning Approach' to gain the Postgraduate Certificate.The course is aimed at managers in both adults and children's services who manage social workers.

The Postgraduate Certificate in Advanced Professional Practice has been developed in partnership with Local Authorities across the East Midlands and Skills for Care.

Module One: Leadership, Management and Safeguarding (30 credit points at Masters level)

A taught programme at the University for managers of social workers in children’s and adult services. The programme focuses specifically on issues of safeguarding. Content includes leadership and management theories and styles, supervision, risk, and managing change. Particularly strong features of the programme are adult and children’s services managers learning together and reflection on supervision through video and a critical friend exercise.

The course is suitable for candidates in the voluntary and independent sectors as well as statutory agencies.

Module Two: Leadership and Management – An Action Learning Approach (30 credit points at Masters level)

Candidates carry out a project in their work place, supported by action learning sets at the University. The action learning sets will be 12 hours in total.

The first action learning set will take place in April 2013; further dates will be decided by negotiation.

Candidates will be expected to have completed the Leadership, Management and Safeguarding module before progressing on to module two – Leadership and Management – An Action Learning Approach.

The two modules comprise the Postgraduate Certificate in Advanced Professional Practice.

Module One - Leadership, Management and Safeguarding

This course is aimed at managers in both adults and children’s services who manage social workers. It is part of the Skills for Care initiative ‘Training and support for front line social work managers’. The course will be delivered at Nottingham Trent University. Completion of the course will give 30 academic credits at Masters level or BA level 3 and allows for progression to a Postgraduate Certificate.

The course will provide the opportunity for adults and children’s services managers to study together, with opportunities to work in specific groups as appropriate. It will focus particularly on issues to do with managing social workers. Delivery will be through short lectures, group work, blended learning (eLearning) and independent study.

Candidates will be expected to participate in peer observation of their own and colleagues practice in supervision, through video.

The course will cover the following areas:

• understanding leadership behaviour in managing social workers.
• using and giving supervision.
• risk management and safeguarding in adults and children’s services.
• managing change.

Three additional days for self directed study and completion of assessment tasks are advised.

Assessment

• Written assignment of 4,000 words relating to your own work setting.
• Peer observation of practice in supervision including reflective commentary by candidate.

What do our past students think?

"I found the discussion in relation to serious case reviews very useful and have duplicated the exercise in a team meeting." (Children’s Services Manager)

"Excellent, well presented and really focussed on practice.” (Adult Services Manager)

Module Two - Leadership and Management – An Action Learning Approach

This course will enable managers of social workers and practitioners with supervisory responsibility to critically apply and reflect on research and evidence in their own field of practice, through action learning and a project in their own workplace.

Through an action learning set based at the university and facilitated by university tutors, candidates will be expected to initiate and implement a practice project in their own work place.

The project should be agreed in advance by your line manager. Your agency representative (where you are sponsored by your agency) will oversee the topics chosen to ensure relevance and applicability to the workplace.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of the course you will be able to:

1. evaluate the implementation of strategies in relation to complex practice situations
2. critically reflect on the implementation of strategies and tools to support these
3. critically reflect on the process of action learning as a tool for enhancing reflective practice
4. demonstrate the ability to implement a project in the workplace.

Assessment

• Evaluation of a project carried out in the workplace, drawing on practice issues and how these were addressed: report up to 3,000 words (60%).
• Reflective account of action learning as a method of implementing change in practice: up to 2,000 words (40%).
  Total of both pieces combined to be no more than 4,000 words.