Gill Whalley. August 2023.

Three years ago, Amber Family took the plunge and in partnership with The University of Central Lancashire (UClan) decided we would participate in the Social Work Apprenticeship and offer it to members of the team. Currently, we have four members of staff at various points in their course. I have been the On-Site Supervisor for all our students, recognising that being the Practice Educator as well as undertaking my own role was too much. Alongside this, I also felt it was important that during placement, the Apprentices had the opportunity to work with an external Practice Educator who would challenge their practice, observe them in work and contribute to their learning and development of Law and Theory.

Amber Family has just seen our first student complete her final 100-day placement in the assessment team and submit all her work to uni.  We are immensely proud of her; it has been a pleasure to be part of her journey. Through consistent hard work, we have observed her confidence grow and her outstanding results both professionally and academically. Alongside this, in my capacity as an On-Site Supervisor, a Mentor, and a Manager, I have also benefited from the experience and continue to do so. Whilst as a Social Worker I maintain my own Continuous Professional Development (CPD), I don’t think there is anything like being questioned and challenged by a student. The enthusiasm they have for learning, good practice, and professional standards becomes contagious and an opportunity to remind ourselves of why we have chosen this as our career. Revisiting the theory that underpins our everyday intervention has been a good exercise for me.

This has also positively impacted the development of direct work and improvements to our service. Social Work is evolving and being closely connected to the next generation of Social Workers ensures that we are working within the most recent Legislation, and exposed to new Case Law and Service Challenges. As a result of this, we have held peer supervision sessions that have supported the whole staff team to increase confidence about the work that we undertake and ensure that we remain ‘current’ in our knowledge.

I must admit there have been times when I wished that I didn’t have another student review, report, or observation to complete. We all have busy jobs and finding the time to fit in an extra job is hard. The weekly supervision has been time-consuming, and I appreciate for some practitioners this may influence their decision not to take students. I’m also grateful that we have encountered no issues and I’m sure this was omitted as our four students have been established members of the team prior to commencing their Apprenticeships.

I do however believe that as experienced Social Workers, it is our duty to support and nurture the next generation. In doing so, it challenges your own practice and knowledge by making it a partnership working opportunity whilst recognising the knowledge that our students have, along with their own lived experiences and transferable skills.