Éva Gomes
Professional Development Coordinator
We very much want to grow and nourish our own social care workforce and an important part of that aim is making sure that we support our newly qualified social workers fully.
We follow the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) programme which helps Newly Qualified Social Workers (NQSWs) to develop their skills, knowledge and capability to grow their professional confidence during their first year in employment.
I work with NQSWs and assessors over the year to make sure we are delivering best practice at the start and all the way through their journey with us.
We begin with a robust induction followed by a Knowledge Skills Statement self-assessment, linked with a targeted Professional Development Plan (PDP). To begin with NQSWs are expected to work on non-complex cases which gradually changes as their skill sets grow. We safeguard time for regular one-to-one supervision – additional reflective supervision is delivered by a Practice Leader together with a fortnightly Group Reflective Supervision where we can learn from group discussion. In addition, NQSWs are provided with monthly workshops with guest speakers to deepen their learning on specific topics, and are part of the ASYE support group.
But it’s always best to hear it from our Newly Qualified Social Workers directly:
Roly, age 25
I think that what has made the biggest difference to my starting on my new team has been the way the team (and particularly my manager and co-worker) have welcomed me. When I joined the team my manager spoke to me about the importance of weekly supervision with me – I found it reassuring that my manager has been keen to meet me and she has booked at least one hour per week to meet one-to-one for supervision
I found it reassuring that my manager identified and highlighted the importance of my own personal and professional development over the course of this year and made a commitment to support this. When my manager gave me her contact details she highlighted that she is happy to be contacted by me whenever, including evenings and weekends, if there is anything that I want to discuss regarding a case/work. Feeling that my manager is willing to go above and beyond to support me made me feel confident that I will be able to share issues, thoughts, feelings or problems when I feel I need to and also that my manager has my back.
Mary-Anne, age 27
I have had a very positive experience. I have learnt a lot and have felt supported and guided in the work I have done with different families. My manager encouraged my self-reflexivity and helped me to question my own line of reasoning or decision-making. Furthermore, there was always someone readily available to discuss concerns or cases with me outside of usual supervision slots.
