Studying at York
Law & Policy for Social Work - SPY00134M
Module summary
In this module you will be introduced to the legal and policy frameworks for statutory social work practice. The module will enable you to critically explore how policy and law inform statutory social work practice, and in turn how social workers can shape law and policy as ‘street-level’ actors.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 1 2024-25 |
Module aims
In this module you will be introduced to the legal and policy frameworks for statutory social work practice. The module will enable you to critically explore how policy and law inform statutory social work practice, and in turn how social workers can shape law and policy as ‘street-level’ actors.
This module provides students with a foundational understanding of the policy and legal frameworks for social work and the application of these frameworks to complex social work situations. Students will understand how social workers apply legal and policy frameworks as well and appreciate the role of social workers in influencing how policy and law are enacted. The module will therefore prepare students for practice in relation to the following PCF domains:
Values and ethics – make connections between professional ethical principles, personal values, and working within policy and legal frameworks.
Rights, justice and economic well-being – understand what is meant by rights and justice in social work, and recognise how policy and legal frameworks can both strengthen and constrain rights-based practice.
Knowledge – develop an initial understanding of the policy and legal frameworks and guidance, which inform and sometimes mandate social work practice.
Contexts and organisations – understand how socio-political context shapes the field of social work, and the role that social workers can play in shaping and challenging this context.
Module learning outcomes
At the end of the module students will be able to:
LO1: Apply knowledge of the policy and legal frameworks statutory social workers operate within.
LO2: Understand the key concepts, trends and contemporary challenges in social work law and policy.
LO3: Demonstrate critical awareness of the complexities in applying social work law in practice.
LO4: Analyse the effects of relevant policy implementation on social work practice and service users.
LO5: Develop an appreciation of the various forms of action social workers can take to shape both policy agendas and their ‘street-level’ application.
Module content
The module will include a mix of interactive workshops and complementary online learning. The workshops will include a mix of law and policy oriented content.
The law content will give students insight into how law is applied within different domains of social work, including: understanding contextual challenges; working with thresholds; balancing risk, rights and best interests in decision-making; and making defensible and evidence-based judgements. It will draw on materials from case law, practitioner accounts of legal decision-making in complex and contentious cases, and service user experiences of statutory intervention in their lives.
The policy content will introduce students to the current and relevant policy landscape and familiarise them with critical debates and concepts in social work policy.
Online learning will run alongside the workshops and is designed to enable students to develop their foundational knowledge of the legal frameworks for social work. It will involve students working through a series of exercises from a textbook on social work law (see key texts section for details), which will align with the law content of in-person teaching.
This module also includes one policy-oriented skills day on poverty aware practice.
Note that a series of skills days on Courtroom and Report-writing skills will be included in the Placement 2 module in order to consolidate students’ legal practice before their final statutory placement.
Indicative content - all workshop based and 3 hours in length (with exception of skills day week):
Week 1 - Introduction to law and policy: The roles and responsibilities of social workers, human rights law, and the relationship between policy and practice.
Week 2 - Child & Family law and policy: The key principles and functions of the Children Act 1989 and a critical analysis of contemporary legal and policy developments.
Week 3 - Child & Family law and policy: The key principles and functions of the Children Act 1989 and a critical analysis of contemporary legal and policy developments.
Week 4 - Risk, rights and needs: A critical analysis of the interplay between risk, rights and needs as key concepts within social work policy and practice.
Week 5 - Adult Social Care law & policy: The key principles and functions of the Care Act 2014 and a critical analysis of contemporary legal and policy developments.
Week 6 - Adult Social Care law & policy: The key principles and functions of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and a critical analysis of contemporary legal and policy developments.
Week 7 - Poverty aware practice (skills day): How poverty is defined and measured, the proposed causes of and solutions for poverty, how poverty is experienced. The principles and practice of poverty-aware social work, including working knowledge of material support and welfare rights.
Week 8 - Mental health law & policy: The key principles and functions of the Mental Health Act 1983 and a critical analysis of contemporary legal and policy developments.
Week 9 - Mental health law & policy: The key principles and functions of the Mental Health Act 1983 and a critical analysis of contemporary legal and policy developments.
Week 10 - Enacting change and operating with discretion in social work law and policy: The role of discretion for social workers operating within statutory frameworks and the possibilities for policy practice in social work, including collaborative approaches with service user groups.
Week 11 - The legal contexts for social work practice + assessment clinic: A broad overview of the areas of law that influence social work practice, including housing, immigration and youth justice.
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
Non-compensatable
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
Students will receive support for the assessment throughout the Autumn term and will receive marks and written feedback within 4 weeks of submission. Formative feedback on interactive exercises will be given throughout the module.
Indicative reading
Carr, H. and Goosey, D. (2017) Law for Social Workers (14th ed). Oxford: Oxford University Press
Cunningham, J. and Cunningham, S. (2017) Social policy and social work: An introduction. Exeter: Learning Matters.
Dickens, J. (2016) Social work and social policy: An introduction. London: Routledge.
Klammer, U., Leiber, S., & Leitner, S. (Eds.). (2019). Social Work and the Making of Social Policy. Bristol: Bristol University Press.