BA Honours in Social Work OU Starting Advice

danz0l

Mmmm this is extremely interesting and sounds perfectly manageable with the examples you quoted. Does it take into account the current earnings of my wife who already earns £12500 a year ?

Theboys!

What the loan repayment do you mean? if so not that I am aware of , it will be taken from your wages/income alone.

Theboys!

Go for it if there is anyway you can possibly scrape by for three years you won't regret it

danz0l

Theboys! wrote: »

Go for it if there is anyway you can possibly scrape by for three years you won't regret it

Thanks so much, i'll certainly look so much more deeper into this now.

I may have to sit A levels first as all my old educational exams were C.S.E. but they MAY take into account maturity and that i have an NVQ Health and Social care level 2 as my entrance but i guess until i speak to them i would not be any wiser on this.

Again thanks so much for the responses. It really helps to have plain world examples of how you could manage finiancially and although it would be a struggle with some of the figures above, it certainly is something i would like to try and at least consider.

beaniebabe

danz0l wrote: »

OK so i'm looking to change my career path and have looked into the potential of taking a undergraduate degree in Social Work through the Open University.

What confused me is the talk on the OU site about being sponsored by my employer. I work in the private care sector as a care officer for people with a learning disability and its highly unlikely that they would be willing to aid in my retraining venture as they would be aware of my pending move to a better paid job.

Now on the OU website it also says you can take An introduction to health and social care (K101) if you don't currently have a work sponsor so does that mean i can take that course and continue my degree without the support of my employer ?

Also has anyone ever done this undergraduate course and if so can they tell me how they felt it went, what their career path afterwards was and whether it has indeeded helped them better their career ?

Are social workers as in demand as they used to be or would i be making a drastic career mistake ? I ask these questions because i am a mature student (40) and don't tant to waste 4 years of my ever decreasing working life on a degree that is likely to have me struggle to find better employment.

As always, any advice is appreciated.

I started the K101 in February this year. My employer agreed to pay half the cost and I aim to complete additional relevant modules in order to eventually get my degree in Social work.
The K101is the first step towards a Social Work degree and is worth 60 points. I have found the course very enjoyable. It is a useful course if you have not studied for some time. I am aware that if you are a member of Unison you can get 10% off the course fee. I was also informed that if you have tesco clubcard vouchers the OU will treble their value and you can use these towards the cost of your course. As for the shortage of Social Workers, I can definitly say that in the department I work in, the social workers are under a great deal of pressure, so I wouldn't worry too much about finding a job once qualified. I opted for studying through the OU as I was the main wage earner and could not afford to take a drop in my income. I had also worked for Social Services for approx 14 years but was refused sponsorship (Due to their budgets) when I first applied. This was therefore the easiest way for me to work towards my qualification. My manager has supported me and gives me a study day each month before my assignement is due in. This could be something you could negotiate. Go for it , I am sure you will enjoy the course!:D

Theboys!

There are a few mature students in my class that don't have A levels or Access but had relevant experience like you have in your job. But you will need GCSE's or equivalent in Maths, English and I think maybe science.

You can contact the admissions tutor informally by email of the university you would attend and they will give you a good idea of what to go for.
For example my husband emailed his uni to ask did they think it better he pick up an A Level or do voluntary work but they said he was better off doing voluntary experience as a mature student which he did.

Hope it all works out for you, good luck

beaniebabe

danz0l wrote: »

OK so i'm looking to change my career path and have looked into the potential of taking a undergraduate degree in Social Work through the Open University.

What confused me is the talk on the OU site about being sponsored by my employer. I work in the private care sector as a care officer for people with a learning disability and its highly unlikely that they would be willing to aid in my retraining venture as they would be aware of my pending move to a better paid job.

Now on the OU website it also says you can take An introduction to health and social care (K101) if you don't currently have a work sponsor so does that mean i can take that course and continue my degree without the support of my employer ?

Also has anyone ever done this undergraduate course and if so can they tell me how they felt it went, what their career path afterwards was and whether it has indeeded helped them better their career ?

Are social workers as in demand as they used to be or would i be making a drastic career mistake ? I ask these questions because i am a mature student (40) and don't tant to waste 4 years of my ever decreasing working life on a degree that is likely to have me struggle to find better employment.

As always, any advice is appreciated.

I started the K101 in February this year. My employer agreed to pay half the cost and I aim to complete additional relevant modules in order to eventually get my degree in Social work.
The K101is the first step towards a Social Work degree and is worth 60 points. I have found the course very enjoyable. It is a useful course if you have not studied for some time. I am aware that if you are a member of Unison you can get 10% off the course fee. I was also informed that if you have tesco clubcard vouchers the OU will treble their value and you can use these towards the cost of your course. As for the shortage of Social Workers, I can definitly say that in the department I work in, the social workers are under a great deal of pressure, so I wouldn't worry too much about finding a job once qualified. I opted for studying through the OU as I was the main wage earner and could not afford to take a drop in my income. I had also worked for Social Services for approx 14 years but was refused sponsorship (Due to their budgets) when I first applied. This was therefore the easiest way for me to work towards my qualification. My manager has supported me and gives me a study day each month before my assignement is due in. This could be something you could negotiate. Go for it , I am sure you will enjoy the course!:D

danz0l

Theboys! wrote: »

You can contact the admissions tutor informally by email of the university you would attend and they will give you a good idea of what to go for.
For example my husband emailed his uni to ask did they think it better he pick up an A Level or do voluntary work but they said he was better off doing voluntary experience as a mature student which he did.

Hope it all works out for you, good luck

Thanks. I've just sourced the email address for the admissions officer at Hull university and done exactly that. Your help has been amazing and really really appreciated.

danz0l

beaniebabe wrote: »

I started the K101 in February this year. My employer agreed to pay half the cost and I aim to complete additional relevant modules in order to eventually get my degree in Social work.

The K101 sounds incredibly interesting but its looking increasingly unlikely i can take the OU route due to having to have my employer sponsor me, which i'm 99% sure isn't an option Being in the private sector, a small part as that, they won't see the worth in my qualification and certainly wouldn't want to pay the increased wage i would expect when qualified.

Oldernotwiser

danz0l wrote: »

Thanks so much, i'll certainly look so much more deeper into this now.

I may have to sit A levels first as all my old educational exams were C.S.E. but they MAY take into account maturity and that i have an NVQ Health and Social care level 2 as my entrance but i guess until i speak to them i would not be any wiser on this.

Again thanks so much for the responses. It really helps to have plain world examples of how you could manage finiancially and although it would be a struggle with some of the figures above, it certainly is something i would like to try and at least consider.

Level 2 is equivalent to GCSEs so a degree course (apart from the OU)would probably need something higher, like an OU unit or an NVQ3. To do a Social Work degree it's also mandatory to have a GCSE (minimum grade C) in English and Maths, or equivalent.