Warwickshire County Council (WCC) has won the Best Local Authority Sector Agency award at Birmingham City University’s Practice Learning Celebration Day.
The event on 24 June 2022 was to celebrate 50 years of Social Work Education from 1970 to 2020 – Practice Educators at the county council won the award for their contribution to supporting trainee social workers.
The role of Practice Educators in the children and families and adults’ services at the council is to teach, supervise and assess social worker students on their placements during training to become a social worker. They improve standards in social work education, maintaining the quality of practice placements for social work students.
Cllr Isobel Seccombe, Leader of the Council said: “Many of our Practice Educators have supported Birmingham City University students over the recent years. Their work is recognised in this award and they deserve special credit for how they have supported and nurtured the social workers of the future. We know that this commitment is valued by Birmingham City University.”
“Winning this award is another fantastic achievement for Warwickshire’s social care services.”
The celebration was hosted by the Birmingham City School of Education and Social Work and included talks from Professor Mark Doel, a community-based social worker with twenty years’ experience. Mark highlighted placements in councils as the key to imaginative and transformative social work.
The positive impacts of social work extend far beyond the day-to-day role. Helping to keep young people safe means children’s social workers at the council are giving them a better chance of a happy, healthy and thriving future, all of which contributes to Warwickshire being a child friendly county. Adult social care workers always ‘start with strengths’ with the county’s residents and are committed to improving the lives of their customers and carers, working with them to promote their independence, capabilities, and wellbeing.
It’s an exciting time to be a part of social care at Warwickshire and social workers are given the support and encouragement to succeed.
Social work is a big responsibility that can be challenging at times, but this is what drives the council’s teams to develop and achieve. Social workers are given the opportunity to develop the career they want and learn different skills.
There’s nothing stopping someone from going a long way at the council and personally making a difference to the lives of children, families and adults in Warwickshire.
Find out more about working for Warwickshire’s children and families service.
Find out more about working for Adult Social Care in Warwickshire.