A groundbreaking new graduate diploma in children’s residential care has been praised by the Chief Social Worker for Children and Families for England, Isabelle Trowler CBE, at a launch event to celebrate the start of the programme.
The Graduate Diploma in Residential Work (Children’s), the first course of its kind the UK, is an 18-month distance learning programme mixing in-person and work-based learning and will soon be welcoming its first cohort.
Developed in partnership with a range of children’s home providers, the course offers a rigorous, evidence-based curriculum reflecting the true complexity of residential care while raising the level of qualification from a level 3 to a level 6, creating greater opportunities for career progression. The programme also harnesses emerging technologies, such as virtual and augmented reality and generative AI, to help prepare students with simulation-based and hands-on learning.
Addressing attendees at the launch event Isabelle Trowler, who has been in position as Chief Social Worker since 2013, said the programme had launched during a key moment for children’s social care with the government in the process of implementing a reform of the system. “One key shift we want to see across the practice system is much more skilled and knowledgeable direct work with families, underpinned by evidence and practice-based methodology. This course can help systematise the individual brilliance we see across the 46,000 talented residential care practitioners in England.”
Ms Trowler highlighted the collaboration between Kingston University and Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust, who have partnered together to create the programme. “Both organisations have come together and decided to do something different, undeterred by the barriers that might be placed in their way – they’ve marched on regardless and are making change happen,” she said. “The first cohort of students that start could be the vanguard of a nationwide systemic shift in how we develop our practice alongside children and young people, and their families, and it’s incredibly exciting.”
The course has been designed to be highly flexible enabling professionals to study while continuing to work in children’s homes and related settings. The teaching reflects the most pressing needs of children in residential care with input from care leavers, local authorities, government agencies and children’s social care professionals.
The programme, which is rooted in social pedagogy (a holistic practice model that prioritises strong, authentic relationships), has been endorsed by the Social Pedagogy Professional Association for UK and Ireland and will teach content around child development, trauma-responsive care and relational practice as well as child protection, therapeutic intervention, advocacy and leadership.
Upon graduating, the qualification can lead to several career pathways including working as residential staff in a children’s home, a social pedagogy practitioner and a support worker for young people. A dedicated manager pathway is also available on the course for those looking to become registered managers in a children’s home.
Associate Professor of Social Work at Kingston University and co-creator of the new course, Yvalia Febrer, said the programme gave long-overdue recognition to the hard work of children’s care workers. “Staff undertaking this work are carrying out some of the most complex and important work in our society with some of the most vulnerable children,” she explained. “This course recognises the incredible expertise the staff already have, harnesses it and delivers a much higher qualification – which they rightly deserve.”
Director of Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust Emmanuel Akpan-Inwang said the course would give students the skills needed to help the most vulnerable children. “I want them to understand the changing needs of children growing up in residential care. We are seeing children come into care with increasingly complex needs, whether that be mental health needs or special educational needs. We’ll be training participants so they can respond and look after those children as effectively as possible.”
