Linking the SiSWE to your practice
The SiSWE identify the knowledge, skills and competences you need to demonstrate to qualify as a social worker in Scotland. They are embedded in university teaching and you will need to demonstrate you have met the SiSWE when learning in practice as part of your course.
Go to SiSWE
Essential knowledge, skills and values for social work practice
The journey to becoming a social worker starts with you. You need to develop personal awareness which includes knowing your strengths so you can use these effectively. You also need awareness of your personal strategies so you can organise yourself and balance study, work and home life. Find out more below.
Self
Understanding and managing yourself is essential in social work training and practice. Here are some reflective questions to help you think about what you bring to training and how you can support yourself as a student.
Reflective questions
Who am I?
- What is my identity (eg age, gender, background, culture)?
- How might my identity impact on others?
- What personal and work experiences do I bring (both positive and challenging)?
- What am I good at (eg strengths, qualities, skills)?
How can I support myself?
- What are my strategies for balancing study, practice learning, paid work and home life?
- What are my strategies for organising my work and myself?
- Who can support or mentor me?
- How do I take care of myself and stay healthy?
- What are my strategies for managing challenges and stress?
- How do I reward myself for my hard work?
Knowledge
Knowledge is central to your social work training and practice. You will need to develop a wide range of knowledge to assess situations comprehensively, choose the best course of action along with the person receiving the service and be able to explain your actions to others. Some examples of the range of knowledge you will need to draw on in your practice are noted below.
- Agency specific knowledge (policy and processes)
- Factual knowledge (eg health conditions)
- Guidance and good practice guides
- National policy
- Legislation
- Theories and ideas
- Research
- Models and methods of working.
Reflective questions
- What knowledge defines your role and the expectations of you in this role?
- What knowledge do you need to work effectively with each individual, family or group you are working with?
- What knowledge do you need to work effectively with other professionals?
- What knowledge do you already have which you can apply?
- Who do you need to contact to develop your knowledge further and why?
Skills
You will need lots of different skills for social work practice and you will already have skills from previous work or other experiences which you can draw on. Some of the core skills which will help you meet the Standards are noted below.
- Developing relationships (with lots of different people)
- Managing personal boundaries (not getting inappropriately involved, remaining objective)
- Supporting people (to do things for themselves, express their needs or wishes)
- Collaborating (with people receiving services, colleagues, other professionals)
- Information gathering (asking personal questions, exploring information)
- Resourcefulness (finding information, services or community resources)
- Adaptability (managing different roles and contexts)
- Flexibility (responding to changing needs and plans, managing crises).
- Organisational skills (finding your way about, juggling deadlines and priorities)
- Digital skills (emails, information and recording systems)
- Taking initiative (asking others, trying out new ideas)
- Perseverance (staying positive and keeping going when it’s tough!)
- Using professional authority (saying no, having difficult conversations)
- Reflective practice (analysing practice, using feedback to develop practice).
Reflective question
- On a scale of 1-10 how skilled do you think you are in the above areas?
Values and ethics
Social work values and ethical practice are at the heart of social work practice and are referred to throughout the Standards.
Some of the core values you will develop as a student are:
- open minded and non-judgemental attitude
- awareness of your own values and prejudices
- respect for, and ability to work with, people with different values, beliefs and perspectives
- kindness and compassion (understanding the reality of peoples’ lives).
To help you work in an ethical way you will need to develop knowledge of:
- law and guidance around ethics and equality
- knowledge of the SiSWE Ethical Principles
- knowledge of the SSSC Codes of Practice
- knowledge of the Health and Social Care Standards.
Supervision
What happens in supervision?
Effective supervision is integral to social work practice and you will have regular supervision as part of the practice learning element of your social work programme. Students will experience informal supervision, as and when advice or direction is needed, as well as formal supervision which is a regular, planned and protected time. Supervision is a reflective space for you to talk about both your work with people and your own learning and development.
Supervision discussions about your work with people:
- your role and what is expected of you
- your workload and how you are progressing with this
- your plans, actions and review of work
- getting support, advice and direction
- your work with the systems, policies and processes of the organisation
- agreeing actions and tasks to ensure safe and competent practice.
Supervision and the SiSWE
Supervision is recognised as an important part of students’ learning and development and is referred to in Standards 3, 4 and 5. To meet the SiSWE you will be expected to use supervision to:
- reflect on your practice and develop your practice
- support your critical analysis of the evidence base for effective practice
- discuss how to approach situations where practice isn’t good enough
- develop your own personal and professional resilience
- identify your future learning needs.
Supervision discussions about your development:
- your individual learning needs and how these could be met through a range of learning opportunities
- your progress, including your strengths and areas to develop
- how you are meeting the SiSWE in both your work with people and your work for learning
- feedback from your practice educator and others about your progress
- your knowledge, skills, values and ethical practice.
Supervision should also be a safe space where you can:
- get support to explore your experiences in depth and make sense of them
- reflect on your practice – what went well and what you would do differently
- talk about how the work affects you
- discuss any ethical dilemmas, challenges and conflicts of values.
Stages in Practice
The content of this model is based on the Standards in Social Work Education (SiSWE). We begin with practice and show different stages of practice you may go through in working with people receiving services. In each stage we identify:
- the standards which link closely to that stage of practice and the main themes of those standards
- the knowledge you will need
- the skills you will need, with reflective questions to support you to identify your skills
- values and ethical practice, with reflective questions to support you to explore values and ethics.
Some of the ways you can use this diagram include preparing for practice, reflection on practice, to help you identify which SiSWE you have met in practice and to support learning conversations with practice educators or tutors.
Developing as a professional
The Competence demonstrated column in each of the six standards identifies the knowledge, skills and professional behaviours which students must evidence before they qualify. Students demonstrating these competences will have developed a broad range of knowledge and skills, will be able to work more autonomously and will practice professionally and ethically.
Links to Standards
2
- Emotional intelligence
- Professional boundaries
4
- Complex ethical issues and conflict
5
- Professionalism
Knowledge
- Own skills, strengths and development needs
- Professional practice, boundaries, integrity and behaviour
- Role of social worker and of own role in organisation
- Methods of managing workload
- Organisational standards
- Codes of practice
- Law, policy, theory and research
Skills
The Competence demonstrated column in each of the six standards identifies the skills which students must evidence before they qualify. Click here to read more.
Values and Ethical Practice
- Work at all times within the codes of practice, ethical principles and organisational standards
- Practice ethically and with professional integrity
- Critically analyse, manage, and address ethical dilemmas and conflicts effectively, using knowledge, policy and research
- Effectively challenge oppressive practice
- Effectively challenge decisions which aren’t in peoples’ best interests
- Support people to understand their rights, entitlements and responsibilities
Taking action and making decisions
Taking action & making decisions
Links to Standards
1
- Planning a course of action
2
- Planning, taking action, reviewing and evaluating
- Early intervention and prevention
- Collaboration
4
- Professional judgement
- Evidence informed practice
- Ethical practice and dilemmas
5
- Managing self
- Managing resources
- Accountable professional practice
- Recording
Knowledge
- Role and responsibilities
- Law, policy and guidance
- Theory and research about effective practice
- Methods of intervening
- Services available
Skills
- How did you plan, set goals in partnership and review your actions?
- How did you take account of differences of opinion or resolve any conflict?
- How did you change your plans to respond to changing needs or new information?
- How did you manage self, organise and prioritise work and meet deadlines?
- How did you manage, and be creative with, resources to meet needs?
- What did you learn from critical reflection on your actions?
Values and Ethical Practice
- How did you demonstrate person-centred practice?
- How were you sensitive to culture and ethnicity?
- Did your actions promote social inclusion and equality?
Reviewing and evaluating
Reviewing & evaluating
Links to Standards
2
- Reviewing and evaluating practice
- Taking preventative action
4
- Best social work practice
5
- Inter-professional working
- Decision making
- Recording and report writing
- Quality and cost effectiveness
Knowledge
- Roles of self and others
- Policy and guidance about best practice
- Research and theory about methods of working
- Change processes
- Conflict management
Skills
- How have you critically reflected on your work?
- How have you used supervision effectively to support your practice development and learning?
- How did you collaborate to make decisions and who with?
- How have you reviewed your actions and interventions?
- How did you clearly and accurately record your actions?
Values and Ethical Practice
- Did you challenge any unacceptable practice and, if so, how?
- How did you make sure the content of your recording was ethical?
- How did you manage data/information confidentially within agency and legal guidelines?
Assessment
Assessment & risk management
Links to Standards
1
- Gathering and analysing information
- Assessing and working in partnership
2
- Planning, taking action, reviewing and evaluating
- Early intervention and prevention
- Crisis situations
3
- Assessing and managing risk
- Adult and child wellbeing, safety and protection
Knowledge
- Risk, harm and positive risk taking
- Indicators of harm and abuse
- Impact of developmental delay, disruption, trauma and loss
- Care and control, welfare and justice
- Frameworks, models, processes and methods of assessment
Skills
- What methods did you use to communicate and were there any challenges?
- How did you gather and explore relevant information?
- How did you make sense of and critically analyse the information?
- How did you promote positive risk taking while managing the risks?
- How did you accurately and ethically record your actions?
Values and Ethical Practice
- How did you identify strengths and promote resilience?
- How did you address inequality and disadvantage?
- Did you need to explore any cultural issues relating to wellbeing, safety and protection?
- How did you balance risk with rights, wellbeing and positive risk taking?
- How did you make ethical, evidence informed assessments?
- How might your own views about risk have influenced your assessment?
Preparation and planning
Preparation and planing
Links to Standards
1
- Preparation for practice
- Partnership work
- Assessment
4
- Law, policy, guidance
- Knowledge and research
- Complex issues and dilemmas
5
- Professional and accountable practice
- Resources and services
- Information management and systems
Knowledge
- Social contexts, disadvantage and inequality
- Social services in a diverse society
- The impact of physical or mental health conditions
- Assessment frameworks, methods and models
Skills
- How will you communicate with this person?
- How will you show you have listened and understood them?
- How will you work in partnership with them and others?
- How will you gather, analyse, and assess information?
Values and Ethical Practice
- How is the person/family/group different to you and how have you respected diversity?
- What assumptions might you have made about this person/family/group?
- What experience of inequality might they have had?
Professional relationships
Professional relationships
Links to Standards
2
- Planning, implementing, reviewing, evaluating
- Partnership and co-production
- Early intervention
- Crisis work
- Working in group contexts
5
- Own role and accountability
- Inter-professional working
- Decision making forums
6
- Partnership working with service users
- Impact of disadvantage and social division
Knowledge
- Human development
- Societal and structural influences on human behaviour
- Trauma and resilience
- Group contexts, processes and dynamics
- The relationship between care and control
- Emotional intelligence
Skills
- How have you communicated clearly and accurately?
- How have you worked in partnership with the person/family/group concerned?
- How have you supported or advocated for this person?
- How have you worked with other professionals?
Values and Ethical Practice
- What cultural or social issues did you need to be sensitive to?
- How did you work with professionals who have different priorities, approaches, or values?
- How did you protect confidentiality while sharing essential information?
- How did you decide the balance between facilitating, supporting, advocating or directly intervening?
- How did you promote citizen leadership and social justice?
- How did you address and manage your own values, value conflicts and prejudices?
Download your copy of the Standards in Social Work Education (SiSWE)
Download the SiSWE and Ethical PrinciplesUseful documents
The codes set out the behaviours and values expected of social service workers and their employers.
Health and Social Care Standards
The standards apply to health and social care, including early learning and childcare, children’s services, social work and community justice.