Do the characteristics of seconded or sponsored social work students in England differ from those of other social work students? A quantitative analysis using national data

Amongst initiatives by social work employers in the United Kingdom (UK) to

resolve recruitment difficulties is the use of secondment and sponsorship to

attract entrants to the profession; commonly known as Grow Your Own

Schemes. This paper reports on part of a mixed-method research study that

asked ‘What works in Grow Your Own (GYO) schemes?’ in England. One

important research question for this study was whether the characteristics of

seconded or sponsored social work students differ from those of other social

work students. To explore this, the researchers analysed around 41,000

students’ anonymous data records supplied by the General Social Care

Council covering enrollments on social work programmes from 1998 to 2007.

The findings indicate that GYO schemes have facilitated the participation of

men, Asian groups and older applicants in social work qualifying programmes

when compared to the general population of social work students. However,

students from Black ethnic backgrounds and those with disabilities have been

more likely to be under-represented in such schemes. The findings are

discussed within the wider study remits and messages for educationalists and

social work employers are drawn out.