Access to HE Diploma (Social Work)

Build the foundations of university-level academic writing. You learn how to plan and structure a coherent written response, develop arguments from an outline through to a finished draft, present work appropriately for different audiences and purposes, and apply academic conventions consistently throughout your studies in social work and the social sciences.

Develop the critical reading strategies that underpin successful university study. The unit examines how language, purpose and context shape meaning across academic and professional texts, and introduces a range of practical note-making methods that help you extract and organise information from the complex reading lists typical of a social work or social science degree.

Compare the major schools of psychological thought and the distinctive assumptions each brings to understanding human behaviour. You examine the differences between behaviourist, cognitive, biological, psychodynamic and humanistic perspectives, and apply them to contemporary issues in psychology, building the analytical vocabulary expected at degree level.

Investigate how crime and deviance are defined, measured and explained within society. The unit examines the limitations of official crime statistics, evaluates competing theoretical explanations of criminal behaviour from strain theory to labelling, and analyses the social and cultural patterns that shape who commits crime, who is victimised, and how the criminal justice system responds.

Explore how people change cognitively, emotionally and socially across the lifespan. The unit evaluates the nature–nurture debate in developmental psychology, traces early socialisation and attachment formation, examines children's cognitive development through the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky, and considers the psychological changes that accompany ageing, all of which are directly relevant to social work practice.

Study the family as a social institution and examine its relationship to wider structures of power and inequality. The unit analyses the diversity of family forms and the role relationships within them, evaluates feminist scholarship on domestic labour, power and gender, and considers how sociological perspectives on family life inform the values and statutory duties of social work practitioners.

Examine what social work means in theory and in practice. The unit explores the professional values and ethical principles set out by Social Work England, analyses how legislation including the Children Act 1989 and the Care Act 2014 shapes day-to-day practice, and maps the services available to the diverse client groups that social workers support across adult, children's and community settings.

Examine the science of mental processes, including memory, attention, perception and problem-solving. You analyse how cognitive research has advanced understanding of these processes and evaluate how cognitive theories translate into real-world applications, from eyewitness testimony and the reliability of memory to cognitive-behavioural approaches used in therapeutic social work practice.

Trace the development of the British welfare state from the Beveridge Report to the present day. The unit maps the principal welfare services available in contemporary Britain, evaluates the competing ideological frameworks – from social democratic to neoliberal – that shape provision and resource allocation, and analyses a current issue in welfare policy through these contrasting lenses.

Connect neuroscience to an understanding of human behaviour. The unit examines the concept of localisation of function, evaluates the principal methods used to investigate brain–behaviour relationships including neuroimaging, lesion studies and split-brain research, and explores how specific brain structures and processes underpin the emotions, impulses and difficulties encountered in social work client groups.

Map the social care landscape in the UK and evaluate the mixed economy of provision that delivers it. The unit examines adult and children's social work services and the statutory frameworks that govern them, analyses the contribution of voluntary and private sector organisations, and explores how the differing welfare needs of distinct service-user groups shape the design and delivery of care.

Evaluate one of the defining challenges for contemporary social work and social policy. You compare definitions and theoretical explanations of poverty, trace its historical changes from post-war Britain to the present, examine the relative and absolute measurement methods used by government and researchers, and assess the effectiveness of recent policy interventions aimed at tackling poverty and its consequences.

Study how brain chemistry shapes mood, cognition and behaviour, and how pharmacological interventions can alter these processes. The unit examines the role of neurotransmitters including dopamine and serotonin in regulating behaviour, analyses the effects of psychoactive drugs from stimulants to depressants, and evaluates the evidence base for pharmacological treatments of psychological disorders encountered in social work contexts.

Investigate why life outcomes differ so sharply across UK society. The unit explores the relationship between social differentiation and inequality, evaluates the major theoretical perspectives from functionalism to intersectionality, and analyses how class, gender and ethnicity interact to determine the educational, employment and health opportunities available to different groups.

Examine prejudice and discrimination through psychological and sociological theory, and evaluate the responses society has developed to challenge them. The unit analyses the legal frameworks established by the Equality Act 2010, assesses how anti-discrimination legislation has been applied in practice, and explores the community-led initiatives working to overcome prejudice in everyday social contexts.