Welcome to the MSW/PGDSWS Website
The selection process for the MSW opens every year in December and closes mid-January. Successful candidates are normally interviewed at the end of February / start of March. All of the available information regarding the MSW can be accessed using the menu and links above. Click on the "Entry Requirements and Applying for the MSW" option to make an application when the process is open.
MSW/PGDSWS. Master’s Degree in Social Work/ Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work Studies
The Masters in Social Work is a two-year full-time programme that combines academic study with fieldwork placements. Successful completion of the programme leads to an academic qualification and will make you eligible to register as a social worker with regulatory bodies in Ireland and Internationally (see frequently asked questions and links to social work sites).
Why study for your MSW in Cork?
- Our School has a track record of over 30 years of providing social work education courses.
- We are nationally and internationally recognised for our high quality teaching and research.
- Our staff have strong practice and research links with the professional and community sectors.
- The teaching staff on our course have a multi-disciplinary base, with staff expertise in social work, social policy, law, community development, psychology, psychotherapy, and addiction.
- The MSW team value the importance of fostering good staff/student relations. We therefore promote small group work and small group tutorials facilitated by MSW tutors and lecturers.
- We have strong links with the Health Service Executive, Probation Service, community, charity and voluntary agencies in Ireland who offer our students a wide range of practice placements.
- We also have established links with International placement sites in South Africa, India, USA (Chicago/New York), and London.
- We are recognised by the Health and Social Care Professional Council (CORU) as a social work training course. Successful graduates can use their qualification to apply to CORU to be placed on the register of social workers. International accreditation bodies also recognise the MSW for registration purposes (GSCC etc.).
- Irish and International employers recognise the quality of training on the MSW at UCC and past graduates have been very successful in securing employment. UCC is ranked by employers as the one of the top 100 universities in the world for the quality of its graduates and their employability.
- UCC is a beautiful campus which has been extensively developed in the last number of years with new teaching rooms, sports facilities, library facilities and a broad range of student computer services.
- The Lonely Planet Travel guide recommended Cork as one of the top 10 cities in the world to visit in 2010.
- UCC has been selected as Ireland’s University of the Year by The Sunday Times (2011). This award, for the third time (2003, 2005, 2011), follows on the heels of UCC becoming the only Irish university to achieve the unique status of Ireland’s first five star university and improving its position in the QS World University Rankings.
- UCC is ranked 100th place of all University's in the world by employers, and despite difficult employment circumstances, 93% of graduates were able to access employment within nine months of graduation.
- MSW staff and students have been to the forefront of developing civic engagement through research through the setup of and student participation in Science Shop research projects.
- Your registration fee includes free use of the excellent Mardyke Arena health and leisure centre.
Reflective Learning
The Practice Curriculum and Reflective Learning
The practice curriculum has been devised in accordance with the requirements of the National Social Work Qualifications Board. The practice curriculum is the central element of a student’s practice learning as it defines the core knowledge, skills and values which are to be addressed by students, tutors and practice teachers.
The core values on which the MSW/PDSWS practice curriculum is based are (a) respect for others. This value ensures that students learn about the rights of individuals and families to respect, privacy, confidentiality and to be self-directed ; (b) acceptance of difference. This means that we encourage ourselves and our students to be pro-actively inclusive and anti-discriminatory in our practice ; (c)empowerment. This requires students and staff to consider structural issues of inequality and discrimination and seeks to promote opportunities for challenging these, and for pursuing issues of social justice in all social work settings ; (d) responsibility & professional integrity. Students on, and graduates from, the course are encouraged to take seriously their responsibility as a member of the social work profession and to practice with integrity, adhering at all times to the code of ethics of the profession.
Reflective Learning Process
The MSW/PGDSWS team has, over the past number of years, been working to develop a critically reflective learning process on the course which encourages all class teachers to begin by acknowledging students' existing knowledge and practice experience and move on to discuss these in the light of theoretical concepts and frameworks.
The student is encouraged to use these frameworks to examine past and current practice and through the use of learning journals, learning incidents, and portfolio assignments during placement, to arrive at an articulated stance for their own practice. We believe that the reflective learning process encourages students to find a framework for thinking and acting in practice that has clarity, ethical sustainability and everyday workability.
Individual and group tutorials and the practice & integration seminars focus explicitly on integrating the theoretical constructs discussed in all the course modules with the students' experience, value base and personal perspective. The portfolio-making process, including the writing and discussion of student learning journals is a central tool in bringing about this integration. This process continues into the practice placement where the practice teacher takes over as the primary facilitator of the students' reflective learning process.
Learning Outcomes
The teachers concerned with the course hope that every student will build from his or her unique starting point. On successful completion of these programmes, is expected that students will be able to:
- Apply knowledge of social systems and human behaviour to promote social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment of people to enhance their well-being.
- Apply knowledge of social policy to critically examine the impact of social and political contexts on service users and social work.
- Apply and reflectively evaluate the values and ethics of the profession of social work as embodied in the Irish Association of Social Workers and International Federation of Social Workers codes.
- Promote principles of social justice, human rights and anti-oppressive practice as intrinsic elements of practice in all social work contexts.
- Demonstrate core social work practice skills in the areas of communication and engagement, interviewing, assessment, interventions, record keeping and report writing.
- Apply knowledge of theory, legislation, policy, and practice inquiries and international conventions, to assessment and intervention planning in social work practice.
- Develop an approach to learning that is self-directed, strengths-based and reflective to begin a process of self-awareness, self-monitoring and professional growth that will continue into each student's professional life and work on completion of the course.
- Develop as ‘research minded’ practitioners who will continue to update their knowledge and systematically evaluate their own practice.
- Work effectively as a social worker in individual, in teams and in multi-disciplinary settings.
Practice Placements
Practice placements are an integral part of the programme. Students are required to complete two fourteen week fieldwork placements, for at least one of which they will be required to move outside Cork. The course has a wide range of placements within both voluntary organisations and statutory agencies in Ireland and abroad. The course has strong links with agencies in South Africa, Chicago (USA) and India and several students have completed placements with these organisations.
Modules
YEAR 1
- Applied Social Research
- Family and Child Welfare 1
- Human Growth and Development
- Law and Rights 1
- Practice Skills 1
- Social Policy, Social Exclusion & Anti-Oppressive Practice
- Social Work Settings 1
- Social Work Theory 1: Theory and Practice
YEAR 2
- Family and Child Welfare II
- Law and Rights II
- Practice Skills II
- Social Work Settings II
- Social Work Theory II: Theory and Practice
- Thesis and Practice Research Presentation
Further information on the course
The website has been designed to answer most of the questions you may have about the MSW, social work and applying for the MSW/PGDSWS. Should you require additional information, please contact one of the following staff members:
General queries and first point of contact:
- Mr. Ger Mannix, Social Work Secretary (+353-21-490 2899) G.Mannix@ucc.ie (Please forward your query to Ger first who will answer your question or forward it to the relevant person. Please do not send your query to everyone on the list).
- Dr Carmel Halton, Course Director
- Dr Kenneth Burns, Deputy Course Director and Selection Coordinator
- Rachel Rice, Deputy Selection Coordinator
