Close
Prepare and professionally develop excellent social work practice educators. Apply and explore subjects in relation to your own practice and experiences as a practice educator. Help to create a community whose members continue to support each other while they are working with students on placement.
This course will prepare registered social workers for a role as a Practice Educator for pre-qualifying social work students. It will enable registered social workers to demonstrate that they are working to the requirements of the Practice Educator Professional Standards for Social Work (PEPS).
The PEPS underpin the learning on the course and articulate the required activities, skills and values that make up the practice education role.
Practice Education is an important area of career development for experienced social workers and demonstrates that social workers are practicing at the experienced social work level of the Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF).
Practice Education courses are delivered in two Stages and each Stage will be awarded a University Certificate of Postgraduate Study in Practice Education for Social Work – either Stage 1 or Stage 2.
Teaching dates for Stage 1 are 9 October, 6 November, 4 December, and 8 January 2026.
Teaching dates for Stage 2 are 13 November, 11 December, 8 January, and 5 February 2026.
The structure of the course reflects the requirements of the PEPS and is timed to provide support around the planned student placement blocks. The teaching dates are spread out over a four-month period (one per month) which allows for consolidation of knowledge and independent work. Alongside the time in University, you are expected to undertake self-directed learning and have a student on placement who you are directly responsible for assessing.
Teaching methods include lectures, group discussions/seminars, experiential exercises, skills development, student research, and presentation and analysis of video and audio material.
Assessment methods include a Portfolio of Evidence from practice and a 2000-word critical essay.
Between teaching sessions, you will be working with your students, and applying your learning to the process of the placement.
You will be offered a group tutorial before assignment submission. Tutorials address assessment issues, learning needs and strategies, the development of skills in managing the social work student's placement; further reading and preparation of the portfolio.
You will also be expected to attend briefing sessions held at the University regarding student placement.
We don’t currently display entry requirements for United States. Please contact the Student Admin team on studentadmin@sunderland.ac.uk or 0191 515 3154.
Applicants are required to:
You must also have an allocated Practice Educator Assessor (who must be qualified at Stage 2 or equivalent) and must take a student on placement during the current academic year. This is usually a student studying at University of Sunderland but this is not compulsory.
Fees are £750 for each stage of the course (£1,500 in total).
This information was correct at the time of publication.
On successful completion of this course, you will be awarded a University Certificate of Postgraduate Study in Advanced Practice Education. You can also go on to accumulate further credits and achieve a Postgraduate Diploma or Masters qualification.