Research and analysis

Early Professional Development pilot programme (first cohort 2009 to 2011): final evaluation report

This report concerns the implementation of the EPD programme between 2009 and 2012 and assesses the extent to which it achieved its objectives with the first cohort of social workers.

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Details

The Early Professional Development (EPD) pilot programme was launched by the Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) in September 2009 following consultation with employers and staff from 45 organisations in England which provided child and family social work services. It was planned to build on the Newly Qualified Social Worker (NQSW) programme by enabling employers to continue to support social workers in their second and third years of employment.

The NQSW programme is described in a separate report from the evaluation team. That programme was planned to ensure that NQSWs received consistent, high quality support and that those supervising them were confident in their skills to provide supervision (CWDC, 2008). The evaluation report on the NQSW programme discusses its implementation.

This report concerns the implementation of the EPD programme between 2009 and 2012 and assesses the extent to which it achieved its objectives with the first cohort of social workers. In practice, because of the simultaneous demands of the second year of the NQSW programme and because not all NQSWs on the first programme had completed the requirements, the EPD programme had a staggered start. Over 500 participants were registered by CWDC in two phases, before 1st December 2009 and between 1st December 2009 and 28th February 2010.

Includes:

  • Introduction
  • Programme evaluation
  • Implementing the programme
  • Organisational studies
  • Impact of the programme on social workers
  • The impact of the programme on organisations
  • Supervision
  • Assessing Outcomes/Evidencing achievement
  • Employment and retention
  • Conclusions
  • References
  • Appendices
Published 31 January 2013