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The first two Step Up to Social Work (Step Up) programs have been a master’s level professional qualifying training route into social work over an 18-month period in England. The program was intended to attract academically high achieving candidates with experience of working with children and families into the social work profession. The intention was also to allow employers and universities to develop the training within the requirements set by the then General Social Care Council (GSCC). The first Step Up program involved eight regional partnerships (RPs), bringing together 42 local authorities, and 185 trainees started the training in September 2010. The second program involved 10 partnerships of 54 local authorities, and 227 trainees embarked on the training in March 2012.

This evaluation was designed to capture the experiences of the first two cohorts of trainees. It was intended to support a wider decision on whether or not the program represents efficient use of resources in relation to the training of social workers, demonstrate the extent to which the program has achieved its objectives, and inform any future implementation. This present report records and compares the experiences of both cohorts but as an earlier report explored the views of Cohort 1 trainees, greater emphasis is placed here on the experiences of Cohort 2 trainees. Show less