About
The landscape
Post-pandemic, the shift to digital platforms for education, training, communication and service delivery has become permanent, forcing the social work sector to accelerate digital plans or capability in order to provide services. Social workers, therefore, need to be equipped to utilise digital skills for a variety of activities, including communicating, recording and, on occasion, providing services.
This shift has included provision of the Degree in Social Work, both the academic and practice learning elements. This means that there is even more impetus on both degree providers and social work students to be digitally prepared to practice in this increasingly digital world.
Tools such as virtual classrooms, e-learning and digital resources, social media platforms, technology enabled care and a new electronic health and social care system are now regular elements of both social workers’ and social work students’ lives. Artificial intelligence is, also, a rapidly emerging tool that has the potential to transform both practice and social work education and training.
Strategic Drivers
Improving and Safeguarding Social Wellbeing: A Strategy for Social Work in Northern Ireland 2012-2022 set out a framework for social work practice to support the delivery of the vision for social work which has a focus on prevention and early intervention as well as on protection and safeguarding.
The strategy asserted that:
“Social workers need to effectively exploit the benefits of technology in their work with service users with due regard to maintaining professional integrity and a person-centred approach in their practice”
“A Learning and Improvement Strategy for Social Workers and Social Care Workers, 2019-2027” Strategic Priority 6: Practising in a Digital World outlines the need for Social workers to be equipped with the skills they need to make best use of technological advances, leading to more effective and efficient services and will have the knowledge and skills they need to better understand and manage the risks associated with the use of technology in the workplace, and to help to maintain the safety of people who use services within a complex digital world.
In the most recent Review of the Degree in Social Work (October 2024) digital competence was highlighted as a requirement for qualifying students.
Furthermore, the Digital Strategy Health and Social Care Northern Ireland 2022-2030 acknowledges the need for digital transformation to increase capacity and capability in the development of a digitally enabled health and social care workforce.
Supporting your continuous professional learning
The Northern Ireland Social Care Council Learning Zone provides a platform to support the continuous learning and development of social workers, social care practitioners and social work students to enhance and develop their knowledge, skills and values in areas which will support them to provide better services. The Social Care Council work with a range of stakeholders, including social work academics with a specific interest in social work and digitalisation, who provided the knowledge and expertise to develop an education resource aimed at supporting support social work registrants working in a digital world.
Credits
This resource has been developed by the Northern Ireland Social Care Council in partnership with Professor Paul Best (School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work), QUB and Debbie Greaves (Lecturer in Social Work, School of Applied Social and Policy Science), Ulster University. We also wish to thank Keith Quinn, Digital Learning Consultant who supported the Social Care Council to develop, design and publish this resource and Michael Mulholland, Chief Social Work and Social Care Information Officer, SEHSCT, the Social Work Professional Leads and Regional encompass Communication Lead who provided content on encompass.