MSc Advanced Social Work Practice

Applicants are registered with Social Work England.
Applicants are employed within a social work environment with appropriate qualifying experience.
Candidates hold a first degree in Social Work – those who do not have a first degree or equivalent are expected to evidence successful completion of at least 30 credits of Level 6 study.


Institution code	H36
Course length	Part Time, 6 Years
Location	University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield

Employability

Careers

A master’s degree is becoming a requirement for career progression in health and social care services. Plus, it can lead to further work in research or teaching. As a graduate, you’ll demonstrate professional expertise, a critical awareness and advanced communication skills to meet the complex demands of the field.

If you choose to advance your career in social work, you can be confident that you’ll graduate with the insight and awareness to develop innovative practice in your workplace. You’ll have a strong foundation to develop and manage projects, adopting an inclusive focussed approach. Your reflection and analysis skills will guide you to adapt your service delivery and improve service user outcomes.

If you choose to work in research or teaching, you’ll have gained a range of skills, from critical evaluation to effective leadership, preparing you to be leader in your chosen speciality. Your knowledge of the principles of research, your focus on evidence-based practice and your passion to promote positive change will enable you to have a significant role in research or teaching.

Whichever path you choose, you’ll feel inspired and energised to make a confident contribution to social work practice.

About the course

Our underpinning philosophy is to bring innovation and change to social work practice. The sector needs pro-active practitioners with exceptional skills in efficiency, resource management and leadership. This is your chance to master those skills.

We’ll empower you to make a real difference in people’s lives. Whether your passion is to improve social work practice for children or adults, or to enhance mental health provision, our part time programme invites you to study alongside work.

We offer a mixture of taught sessions, workshops, and seminars, some of which are recorded so you can access the teaching whenever you want. We’ll encourage you to analyse, explore and reflect upon your own experiences and share them with your peers. Working together, we’ll build upon your clinical reasoning skills. We’ll teach you the knowledge and competencies you need to develop policies and manage initiatives. You’ll investigate ways to support individuals, groups and communities who are experiencing complex difficulties.

You’ll benefit from our diverse range of speakers, including practitioners, managers, academics and service users from a variety of health and social care environments. We’ll encourage you to think holistically as you specialise in your area of interest. You’ll even gain an international perspective in social work, analysing the impact of processes and developments across the globe. Together, we’ll explore the changing face of social work.

This confident programme has gained great credibility with service users, agencies and staff.

Why choose this course?

You’re an experienced social worker and you aspire to be a leader in your area of expertise. You want flexible part time study, delivered online and face to face so you can fit it in around your work.
You want to learn an industry relevant curriculum. You want to join an innovative programme, developed through partnerships in Health and Social Care, including experienced practitioners, academics, service providers and experts by experience.
You’re passionate about a multi-disciplinary approach to health and social care. Driven to improve the client experience, you want to unlock your creativity, originality and sense of initiative.
You want to immerse yourself in independent research, focussing on an area of social work that fascinates you.
You’re looking for a course which offers a range of assessment methods, including written assignments, practice portfolios and presentations.

What will I study?

To gain a master’s degree, you’ll study four core modules encompassing, practice education, safeguarding, decision making and wellbeing. We’ll teach you the skills you’ll need to observe, assess and prepare the social workers of the future. You’ll learn how to manage legal, ethical and professional issues. You’ll extend your knowledge of relevant legislation and apply it appropriately to social work practice. We’ll help you work with the complexities of risk and guide you through the process of informed decision making. Every step of the way, you’ll learn vital theory and practical skills so you can respond to rapid changes and developments that take place in this fascinating field.

Plus, you’ll choose a selection of interprofessional modules offered across the various programmes in the School of Health and Social Work. Examples include Complex Social Issues in Maternity Care, Best Interest Assessor, Informed Consent and Coaching Skills for Leading. We’ll invite you to learn with other professionals, to gain valuable insights and draw upon their expertise in your work with service users. Our diverse curriculum offers you multiple perspectives to inspire new ways of working.

Delivered on a part time basis, normally over 6 years, this programme offers fantastic flexibility. If your circumstances happen to change during your studies, you can choose to study fewer modules, gain less credits, and graduate with a diploma or postgraduate certificate instead. With regular contact with your tutors, in individual and group tutorials, we’ll encourage you to reach your potential in each module you study.

Level 7

Module	Credits	Compulsory/optional
Advanced Decision Making in Health and Social Care	15 Credits	Optional
This module evaluates and applies established theories and models relevant to decision making in the context of health and social care. These are drawn from a wide variety of disciplines including clinical reasoning, philosophy and ethics, legal frameworks, Service User involvement, Inter-professional and Values Based Decision Making. Throughout, students will develop their critical thinking skills, with an emphasis on applying their learning to decision making in the students' own health and social care context.
Complex Social Issues in Maternity Care	30 Credits	Optional
This module focuses on women with complex social factors, covering a variety of social and psychological issues. It recognises that specific groups of women have additional needs that necessitate enhanced and individualised maternity care. By enhancing the midwifery skills of recognition, initial assessment (including Common Assessment Framework) and care management incorporating a range of other healthcare professionals, midwives will become more confident in their role.
Leadership, Education and Developing Others	30 Credits	Optional
The aim of this module is to enable students to continue to develop their knowledge, understanding and skills of leadership, education and professional development. The module enables students to critically review leadership within the context of the advanced practice role, to understand the leaning and teaching approaches that support clinical development and to evaluate strategies to support and develop themselves and others.
Leading Service Change	15 Credits	Optional
This module will provide models and theory underpinning service redesign including the near and far environment, service user and stakeholder involvement. This will be combined with analysis of information and data in order to inform decisions and to identify opportunities for service redesign. There will be an emphasis on strategic analysis, the processes required to ensure change and develop flexible and responsive services, and to enhance the leadership skills of participants in developing their service. Integral to all service redesign will be the need to demonstrate how it can improve patient safety, experience and outcomes, and value. Canvas, along with additional online tools such as Miro will be used to facilitate the students' study and communication between the students, and the students and the tutors throughout the module. Resources and links will be provided on Canvas but students will be required to seek additional resources to enhance their learning. Throughout, the learner is expected to undertake independent study both to supplement their learning and to broaden their individual knowledge and understanding of the subject.
Research Methods	15 Credits	Optional
The module develops the student's knowledge and understanding of a range of research approaches applicable to Health and Social Care. It is designed to advance students' knowledge of research design and data interpretation. The module provides knowledge of the critical appraisal of evidence from published research. It enables students to appraise research literature and understand the research process with relevance to clinical practice, by critically analysing approaches to research and specific research studies.
Informed Consent	15 Credits	Optional
This module is aimed at practitioners involved with gaining patient consent prior to an intervention. Using an inquiry−based approach, students will gather a wide range of evidence and information in order to explore thoroughly informed consent and its implications. Through critical evaluation and analysis of the evidence base, they will consolidate their knowledge and understanding of the principles that underpin informed practices. Formative feedback and assessment embraces assessment activities so that students have the opportunity to develop the necessary skills for successful achievement.
Concepts and Theories of Wellbeing	30 Credits	Optional
Wellbeing has become a much−vaunted term in contemporary society and particularly in health and social care practice, but what do we mean when we use this term? This module invites students to engage in critical enquiry to enhance their understanding of wellbeing in a variety of contexts. Students will engage in discussion and debate on the various theoretical perspectives on wellbeing and its place within contemporary health and social policy. This module will equip students with a theoretical perspective as well as an understanding of the emerging research evidence surrounding wellbeing in practice. Students will be encouraged to engage in a wider discourse of wellbeing and to explore how these notions may lead to reconfiguration of how we see ourselves as practitioners as well as the how and why we seek to work with individuals, families and communities nationally and globally.
Best Interest Assessor (BIA)	30 Credits	Compulsory
This Level 7 module will give students the opportunity to develop a detailed understanding of The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA), its Code of Practice, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and interfacing legislation and policies relating to Adult Safeguarding and Whistleblowing policies. Students will build upon their professional experience exploring the practicalities of working with people, their carers and advocates in a non−oppressive way as well as working with Mental Health Assessors and Interpreters. Students will gain confidence in relational working and the promotion of well−being in conditions of complexity and conflict. Students will be offered a good understanding of the Best Interest Assessor capabilities framework and the opportunity to develop excellent report writing skills.
Shared Decision Making	15 Credits	Optional
This module introduces the student to a relatively new way of approaching shared decision making in health and social care internationally, which focuses on shared exchange of multidisciplinary, scientific, and experiential knowledge between service users and service providers. In doing so, the module follows the co−production approach which has originated in social work, as well as the strengths-based approach. Students will acquire knowledge of theories and models relevant to shared decision making in the context of health and social care, which are drawn from a wide variety of disciplines including philosophy and ethics, service user involvement, risk avoidance and risk-taking considerations, clinical reasoning, and values-based decision making. Throughout, students will develop their critical thinking skills, learn to use relevant shared decision-making aids, evaluate existing research, with an emphasis on developing the skills necessary for implementing their learning to shared decision making in their own health and social care practice.
Research Project	30 Credits	Optional
This module builds on the Research Methods and Preparation for Research Project modules. In this "research−based" module, students undertake inquiry−based learning as they implement and document their chosen approach. The module enables students to enhance their personal and professional development and contribute to the Health and Social Work evidence base through the completion of a research project. Students will work individually with supervision support and can draw on statistical support where necessary.
Preparation for research project	15 Credits	Optional
This module builds on Research Methods fostering a "research−tutored" approach where students critically appraise the evidence in relation to their own discipline in order to identify a feasible research question and an appropriate means to answer it. The term "research" is used in its broadest sense to denote any form of inquiry focussed on an area of the student's professional practice. This may include quantitative research, qualitative research, mixed methods, systematic reviews, literature reviews, retrospective data analysis, audit and evaluation of a healthcare innovation. The student will choose the focus of their project, develop the necessary academic skills and understand, critique and apply relevant theoretical approaches to formulate a research question and proposal in keeping with their chosen method of inquiry. Teaching and learning will comprise of compulsory components to equip students with key skills, including identification, critique, synthesis and organisation of a relevant body of evidence, critical use of theoretical approaches, and Masters' level academic writing, to enable them to prepare, plan and carry out their Research Project module. Methods of inquiry and profession specific workshops will provide students with guidance relevant to their topic, and their chosen data collection method and data analysis, including processes of governance and ethical review where relevant.
Coaching Skills for Leading	15 Credits	Optional
The module will comprise of theoretical lectures, workshops, tutorials and seminar sessions to facilitate the development of the fundamental knowledge, understanding and skills underpinning the roles and responsibilities of coaching and its application within leadership. A key learning activity for this module is practical trio work in which students practise their coaching skills and through peer group learning develop a functional, supportive community of coaching practice. This activity requires the whole student group to participate in a collaborative, facilitative and supportive manner at each study day.
Negotiated Learning 2	30 Credits	Optional
This module enables you to explore, reflect upon and develop your learning and skills associated with an aspect of your professional practice. It allows students to negotiate the scope of study to either enhance the depth of knowledge, develop and evaluate practical skills or evidence impact upon learning on personal and professional practice.
Best Interest Assessor (BIA)	15 Credits	Optional
This module enables the opportunity to meet the six BIA Capabilities which are embedded within a series of workshops, practice learning opportunities, and assessments with the main content as following: Understanding and application of relevant Legislation and Policies, as well as relevant national and local policy guidance. Understanding and ability to conduct the formal two-stage assessment of capacity, ensuring compliance with legal and ethical standards.

Key staff

Professor Brian Littlechild
Professor in Social Work
Find out more about Professor Brian Littlechild

Jeremy Evans
Senior Lecturer in Social Work

Lynette Lee-Messenger
Programme Leader

Professor Shulamit Ramon
Professor in Social Work
Find out more about Professor Shulamit Ramon

Further course information

Programme specifications
MSc Advanced Social Work Practice - Part Time, Sem A	Download
MSc Advanced Social Work Practice - Part Time, Sem B	Download

Additional information
Sandwich placement or study abroad year	n/a
Applications open to international and EU students	No

Student experience

At the University of Hertfordshire, we want to make sure your time studying with us is as stress-free and rewarding as possible. We offer a range of support services including; student wellbeing, academic support, accommodation and childcare to ensure that you make the most of your time at Herts and can focus on studying and having fun.

Find out about how we support our students

Funding and fees
Other financial support

Find out more about other financial support available to UK and EU students

Fees 2026
UK Students
Part time
- £945 per 15 credits for the 2026/2027 academic year
*Tuition fees are charged annually. The fees quoted above are for the specified year(s) only. Fees may be higher in future years, for both new and continuing students. Please see the University's Fees and Finance Policy (and in particular the section headed "When tuition fees change"), for further information about when and by how much the University may increase its fees for future years.

View detailed information about tuition fees

Living costs / accommodation

The University of Hertfordshire offers a great choice of student accommodation, on campus or nearby in the local area, to suit every student budget.

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Read more about additional fees in the Programme Specification.
How to apply

2026
Start Date End Date Year Location Link
20/09/2026 30/09/2027 1 UH Hatfield Campus Apply online (Part Time)
18/01/2027 31/01/2028 1 UH Hatfield Campus Apply online (Part Time)
2027
Start Date End Date Year Location Link
20/09/2027 30/09/2028 1 UH Hatfield Campus Apply online (Part Time)
18/01/2028 31/01/2029 1 UH Hatfield Campus Apply online (Part Time)

Start Date	End Date	Year	Location	Link
20/09/2026	30/09/2027	1	UH Hatfield Campus	Apply online (Part Time)
18/01/2027	31/01/2028	1	UH Hatfield Campus	Apply online (Part Time)

Start Date	End Date	Year	Location	Link
20/09/2027	30/09/2028	1	UH Hatfield Campus	Apply online (Part Time)
18/01/2028	31/01/2029	1	UH Hatfield Campus	Apply online (Part Time)

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MSc Advanced Social Work Practice

Careers

About the course

Why choose this course?

What will I study?

Key staff

Further course information

Student experience

Other financial support

Fees 2026

UK Students

Part time

Living costs / accommodation

2026

2027