Partnership for continuing professional development: The impact of the Post Qualifying Award for Social Workers (PQSW) on social work practice

This article is based on a small-scale inquiry to evaluate the impact of the Post Qualifying Award for Social Workers (PQSW) on social work practice. The author sought the views of key stakeholders in one of the regional UK Post Qualifying Consortia, although practical constraints prevented the direct inclusion of service users' views. A post-hoc questionnaire and semi-structured interviews explored the impact of the PQSW awards on individual social work candidates and their employing agencies. The findings contribute to current debates around how training can be used to ensure delivery of the modernised social services required by the Government. While this is a small, locally based inquiry, its findings are relevant to ongoing national developments across the continuum of social work training and education. The findings suggest that the awards in general have a positive impact on practice for both individuals and organisations. Factors which increase or impede that impact were multi-faceted and complex, involving individuals, organisational cultures and wider contextual influences. The key to success, it is suggested, is partnership - proactive and committed working together between employers, individual workers and those prescribing/providing the training and education.