Students studying social work have called on the Scottish Government to provide bursaries in their final years.
A petition filed with the Scottish Parliament has urged ministers to help students in their third and fourth years of study, where they will spend around 200 days on placement.
The situation means, according to the petitioners, students are forced to work unsociable hours on top of a full-time placement, or resort to food banks.
Nursing, midwifery and, in a more recent change, paramedic students are given a £10,000 bursary in their placement-heavy studies, with the social work students calling for around £7,500 – at an estimated cost of £7.4 million.
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A previous approach by more than 300 students in a letter to education minister Jamie Hepburn was rebuffed, with the minister saying not enough time is spent on placement in the entirety of the course to warrant a bursary.
The students challenged Mr Hepburn’s assertion in their response, saying many students will spend 100% of their time on placement in the years they are requesting a bursary.
Lucy Challoner, one of the organisers of the petition, said the lack of a bursary could put the profession in jeopardy.
“Without reform, we risk not having enough social workers in the future to meet the statutory roles they play, let alone enabling social workers to help ‘keep The Promise’ to those in need and play a full role in ensuring Scotland is a fairer, safer place to live,” she said.
In his letter, Jamie Hepburn said: “There are different levels of student support between different student groups.
“Unlike other courses, paramedic science, nursing and midwifery degree programmes have a strong focus on learning in practice and 50% (2300 hours) of the three-year course is spent on placement.
“Placement requirements for social work students are measured in days rather than hours with social work students required to complete 200 days, of which 160 must be assessed.
“Accordingly, social work students have fewer hours to complete as part of their course. Social work students also have access to the standard undergraduate support package, which is not available to nursing, paramedic and midwifery students.”
The minister also talked up the funding support already in place for students in Scotland, saying in his letter that the Scottish Government was “proud” that the system means Scottish domiciled students can accrue up to £27,750 less in debt than their counterparts elsewhere in the UK.
The letter also pushed for reform to postgraduate social work studies, where bursaries and tuition funding is offered by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), but the petitioners have said the funding has not increased since 2012-13.
Mr Hepburn said there was an ongoing review into postgraduate funding, and that the SSSC and the Social Work Education Partnership were exploring funding models across social work education.
David Grimm, another student who helped to organise the letter and petition, said postgraduate learners had to be nominated by lecturers for their funding, in what he described as an “untenable position”.
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