The Conundrum of Balancing Widening Participation with the Selection of Suitable Students for Social Work Education

Student selection process effectiveness: Correlations between task performance and undergraduate success

“…The regulation of social work education in Aotearoa New Zealand Apaitia-Vague, Pitt, and Younger (2011) point to a central contradiction surrounding efforts to admit students to social work programmes who will succeed and be fit to practise: a need for "accountability to clients to ensure that workers are safe to practice, and social work values such as inclusion, social justice, the right to education, and a belief in the power of transformative change" (Hughes et al, 2016, p. 103; see also Dillon, 2007;Pelech, Stalker, Regehr & Jacobs, 1999;Sowbel, 2012). How can admission criteria help ensure student success, without screening out potential students who may succeed in programmes when given the proper support and encouragement?…”

Suitability for Professional Practice: Assessing and Developing Moral Character in Social Work Education

“…A number of authors highlight an apparent reluctance on the part of academics to exercise their gate-keeping responsibilities, perhaps because of concerns about potential challenges and uncertainty about the robustness of such decisions given the challenges of defining such non-academic entry criteria (Dillon, 2007;Miller and Koerin, 1998). Perhaps ironically, authors writing from the North American context have shown that legal challenges to selection decisions have failed where there is evidence that fair and published processes were followed and it is in fact the absence of such transparency that has caused significant difficulties (Tam and Coleman, 2011 p506).…”

“…In recognition of the fact that qualifications are not the only indicators of intellectual ability and formal achievements may be affected by a number of factors, authors have highlighted the importance of contextualising formal attainment (Ross, 2010;Dillon, 2007). Within the UK, it is expected that UCAS contextual data is taken into account during the admissions process and Ross (2010), writing about a South African university's approach, highlights the advantages of a biographical questionnaire focussed upon applicants' experiences of educational disadvantage and personal trauma and their learning from this in order to assess resourcefulness and tenacity alongside intellectual ability.…”

“…However, as Currer (2009) recognises, a duty of care is owed to applicants (as well as to service users and carers) in respect of the cost of training if they are unlikely to be successful. In addition, it is important to remember that despite the significance of the social justice contribution made by the expansion of higher education, entry to the professions is not a 'right' (Dillon, 2007;Elpers and FitzGerald, 2012):…”

“…The expansion of Higher Education (HE) has been significant globally and the explicit social justice orientation of such widening access policies and the resulting tension inherent in the professional gatekeeping role are explored in a growing range of literature arising from different contexts (Dillon, 2007;Ross, 2010). The recent focus upon academic qualifications within the reform processes in England may in part be a reaction to a previous focus upon 'experience' as the 'gold standard' and an acknowledgement that experience pre-course seemed not to be predictive of later success (Author's own, 2008), with prior academic achievement being the most consistently identified predictor of completion of social work courses.…”