Industry Social Work Headquarters London | Founded 2013 (2013) Area served UK | |
Key people Josh MacAlister, Founder and CEO,
Lord Adonis, Chair of the Board Products Recruitment and training for social workers | ||
Frontline is a charity which recruits and trains social workers in the UK.
Contents
- History
- Timeline
- Recruitment process
- Frontline Programme
- Summer Institute
- Year 1
- Year 2
- The Frontline Academy
- Leadership Development
- Expansion
- National Expansion
- Firstline
- References
Frontline coordinates a 2 year employment-based training programme whereby participants are placed at local authority Children's Services departments. In their first year participants work directly with children and families while completing a Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work. At the end of the year, successful participants qualify as social workers. In their second year participants continue working in their local authorities and undertake further study, working towards a fully funded Masters in Social Work.
The scheme has received widespread coverage from the UK media and cross-party political support. Frontline was given explicit support in the election manifestos of the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservatives parties.
In February 2015, Frontline was awarded a grant of £1.8m by the DfE to develop 'Firstline', a new training program for managers in social work.
Frontline entered the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers list in 2014 in 76th place and rose to 40th in 2015.
History
Frontline was founded by Josh MacAlister in 2013 after he spent 3 years working as a teacher in a challenging school in Greater Manchester with the Teach First programme. Through his experiences working with vulnerable children he was inspired to develop the idea for Frontline.
The idea was picked up by Lord Andrew Adonis, who encouraged Josh to take the idea and turn it into a reality.
Timeline
Recruitment process
In order to be eligible to apply to the Frontline programme, applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Have or be predicted a 2:1 or higher in their first undergraduate degree.
- Have grade C or above in Maths and English GCSE - applicants must also demonstrate competence in IT as well as spoken and written English
- Achieved at least BBB (or ABC) in their top 3 A-levels (or equivalent pre-university grades) – excluding General Studies and any additional AS-levels.
There are 6 stages to the application process:
Frontline Programme
Participants work in the same local authority children's services department throughout the two years. In their first year, participants work towards a Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work alongside direct work with children and families. In their second year, participants work as newly-qualified social workers (NQSW).
Summer Institute
The Frontline programme begins with a 5 week residential training period called the 'Summer Institute'.
During the five-weeks participants are taught the knowledge and skills of social work by academics from the Frontline Academy. These include how to think systemically about families and relationships, how to build meaningful relationships with vulnerable and challenging people, and how to assess and work with risk. Participants begin to learn how to bring about change in people’s behaviour. The curriculum is delivered through traditional lectures, action learning, role plays and journal clubs, as well as interactive sessions with guest speakers, practising social workers and people with experiences of care.
After completing the Summer Institute, participants are formally assessed by the Frontline Academy to ensure that they are ready for practice before starting their Practice Learning Experience in a local authority.
Year 1
As part of a local authority Children’s Services department, participants form units of 4 students, supervised and line-managed by an experienced Consultant Social Worker (CSW). In this unit participants work directly with vulnerable children and families, building up a range of practice experiences over the year. By the end of Year 1, participants will have undertaken over 200 days of ‘on-the-job’ training and 46 full taught days of study.
Participants are assigned an academic tutor who will tailor individual and group tutorials to their specific learning needs. Participants' development will be regularly monitored and assessed throughout the year. Uniquely among social work training programmes, participants work with children and families is directly observed by the CSW and academic tutor, who assess progress.
At the end of Year 1, successful participants are awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work and are then eligible to formally register with the Health and Care Professions Council as a qualified social worker.
Year 2
In Year 2 participants are qualified social workers responsible for their own caseload. Participants work in their local authority’s Children’s Services team and their professional development is closely supported by their local authority and also by Frontline through the ongoing leadership development programme. Participants also have the opportunity to undertake further study to gain a Masters qualification by the end of the two-year programme.
In addition, Participants have the chance to receive coaching from an experienced coach who is part of the Frontline coaching network. Coaching is a development approach in which the coach supports the coachee in achieving a specific personal or professional goal as determined by the coachee. This programme sits alongside the Masters, both of which are designed to develop participants leadership skills.
The Frontline Academy
The Frontline Academy is the name given to the partnership delivering Frontline's academic programme. It comprises the University of Bedfordshire's Tilda Goldberg Centre, the Institute of Family Therapy, the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, and involves a range of other social work experts.
The Academy’s teaching is grounded in the recent, evidence-based approaches to child protection social work. The broad approach is to prepare participants to work with children and families to bring about change. A key feature of the Academy’s approach to social work education is the integration of theory and academic learning into everyday practice. Professor Donald Forrester is a leading social work academic responsible for numerous social work research studies and heads the Frontline Academy.
Leadership Development
The leadership development programme is a key strand of the Frontline programme. It is delivered by Morning Lane Associates, and aims to help develop the leadership qualities needed to bring about change with families, within the social work profession and beyond. The programme introduces a number of key leadership concepts. It also provides practical training in how to deconstruct complex issues and drive forward appropriate solutions. In Year 2, further leadership development is provided to compliment work in local authorities.
Expansion
Frontline has placed increasing numbers of participants in local authorities each year. The scheme initially started in London but has since expanded to Manchester and the North East.
National Expansion
In January 2016 the Department for Education announced its support for Frontline's plans to roll out the programme across England.
Firstline
In February 2015, Frontline was awarded a grant of £1.8m by the DfE to develop 'Firstline', a new training program for managers in social work. The programme is based on research into what constitutes excellent first line leadership in a children's social work setting. The programme has been designed to help first line managers develop the skills they need to create change at a personal, relational and cultural level.
The design of the programme has been informed by research that explored:
This led to the development of the Firstline curriculum, which is predicated on the insight that enhancing self-awareness is crucial for effective leadership and for creating and sustaining change. The curriculum covers elements such as: