BASW Accreditation Scheme Overview Guide

BAS01

BASW Accreditation scheme for providers of continuing professional development for social workers

Overview Guide

BASW has established an accreditation scheme whereby providers of learning opportunities for social workers are able to demonstrate that they themselves meet a set of nationally agreed and rigorously applied quality criteria.

The scheme is derived from and builds on existing quality regimes (such as QAA and Ofsted, and the earlier CPD endorsement scheme of The College of Social Work) and adds to them a set of values reflecting those which underpin social work practice, which are contained within the BASW Code of Ethics. In this way, the scheme sets a baseline of education and training practice for all those who offer CPD learning and development opportunities to social workers.

Benefits of accreditation

Accreditation offers a cost-effective way for providers to demonstrate, and customers to judge, the quality of CPD provision.

For providers of CPD, key benefits of BASW accreditation will include:

  • Use of the BASW accreditation logo on publications and marketing to demonstrate your engagement with the social work professional association
  • Increasing business by use of the quality mark
  • A robust method of internal quality assurance for your/your organisation’s CPD provision
  • Being able to demonstrate your commitment to continuing professional development for social workers
  • Showing social workers, commissioners, employers and the public that they can have confidence in your CPD provision

For employers, accreditation will:

  • Enable you to have your own training departments or trainers accredited, so showing the value of your in-house expertise
  • Enable you to select external education and training providers that you know will understand and meet the needs of the social work profession
  • Offer you a list of endorsed providers which may extend your range of training partners

Social workers will be able to see that:

  • The trainers or educators you are working with have met criteria which relate to education and training standards, including currency of skills and knowledge
  • The providers themselves demonstrate that they apply the values which underpin social work practice in their own work as educators

People who use services, and carers, will be assured that:

  • Accredited education and training providers have demonstrated that they listen to the needs of people who use services and carers in developing and evaluating their CPD provision
  • Accredited providers themselves reflect social work values in the way they develop and offer their CPD provision