What are Social Work Teaching Partnerships?  

The Department for Education introduced Teaching Partnerships to help improve the overall quality of practice, learning and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) amongst trainee and practicing social workers. 

Funded by the government, Teaching Partnerships have been created to develop and support high standards of work and education by building stronger links between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and employers (Local Authorities).  The Partnerships involve a highly collaborative relationship, with the curriculum being jointly developed, delivered and owned. 

Students within the partnerships benefit from a curriculum that is relevant to and informed by social work practice – equipping them to be good social workers going forward. They also benefit from practical statutory placements. 

Meanwhile, fully qualified social workers get access to many more CPD opportunities and have the opportunity to share best practice via the Partnership structure. 

Teaching Partnerships in Yorkshire and Humber 

In Yorkshire and Humber there are now four Teaching Partnerships, making us the largest region of Teaching Partnerships nationally.

"Through our Teaching Partnerships we enhance training, develop practice & improving outcomes."  

South Yorkshire Teaching Partnership 

The South Yorkshire Teaching Partnership (SYTP) brings together the University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield City Council, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, Doncaster Council, Doncaster Children’s Services Trust, Lincolnshire County Council, Sheffield Health and Social Care Foundation Trust, Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber Foundation Trust and South West  Yorkshire Foundation Trust.

Now in its tenth year of delivery, SYTP continues to refine new and innovative approaches to delivering high quality training for social work students and qualified practitioners.  Working together, SYTP deliver high quality training for social work students and qualified social workers in order to help them to develop the skills they need to work effectively in front line statutory services. 

Some of the partnership's key activities and achievements to date include:

• An MA curriculum which has been developed and delivered jointly by the Teaching Partnership, thereby ensuring that it is relevant to and informed by social work practice and delivered by the University of Sheffield.
• A BA Honours 3 year social work degree programme delivered by Sheffield Hallam University
• 2 x 100 day placements which are: guaranteed to be in statutory services; supported by fully trained Practice Educators who are working to a set of common agreed standards; and audited to ensure that each placement is of a similarly high quality.
• Social Work apprenticeship degree courses in both children’s and adults services (grow your own programmes for existing local authority employees).
• A robust, regional Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) framework for newly qualified social workers, which includes the option for academic accreditation as part of our Advanced Practitioner Framework. 
• Access to high quality CPD opportunities via our Advanced Practitioner Framework, which allows social workers to undertake accredited modules designed to support key areas of practice. 
• Opportunities to share learning and good practice across the region via regional Teaching Partnership structures, and joint training and Masterclasses. 
• Supported career pathways in areas such as practice education and leadership and management. 

More information can be found on SYTP's website.  You can also follow them on Twitter. 

Yorkshire Urban and Rural Teaching Partnership 

The Yorkshire Urban and Rural Teaching Partnership (YURTP) bring together four Yorkshire local authorities and two universities; Calderdale Council, Kirklees Council, City of York Council and North Yorkshire County Council are working closely with the University of Huddersfield and the University of York to deliver ambitious plans for the education and ongoing development of the Social Work workforce. 

YURTP’s plans include: 

• Ensuring that people with lived experience and social work practitioners have a greater role in shaping and influencing social work education and training; 

• Delivering high quality practice learning placements for all students with opportunities to undertake statutory social work with local employers; 

• Delivering a CPD programme that offers practitioners opportunities to develop leadership an management competencies and the skills required for research informed practice; 

• Aligning academic research with the needs faced by frontline practitioners; 

• Supporting academics to spend time in practice

• Developing new approaches to workforce planning to help improve recruitment and retention. 

For more information about the partnership, visit to their website or follow them on Twitter. 

Leeds and Wakefield Teaching Partnership 

The Leeds and Wakefield Teaching Partnership has been set up to build on strong partnerships and promote excellence in the collaborative delivery of social work education between Universities and their partners. This new approach will lead the way for social work education and guarantee high quality statutory placements for students. The TP comprises six organisations: Leeds City Council children’s social work service; Leeds City Council adult’s social work service; Wakefield Council children’s social work service; Wakefield Council adult’s social work service; The University of Leeds; Leeds Beckett University. The partnership aims to:

• Improve recruitment, selection and training of student social workers. 

• Ensure social work graduates are ready for employment, with the skills and experience needed to contribute to a more stable and resilient workforce. 

• Develop enhanced and formalised opportunities for academics and practitioners to work together and learn from each other. 

• Improve retention of social work staff within the field locally. 

The Teaching Partnership will test and refine new and innovative approaches to deliver high quality training for social work students and qualified practitioners. This will be for both children’s and adult services. It will develop new learning opportunities for qualified social workers in both adult and children’s services in the following areas: 

• Research 

• Safeguarding 

• Practice education 

• Continuous professional development 

More detail about Leeds and Wakefield Teaching Partnership are available on their website, or by following them on Twitter. 

Humber Social Work Teaching Partnership 

The Humber Social Work Teaching Partnership brings together North Lincolnshire Council, Hull City Council, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, North East Lincolnshire Council, University of Hull, NAViGO, Focus and the University of Lincoln. Whilst the partnership is not currently a DfE funded teaching partnership we are working together to ensure that students: 

• Choose to have a long term career in social work 

• Choose to study and then stay in the Humber area; and 

• Develop the skills and attributes to deliver an outstanding service to children, adults and families. 

You can follow them on Twitter.