Does qualifying route inform preparedness for child protection practice? An appraisal of the testimonies of 201 ‘early career’ social workers.

England’s children’s social care workforce is in a state of crisis, with the problem perhaps more prominent in the field of child protection. This led the Review of Children’s Social Care to call for further evaluation of social work education pathways, particularly in their ability to prepare early career social workers for the rigours of contemporary practice. The study emerged in response to this call, but also in the context of a concurrent narrative emanating from the local Social Work Teaching Partnership, that newly qualified social workers were often found to be ‘ill-prepared’ for child protection work. The study employed an iterative mixed method design to explore the impact of social work qualification route on early career social workers’ sense of preparedness for child protection practice. Whilst some statistical association was found, the study identified areas where social workers generally felt either ‘well’ or ‘ill-prepared’ for child protection work. Moreover, the study presents several strategies for improving the preparation of early career social workers for child protection practice, including cultivating partnerships with specialist child protection organisations; interprofessional teaching and learning across suitable programmes; better collaboration with ‘experts-by-experience’ in the delivery of content; and designed field trips to child protection settings.