The Newly Qualified Social Worker Supported Year Programme Survey

  • The Newly Qualified Social Worker Supported Year Programme Survey

  • Introduction

    Iriss has been commissioned by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) to undertake an evaluation of the NQSW Supported Year implemented nationally in October 2024.

    This mandatory supported first year in practice is part of Scottish Government’s ambition to create a strategic framework from qualifying education through to advanced practice for all social workers and social work employers in Scotland. The approach has been developed to improve consistency in the support available to nurture and retain the next generation of registered social workers  in Scotland .

    There are two strands to the Iriss survey:

    1. Hearing from employers to understand how the employer support requirements are being embedded within organisations

    2. Hearing from NQSWs and supervisors to understand how the NQSW Supported Year model (with key stage reviews) and developmental approach is experienced by NQSW and supervisors 

    Your completion of this survey matters. We want to hear from everyone who has been involved and has direct experience of the supported year. The survey findings will provide an important baseline providing information on how the supported year has been implemented, what has worked well and what could be improved.

    Who is this survey for?

    This survey is for NQSW’s, employers, supervisors and - anyone who has been involved with supporting the implementation of NQSW Supported Year.  

    If you need to access this survey in a different format, please contact Katie Feyerabend at katie.feyerabend@iriss.org.uk  and we will get in touch to organise this. You can choose to answer these questions directly on the survey form or to engage with this via a telephone call or teams meeting with Teresa Atkinson, Associate.

    If you would like to take part in a more in-depth focus group once you have completed the survey, please add your contact details at the end of the form and someone will be in touch with you.

    Confidentiality and Reporting

    Iriss have been commissioned by the Scottish Social Services Council to design the questionnaire, manage the data and report on findings.

    Confidentiality is assured.  This means we will NOT ask for any personal information such as name, email address, date of birth or similar, unless you wish to be contacted for a follow-up interview.  All data will be used solely for the purpose of this survey and will not be shared outside of the research team.  Further, no individual responses will be shared with the exception of anonymised quotes which may be shared to exemplify elements of the supported year.   All findings will be presented in aggregated form and no identifying information will be published.

    If you have any questions about your participation or how your data will be used, please contact katie.feyerabend@iriss.org.uk 

  • To begin 

    We expect this survey to take around 30 minutes to complete.  Clicking on the ‘agree to participate in research’ button below indicates that:

    •  You have read the above information
    • You agree to participate in the survey
    • You understand that your participation is voluntary, and you are free to withdraw at any time, without giving reason

    Note:  If you do not wish to participate, please decline participation by clicking on ‘Do not agree to participate in the survey’ button.

  • Do you agree to take part in the survey?*
  • Which of the following is your role?*

  • All about you - Employer

  • In which sector do you primarily operate?

  • Implementing and embedding the NQSW Supported Year

  • Did you receive any grant funding as part of the early implementation initiative?
  • Has your organisation provided resources to implement and embed the NSQW Supported Year?
  • Rows
  • Rows
  • Do your policies and procedures reflect employer support for NQSWs?
  • Does your recruitment planning consider how many NQSWs are in a team?
  • Rows
  • Have you provided any additional support to NQSWs’ above what is detailed in the Definitions of Employer Support Guidance?
  • Have you provided any additional support to supervisors to fulfil their role in the NQSW Supported Year?
  • Have you provided any additional to support to peers or mentors to fulfil their role in the NQSW Supported Year?
  • Do you ask NQSWs to bring a copy of the individual learning plan from university when they start employment?

  • Overall impressions

  • All about you - Supervisor

  • In which sector do you primarily work in?
  • What professional discipline do you currently work in? Please select all that apply.

  • The supported year approach

  • Did you have enough information and preparation time to help you understand your role as a supervisor of an NQSW on the supported year programme?
  • Rows
  • Have you received any formal or informal training to help you undertake the supervisory role?
  • Has your workload management taken account of the supervisory responsibilities and support of NQSWs during the Supported Year?
  • Were you involved as a peer / mentor in the NQSW supported year before becoming a supervisor?
  • Have you received any formal or informal training to help you undertake the mentor role?
  • Do you have a mentor / peer support working alongside you to support the NQSW?

  • Supervision

  • Are you able to meet the 4 weekly supervision requirement set out in the guidance?
  • Do you use a specific NQSW template to record supervision?
  • Rows

  • NQSWs Learning & Development

  • Rows

  • Overall impressions

  • All about you - NQSW

  • In which sector do you primarily work in?
  • What professional discipline do you work in? Please select all that apply.
  • Which university did you graduate from?
  • Did you leave university with an Individual Learning Plan?

  • The supported year approach

  • Are your supervisor and line manager responsibilities carried out by the same person?
  • Rows
  • Rows

  • Supervision

  • Are you able to meet the 4 weekly supervision requirement set out in the guidance?
  • Rows
  • Is there any additional support from your supervisor that would be beneficial for you?
  • Do you have a peer mentor?

  • Learning and development

  • Do you have any peer support outwith a mentor?
  • Does your peer support include involvement with the following (please select all that apply):
  • Have you made any specific support requests to your employer?

  • Overall impressions

  • Thank you for completing the survey! We really appreciate your feedback and are grateful you took the time to complete this. 

    If you would like to be part of the voluntary focus groups which will explore some of the findings of the surveys in more depth, please leave your contact details below. They will not be used for any other purpose that getting in touch about the focus groups. 

    If you have any questions about the focus groups please contact Teresa at teresa.atkinson@iriss.org.uk 

     

    You DO NOT have to take part in the focus groups, as these are completely voluntary. If you do not want to take part, leave the following fields empty and click the submit button.

  • Should be Empty: