Social Work and Social Care Degrees

If you enjoy working with people and have a passion for helping, social work can provide you with a very satisfying career path. There are many different paths to advance, the most obvious perhaps being a degree in social work, however there are many different vocational training routes easily combined with continued employment.

Social work careers

In general, all careers within social work and care come down to providing support, practical and otherwise to help people cope with day to day life. This often means working with those, for some reason less fortunate. A very large area, and one which continues to grow is care for the elderly. Other areas are care for the mentally and physically disabled, community work with abused or troubled children and adolescents, and also giving support to minority groups with difficulty entering into a new society. Some potential careers are:

• Home Care
• Community work with families
• Residential care
• Community work with young people
• Children's residential care
• Personal assistant
• Community work with adults
• Studying Social Care

When studying for a degree in social work you will learn vital interpersonal skills such as group work, policy making and how to best support vulnerable people including drug abusers and children. A degree will prepare you for work within sector of social care and professional work such as policy making, and helping elders, ethnic minorities and vulnerable people.

The knowledge you gain during your studies will be invaluable in both voluntary and private care sectors. Social work studies covers everything from helping families in distress to people experiencing violent relationships or having problems with drugs or alcholol and communities with special needs. The care you give can be in hospitals, residential or home care. Either way, your degree will help you help others, and will give you a high level of career satisfaction.

When considering international studies you may have to consider that some jobs in social work generally require accreditation, which you may have to gain in addition to your degree if you move back home or on to other countries. What is also worth considering in addition to your degree is that the knowledge of different languages can be very beneficial in this area of work. It gives you the ability to communicate more easily with those in need of help, especially if you aim to work in communities with a large number of minority residents.