Further investment in social work education

New support for workforce to improve learning opportunities.

New support for social work education will be available from February, strengthening learning amongst the workforce and benefitting local social work students.

The Scottish Government is investing up to £600,000 through the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) to support the sector in addressing some of the reported challenges surrounding social work education.

The investment aims to strengthen the design and delivery of social work practice education – to ensure learning opportunities match the specific needs of social work students and help increase the number of high-quality learning opportunities across Scotland.

Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise Natalie Don-Innes said:

“The Scottish Government greatly values Scotland’s social workers, who do a tremendously valuable and essential job in communities across the country. That is why we are investing in the workforce, to enhance the experiences of the current and next generation of social workers and to address some of the reported challenges surrounding education.

“This investment demonstrates the value we place on improved professional learning support structures, recognising that a positive learning experience will both equip future social workers to develop and also support recruitment and retention.”

The funded improvements will be tested via Local Learning Partnerships (LLPs), a new model linking social work employers and education providers. This will allow areas to test curricula and make improvements based on the experiences and feedback.

SSSC Chief Executive Maree Allison said:

“We’re pleased to support LLPs, strengthening the partnership working between universities and employers, which is essential to social work education.

“The financial investment in LLPs will help local areas explore new ways of working, building on existing strengths, initially by increasing the number and variety of practice learning opportunities available to students and making them more local to reduce the distance students need to travel.

“The partnerships will make sure that students, social workers in practice, employers, people with lived experience and other partners are involved in developing effective social work training and learning which meets the needs of individuals and their communities."

Background

There were 6,095 practising social workers in June 2025, according to figures from the SSSC.

The LLP model will be tested in three contexts – one in a remote or island area; one in an existing learning partnership without formal arrangements already in place; and one as an entirely new learning partnership.