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SOUTH AFRICAN QUALIFICATIONS AUTHORITY 
REGISTERED QUALIFICATION: 

Bachelor of Social Work 
SAQA QUAL ID QUALIFICATION TITLE
117923  Bachelor of Social Work 
ORIGINATOR
University of Zululand 
PRIMARY OR DELEGATED QUALITY ASSURANCE FUNCTIONARY NQF SUB-FRAMEWORK
-   HEQSF - Higher Education Qualifications Sub-framework 
QUALIFICATION TYPE FIELD SUBFIELD
National First Degree(Min 480)  Field 09 - Health Sciences and Social Services  Promotive Health and Developmental Services 
ABET BAND MINIMUM CREDITS PRE-2009 NQF LEVEL NQF LEVEL QUAL CLASS
Undefined  480  Not Applicable  NQF Level 08  Regular-Provider-ELOAC 
REGISTRATION STATUS SAQA DECISION NUMBER REGISTRATION START DATE REGISTRATION END DATE
Reregistered  EXCO 0821/24  2020-11-20  2027-06-30 
LAST DATE FOR ENROLMENT LAST DATE FOR ACHIEVEMENT
2028-06-30   2034-06-30  

In all of the tables in this document, both the pre-2009 NQF Level and the NQF Level is shown. In the text (purpose statements, qualification rules, etc), any references to NQF Levels are to the pre-2009 levels unless specifically stated otherwise.  

This qualification replaces: 
Qual ID Qualification Title Pre-2009 NQF Level NQF Level Min Credits Replacement Status
88544  Bachelor of Social Work  Level 7  NQF Level 07  512  Complete 

PURPOSE AND RATIONALE OF THE QUALIFICATION 
Purpose:
The Bachelor of Social Work seeks to provide learners with a thorough grounding in and a broad perspective of the theory of social welfare, social development and social work practice, including research and community engagement. This skill is in alignment with the requirements of the South African Council for Social Service Professions (SACSSP).

Qualifying Learners will be equipped with competencies to restore and promote the wellbeing of individuals, families, groups and communities through interventions, as well as to enhance their social functioning. Social workers work with marginalised members of society to help them identify the impact of social and economic oppression and exclusion, as well as to engage communities in social action to alter their socio-economic structures and improve their life circumstances.

A learner will gain social work knowledge such as theories of social work, models of intervention, social work skills and techniques that will enable them to intervene effectively and efficiently in socio-economic conditions that are challenging South Africa as a country. The qualification will position the learner for employment because of relevant and appropriate skills that they are going to acquire. The qualification will equip them for different fields of social work such as professional social work, medical social work, community development, probation and generic social work.

Rationale:
The qualification is designed to meets the needs of the social welfare and social services sector. The qualifying learners will operate in various employment opportunities as Social Worker, Programme Manager and Lecturer.

The needs of South Africa and employers demand that social workers are well-grounded in general practice with knowledge, understanding and skills in a variety of settings. Social workers will deal with many of the consequences of social inequality, poverty and marginalisation. These include, amongst others, high levels of unemployment, child abuse, domestic violence, crime, drug abuse and HIV/AIDS.

The South African government declared the qualification as a scarce skill, the institution sees itself as playing a part in the alleviation of the shortage of social workers. Most learners are on the National Department of Social Development Scholarship, and upon completion, they will have to work for the Department of Social Development. However, some learners take employment opportunities in Non-Government Opportunities (NGO's), Academia, National and Provincial Departments of Social Development, Health as well as Correctional Services.

The requirements for a National Child Protection Register (Part B) and Police Clearance should be met before a learner can be registered as a Student Social Worker with the South African Council of Social Services Profession (SACSSP). Registration as a Student Social Worker with (SACSSP) is compulsory from the second year of Bachelor of Social Work study, also, the learner should have passed all first-year social work modules. 

LEARNING ASSUMED TO BE IN PLACE AND RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING 
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL):
The institution's Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) policy guides the implementation of RPL. The assessment of RPL occurs in a variety of ways, and there is no one set way of assessing prior learning. In each case, the learner must provide evidence to support the assessment decision reached as each RPL case will be different and may include one or more approaches.

Since the qualification is designed to meet the needs of the social welfare and social services sector, RPL will only be considered for learners with a qualification, experiential learning in social welfare and social services FET certificates such as Social Auxiliary work (NQF Level 4) or Child and Youth Care Worker (NQF Level 4) but these will be used only to gain entry into the BSW qualification not for exemption of modules.

Transfer of credits from one institution will only be considered for Bachelor's equivalent modules such as Psychology, Sociology and Development Studies, also, the learners should have obtained all Social Work modules in the first year before they can register for the Second Year.

Entry Requirements:
The minimum entry requirement for this qualification is:
  • National Senior Certificate, NQF Level 4 granting access to Bachelor's studies.
    Or
  • Senior Certificate, NQF Level 4 with endorsement. 
    		•

    RECOGNISE PREVIOUS LEARNING? 
    Y 

    QUALIFICATION RULES 
    This qualification consists of the following compulsory and elective modules at NQF Level 5, 6, 7 and 8 totalling 510 Credits.

    Compulsory Modules at Level 5, 60 Credits:
  • Introduction to Social Work, 15 Credits.
  • Introduction to Social Work and Practicum, 15 Credits.
  • Practical English IA, 15 Credits.
  • Practical English IB, 15 Credits.

    Elective Modules at Level 5, 30 Credits (Select two modules per group):
    Group A:
  • Introduction to Sociology, 15 Credits.
  • Introduction to Psychology, 15 Credits.
    Or
    Group B:
  • Introduction to Psychology, 15 Credits.
  • Development and Underdevelopment, 15 Credits.

    And select two modules per group, 30 Credits.
    Group A:
  • Social Change and Development, 15 Credits.
  • Applied Psychology, 15 Credits.
    Or
    Group B:
  • Applied Psychology, 15 Credits.
  • Community Project and Development Facilitation, 15 Credits.

    Compulsory Modules at Level 6, 60 Credits:
  • Social Work Intervention with individuals (Casework and Laboratory sessions), 15 Credits.
  • Human Behaviour and Social Environment, 15 Credits.
  • Social Justice and Human Rights, 15 Credits.
  • Social Work Field Practice (Casework and Group Work), 15 Credits.

    Elective Modules at Level 6, 60 Credits (Select two modules per group):
    Group A:
  • Social Psychology, 15 Credits.
  • Sociological Theories and Social Institutions, 15 Credits.
  • Development Concept: Economic and Social, 15 Credits.

    Group B:
  • Developmental Psychology, 15 Credits.
  • Integrated Rural Development (Sociology), 15 Credits.
  • Integrated Rural Development (Development Studies), 15 Credits.

    Compulsory Modules at Level 7, 90 Credits:
  • Community Work Theory, 15 Credits.
  • Community Work Practice (Practical), 15 Credits.
  • Developmental Social Welfare and Policy, 15 Credits.
  • Introduction to Social Work Research, 15 Credits.
  • Integrated Social Work Practice with Individuals, Groups and Communities (Theory), 15 Credits.
  • Integrated Social Work Practice with Individuals, Groups and Communities (Field Work), 15 Credits.

    Elective Modules at Level 7, 30 Credits (Choose two modules):
  • Psychopathology, 15 Credits.
  • Theories of Development and Social Change, 15 Credits.
  • Integrated Urban Development, 15 Credits.
  • Cross-Cultural Psychology, 15 Credits.
  • Theories of Development and Social Change, 15 Credits.
  • Project Management and Evaluation, 15 Credits.

    Compulsory Modules at Level 8, 150 Credits:
  • Diversity in Social Work, 15 Credits.
  • Supervision, Management and Administration in Social Work, 15 Credits.
  • Social Work in Occupational Settings, 15 Credits.
  • Field Work - Block Placement (Work Integrated Learning), 75 Credits.
  • Social work Research Project, 30 Credits. 
    		•

    EXIT LEVEL OUTCOMES 
    1. Develop and consolidate a professional identity as a social worker.
    2. Apply the core values and principles of social work.
    3. Holistically assess and provide an intervention with individuals, families, groups, and communities.
    4. Demonstrate competence in the use of codes of ethics vis-à-vis the moral impulse.
    5. Work with a range of diversities of people.
    6. Undertake research in Social Work related matters.
    7. Know, practice skills, and theories in Social work.
    8. Know Social Work related policy and legislation.
    9. Write and communicate the professional knowledge of Social. 

    ASSOCIATED ASSESSMENT CRITERIA 
    Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 1:
  • Understand the power of process and building sound relationships.
  • Demonstrate the ability to advancing human rights, and working with and for the most disadvantaged groups in society.
  • Show commitment to work toward social justice and egalitarian societies.
  • Understand self as an important instrument of intervention
  • Display commitment to caring, building humane societies, and mutual inter-dependence.
  • Use validation as one of the core empowerment strategies in working with individuals, families, groups, and communities.
  • Display willingness to be for the other, and ability for empathic entry into the lifeworld of people.
  • Demonstrate skills in critical thinking and scholarly attitudes of reasoning, and openness to new experiences and paradigms.
  • Demonstrate commitment to professional ethics and on-going professional development.
  • Deal with complexity and ambiguity and to think on one's feet.
  • Show an understanding of social work as a context-embedded, proactive, and responsive profession.
  • Display the ability to use supervision effectively in practice.
  • Demonstrate the ability to understand the links between the personal and the professional dimensions of life and the relationship between the micro-and the macro-aspects of learners' lives and the lives of people whom they engage with.

    Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 2:
  • Demonstrate the ability to respect the inherent worth and dignity of all human beings.
  • Show understanding that every person can solve his/her problem.
  • Separate acceptance of the person while challenging and changing conditions and behaviours that are self-destructive or harmful to others.
  • Exhibit the ability to uphold the value of doing no harm and practising beneficence.
  • Understand mutual inter-dependence among human beings and between human beings and other living entities, show commitment to inter-generational equity and continuity (third-generation rights) as advocated by 'green' social work.
  • Demonstrate the ability to respect the rights of people to inclusion in decision-making and the planning and use of service.
  • Demonstrate the ability to respect rights to self-determination (with due consideration to potential structural constraints).
  • Show the ability to respect rights to confidentiality within legislative constraints.

    Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 3:
  • Recognise humans as Bio-Psycho-Social (BPS) beings, as the biological, psychological, and social (including the spiritual) dimensions of life are interconnected and mutually reinforced.
  • Undertake holistic BPS assessments to facilitate holistic intervention directly and/or through referrals to appropriate professionals and resources.
  • Understand the Person-in-Environment gestalt, appreciating that the environment consists of the natural, geographic environment and the various social systems, both proximate and distal, that surround and impact individual and family functioning.
  • Understand how historical and contemporary BPS approaches impact on human functioning and capabilities development.
  • Display the ability to undertake appropriate interventions ranging from direct protective/ therapeutic/ educational interventions with individuals, families, and groups to broader community interventions, including education, social activism, and/or advocacy at local, regional, and/or international levels.
  • Use a range of strategies to monitor and evaluate interventions.

    Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 4:
  • Display awareness of international, regional, and national statements of ethical principles and codes of ethics.
  • Demonstrate critical engagement with codes of ethics.
  • Recognise the inter-relatedness between the moral impulse and codes of ethics.
  • Show awareness of the boundaries of professional practice and what constitutes unprofessional conduct.
  • Demonstrate understanding of principled ethics and feminist relational ethics, and skills of negotiating ethical.
  • Ensure that decision-making is through discourse ethics and dialogue, and peer consultation and supervision.

    Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 5:
  • Show self-awareness regarding personal and cultural values, beliefs, traditions, and biases and demonstrate how these might influence the ability to develop relationships with people and to work with diverse population groups.
  • Show the awareness of self as an individual and as a member of collective socio-cultural groups in terms of strengths and areas for further development.
  • Demonstrate the competence in non-discrimination based on culture, nationality, ethnicity, religion, language, race, gender, language, physical status, and sexual orientation.
  • Minimise group stereotypes and prejudices and to ensure that racist, sexist, homophobic, and xenophobic behaviour, policies, and structures are not reproduced through social work practice.
  • Form relationships with, and treat all persons with respect and dignity irrespective of such persons' cultural and ethnic beliefs, gender, nationality, language, religion, disability, and sexual orientation.
  • Demonstrate the ability to serve as cultural mediators through the use of constructive confrontation, conflict- mediation, discourse ethics, and dialogue where local cultural values, traditions, and practices might violate universally-accepted human rights, as entrenched in national, regional, and international human rights instruments.
  • Show awareness of the importance of inter-sectoral collaboration and teamwork across disciplines and among social service professionals.

    Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 6:
  • Demonstrate appropriate skills in the use of qualitative and/or quantitative research methods.
  • Recognise and apply the ethical requisites of social work research.
  • Use research to inform practice and vice-versa.
  • Display the ability to appreciate the value of practice-based research, of practice as research, and research as practice.
  • Document and communicate research findings to professional and non-professional audiences.

    Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 7:
  • Make a judicious selection from the wide range of available knowledge and theories to facilitate conceptualisation at higher levels of abstraction.
  • Select from a range of theoretical perspectives and practice skills to facilitate effective interventions at the level of the individual, family, group, organisation, and community.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the structural determinants of people's lives and how criteria such as race, class, gender, language, religion, geographic location, disability, and sexual orientation might constitute sources of privilege and/or oppression.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the complex relationship between the power of structural determinants and the power of human agency, and the relationship between freedom and responsibility.
  • Show awareness of strategies to facilitate praxis and consciousness-raising to enable people to understand and challenge structural determinants of normalisation, and oppression and/or privilege.
  • Demonstrate a critical understanding of how socio-structural inequalities, discrimination, oppression, and social, political, economic, and environmental injustices impact on human functioning and development at all levels.

    Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 8:
  • Demonstrate an understanding of how social welfare policy and legislation influence the conception of issues as social problems, interventions, and resource allocation.
  • Analyse, formulate, evaluate, and advocate for policies that enhance human wellbeing and environmental sustainability.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between law and social work.
  • Apply knowledge of global, regional, and national declarations, policies, and legislation relevant to social welfare and social work.
  • Apply knowledge of national, provincial, and local governance structures, and the general laws and charters governing social welfare policy and social work services in South Africa;
  • Display an understanding of the historical, political, and economic dimensions of welfare policies.

    Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 9:
  • Write coherent, logical, grammatically correct, and well-considered reports/memos whether for internal or external use.
  • Show awareness of the ethical and legal aspects of report-writing.
  • Show awareness of the targeted audience of any particular communication; the central messages to be communicated and how these are to be communicated, for example, probation reports; reports for children's court inquiries, divorce settlements, referrals for medical/psychiatric assessment and treatment; support for a social action campaign.
  • Demonstrate clear, coherent, and engaging oral communication skills.
  • Display the ability to apply interviewing skills.
  • Record and disseminate social work research findings and knowledge.
  • Display the ability to function in a multilingual context and to use oral and/or written translation and interpretation when necessary.

    Integrated Assessment:
    The qualification follows an integrated approach of assessment which adheres to the institution's assessment policy, which prescribes that assessment conducted continuously and conduct at least a minimum of 4 assessments during the term.

    The types of assessments used in the Department of Social Work are in line with the institutional requirements and includes the following:
  • Individual and group assignments
  • Case-studies
  • Group presentations
  • Book and journal reviews
  • Projects,
  • Portfolios
  • Tests
  • Written or oral examinations

    Formative and summative assessments:
    Learners receive various assessment formative and summative assessment tasks in the form of tests, assignments, projects and case studies in all levels of the qualification. Each social work module has its module outline wherein applicable tasks (tests, assignments, exams and practical reports), and methods of assessment are stipulated.

    The Department of Social Work will use both formative and summative forms of assessment as stipulated in the assessment policy. The university's minimum requirement for the summative evaluation is (examination entry requirement) is 50% as specified in the institution Assessment Policy. In contrast, the department's examination entry requirement is 50 % for each module in a bid to enhance quality output. The final mark should be based on both continuous assessment and final examination. 
    		•

    INTERNATIONAL COMPARABILITY 
    This qualification compares favourably to similar international qualifications.

    Country: United States of America.
    Institution: Binghamton University.
    Qualification Title: Bachelor of Social Work.
    The Binghamton University qualification prepares learners for generalist practice and focuses on understanding social work values, ethics, and professional behaviour, which is similar and core to the South African qualification. Through a generalist lens, learners will gain the knowledge and skills they need to work with individuals, families, groups, organisations, and communities. It is similar to the proposed qualification in that it explores historical oppression, structural inequality, and work towards navigating complex systems.

    Country: United States of America.
    Institution: University of Albany.
    Qualification Title: Bachelor of Social Work.
    The University of Albany qualification is deeply committed to advancing social, economic, and environmental justice, which is similar to this qualification and it focuses on health disparities, international social work, mental health services, chemical dependency, foster care, and social policy development and increases their awareness of social injustices and the impact that social injustice has on access to education, resources, and beneficiaries of services;

    Country: Germany:
    Institution: Hochschule for Angewandte Wissenschaft Und Kust (Hawk), University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Holziminden.
    Qualification Title: Bachelor of Social Work.
    The Germany qualification maximizes the empowerment of clients and communities to reduce clients' and communities' experiences of oppression and institutional violence. It is similar to the South African qualification as it relates to diverse populations and develops cultural competency through their learning processes. 

    ARTICULATION OPTIONS 
    This qualification allows possibilities for both vertical and horizontal articulation.

    Horizontal Articulation:
  • Bachelor of Arts Honours in Social Work, NQF Level 8.

    Vertical Articulation:
  • Master of Social Work, NQF Level 9. 
    		•

    MODERATION OPTIONS 
    N/A 

    CRITERIA FOR THE REGISTRATION OF ASSESSORS 
    N/A 

    NOTES 
    N/A 

    LEARNING PROGRAMMES RECORDED AGAINST THIS QUALIFICATION: 
    When qualifications are replaced, some (but not all) of their learning programmes are moved to the replacement qualifications. If a learning programme appears to be missing from here, please check the replaced qualification.
     
    NONE 


    PROVIDERS CURRENTLY ACCREDITED TO OFFER THIS QUALIFICATION: 
    This information shows the current accreditations (i.e. those not past their accreditation end dates), and is the most complete record available to SAQA as of today. Some Primary or Delegated Quality Assurance Functionaries have a lag in their recording systems for provider accreditation, in turn leading to a lag in notifying SAQA of all the providers that they have accredited to offer qualifications and unit standards, as well as any extensions to accreditation end dates. The relevant Primary or Delegated Quality Assurance Functionary should be notified if a record appears to be missing from here.
     
    1. Work Skills Resources CC 


    All qualifications and part qualifications registered on the National Qualifications Framework are public property. Thus the only payment that can be made for them is for service and reproduction. It is illegal to sell this material for profit. If the material is reproduced or quoted, the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) should be acknowledged as the source.