Social Worker qualification - where to begin

[Suade7]

Please help, I am now 26 and have been floating from one job to another since leaving school. Going to University and fees etc are unfamilliar territory to me. I have very recently begun a maternity position at an autistic school, I absoloutely love it and have for a long time wanted to help disabled/autistic/homeless children/adults. I have come to a point though where I now have the opportunity to go back and study once the maternity job has finished and I would love to get into social work and perhaps with a degree I could enter into it abit higher up. I don't know where to start though, do I need to find out what Uni offers a social work degree, see if they will accept me and then apply for a grant (are grants still available) and what jobs are available once you graduate in social work? Thank you so very much for any suggestions or advice, it will be greatly received,xx

[nuttymum]

I'm soory I really don't know about the application and grants side of the question, but go for it! My uncle had worked in retail for almost twenty years and had always hated it, and the at the age of 38 and two children decided to start all over again in social work, which made him v poor for a good few years and was hard work with 2 young children to support, but he passed and said it was the best decision he'd made in years. Good luck

[Buenchico]

See here:
http://www.learndirect-advice.co.uk/helpwithyo urcareer/jobprofiles/profiles/profile709/
(In particular, check out the links).

To search for university courses, use the UCAS website:
http://www.ucas.ac.uk/search/index.html

Information about student finance is also on the UCAS site:
http://www.ucas.ac.uk/studentfinance/index.htm l

Chris

[Suade7]

Thanks so much for your answer's,x