ABSTRACT
The first group of candidates began work on the pilot phase of the Social Work ASSET Programme in 1991. By the spring of 1995, the Social Work Programme was thus approaching five years of operation and was due for its regular ‘revalidation’ by the university. So this seemed an appropriate time to carry out an overall review, to provide a ‘systematic’ check on our thinking and also to help us to answer more simply and with more confidence some of the blunt questions we were being asked. Questions like: ‘Does it work?’ ‘Does it have any advantage over other curriculum formats?’ We therefore sent out a questionnaire form to each candidate enrolled on the programme who had completed at least one of the competence-based modules. We also asked the candidates to give a (different) evaluation form to her or his manager. Copies of these forms are included as Appendix H. (NB. The candidates were not asked to put their names on the forms, and they did not do so.)
The key issues we had in mind in designing the questionnaire forms were:
• Does the ASSET model lead to an improvement in practice? (questions 5, 6 and 7h; managers question 3)
• How does the ASSET model compare with other forms of professional development? (question 8; managers question 4)
• We also wished to elicit a general sense of candidates’ satisfaction or otherwise (questions 1 and 2) and to find out which aspects of the model were particularly significant in this respect (questions 3 and 4).
