The SWU Assignment 2025 essay competition opens for entries on World Social Work Day (March 18th) and the closing date for entries is at end of day Saturday 14th June 2025.
Each year the Social Workers Union seeks to challenge and engage students and apprentices with the SWU Assignment — an essay competition for World Social Work Day in which we pose questions about current issues in social work.
The competition is open to Social Work Students undertaking an Undergraduate or Post Graduate Social Work Degree in the UK and to Social Work Apprentices. All completed assignments are judged by a Panel. Up to four of the most compelling arguments within the word limit of 750-1000 words win a grant of £500 each.
This year’s SWU Assignment question is:
“What are the most important things social workers should get from their professional training? What type of social work practice would they like to be involved in as they begin their professional careers, and why?”
Click here to see the flyer with further competition details.
Please forward your completed assignment before the closing date with a covering letter giving your name, address, university, year of study and academic tutor (if appropriate), or details of apprentice social work programme and supervisor/manager to: joanne.marciano@swu-union.org.uk
The assignment should be typed, have your full name, the assignment question as the title, and must follow an academic process; such as word count and Harvard Referencing System.
Click here to learn more about student membership with SWU and BASW – the specialist trade union and professional association for social work in the UK have a fantastic joint membership offer to support you through your social work journey!
Previous SWU Assignment winners
Congratulations to the winners of the 2024 competition: Adeola Ojora of the University of York, Isabel Lockwood of Manchester Metropolitan University, Naomi Winnifrith of Oxford Brookes University, and Sana Sultana Doctor of Staffordshire University who wrote winning essays!
Click here to download the four winning 2024 essays as a PDF.
John McGowan, General Secretary of SWU, said,
“I am delighted in the interest shown in this assignment. This topic of ‘Reflective Supervision’ and the importance of this for social workers appears to have been very popular this year and resonated with student social workers and apprentices who submitted quality entries.”
“SWU is proud to have worked on the recent Reflective Supervision Best Practice Guide and as a union to promote the importance of supervision. It is good to see that future social workers have a deep understanding of this, and this is important for new social workers.”
You are invited to meet the markers for the 2024 SWU Assignment and can find the details of the 2024 essay competition here.
Are you interested in reading the brilliant essays that have impressed the panel judges in previous years? Here is a list of all the winning SWU Assignment essays to date: