Transfer of social work qualifications between Anglosphere countries

September 29, 2014 3:15 PM

How well do professional social work qualifications transfer between Anglosphere countries (US, UK, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia)?

I'm a US citizen doing a 2-year MSW in the UK. After successful completion of my program, I will be able to register with the Health and Care Professions Council. Though my endgoal is to practice in the UK, recent (albeit ultimately temporary: I just really missed Taco Bell) homesickness and an existential crisis leave me wondering how feasible it would be for me to eventually move back to the US to practice as a social worker. I understand that each state has its own licensing requirements, and the National Association of Social Workers has a process to review the suitability of international qualifications, but my hasty Googling has yet to turn up any firsthand experience from UK-to-US social work migrants of how much of a pain in the ass this process is.

Also out of curiosity, I looked into UK qualifications' transferability to other Anglosphere countries. It seems that transferring my future UK qualifications to Australia and New Zealand is a relatively simple and straightforward process. Canada, similar to the US, has the CASW Assessment of International Qualifications and additional requirements by province.

Are there any Social Worker MeFites who have ever started in one country and ended up elsewhere? What was the process like? What, if any, fundamental gaps are there between a UK MSW education and a US/New Zealand/Australia/Canada MSW education?

posted by quadrant seasons to Work & Money (3 answers total)

Having watched an LCSW friend move between US states, the biggest stumbling block was not the educational requirements but the post-degree supervised hour requirements.
posted by jaguar at 4:26 PM on September 29, 2014

Moving between states in the US can be difficult because it is is the state that ultimately does licensing tests. Generally the degree is awknowledged but the licensce is not. But that's for an LCSW- which includes supervisory hours after an MSW has been completed. Some states require someone transferring to get all their 3000 supervisory hours again( looking at you california). That's 1 hour of supervision per 40 hours of work. It is a huge pay reduction and then after that you retest. Other states have agreements to accept licensures. Many people practice some form of social worker in the US with no licensure at all. Depending on what you want you could probobly do just fine but will be rather low pay. To do private practice therapy you must have an LCSW from the state you practice in.
posted by AlexiaSky at 5:00 PM on September 29, 2014

I think gap wise coming to the US learning our convoluted and terrible safety net system and insurance is the thing you will have no experience in. The laws are hundreds of pages long and you will keep running into exceptions ALL the time. Even when it is what you do for a living. Of course resources are very location specific. Working in a urban area is completely different from working in a rural areas.

Honestly here most social workers get their specialities from on the job training. I know next to nothing about the child well fare system as I work with single adults. I do know tons about safety net issues but little about more working class issues. I know super little about immigration issues.
posted by AlexiaSky at 5:10 PM on September 29, 2014