At 54 years old, Nick Aslett is one of several students on the MSc Social Work programme who have made the decision to re-train mid-career, a growing trend in today’s society.
Switching jobs is not something that appears to phase Nick however, who has held several different senior positions throughout his career.
Nick was already Deputy Head of a Bristol secondary school in the 1980s when he became aware of the Every Child Matters campaign which, he says, ‘spoke to him’.
The message behind the campaign was:
For every child, whatever their background or circumstances, to have the support they need to: stay safe. be healthy. enjoy and achieve.
This ater encouraged him later to change paths and take up an opportunity in a Local Authority as an Integrated Service Manager – bringing together education, health and social care.
Over the years, Nick progressed to become Head of Integrated Children’s Services in South Gloucestershire.
Throughout his time within local authority however, Nick had always said to himself that he would like to finish his career back on the ‘front line’. Then, when his family had grown up, the opportunity finally presented itself to re-train as a social worker through a master’s degree at the School for Policy Studies: The MSc in Social Work. Nick said of the degree:
The programme was brilliant. Everything you need to prepare you for practice.
I felt really well supported and the placements were appropriately selected to allow me to build my knowledge base in children and families, but also to explore a new interest in adult mental health.
After a thirty-year hiatus away from a formal educational environment, Nick admits he did not know what to expect on his return to the classroom. And in many ways, he was cynical that the academic theory would be detached from the realities of direct practice.
Not only did the programme help to dispel this myth, but also Nick now feels that he made the right decision to follow an academic pathway. He credits the opportunity the programme gave him to gain perspective and build the foundations of his practice away from the influences of process-driven, risk-averse, compliance-based environments.
Nick Aslett
Nick added that he had an opportunity he felt was a central part of this route into the practice:
I actually felt privileged to listen to the lecturers. It’s a different type of education on a master’s programme. It gave me the freedom to think, to explore and challenge.
Now a Child Protection Social Worker in Wiltshire Council, Nick says he loves the challenge and the opportunity to immerse himself in research-based practice within the community.