CRACKING THE CODE: FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE ACADEMIC SUCCESS ON THE SOCIAL WORK DEGREE: A NEWLY QUALIFIED BLACK SOCIAL WORKER‟S PERSPECTIVE

This is a qualitative study of eleven newly qualified black social workers (NQBSW) and five social work educators. The study was carried out in a post-1992 millennium university in England between 2015 and 2018. The study findings have been skilfully interpreted through the lens of a number of Bourdieu‟s thinking tools, namely „Capital‟, „Habitus‟, „Field‟ and „Knowing the Game‟. Together, they suggest that black students know how to „crack the code‟ and „Play the Game‟. The landscape may be changing for black students who historically have not performed as well as their white counterparts. However, when identities are not in threat, this group appears to perform as well as, if not better, than their white peers.
This ethically approved study aimed to identify factors that influence success on a university social work degree course. The objectives were to examine behavioural factors, differences in understandings and identify types of support embraced by NQBSW participants whilst undertaking the degree.
The voices of black students and their educator‟s have been documented through semi-structured person-to-person and synchronised interviews. Using interpretive phenomenology and a constructivist approach, reading, self-directed learning groups, determination, the diversity of the student population and participation were found to be influential factors for success on the degree course. Moreover, the study found that ethnicity, social forces, cultural values and the university conditions all had a role to play in the navigation of student success on the degree course.