Advice Wife being kicked out of uni

[wnb]

Hi all,

I have been supporting my wife for the last 3 years with doing a Social Work degree she has done very well and she has 99% attendance and is expected to achieve a 1st when she finishes in May this year.

Currently she is on work placement working with children. I wont go into a lot of detail but another student on her course said to my wife she was taking cocaine and my wife ended up saying to her work place mentor that she knew of another student who was taking drugs. The mentor told her course tutor a Uni, the Uni said to my wife if you don't tell us the name of the student who is taking drugs we will suspend you and you will be kicked out of Uni.

My wife decided to give the name of the student and now the Uni are saying that because she did not report the student directly to the Uni she now faces suspension and possibly be kicked out.

This seems grossly unfair to me.

The student who was taking the drugs has been suspended and she has her meeting with the Uni on Tuesday. The wife has said that she has met with the Student Union and they will support her through it.

The SU has said you probably wont be kicked and she has support from a few of her lecturers.

I'm looking for advice on how to get a good outcome for my wife. Does anyone know of any organisations \ Solicitors who has experience with dealing with the above? I'm not about to sit on my backside and wait for a good \ bad outcome I have already tried calling my solicitor about this but I could not get in touch with him. I have suggested to the wife about speaking to our local mp to see whether or not he can help us. She is labour and she called him a tory .......

 

[wnb]

its very easy to get kicked off a social work course, if she has in anyway fallen foul of the HCPC standards of proficiency for social workers in England then she is done for.

Reporting concerns about another student and drugs should have been done directly to her tutor right away, without delay! she might be saved by speaking to her practice educator, but depends on time frame.

you have to look at it this way, if there was any delay and that student was in contact with vulnerable adults or children then she has put service users at risk.

It took two weeks for the Uni to suspend the student accused of taking drugs... One would have thougt if people were at risk the Uni would have moved quicker.

 

[wnb]

Sounds like your wife needs to learn how to keep her nose out of other people's matters, although I strongly suspect that tjere's more to this story than what you're telling us.

Their is always more to a story but as I explained in my post I wont go into detail. Prior to my wife whistle blowing on a 'coke head' she was a model student.

 

[wnb]

Your wife had a duty of care to report the incident to her mentor at the time she became aware of the event as the impact of the accusation could have directly impacted on the children in the care of that organisation. The mentors job is then to report that to the university and support the student through that. The student was also duty bound to report the incident to the university. The later is where the problem is. She should not have held on to the name that is negligent and is demonstrative of someone who does not grasp their responsibilities and professional accountability.

That there is a time interval here is understandable but it is also something that would not be deemed acceptable. That is why they are instigating such proceedings. Now I think under examination they will let your wife off and ask her to reflect on what she has learned from the incident. But at the end of the she had justifiable concerns and did not raise them immediately. That is something people look very dimly on. The university will be well aware the your wife will come out of her course with both and academic and a professional qualification. Unless you have done a course like that at university then it maybe hard to understand how that changes things from what normal students will expect.

She should be contact with her Student Union and contact the HCPC for advice. At the end of the day your wife is facing a very difficult time and I genuinely feel sorry for her as it is such a tricky situation. The lesson here is that in such jobs you have to absolutely keep to no chit chat at work and keep a very very strict line between work and everything else. The Student Union advise may be generic for students. However, students in faculties of Health and Social care are rightly held to different standards.

Your wife would be well advised to accept and recognise that she has done some 'wrong' and be willing to 'reflect' on that. That the other student took time to go is just a reflection of due process.

Thank you for your well thought out response.

At the moment my wife is not suspended the warnings came from one of the senior lecturers Yesterday. We have not had any communication regarding any investigation into my wife. I have read the code of conduct and associated policies and I will be meeting the student union rep with my wife but none of this will happen until after Tuesday. On Tuesday the student who took the drugs will be meeting with the Uni. Until we get some official response from Uni it is a waiting game. This week end I will be sitting down with the wife and going through what exactly happened.

 

[wnb]

Ok well that is very very different. You have had no official warning. You've got someone who has a bee in their bonnet and is likely not following due process themselves and is probably way off protocol.

So calm down a bit. Stop thinking about solicitors and start thinking about how your wife can present this as a learning experience of what she has gained from the situation that will make here a better social worker rather than an outright defence. If you go in all guns blazing chances are they will reciprocate.

I've been on the other side of this and by and large you don't want students to go you want them to learn from mistakes. Be open and honest is what I would advise your wife. Don't belittle what has happened. Explain she panicked, explain she was frightened, and most of all explain what she has learned. From that I sure you will have the outcome you want and she deserves.

And like I said in the other post. One thing I did learn in health and social care is you don't have friends at work and you keep things to pleasantries only. Keep the two worlds apart as it is better for you if the emotional baggage doesn't come home. There is nothing wrong with keeping your head down, staying professional with workers, and being a bit aloof. It prevents all this kind of rubbish.

I do go guns blazing and can be very defensive and my wife is the opposite which is good as she has the ability to calm me down I'll take on board what you and others have said and I'll ignore what some people have posted

 

[wnb]

Agreed but it probably didn't happen the way he is telling it.
He couldn't even be bothered to reply since post 71.

It' not that I have not been bothered it's just that I have not had time. So far nothing has happened, the student who took coke had a meeting on Tuesday but we do not know the outcome and the Uni as far as we are aware have not done anything with regards to my wife.

 

[wnb]

Just an update on what has happaned so far. The student who took coke was suspended whilst the investigation ongoing has denied that she has ever taken drugs. She is no longer suspended and is currently working with children in her Social Services placement.

It looks like that pretty much the end of it, the Uni has no proof that the student took coke and its one persons word against another.