Accredited by the Council on Social Work Education
Table of Contents
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS’ CODE OF ETHICS 4
FIELD EDUCATION FACULTY AND STAFF CONTACT INFORMATION AND CALENDAR (see website http://online.sfsu.edu/~swintern/Calendar/calendar.htm )
SCHOOL MISSION 5
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION 6
UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM (http://socwork.sfsu.edu/BASW.aspx )
GRADUATE PROGRAM (http://socwork.sfsu.edu/MSW.aspx )
OBJECTIVES OF FIELD EDUCATION 6
COMPONENTS OF FIELD EDUCATION 6
FIELD AGENCY QUALIFICATIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES 7
FIELD INSTRUCTOR QUALIFICATIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES 7
THE FIELD SEMINAR FACULTY AND LIAISON RESPONSIBILITIES 9
THE FIELD SEMINAR 10
THE FIELD EDUCATION COORDINATOR RESPONSIBILITIES 10
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES CONCERNING THE FIELD 11
ACADEMIC CREDIT FOR THE FIELD EDUCATION 11
GRADING FOR FIELD EDUCATION: FIELD CONTRACTING AND EVALUATION 12
POLICY ON REPEATED PLACEMENTS 13
POLICY ON THE USE OF EMPLOYMENT AS A FIELD PLACEMENT 14
PROCEDURES AND REQUIREMENTS FOR JOB CONVERSIONS 15
POLICY ON MALPRACTICE INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS 17
POLICY ON CHANGE OF PLACEMENT 17
PROCEDURE ON TERMINATION FROM THE FIELD PLACEMENT 17
POLICY ON CONFIDENTIALITY 18
POLICY ON TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION 19
POLICY ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT 19
POLICY ON PROHIBITION OF WEAPONS AT INTERNSHIPS 20
EDUCATIONAL POLICY 2.1 CORE COMPETENCIES 21
Field is the Heart of Social Work Education
The NASW Code of Ethics Summary of Major Principles
I. The Social Worker’s Conduct and Comportment as a Social Worker
A. Propriety. The social worker should maintain high standards of personal conduct in the capacity or identity as social worker.
B. Competence. and Professional Development. The social worker should strive to become and remain proficient in professional practice and the performance of professional functions.
C. Service. The social worker should regard as primary the service obligation of the social work profession.
D. Integrity. The social worker should act in accordance with the highest standards of professional integrity.
E. Scholarship and Research. The social worker engaged in study and research should be guided by the conventions of scholarly inquiry.
II. The Social Worker’s Ethical Responsibility to Clients
F. Primacy of Client’s Interests. The social worker’s primary responsibility is to clients.
G. Rights and Prerogatives of Clients. The social worker should make every effort to foster maximum self-determination on the part of clients.
H. Confidentiality and Privacy. The social worker should respect the privacy of clients and hold in confidence all information obtained in the course of professional service.
I. Fees. When setting fees, the social worker should ensure that they are fair, reasonable, considerate, and commensurate with the service performed and with due regard for the client’s ability to pay.
III. The Social Worker’s Ethical Responsibility to Colleagues
J. Respect, Fairness, and Courtesy. The social worker should treat colleagues with respect, courtesy, fairness, and good faith.
K. Dealing with Colleagues’ Clients. The social worker has the responsibility to relate to the clients of colleagues with full professional consideration.
IV. The Social Worker’s Ethical Responsibility to Employers and Employing Organizations
L. Commitments to Employing Organizations. The social worker should adhere to commitments made to the employing organizations.
V. The Social Worker’s Ethical Responsibility to the Social Work Profession
M. Maintaining the Integrity of the Profession. The social worker should uphold and advance the values, ethics, knowledge, and mission of the profession.
N. Community Service. The social worker should assist the profession in making social services available to the general public.
O. Development of Knowledge. The social worker should take responsibility for identifying, developing, and fully utilizing knowledge for professional practice.
VI. The Social Worker’s Ethical Responsibility to Society
P. Promoting the General Welfare. The Social worker should promote the general welfare of society.
MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of the School of Social Work is to provide educational foundations that promote just and secure communities, societies and global networks. It serves to educate human service providers for versatile, creative, and culturally sensitive practice in multiple settings and involving diverse populations. The School of Social Work promotes leadership, scholarship, activism, and change to achieve equity and social justice.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
Undergraduate Program (BASW)
The undergraduate program’s primary objective is to prepare social workers for beginning professional practice at the generalist level. This objective is designed to enable students to practice in a variety of agencies with entry level competencies commensurate with the values of the profession. Specifically, beginning practice means the ability to interact, in a helping capacity, with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and diverse communities, and with a specific mission to serve oppressed populations. Students enter the Social Work major in their junior year. All required courses within the Social Work curriculum address themselves to the stated program objectives.
Graduate Program (MSW)
FIRST AND SECOND YEAR PROGRAMS
The MSW program is divided into distinctive yet interrelated first year and second year programs. All first year graduate students are accepted into either the Title IV-E Child Welfare Training Program or the Individual Families and Groups (IFG) emphasis. Although both cohorts participate in most of the same classes, Title IV-E students receive additional training and enroll in child welfare-related practice and policy courses. They are placed at agencies that address the needs of populations required under the Title IV-E program.
· The first year full-time curriculum focuses on a generalist foundation of practice. Within the value framework reflected in our mission, they are provided content in the areas of human behavior and the social environment, the history and philosophy of social welfare, social welfare policies and services, social work practice methods, ethnic and cultural concepts and principles, and research methods, organized to reflect a specific focus on the urban context of practice.
· In the second year, students focus on the development of specific skills through classroom learning and practicum. In addition, second year students who are not in the Title IV-E Program may apply and be selected to participate in the Mental Health Stipend Training Program. These students are placed within agencies that are identified as being eligible under the requirements of the program. During the second year, the course work, field placements, and field seminars are designed to support intensified student learning
For more information, please go to http://socwork.sfsu.edu/MSW.aspx
OBJECTIVES OF FIELD EDUCATION
The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) states that “the intent of field education is to connect the theoretical and conceptual contribution of the classroom with the practical world of the practice setting. It is a basic precept of social work education that the two interrelated components of curriculum—classroom and field—are of equal importance within the curriculum, and each contributes to the development of the requisite competencies of professional practice. Field education is systematically designed, supervised, coordinated, and evaluated based on criteria by which students demonstrate the achievement of program competencies. “
The purpose of the field practicum is to provide students with practice experiences which complement the concepts, principles, theories and knowledge base presented in the classroom curriculum. Hence, the School expects the practicum to provide students with opportunities to test and reinforce the knowledge base of classroom courses.
For undergraduate students, field education provides them with an opportunity to develop generalist social work practice skills, and to apply social work intervention knowledge, skills and techniques in a variety of settings with diverse population groups.
For graduate students, field education provides students with an opportunity to develop further the knowledge, attitudes, values and skills required by professional social workers. The internship provides them with opportunities to carry out the functions of human service agencies and community organizations, and to test and reinforce their conceptual education. The successful completion of field education is essential preparation for students to enter advanced social work practice following graduation.
All students are expected to participate in choosing an agency, develop a field learning agreement, complete the contracted activities and goals in the agency, and, with the field instructor and the faculty liaison, evaluate their learning experiences.
Field agencies are asked to develop a student learning experience that reflects an understanding and application of the CSWE 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). The EPAS outlines ten competencies and 41 practice behaviors that social work students must learn and apply through the school’s curriculum and field practicum. For a more detailed description on the EPAS, please go to www.cswe.org. Faculty, participating agencies, field instructors and students are expected to be guided in their professional conduct by the NASW Code of Ethics.
MSW students are required to complete 480 hours of internship in their first year, and 720 hours during the second year. BASW students are required to complete 480 hours of internship during their senior year.
COMPONENTS OF FIELD EDUCATION
Field Education at San Francisco State University has FOUR major components:
1. The Field Agencies
2. The Field Instructors
3. The School of Social Work Faculty Liaison
4. The Field Seminar
FIELD AGENCIES
Field agencies are the backbone of BASW and MSW field education. Agencies are carefully chosen by the School of Social Work and by the students. The School has established a review process to screen potential field placements, and only agencies which meet the School’s criteria are utilized. From time to time, the school will conduct a survey of field agencies to access availability for placements and eligibility status. A lack of response to the survey from the agency may be grounds for removal from the approved list of agencies. It is the responsibility of every agency to keep the school informed of any changes; especially as it relates to the individuals identified as the field agency contact and/or field supervisors.
QUALIFICATIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
In order to be qualified to take BASW and MSW students:
1. The field agency must be a legal entity authorized to provide the social services which it is offering. Agencies must also certify a policy of non-discrimination as related to students, based on gender, sexual orientation, age, race, ethnicity, marital status, physical disability, political persuasion, and religious affiliation as a requisite for placement of students.
2. The field agency is required to identify the specific disadvantaged/oppressed constituencies it serves and offer services consistent with the mission of the School.
3. The agency should have an OFFICIAL FIELD EDUCATION POLICY which includes both the designated field instructor(s) and a general outline of the educational process which will be followed in the students’ training (e.g. conferences, workshops, etc.).
4. Agencies accept the responsibility for submitting qualification statements for field instructors being considered as additions to or replacements for originally designated field instructors.
5. The field agency must provide the students with the minimum number of required hours of supervision by an MSW.
6. The agency should have a range of services of sufficient breadth to provide students with opportunities to work in a variety of roles to meet their general and specific learning goals.
7. The agency must practice according to the values and standards of the NASW Code of Ethics.
8. The agency must be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act or be making reasonable efforts to comply.
FIELD INSTRUCTORS
QUALIFICATIONS:
The field instructor is the agency staff responsible for providing students with the required field supervision.
In order to be qualified to supervise students the field instructor must have:
1. An MSW degree from an accredited School of Social Work and at least three years of practice experience, and at least one year of experience in the agency.
2. A commitment to regular (weekly) supervisory conferences, plus additional informal availability, including some time to observe students directly. Interest in and willingness to participate in selected campus-based events related to the field education experience is also required. Ideally, the agency should provide practice and observational learning opportunities appropriate to the student level (undergraduate/graduate), as well as to the student’s program or emphasis.
AGENCIES WITH UNDERGRATUATE AND FIRST YEAR MSW STUDENTS are asked to provide a generalist focus with learning opportunities in at least two of the three practice levels (individuals, groups and communities), and to have extensive contact with various components of the social service system.
SECOND-YEAR MSW PLACEMENTS must provide focused learning/practice experiences in the student’s main emphasis and/or program affiliation (i.e. IFG, Mental Health, Title IV-E).
RESPONSIBILITIES OF FIELD INSTRUCTORS:
The agency field instructor is primarily responsible for the educational experience of the students who are assigned to the agency. In addition, the Field Instructor is responsible for the following:
1. LEARNING AGREEMENT: Develop a learning agreement with the student and faculty field liaison that addresses the specific educational objectives to be accomplished during the placement (please note the due date for the agreement).
2. SUPERVISION: Provide an opportunity for weekly individual and group supervisory conferences with students. Requirements include one hour of weekly individual supervision for BASW students, and one and one/half hours per week for MSW graduate students.
3. PROVIDE WORKSPACE: Create and maintain appropriate space and facilities within the agency for the student(s) to carry out their assigned learning objectives.
4. PREVENT PROBLEMS - WORKING WITH THE FACULTY LIAISON:
· Hold periodic conferences with the faculty liaison to discuss the student’s performance and other pertinent concerns, such as curriculum course content.
· Alert the faculty liaison as early as possible about potential problems facing a student.
· Refrain from taking an action against a student (e.g. dismissing a student from the agency) without previous consultation with the faculty liaison and/or the Field Director.
· Notify the School of a planned extended or permanent absence from the agency and provide, in writing, information regarding the new field instructor in case of changes.
5. EVALUATE STUDENTS: Submit a semester progress statement and a final written evaluation to the School on the student’s performance in the field by the designated due date, after consultation with the student and the faculty field liaison. Recommend a grade (Credit/No Credit) to the field liaison based on the student’s performance in relation to the learning agreement.