BSW Field Education Forms

As the profession’s signature pedagogy, field education is expected to provide the forum for creating an explicit and intentional connection between the theoretical and conceptual contributions of classroom and the practice settings that foster the implementation of generalist practice.

The integration of theory and practice begins prior to beginning the formal BSW curriculum with the Introduction to Social Work elective in the sophomore year. This course is required for all students applying to the BSW program. The course has as its major assignment a volunteer field assignment where students are exposed to multiple systems and levels of service within which social workers practice. Students complete a minimum of 32 hours of volunteer field experience in an agency setting approved by the course instructor. Students reflect on these experiences in the course through written assignments.

In their junior year in the BSW program students begin a pre-practicum field work year that is an integral part of their two-semester Social Work Practice & Learning Lab course sequence. Student assignments introduce them to generalist practice and begins the process of helping the BSW student identify with the profession, the ethics and values that guide social work practice and learn about the work.

Students are placed in internship assignments by the BSW Field Education Director based on their declared area of interest at the time they applied to the program. They are assigned to a field instructor, and work on organizational, community and group assignments. Students are in placement one hundred hours per course semester, a total of two hundred hours for the academic year. The field work assignment is the major assignment in the student’s Social Work Practice & Learning Lab courses.

In the senior year micro level generalist practice, with an emphasis on developing competencies and application of skills in child welfare and care coordination is the primary focus. Courses include learning how to assess the systems that may present when working with clients; creating and using a biopsychosocial to critically analyze, monitor, advocate on behalf of clients, and evaluate interventions.

    The Field Practicum, through its supportive and integrative nature creates the environment for student practitioners to use a range of prevention and intervention methods in their practice with individuals, families, groups, organization, and communities to ground themselves in generalist practice.