By Rachel L. West, MSW, LMSW
The 2012 Rothman Report Points to Troubling Signs that Macro Social Work is in Jeopardy
Back in 2012 the Association of Community Organization and Social Administration (ACOSA) released a report by scholar Jack Rothman that looked into concerns that were being voiced by many macro social workers and social work students.
The reason for the report being written was because the chair of ACOSA was hearing troubling reports about the state of macro (or community practice) social work from social workers and social work students. Essentially they were expressing a concern that macro social work was being squeezed out of the profession.
Between 2010 and 2011 Rothman sent out surveys to ACOSA members to find out what they were experiencing. The three most noted problems that emerged from the survey results were as follows:
- Many faculty in social work schools lack interest in or oppose macro courses and programs
- There is little or no hiring of macro faculty
- The school curriculum structure is primarily clinical
The report makes recommendations for how to remedy these problems. The top three recommendations made by those surveyed are as follows:
- Raise the visibility of macro practice and advocate for a strong place for macro social work within social work institutions and the public.
- Advocating with the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) to get involved
- Educate and advocate with the deans and schools about the importance of including macro course work in their existing program.
On June 3rd Social Work Chats had a discussion about the Rothman report and the current state of macro social work. Participants shared their experiences and discussed solutions. You can read the chat transcript here.
During the discussion some participants mentioned that their social work program did not offer enough macro course work. Some mentioned that while their schools did not actively dissuade them from pursuing macro social work that there was great emphasis placed on clinical practice and that there was little career planning information available to them that related to macro practice. Others brought up that there may be a problem with social work licensing focusing on direct practice.
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It important that we keep this dialogue going so we can come up with solutions. On Friday June 14th the Macro Social Work Student Network will be hosting a discussion panel on the Rothman Report. The event will take place at Hunter College in New York City. It is open to all social workers not just students and it is free. To register for the event go to http://macroswsnetwork.eventbrite.com/.
For those of you who are macro social workers or social work students, what has your experience been? Did your social work program offer macro course work or appropriately incorporate it into classes? Did you have difficulty locating a macro field placement? Where you actively discouraged from pursuing macro work? What do you think are the problems facing macro social work and what can be done to fix them?
By Zagalejo (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Hi Graciela:
I provide career coaching to individual community practice social workers. I am also an advocacy consultant for social good organizations who focus on social justice issues. Additionally I provide consultation on the use of social media to individual helping professionals and non-profits.
“And if she works with the latter, how, under this new envisioned plan, would a social worker learn to do this “micro” work without an internship?” I think you ment to comment on another article about the petition to CSWE that called for more flexible internship regulations. That petition, which was written by SWH’s founder and editor, DOES NOT call for the elimination of internships.
Yes, micro and macro skills compliment each other. my concern is with the over clinicalization of the profession. It is not just a focus on micro but the push for all social workers to be clinical social workers. You can learn more about this by reading the Rothman Report . You may also want to read Balancing Micro and Macro Practice: A Challenge for Social Work . I also suggest reading Unfaithful Angles: How Social Work Has Abandoned Its mission .
I also find it upsetting when people suggest that all social work students should have to do internships focused on clinical practice. No one ever says that all social work students must do internships focused on community organizing or social welfare policy, etc. If we really cared about balance we would ensure that social work students were able to get field placements that concentrated on micro and macro skills but that is not what is happening.
What kind of “coach” Ms. West is? And, does she work as a coach or consultant exclusively with groups or also individuals? And if she works with the latter, how, under this new envisioned plan, would a social worker learn to do this “micro” work without an internship? I am open to ideas, but my sense is that a compartmentalization between the “macro” and the “micro” is a false dichotomy. One of the basic tenets of the social work profession has been the notion that there is a dialectic interaction between the two. To say it more simply and w/out jargon: individuals influence the system, and the system influences individuals. They are indivisible; and If you want to change either of them, you will also have to learn how to work with the other one.
I think you have a great philosophy and approach into incorporating macro education into micro practice. I completely agree that women’s studies should be incorporated into core social work especially since the majority of social work students are women. My fear is that those who are in politics and policy positions who are also social workers are becoming fewer as time goes by. I ran across a post that I plan to share about a movement for social workers to become more conservative and republican in order to help people take personal responsibility for their lives. This scares me if this is the direction of social work.
As an MSW community organizer working in the political sphere (I describe myself as a “political social worker,”), I am not permitted to put an “L” in front of my name because I am not working in a traditional clinical position. I believe that Community Organizing should be part of the general curriculum in social work school. As an example, in both undergrad and my first graduate school (I also have an M.S.), a student did not have to be a “women’s studies” major in order to learn about women’s studies. It was integrated into every course that I took. I feel the same way about political advocacy. This way clinical professors will have to learn and teach about the connection between the work their clinical students do on and individual basis and the organizing, advocacy, and legislation that comes about as a result of this work. I supervise the community organizing social work students in our office, and always emphasize that if they understand the connection between the work clinical social workers do on the ground and the legislation that comes about at all levels of government, then I will have succeeded in my role as field adviser.