On March 14, 2013, the Council for Social Work Education opened the public commenting period for individuals, schools, and organizations to make recommendations to help improve the social work degree. Social Work Helper conducted a focus group via twitter with educators, practitioners, and students to help identify the most important issues to the social work community.
Internship reform was the primary concern for focus group participants. Participants overwhelming believed that social work students should be able to customize their degree based on need and work experience. In my article, Suffering in Silence: Identifying the Oppressed, I go in more detail about why I believe this policy change is needed.
If students can’t be trusted to come to the best conclusion on the number of internship hours they need under counsel of their advisor, how can we entrust them as social workers to problem solve someone else’s life with no stake in the outcome?
Currently, the Council for Social Work Education has instituted a 400 hour (12 credit hours) minimum internship requirement for BSW and over 900 hours (18 credit hours) for MSW students. Most people believe it’s the NASW or individual institutions that have the power to reform the internship requirement, but the CSWE is the accrediting body who instituted this policy. Macro MSWs and BSWs are often competing in the job market against other generalist degrees in which the social work degree is not even listed as an acceptable degree.
These mandatory minimums prevent schools from innovating generalist and macro programs to be competitive against the degrees generalist students are facing in the job market, and they prevent students/consumers from tailoring a social work degree to fit their needs, projected goals, and desired career paths. Removing a mandatory minimum structure does not prevent students from continuing to take the same internship credit hours if that is their desire, but it does also allow for flexibility for those who want to specialize and/or who are already working in the field.
We understand that eliminating the 960 hour mandatory minimum internship requirement for the Clinical track MSW degree may be problematic since it’s the only master level degree that has the ability to conduct psychological assessments and/or treat mental health disorders. However, the Department of Psychology already uses the desired model for their Generalist and Clinical Psychology degree which can be viewed at http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/grcat/programpsyc.cfm.
Although my petition does not specifically request changes for clinical practice, there are many fact based reasons for changes. The generalist Master of Psychology degree does not require an internship, but instead uses a thesis and/or internship based model. Additionally, the clinical masters psychology degree requires only 10 credit hours in paid internships while the MSW requires 18 credit hours in unpaid internships. Social Workers always want to compare ourselves to Psychologist, what about in these instances.
* For Students with Work Experience or Working Practitioners, senior seminar or Capstone projects are both acceptable standards to demonstrate knowledge. Currently, the social work degree is the only degree that requires double or quadruple internship credit hours out of all disciplines.
- BSW Student who plan to take advantage of the Advance Standing Status and seek a Clinical MSW, they should be able to reduced internship credits and add more psychology course work. However, BSW Students with no work experience should be encouraged to continue incorporating internship hours in their plan of study.
- BSW Students and Nonclinical MSW Students should have the opportunity to customize their degree based on need, work experience, and desired career path whether this means taking more technology, business, clinical or political sciences courses in lieu of more internship credit hours.
- Traditional BSW Students and Non-Clinical MSW Students with demonstrated work experience should have Capstone projects as an alternative to demonstrate knowledge which is an acceptable standard across disciplines. Students should not have to pay college tuition to work for free when it creates a hardship and does not add value to the social work degree.
The purpose of the internship is to provide work experience and to prepare students for the work force, but these mandatory minimums retard student’s ability to tailor a social work degree to the individual instead of using a cookie cutter approach.
Eliminate the mandatory minimums for all BSW programs and the nonclinical/generalist MSW degree for 2015, and make it retro-active for current students. Let’s also use this as an exercise to show the power of social media. Public commenting ends May 4, 2014.
According to CSWE President Darla Coffey, “CSWE does not require programs to allow students to earn field credit through their employment – accrediting bodies are not that prescriptive. CSWE does require that they programs have policies in place in order to ensure consistency and transparently.” However, there is no enforcement to ensure students have the same opportunities available per institution. Removing the mandatory minimum internship requirements will provide students with more autonomy in choosing the best options available to them while still having counsel from their Advisors.
Before this solution is easily dismissed as a radical departure from the way things have been traditionally done, as social scientist we should be asking our schools of social work to analyze the demographics and trends of incoming students. What are the financial needs of students who enroll, have BSW enrollment declined into graduate schools, what does the make of the student enrolling look like?
If there is a skew towards traditional students versus non-traditional students, this is an indicator of a larger problem especially when recent studies report only 16 percent of students are traditional students. How is social work measuring up and what are the barriers to obtaining a social work degree.
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Barbara Neilson you are entitled to your opinion, and your complaint will be taken under advisement.
and btw, it’s not me that is “offended”. it is that it is a visual misrepresentation and an insult to the students in practicums and to the agencies they are getting their experience in, the communities they are serving and the clients they help.
what you can’t change the picture? why not?
Unfortunately, this will be the case until the public commenting period for the CSWE is over. Apologies for offending you.
What if I told you a Masters in Clinical Psychology does 10 credit hours internship hours while an MSW does 18 credit hours, and they get paid internships while MSW interns are unpaid? Although my petition does not address clinical practice, there are many fact based reasons for changes. The generalist Master of Psychology degree does not require an internship, but instead uses a thesis. Social Workers always want to compare ourselves to Psychologist, what about in these instances. http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/grcat/programpsyc.cfm
The degree should still prepare one to be a social worker. If students apply for jobs others are doing that is their choice. We have to have minimal requirements to prepare students to practice social work. Field work is what really prepares students. My fear is that we water down the degree
Do I misunderstand? No internship if you say you aren’t clinical? Or if you have work experience? My first response is that everyone with a Master’s in Social Work should have comparable, reliable experience. Worried that requirements/standards suffer.
if you are going to continually re post this issue, please use a realistic picture. I have never ever in over 35 years as a social worker, field instructor, student intern, or placement coordinator , heard of a social work practicum student getting coffee (unless preparing for a group) shopping, buying flowers etc. Clearly you have picked an intern from “The Hills” or some other show. it is demeaning to what a professional social work practicum is about.
Not that I really understand your system in the USA, but in Australia we do a mandatory 1000 hours over 2 different Fieldwork placements just for our 4 year Batchelor of Social Work. No wonder that I gather that you generally need an MSW in the USA. However we can choose where we do them.
As a non-traditional student who is concentrating in macro practice, I don’t agree. I had an excellent initial clinical placement and have had an excellent macro field placement for my advanced block of hours. I believe that having field placements with a clinical requirement are important formative educational opportunities that produce better macro practitioners. Just as clinical folk are often required to take macro classes to inform their understanding of the profession. jmo.
I agree with a lot of this petition, however, there are several typos in it that need revising. Particularly subject-verb agreement stuff.
Need to always introduce some clinical components in internships, even if you plan not to pursue mental health; also need to insure more work experience in social work academia as I see a disturbing trend where social work educators lack significant work experience…one needs to work to gain social work experience before pursuing a PhD in social work.
As a FT BSW student and a FT worker, it has been extremely difficult and stressful to start my field placement. I finally found a placement that fit my schedule but now I’ll have to work 7 days a week to complete my hours – it’s exhausting. I almost had to quit my job when we couldn’t find an evening/weekend placement. “Students should not have to pay college tuition to work for free when it creates a hardship and does not add value to the social work degree.” I’m paying more money for the practicum credit hours than I would make completing 400 hours at minimum wage. I happen to have a lot of work experience already and completing a Capstone project would be ideal; however, I also understand the value of an internship / field experience. I knew going into the program that 400 hours would be required and that I would have to make some sacrifices for my education. I can’t justify removing a mandatory minimum just because it’s inconvenient. I’m proud of the career path I have chosen and I WOULDN’T WANT TO LOWER THE STANDARDS OF THE PROFESSION. I think the minimums should remain the same but the credit hours for internships should be reduced or eliminated completely. It’s unrealistic to expect all students to find paid internships but we shouldn’t have to pay to work for free. By eliminating the cost of an internship, the amount of debt students accumulate would be reduced as well.
I Agree…students who can afford to go straight through from BSW, MSW, to get their PhDs are becoming educators teaching other social work students with internships as their only work experience. Individuals with work experience are deterred from the degree when the sacrifice needed to complete the sw degree is much higher than the degree’s post graduate market value. Generalist are realizing they can reduce cost and hardship by seeking another degree other than social work that has a higher value in the market in which they intend to seek jobs. It is my belief that BSW enrollment in MSW programs are declining and are being replaced by Psychology majors seeking the LCSW because otherwise they would need a doctorate to do what the LCSW does.
While I agree that field is highly important, I also feel as though students are being marginalized in many ways through framing free labor as education. Many professions have paid internships or much greater support than in most social work programs. I have also seen far too many times advisers and field folks use whatever is easiest for them or whatever maintains relationships with local agencies over the needs and desire of students. I just had an undergraduate student express to me a passion for starting up a not-for-profit and yet he is being pushed into case management because the program philosophy interprets generalist practice only being case management type tasks. I think the process needs to change and in a profession that is the lowest pay with some of the highest debt without return of any profession, students should at least get what they want out of it.
The only change I would make is that the 900 hours shouldn’t be unpaid. The work is necessary and rewarding – however it should be paid at at LEAST minimum wage. Other professions are paid during internships why not social work?
As a FT BSW student and a FT worker, it has been extremely difficult and stressful to start my field placement. I finally found a placement that fit my schedule but now I’ll have to work 7 days a week to complete my hours – it’s exhausting. I almost had to quit my job when we couldn’t find an evening/weekend placement. “Students should not have to pay college tuition to work for free when it creates a hardship and does not add value to the social work degree.” I’m paying more money for the practicum credit hours than I would make completing 400 hours at minimum wage. I happen to have a lot of work experience already and completing a Capstone project would be ideal; however, I also understand the value of an internship / field experience. I knew going into the program that 400 hours would be required and that I would have to make some sacrifices for my education. I can’t justify removing a mandatory minimum just because it’s inconvenient. I’m proud of the career path I have chosen and I WOULDN’T WANT TO LOWER THE STANDARDS OF THE PROFESSION. I think the minimums should remain the same but the credit hours for internships should be reduced or eliminated completely. It’s unrealistic to expect all students to find paid internships but we shouldn’t have to pay to work for free. By eliminating the cost of an internship, the amount of debt students accumulate would be reduced as well.
There’s no such thing as a “non-clinical MSW”. What about the student who declares herself macro and changes course after graduation? People who recognize the MSW as a preferred degree for their agency expect that a certain set of standards has been met. I work with lots of students who work full time throughout their studies. Especially in child welfare, they stay in their employment by moving to a different supervisor and job role to get new experiences. School is a commitment of time and money. I do not want to see our degree weakened, and would be suspicious of any degree program that allowed students to “customize” how many hours they allowed their students to practice in internships based on what the students felt they needed.
I had a BSW and 8 years of experience when I went for my MSW. the point of the practicum is to learn to put into practice what you are learning in classes. I went into my MSW feeling like with my experience I was not going to learn a lot. Boy was I wrong. I had so many haha moments that during that year that I would have not had before. My past experience made me ready to move beyond what I had been doing. and the practicum gives you the freedom to experiment with new ideas and not to have to be perfect. it is a learning experience not an accumulation of hours, and you need that time. as a field instructor a lot of the initial time spent at the beginning of a person coming into the practicum with a BSW, is to help them to see beyond the scope of what they have been doing. some take longer to get this. of course it is difficult for individuals to leave a paying job to get these hours, but you would be better off to fight for increased financial aid, then to try to reduce the hours and cheapen the degree
I just really feel like having an internship is important. I have a great deal of work experience but I am GREATLY looking forward to incorporating what I have learned in the classroom to my internship so I can actually practice it. I feel like if I do not have an internship to practice while I have the resource of my school still with me it would be terrifying. Social Work is a difficult but amazing career path. Having the 400 hours I think is very important for students to ensure some practice in the field before heading out into the real world.
Two points of fact that were brought up in the comments. Social Workers do not have the highest internship hour requirement. I know that the requirement for Mental Health Counselors is higher. Social Workers are also not the only licensed mental health professionals at the Masters level in most states. There are usually also Mental Health Counselors and Marriage & Family Therapists.
I also don’t believe that i could get behind this idea. I do believe that the cost burden for social work students doing internships is high, but i don’t believe lowering the minimum hour requirements is the answer. I would rather see a paid stipend for students or a reduction of the credit hours for internships, so that students are not paying to work. If you want to address the quality of internships, there are many other ways to address that issue.
I think those internship hours are an experience that sets the MSW apart. Clinical skills are used in macro work, and vice versa. In many cases, a student can create their own internship experience by asking their field supervisor to allow some of their clinical hours to be used in community meetings, etc. Field experience is important at all levels of social work. I’m a current MSW student, and sure, it would be easier and quicker to get around the requirements but I’m better for the internship hours. Also, the internship hours are integrated into the program and supported by the school. Job experience is not the same as the learning environment of internship. We are lucky to have the requirement built into the curriculum.
Nobody need to quit work to get the internship hours. In the previous insititution I was in, 95% of students were non traditional students and were working full time. They did their field hours in the evenings and on weekends. If they can do it, I do not see why others cannot. Standards by accrediting bodies are set up by intense discussion by qualified and experienced individuals. There are reasons why this is a “professional” degree. Would you go to a nurse or doctor who has not done their residency? We need to equate ourselves to those professions and not MBA etc. And macro social work is also an area that needs “skills” developed. Not just book knowledge nor count experience sitting behind a desk at your regular job. This petition is totally misguided.
I’m not for this policy change. Political/Macro social work students need the internship experience, hour for hour, as much as those students pursuing the clinical track. Instead, allow paid employment in field to count for internship hours and weekly field supervision is held on site.
Unfortunately, I can’t get behind this one. It’s been my experience, and that of my peers, that we learn way more in our internships than we did in the classroom. While 670+ hours (as advanced standing) was quite a bit – it was manageable. I do strongly agree that the current curriculum does not lend itself towards a well-rounded social worker and that students should be able to modify their placements based on their interests. Having a clinical placement when you want to be an administrator isn’t helpful. I also think internships should be paid. The idea that social workers are only in it for the ‘good feelings’ is not practical and harms the profession’s ability to demand better treatment.
The MSW is growing and is not in ANY danger of “ceasing to exist.” That is fear-mongering and goes against self-empowerment.
Our field is unique for several reasons – field placements being one of the things that strongly sets us apart. This proposal is wrong for social work as a profession. Those who disagree do not understand our profession, and the core on which we practice. I’m very sorry to see it getting any traction whatsoever.
Agree,
Please sign the petition and share.
Agree!