Become a Field Agency

Information for Future Field Instructors and Agencies

We are extremely grateful to government, nonprofit and public service agencies who share our devotion to serving vulnerable individuals, families and communities while cultivating excellent future practitioners. In exchange for offering learning opportunities and instruction, agency partners receive 100,000 service hours annually.

We identify, recruit and select field sites that meet the following criteria:

  1. Share our mission of serving vulnerable populations in alignment with the values, approaches and ethics of social work;
  2. Employ a qualified field instructor who holds an MSW degree from an accredited program, has two years or more of post-MSW work experience, and has worked for the agency for at least one year;
  3. Provide the field instructor with adequate time to provide orientation, clinical instruction, and administrative supervision to MSW students (no less than one hour per week and often more than this);
  4. Make a wide range of appropriate learning opportunities students so they may achieve overarching competency objectives; and
  5. Collaborate with School faculty to assess, teach and evaluate social work students as they assume practice roles.

Recruitment and Selection Processes for New Agencies

We recruit and screen interested field agencies twice a year. Spring recruitment begins in January. Agencies found to be appropriate and fitting during fall recruitment can participate in the field placement process for second year students, which begins in mid-to-late April. Spring recruitment begins in March. Agencies found to be appropriate and fitting during the spring recruitment cycle can participate in the field placement process for first year students, which begins in May. For more information about first and second year placements, please visit the Field Education Overview page.

2023-2024 Recruitment

We have monthly New Agency Webinars for agencies interested in hosting an MSW student intern for 2023-2024: (Choose One Date)

  • Wednesday, September 6, 2023, 12-1 p.m.
  • Wednesday, November 1, 2023, 12-1 p.m.
  • Wednesday, December 6, 2023, 12-1 p.m.
  • Wednesday, January 10, 2024, 12-1 p.m.
  • Wednesday, February 7, 2024, 12-1 p.m.
  • Wednesday, March 6, 2024, 12-1 p.m.
  • Wednesday, April 3, 2024, 12-1 p.m.

If you would like to be considered as a field placement site, please do the following:

  1. Sign up for a new agency webinar here
  2. Once you have participated in a webinar, we will send you an application to complete and submit.

Annual training and access to the Social Welfare Library are provided to all approved field instructors and sites.

Recruitment and Selection Processes for New Field Instructors

We recruit and screen interested field instructors throughout the year. We host a New Field Instructor Training each August. For more information about field instruction training and support at Berkeley Social Welfare, please visit our Resources for Current Field Instructors page

If you are a new Field Instructor at an agency with existing placements with Berkeley Social Welfare MSW students, please contact swfield@berkeley.edu to be added to our database, and we will send you an application.

Questions?

Contact swfield@berkeley.edu