4.1 Student Eligibility for Field Placement

All students accepted for admission into the Social Welfare MSW Program must be eligible for field placement, and for required coverage under the School's professional liability insurance policy. Admission to the MSW Program does not, however, automatically guarantee a field education placement. Students are assessed by their assigned Field Consultant faculty for initial eligibility for field education as part of the first year field placement process. Eligibility for field placement is monitored throughout the course of study. Students must maintain eligibility for field placement to be considered in good academic standing in the Social Welfare MSW Program.

Eligibility Criteria for Field Placement

To be eligible for initial or continuing enrollment in the required field education courses and placement in an agency-based field practicum, students must meet all of the following criteria:

  1. Students must be eligible for professional liability insurance coverage, as determined in the pre-placement insurance questionnaire.
  2. Students must be in full compliance with all mandatory health screening and immunization requirements as mandated by the University of California Office of the President.
  3. Students must have completed all required pre-placement safety training modules, and the university’s required sexual violence and sexual harassment (SVSH) awareness and prevention education courses.
  4. Students must have satisfied or be able to satisfy all concurrent enrollment requirements for placement into field education.
  5. Students must be able to demonstrate their understanding that serving vulnerable clients or populations in an agency setting requires a set of attitudes and capacities that are different from those related to classroom learning.
  6. Students must demonstrate the willingness and ability, with or without reasonable accommodation, to adhere to the standards of professional conduct and meet all essential performance expectations for the Social Welfare MSW Program as stated in the MSW Student Handbook.
  7. Students must be willing and able to demonstrate all of the following prerequisite professional behavioral abilities for field placement, with or without reasonable accommodation:
    1. Attend reliably and punctually. Because clients and colleagues rely on essential tasks being performed in a time-sensitive manner, students must show up and perform at the placement site consistently on scheduled days without a pattern of excessive absences (defined as a maximum of 1 absence within a 30-day period) or tardiness (defined as 1 or more arrivals later than 15 minutes within a 30-day period).
    2. Possess sufficient stamina, strength, sensory perception, mobility, or dexterity to perform essential tasks.
    3. Remain focused on and attentive to tasks so as to ensure quality and timely completion of service and projects.
    4. Remember and follow complex instructions with minimal repetition.
    5. Analyze, organize, and communicate large amounts of data sufficient to complete related records and reports.
    6. Simultaneously organize, prioritize, track, and complete a wide variety of tasks for multiple clients or projects in a timely manner.
    7. Display good judgment with respect to safety, ethics, and higher order priorities.
    8. Appropriately manage intense emotions, cognitions, and reactions that may occur in response to clients or agency events in order to remain in a professional role.
    9. Listen to and implement feedback given by clinical instructors and colleagues without becoming overwhelmed, reactive, argumentative, or defensive.
    10. Self-monitor and accordingly adjust their own behaviors so as to be in accordance with professional roles, standards, and contexts.
    11. Communicate and respond to communication in a timely, diplomatic, and effective manner.
    12. Respect the rights of clients and stakeholders to hold differing values and to refrain from imposing personal values on others.
    13. Possess sufficient skills in spoken and written English to understand and communicate relevant information.
    14. Display good judgment in communication, interpersonal behaviors, and personal and professional boundaries.

  8. Students must be able to successfully obtain an approved field placement through an interactive interview process with approved agency partners. Students who are not able to succeed at obtaining an agency-based placement after three interviews may be deemed ineligible for placement into field education and advised to withdraw from the Social Welfare MSW Program until more time has passed to meet agency eligibility requirements.

Students who are either unwilling or unable to satisfy all of these criteria may be deemed ineligible to begin or continue in field education.