Field Placement Schedule and Attendance Requirements
Berkeley School of Social Welfare deliberately schedules academic and field days separately to avoid conflicts. Students are generally not allowed to miss academic classes because of field placement obligations. Subject to conditions described below, students may be allowed to petition for an alternate field schedule as long as it does not affect their ability to enroll in or attend required and desired elective courses. Any schedule modifications must be approved by the field agency and the student’s assigned Field Consultant as part of the Learning Agreement. Schedule adjustments are only approved on a semester-by-semester basis as academic schedules change each semester.
Unless otherwise arranged and pre-approved, first year MSW students are expected to be at internship for two, eight-hour business days, not including lunch or other break periods, on Wednesday and Thursday. Placement on other days and times is usually not possible due to academic scheduling requirements. First year placements usually begin the third or fourth week of September and end the last week of April or first week of May. Students must complete no less than 400 hours and often complete substantially more.
Unless otherwise arranged and pre-approved, second year MSW students are expected to be at internship for three eight-hour business days, not including lunch or other break periods, typically on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Second year students may be able to request a modification to their field schedule in order to enroll in required or desired elective courses, but approval is not guaranteed. Since academic schedules vary by semester, a modified field schedule may not be possible for both semesters of the second year placement. Second year placements usually begin the first week of September and end the last week of April or first week of May. Second year MSW students must complete no less than 720 hours and often complete substantially more.
For all field placements, internship start times, end times, and designated break times such as lunch typically follow the agency’s standard schedule for social workers in the same unit, unless otherwise negotiated and approved by the student’s agency-based Field Instructor and assigned Field Consultant. Internship days are normally 8 hours, not including a lunch break which must be taken on the student’s own time.
Supervision Requirements
Field Instructors are expected to provide no less than one hour per week of dedicated field instruction supervision time, in addition to appropriate administrative time. Field Consultant faculty will intervene directly with field placement settings and Field Instructors if they have any reason to believe field instruction is not occurring regularly as agreed, including meeting the commitment to minimum weekly supervision requirements.
Timekeeping Requirements
Students are expected to attend placement regularly. The Field Instructor should immediately discuss any significant problems with regard to attendance or punctuality with the student directly and notify the student's Field Consultant.
Students and Field Instructors are expected to keep accurate records of the student’s service time, as well as of field instruction supervision time, and to report them honestly to the Field Consultant on end-of-semester evaluation forms and during site visits. The Social Welfare MSW field program accepts time verifications when first semester progress reviews and final evaluations are due. Time is also monitored by field faculty during their quality assurance visits and consultations.