Section 1: Introduction

Welcome to Berkeley Social Welfare MSW Field Education!

Field education is often one of the most challenging, and simultaneously rewarding, parts of graduate social work education. Each year Berkeley MSW students contribute over 130,000 hours of vital support to over 150 public and nonprofit social service agencies and their vulnerable clients, while engaging in opportunities to gain and demonstrate social work practice competencies in real-world settings. Throughout the course of your field education experience, you will be trained and equipped with the knowledge of professional practices, policies, and programs required to address a wide range of contemporary societal problems. Upon graduation you will be prepared for professional practice as a master’s-level social worker within your chosen specialization area(s).

About this Guide

This Guide is your primary resource and reference guide to Berkeley MSW  field education requirements, policies and procedures. The Guide also sets forth the obligations that you have, not only to the School, but to the faculty and to your fellow students in terms of academic and professional conduct and ethical standards expected of all learners in field education. Everyone involved in field education - students, faculty, staff, and agency-based field instructors and field education partners, is accountable to the policies and procedures outlined in this Guide.

Your student guide to field education is meant to be viewed online, along with the MSW Student Handbook and the Graduate Division Guide to Graduate Policy, so you can readily access the active links to the resources and other campus units supporting graduate professional education at Berkeley included in this guide.

You are viewing the current 2021-22 edition of this guide. You can download or print a PDF copy from the MSW Student Guide to Field Education Contents page.