Section 3: MSW Field Education Requirements and Curriculum

As the signature pedagogy for social work, the intent of field education is to “integrate the theoretical and conceptual contribution of the classroom with the practical world of the practice setting.”1 Berkeley’s concurrent model of MSW field education requires students to engage simultaneously in academic classroom learning and agency-based experiential learning in approved field placements. 

Berkeley Social Welfare’s MSW Program aims to educate and train graduates for professional, multilevel social work in specific areas of practice. The MSW field education program supports and contributes to this mission by:

  1. Providing students with opportunities to strengthen their ability to integrate values, knowledge, and skills while simultaneously engaging in graduate course work and sequenced real-life practicum experiences;

  2. Helping students achieve mastery of professional competencies through progressively immersing them into the role of professional social worker while being provided with formative and summative evaluation from agency field instructors; and,

  3. Facilitating the development of strong lifelong practice learning competencies in students, including using consultation, being self-reflective, considering multiple, often conflicting sources of knowledge, applying critical thinking and ethical decision-making skills, and demonstrating effective response to common agency-based dilemmas.

We achieve these objectives for competency-based field education by selecting, arranging, and monitoring field placements; leading field integration seminars; and working collaboratively with students, practice professionals, and academic faculty members to develop and advance multilevel social work practice knowledge, skills and abilities.

Notes

1. Council on Social Work Education, 2015 Educational Policies and Accreditation Standards