The Council on Social Work Education reviews for accreditation those undergraduate and graduate pro-grams in social work that apply for accreditation. The CSWE sets standards for social work education and promotes and improves the quality of education in social work programs. Students who attend schools
with accredited programs are assured that the quality of education meets national standards and generally have an advantage in securing employment following graduation because social welfare agencies prefer hir-ing graduates from accredited programs.
Until the early 1970s, undergraduate study in social work was generally recognized as an academic or preprofessional education; only the master’s degree was recognized as a professional degree in social work. However, because a majority of people employed as social workers did not (and still do not) have a graduate degree, the need for professional training at the baccalaureate level was recognized.
Effective July 1, 1974, accreditation requirements for undergraduate programs were substantially changed to emphasize professional preparation. In fact, the CSWE required that an accredited baccalaureate pro-gram “shall have as its primary stated educational objective preparation for beginning professional social work practice.”47Secondary objectives for bac-calaureate programs include (a) preparation of stu-dents for graduate professional education in social work and (b) preparation for intelligent, informed cit-izenship that brings an understanding of a wide range of social problems, intervention techniques to resolve such problems, and an understanding of social wel-fare concepts.
Master of Social Work (MSW) programs as a rule require 2 years of academic study. However, numer-ous graduate programs are granting advanced stand-ing to students holdstand-ing an undergraduate major in social work. Advanced standing (up to 1 academic year of credit) is given on the basis of the number of “core” courses taken as an undergraduate. Core courses are those that are required in both under-graduate and under-graduate programs and include classes in social welfare policy and services, social work prac-tice, human behavior and the social environment, social research, and field placement.*
The Council on Social Work Education has an accreditation standard that states:
Advanced standing is awarded only to graduates holding degrees from baccalaureate social work programs accredited by CSWE, those recognized
through its International Social Work Degree Rec-ognition and Evaluation Service, or covered under a memorandum of understanding with interna-tional social work accreditors.48
Because of the professional preparation focus of graduate programs, fieldwork is an important compo-nent of all MSW programs. Students spend an average of 2 to 3 days per week at an agency while receiving intensive supervision.
Although there is some variation in the format and structure of master’s programs, almost all of them have the following two components: (a) Part of the program has a generic social work practice focus. Courses taken to meet this generic practice focus are similar (and at some schools identical) to the core courses of an undergraduate program. Some schools offer this generic focus during the first year, a few offer it during the first semester, and others have course content in this area for both years. (b) For the second part of the program, the student selects a concentration area from several available options and then takes courses in this study area. There is considerable variation among graduate schools in the concentration options that are offered.
Some of the concentration options are policy analysis, planning, research and administration, com-munity organization, direct practice with individuals and small groups, direct practice with large groups, program development, community mental health, family functioning, health care, clinical practice, inner-city neighborhood services, social work in school systems, child welfare, consultation, aging, and crime and delinquency.
Individuals with MSW degrees often, within a year or two following graduation, assume supervisory or administrative responsibilities.
At the advanced graduate level, two additional programs are offered by some schools: (a) a “third year” program aimed at strengthening the profes-sional skills of the student and (b) a Doctor of Social Work (DSW) or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree.
The doctoral program requires 2 or more years of postgraduate studies.
*Guidelines for granting advanced standing in MSW programs differ among schools; interested students should therefore consult with the graduate schools they want to attend.
S U M M A R Y
The following summarizes this chapter’s content as it relates to the learning objectives presented at the beginning of the chapter. Chapter content will help prepare students to:
1.
Define generalist social work practice.The Council on Social Work Education in its Educa-tional Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) has defined generalist practice as:
Generalist practice is grounded in the liberal arts and the person-in-environment framework.
To promote human and social well-being, gen-eralist practitioners use a range of prevention and intervention methods in their practice with diverse individuals, families, groups, orga-nizations, and communities based on scientific inquiry and best practices. The generalist prac-titioner identifies with the social work profes-sion and applies ethical principles and critical thinking in practice at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels. Generalist practitioners engage diversity in their practice and advocate for human rights and social and economic justice.
They recognize. support, and build on the strengths and resiliency of all human beings.
They engage in research-informed practice and are proactive in responding to the impact of context on professional practice.49
2.
Specify roles assumed by social workers in social work practice.Social workers are expected to be knowledgeable and skillful in filling a variety of roles, including enabler, broker, advocate, activist, empowerer, mediator, nego-tiator, educator, ininego-tiator, coordinator, researcher, group facilitator, and public speaker.
3.
Describe social work practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and the community.Social work with individuals is aimed at helping peo-ple on a one-to-one basis to resolve personal and social problems.
When there are problems in a family, social ser-vices are often needed. There is extensive variation in
the types and forms of services that are provided by social workers to troubled families. One of the many social services provided to families is family therapy.
Almost every social service agency now provides some group services. The focus of social work groups has considerable variation, including social conversa-tion, recreaconversa-tion, recreation-skill development, educa-tion, task, problem solving and decision making, self-help, socialization, therapy, and sensitivity training.
The goal in therapy groups is generally to have each member explore, in depth, his or her personal or emotional problems and to develop a strategy to resolve those problems. In contrast, sensitivity groups seek to foster increased personal and interpersonal awareness and to develop more effective interaction patterns.
An organization is a collectivity of individuals gathered together to serve a purpose. The roles of social workers within organizations, and their interac-tions with organizainterac-tions (including their attempts to manipulate organizations), define much of what social workers do. There are basic structural conflicts between helping professionals and the bureaucratic systems in which they work. Numerous suggestions are presented on how social workers can survive and thrive in a bureaucracy.
Community practice is the process of stimulating and assisting the local community to evaluate, plan, and coordinate efforts to meet its needs. Social work is one of several disciplines that provide training in community practice. Practically all social workers, in one capacity or another, become involved in commu-nity practice efforts. Three models of commucommu-nity practice are locality development, social planning, and social action. The locality development model asserts that community change can best be brought about through broad participation of a wide spectrum of people at the local community level. The basic theme is, “Together we can figure out what to do and then do it.” The social planning model empha-sizes the process of problem solving. The role of the expert is stressed in identifying and resolving social problems. The theme of this approach is, “Let’s get the facts and take the next rational steps.” The social action model seeks to organize an oppressed group to pressure the power structure for increased resources
or for social justice. The basic theme of this approach is,“Let’s organize to overpower our oppressor.”
4.
Summarize the knowledge, skills, and values needed for social work practice.The nine competencies identified in the Educational Policy (CSWE, 2015) identify the knowledge, skills, and values needed for social work practice. This chapter presents these competencies.
The value base of social work includes: respect for the dignity and uniqueness of each individual; cli-ents’ right to self-determination; confidentiality; advo-cacy and social action to ensure the rights of those who are oppressed; accountability; an institutional orientation; respect for the spiritual and religious beliefs of others; and promoting social and economic justice and safeguarding human rights.
5.
Understand educational training for social work practice.The primary educational objective for undergraduate social work programs accredited by the CSWE is preparation for beginning professional social work practice. All accredited undergraduate and graduate social work programs are required to train their students for generalist practice. (MSW programs, in addition, usually require their students to select and study in an area of concentration.)
Whether or not you decide to pursue social work as a career, you can get involved in combating human problems.
Competency Notes
EP 6a Apply knowledge of human behavior and the social environment, person-in-environment, and other multidisciplinary theoretical frame-works to engage with clients and constituencies (all of this chapter).This chapter describes general-ist social work practice. It summarizes the following:
roles of social workers; social work with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and the community;
knowledge, skills, and values for social work practice;
and social work education.
EP 1a through EP 9d All the competencies and behaviors of the 2015 EPAS(pp. 88–90). This section reprints the knowledge, skills, and values needed for social work practice, as stated in the Educational Policy (CSWE, 2015).
Media Resources
Additional resources for this chapter, including a chapter quiz, can be found on the Social Work CourseMate. Go to CengageBrain.com.
Notes
1. BPD,“Definition of Generalist Practice,” discussed and advanced by the BPD Social Work Continuum Com-mittee and approved by the BPD Board of Directors, 2006.
2. Council on Social Work Education, Final Draft of the 2015 Educational Policy (EP) (Alexandria, VA: Council on Social Work Education, 2015).
3. Council on Social Work Education, Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (Alexandria, VA: Council on Social Work Education, 2008).
4. Felix P. Biestek, The Casework Relationship (Chicago:
Loyola University Press, 1957).
5. Alfred Kadushin, Child Welfare Services, 3rd ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1980).
6. David W. Johnson and Frank P. Johnson, Joining Together: Group Theory and Group Skills, 5th ed.
(Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1994), p. 13.
7. Gerald L. Euster,“Services to Groups,” in Contemporary Social Work, Donald Brieland, Lela B. Costin, and Charles R. Atherton, eds. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975), p. 227.
8. Ralph Dolgoff and Donald Feldstein, Understanding Social Welfare (New York: Harper & Row, 1980), pp. 27–42.
9. Alfred H. Katz and Eugene I. Bender, The Strength in Us: Self-Help Groups in the Modern World (New York:
Franklin-Watts, 1976), p. 9.
10. Frank Riessman,“The ‘Helper Therapy’ Principle,” Jour-nal of Social Work (April 1965), pp. 27–34.
11. Johnson and Johnson, Joining Together.
12. Ibid.
13. A. Etzioni, Modern Organizations (Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice Hall, 1964), p. 1.
14. F. E. Netting, P. M. Kettner, and S. L. McMurtry, Social Work Macro Practice, 2nd ed. (New York: Longman, 1998), pp. 193–194.
15. F. E. Netting, P. M. Kettner, S. L. McMurtry, and M. L.
Thomas, Social Work Macro Practice, 5th ed. (New York: Pearson, 2012).
16. R. Knopf, Surviving the BS (Bureaucratic System) (Wilmington, NC: Mandala Press, 1979), pp. 21–22.
17. Ibid., p. 25.
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid.
20. A. Panitch,“Community Organization,” in Contemporary Social Work, 2nd ed., Donald Brieland, Lela B. Costin,
and Charles R. Atherton, eds. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980), pp. 124–125.
21. Neil Gilbert and Harry Specht, “Social Planning and Community Organization: Approaches,” Encyclopedia of Social Work, 17th ed. (Washington, DC: NASW, 1977), pp. 1412–1425.
22. Ibid.
23. Jack Rothman and John E. Tropman,“Models of Com-munity Organization and Macro Practice Perspectives:
Their Mixing and Phasing,” in Strategies of Community Organization, 4th ed., Fred Cox, John Erlich, Jack Rothman, and John E. Tropman, eds. (Itasca, IL: F. E.
Peacock, 1987), pp. 3–26.
24. Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals (New York: Random House, 1972), p. 130.
25. Saul Alinsky, Reveille for Radicals (New York: Basic Books, 1969), p. 72.
26. Allen Pincus and Anne Minahan, Social Work Practice:
Model and Method (Itasca, IL: F. E. Peacock, 1973), p. 38.
27. Albert Ellis and R. Harper, A New Guide to Rational Living (North Hollywood, CA: Wilshire Books, 1975).
28. C. H. Cooley, Human Nature and the Social Order (New York: Scribner’s, 1902).
29. William Glasser, The Identity Society (New York: Harper
& Row, 1972).
30. Thomas Gordon, Parent Effectiveness Training (New York: Wyden, 1973).
31. “Tarasoff v. Regents of University of California: The Psychotherapist’s Peril,” University of Pittsburgh Law Review, 37 (1975), pp. 159–164.
32. Suanna J. Wilson, Confidentiality in Social Work:
Issues and Principles (New York: Free Press, 1978), pp. 116–117.
33. Ibid., p. 121.
34. Donald T. Dickson, Confidentiality and Privacy in Social Work (New York: Free Press, 1998), pp. 124–125.
35. Ibid., p. 125.
36. K. Miley, “Religion and Spirituality as Central Social Work Concerns,” paper presented at Midwest Biennial Conference on Social Work Education, LaCrosse, WI, April 9–10, 1992, p. 2.
37. L. E. Furman,“Religion and Spirituality in Social Work Education,” paper presented at Midwest Biennial Con-ference on Social Work Education, St. Paul, MN, April 28–29, 1994, p. 10.
38. Council on Social Work Education, Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards.
39. Council on Social Work Education, Final Draft of the 2015 Educational Policy.
40. National Association of Social Workers, Code of Ethics, Revised and adopted by the 1996 Delegate Assembly of NASW (Washington, DC: NASW Press, 1996), p. 27.
41. Council on Social Work Education, Final Draft of the 2015 Educational Policy.
42. Ibid.
43. E. Reichert, Challenges in Human Rights: A Social Work Perspective (New York: Columbia University Press).
44. Ibid., p. 41.
45. United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Adopted December 10, 1948. GA, Res. 2200 AXXI (New York: United Nations). Reprinted by permission.
46. Reichert, Challenges in Human Rights, p. 8.
47. Council on Social Work Education, Standards for the Accreditation of Baccalaureate Degree Programs in Social Work (New York: CSWE, 1974), p. 13.
48. Council on Social Work Education, Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards.
49. Council on Social Work Education, Final Draft of the 2015 Educational Policy.