School of Social Work

MSW Field Education Requirements

Placement Days and Time Requirements

Advanced Standing Students

Advanced standing students are in placement 2 days a week in the Summer Sessions (Mid May through August) for a total of 208 hours, and then join the requirements for MSW II concurrent year students in Fall and Spring Semesters. (Full time students begin in their initial Bridge semesters; extended time students begin this in their second summer.)

Concurrent Year

• Full-time students take their Field Practicum during the academic year--September through April.
• MSW I students are in placement Wednesday and Friday, 16 hours a week, for a total of 30 weeks or 464 hours.
• MSW II students are in placement two and a half (2 ½ ) days--usually, half-day Monday, and full days Tuesday and Wednesday--20 hours a week, for a total of 30 weeks or 600 hours.

Summer Block

• MSW I part-time students are in placement four days a week, for 15 weeks, for a total of 464 hours.
• MSW II part-time students are in placement five days a week, for 15 weeks, for a total of 600 hours.
• The summer block period runs approximately May 10th to August 20th.

Note:

Supervision Requirements

All MSW students must be supervised by a Field Instructor who is an MSW plus two years practice experience; for micro practice the field instructor must be eligible for LICSW licensing. (MSW plus two years LICSW supervised practice.)

Concurrent Year placements require two hours of supervision a week. At least one of these hours must be a regularly scheduled, uninterrupted conference with the field instructor. The remaining hour may be met by someone other than an MSW, who is named as a preceptor by the field instructor. It could be met in other ways such as an ongoing student group supervision.

Summer Block students are required to have two hours of supervision a week. At least one of these hours must be a regularly scheduled uninterrupted conference with a field instructor who is an MSW eligible for LICSW licensing. The remaining one hour may be met by someone other than an MSW, as noted above for concurrent students.

Student Assignments Required by the Teaching/Learning Contract

1. Clinical Assignments Concurrent Year students must spend an average of 6 to 7 hours a week in direct service work with clients. This may be individual, family or group work.
   
   Summer Block students spend an average of 10 to 12 hours a week in direct service work with clients. This may also be in individual, family or group work.
   
   Please note that these are meant to serve as guidelines and we expect that there will be some variations throughout the year, as time for the organization and community projects are taken into account. There may also be adjustments to these guidelines with the field office's approval. Guidelines could be adjusted to account for the nature of the placement setting, e.g., a setting that is more policy or advocacy rather than a clinical setting.
   
   Concurrent Year and Summer Block students are required to submit two process recordings a week. The field instructor is expected to review the process recordings, comment on them and use them as a teaching tool with the student.
   
   Concurrent Year and Summer Block students must submit to their liaison two biopsychosocial assessments, one at the end of each semester.
2. Macro/Micro Experience Assignment Students will be expected to develop an experience with macro or micro practice, which complements whether they are placed in a predominantly micro or macro role. Macro experience projects are to assist the micro-placed students with an experience that focuses on community development and change or organizational systemic change. Micro experience projects are to assist predominately macro placed students to experience micro skill development and direct contact with clients affected by their agency.
   
   At the end of the second semester students are required to submit a report on this assignment. An outline of the report is included at the end of the Macro/Micro Experience requirement.

School Support for Field Instructors

The Field Education office will hold an Orientation Meeting for Field Instructors at the beginning of the first semester. The School also runs a series of seminars on supervision for new field instructors and participates in sponsoring NECON (New England Field Educators Consortium) ongoing seminars through the Academic Year. CEU's are awarded for attendance at the seminars.

Student and Field Instructor are also assigned a faculty-field education liaison, who will visit the placement and act as a resource for the field instructor and the student.