Field Placement Manual (2008-2009)

 

PART V: FOUDATION AND CONCENTRATION OBJECTIVES

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A. The professional foundation curriculum, including field, encompasses the following program objectives:

  1. Apply critical thinking skills within the context of professional social work practice.
  2. Understand the value based of the profession and its ethical standards and principles, and practice accordingly.
  3. Practice without discrimination and with respect, knowledge, and skills related to clients’ age, class, color, culture, disability, ethnicity, family structure, gender, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation.
  4. Understand the forms and mechanisms of oppression and discrimination and apply strategies of advocacy and social change that advance social and economic justice.
  5. Understand and interpret the history of the social work profession and its contemporary structures and issues.
  6. Apply knowledge and skills of a generalist social work perspective to practice with systems of all sizes.
  7. Use theoretical frameworks supported by empirical evidence to understand individual development and behavior across the life span and the interactions among individuals and between individuals and families, groups, organizations, and communities.
  8. Analyze, formulate, and influence social policies.
  9. Evaluate research studies, apply research findings to practice, and evaluate their own practice interventions.
  10. Use communication skills differentially across client populations, colleagues, and communities.
  11. Use supervision and consultation appropriate to social work practice.
  12. Function within the structure of organizations and service delivery systems and seek necessary organizational change.

B. Concentration Objectives

The Clinical and Macro Practice Concentrations have the same objectives.  They are realized, however, in relation to the requirements of each concentration.  The two concentrations address the following concentration objectives in their respective courses and field work:

  1. Students will master advanced knowledge that supports their development as a clinical or macro social work practitioner in:

    (a) practice intervention theories and frameworks;
    (b) social work research methods; and
    (c) the environmental context.

  2. Students will demonstrate the following skills in a highly differentiated, discriminating, and self-critical way in either a clinical or macro practice setting:

    (a) apply practice skills based on relevant and current conceptual frameworks or practice theories in their area of practice;
    (b) use methods of intervention that are specific to their concentration; and
    (c) assess the effectiveness of interventions in their practice.

  3. Students will apply professional ethics and values to increasingly complex and nuanced situations in their practice, including:

    (a) integration of strategies of ethical decision-making to guide intervention in clinical or macro practice; and
    (b) integration of the centrality of diversity and ethical responsibility as a change agent (social justice) into all aspects of one’s professional behavior.