Field Education

Field Education is the signature pedagogy in social work education, meaning it is where students integrate, synthesize and apply what they learn in the classroom to social work practice in the field. Students engage in experiential learning while based in a community agency or organization, guided by a competency-based learning plan which advances the student’s professional skills and knowledge. While students are in field, they apply the NASW Code of Ethics and social work laws and rules to real practice situations, under the supervision of a field instructor. In order to bridge this learning, field courses and practices are taught concurrently, with assignments integrating field-based learning activities including interviewing, documentation, program development, and policy analysis. 

The Department of Social Work Field Team prides itself in cultivating and maintaining strong relationships with partner agencies and offering a broad range of opportunities to students in search of a field placement. Students locate a field placement with the help and guidance of field liaisons. Hundreds of agencies from around the region, state and country are listed in the Field Directory available to students through the online student management system, Typhon, and new affiliations are developed regularly. 

The social work competencies and subsumed practice behaviors as promulgated by the Council on Social Work Education are as follows: