Getting in Step with Social Work Competencies: A New Perspective for Field Education

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Getting in Step with Social Work Competencies A
New Perspective for Field Education

• Jeanne Matich-Maroney, PhD, LCSW-R
• Field Instructors Workshop
• Friday April 23, 2010
• College of New Rochelle
• New Rochelle, New York

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The Paradigm Shift to Competency-Based Social
Work Education

• 2008 CSWE Educational Policy Accreditation
  Standards (EPAS) introduced concept of
  competency-based social work education by
  articulating 10 foundation competencies further
  defined by 41 practice behaviors

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Implications of Paradigm Shift

• Change represents a shift from an emphasis on
  input (i.e., curriculum) to outcomes
• Competency-based education focuses on student
  outcomeswhat it is that graduates of our
  programs know and are able to do by virtue of
  having completed their degree in social work
• Accreditation now dependent upon social work
  programs ability to demonstrate that their
  graduates have attained the competencies as
  evidenced by mastery of the 41 practice behaviors
  

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Defining Terms Distinguishing Between Them

• Competencies
• Practice Behaviors

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Competency

• Definition (derived from competent) the
  requisite or adequate abilitiesto function in a
  particular capacity
• Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.Retrieved
  April 21, 2010, from http//www.merriam-webster.co
  m/dictionary/competent

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Social Work Core/Foundation Competencies

• The learning and skills (i.e., measurable
  practice behaviors) necessary for entry-level
  social work practice represents a threshold
  across which students pass (Holloway et al,
  2008).
• Articulated in the CSWE EPAS (2008).

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EPAS Competencies

• Expected competencies for the baccalaureate
  social work student as well as the first year MSW
  student
• Differentiated from advanced competencies
• Each of the 10 competencies are operationalized
  by a set of interrelated generalist practice
  behaviors that taken together, constitute the
  essence of the identified competency (Holloway
  et al, 2008).
• The number of practice behaviors associated with
  each competency varies and range from 2-6

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Practice Behaviors

• Measurable indices of interrelated knowledge and
  skills associated with particular competencies
• Practice behaviors (PBs) serve to
  operationalize competencies

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Social Work Field Education as Signature Pedagogy

• In addition to articulating competencies (and
  practice behaviors), the 2008 EPAS heralded field
  education as social works signature pedagogy
  (Shulman, 2005a)

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Signature Pedagogy

• Term that originated out of the Carnegie
  Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
  (Shulman, 2005).
• Defined as types of teaching that organize the
  fundamental ways in which future practitioners
  are educated for their new professions (Shulman,
  2005b, p. 52) and they are noted to possess
  distinctive features in that they are
  pervasive, routine, and habitual that make
  students feel deeply engaged (2005a, p. 22).

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Signature Pedagogy Elevates Status of Field
Practicum in Social Work Education

• Formally acknowledges the critical role field
  plays in the professional preparation of social
  work students
• Requires us to be more conscious of how we teach
  students to apply knowledge to the actual
  practice of social work in the field setting

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Competency-Based Field Education

• Defining the competencies and identifying
  practice behaviors expected of students on
  completion of the program provides guidance to
  the field instruction process one that wasnt
  so readily apparent prior to this iteration!

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Student Field Assignments

• Dually guided by the competencies/practice
  behaviors AND the agency/clients service needs
• Ideally provide a breadth of experience that
  allow students to engage with, practice, and move
  toward attainment of all 41 PBs and thus, the 10
  competencies

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Shaping Students Field Education Experience
within the Agency

• Increased emphasis on collaboration between field
  instructors and program faculty
• Develop field assignments that support students
  movement toward competency attainment
• Thinking outside the box and some creativity
  needed to craft assignments that provide students
  with opportunities to pursue competency
  attainment
• Lets take a look at a few samples

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Competency 6 Engage in research-informed
practice practice-informed research

• Practice Behaviors
• Use practice experience to inform research
• Use research evidence to inform practice

• Potential Field Assignments
• Conduct a literature review on the use of a
  particular intervention with the population
  served by the agency
• Create a practice evaluation plan to assess the
  effectiveness of an intervention

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Competency 8 Engage in policy practice to
advance social economic well-being to deliver
effective social work services

• Practice Behaviors
• Analyze, formulate, advocate for policies that
  advance social well-being
• Collaborate with colleagues clients for
  effective policy action

• Potential Field Assignments
• Obtain read agency policies/procedures
• Analyze a policy at the agency or larger system
  level from the perspective of how well it serves
  clients
• Develop a new policy for the agency
• Identify grass-roots /or organized efforts aimed
  at policy action related to the population served
  
• Develop a plan for engaging colleagues clients
  in policy action (e.g., voters registration
  drive)
• Implement the plan for policy action

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References

• Competent. (2010). In Merriam-Webster Online
  Dictionary.Retrieved April 21, 2010, from
  http//www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/competen
  t
• Holloway, S. , Black, P., Hoffman, K. Pierce,
  D. (2008). Some considerations of the import of
  EPAS 2008 for curriculum design. White paper
  issued by CSWE Alexandria, VA.
• Shulman, L.S. ( Spring, 2005). Pedagogies.
  Liberal Education, 18-25.
• Shulman, L. (2005b). Signature pedagogies in the
  professions. Daedulus 134 (2), 52-59.