In times of disruption and uncertainty, social workers and educators remain wholly invested in shaping intentional learning environments, centered on the health and safety of students. I've been inspired and energized to witness the grassroots organizing, resource sharing, and advocacy that has been championed by our social work networks as the world continues to respond to the rapidly evolving global pandemic. Our work is a meaningful reminder of the powerful impact social workers make in building upon the resilience of humanity.
As a fellow social worker, I join you in your persevering commitment to collective societal health and well-being. In my work with accredited programs, faculty, and students, I offer this post as a space to share ideas for virtual field education.
Field education programs are tasked with ensuring demonstration of social work competencies is through in-person contact, which refers to interpersonal interactions with clients and constituencies, and
may include the use of digital technologies.
As the world moves toward more telework options, I am hopeful components of student field education can be temporarily facilitated via technology.
Based on the
results from the pulse survey sent by CSWE to all accredited programs on March 12, 2020, the accreditation team compiled a crowdsourced spreadsheet capturing ideas for virtual/remote field education tasks/activities. This crowdsourced spreadsheet provides programs access to ideas from the pulse survey responses and encourages continued idea generating and forming solutions together.
This resource is free and available for all program stakeholders to contribute to and may be utilized by faculty, field directors, field instructors, and students. With your contributions, the spreadsheet is a growing central depository of options for addressing field virtually. Page 1 features task ideas, while page 2 features field disruption plans. Please note that all examples will not be vetted in detail by the Commission on Accreditation nor staff.
Click here to contribute to the spreadsheet. Your contributions will be reflected in real-time!
March is also
#SocialWork Month and the
National Association of Social Workers theme is "
#GenerationsStrong." In this spirit, may faculty, students, and social workers across the generations be bound together by compassion, kindness, awareness, solidarity, and the strength of the many while caring for the most vulnerable in our lives. Let us choose each other and contribute to the human spirit in the best ways we can.
The question is small, yet mighty: How can I help?
Please feel empowered to
contribute to the spreadsheet or
contact your program's accreditation specialist with any questions.
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Katie Gibson-Ledl
CSWE
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