Field Directors

Hi
This may have been discussed before, but here is the situation.  I have an MSW student doing Practicum I for 400 hours.  She is not employed at the Agency.  The Agency wants to hire her as an employee.  They also want her to do her Practicum II for 500 hours if hired (or not).  They have different levels of work - generalist and clinical to differentiate experiences.  My question is, if she were to complete Practicum I at the Agency and then become an employee of the Agency, would she be able to do Practicum II at the Agency (if suitable, of course)?  Or, does this violate the CSWE standard for doing one placement at the place of employment?  Thank you!  Robyn Hudson

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Robyn Hudson
MSW Field Director, Professor
Northcentral University
NH
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Hi Robyn, I don't interpret anything in the CSWE standards as indicating that only one placement my be completed at a place of employment. We have allowed students to complete both generalized and specialized placements at an agency of employment when it was appropriate. Meaning that there are appropriate activities for each placement that meet the specific competencies. Our students complete an employer based proposal to gain permission for employer based placements and we have a question on our proposal that asks them, if they already completed one placement at this agency, how with the focus differ for the second so we can be sure there is enough room to expand learning opportunities. I'm attaching the proposal that we use for employer based placements.

Best,

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Lindsey Rinehart
Field Education Director & Clinical Instructor
West Virginia University
Morgantown WV
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Hi Robyn, I've learned over the years that many field directors think that the EPAS are more restrictive than they are in reality. Here is what the SPAS say regarding employment based placements:
2.2.11 The program describes how its field education program develops policies regarding field placements in an organization in which the student is also employed. To ensure the role of student as learner, student assignments and field education supervision are not the same as those of the student's employment.

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Julie Kates
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Hi,

I agree with the assessments of Julie and Lindsey. A large number of our working students pursue employment-based field placements. Accordingly, we've put together resources (website, FAQ, video, sample applications) at this website. If you look at it, I hope it's helpful.

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Michael Lynch, LMSW
Clinical Assistant Professor – Field Education
University at Buffalo School of Social Work
637 Baldy Hall
(716) 645-1236
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Thank you for responses.  I realize I did not make this clear- we do support employment-based practicums.  The student wants to be hired and finish 200 hours at the agency while employed and then do her second placement at the same place.   Robyn Hudson

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Robyn Hudson
MSW Field Director, Professor
Northcentral/National University
VA
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