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Practicum hours over school breaks

  • 1.  Practicum hours over school breaks

    Posted Sep 08, 2023 17:40

    Do any schools allow students to accrue practicum hours over school breaks? One dean just informed us that isn't allowable for students to participate in practicums over winter break, between semesters. She said we report an end to the fall semester and the start of a spring semester. There is about a month in between. My concern is that, especially for our clinical placements, requiring a month break isn't good client care. What loopholes do other schools use? We currently do not have a J-Term, which would help with this issue.



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    Myke Selha
    BSW Program Director
    Grand View University
    Des Moines IA
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  • 2.  RE: Practicum hours over school breaks

    Posted Sep 08, 2023 19:03
    We do not allow it. Students are on break for about 6 weeks. Practicum placements are aware when they agree to host a student. Students cannot be in placement outside of seminar class. 

    Professor Cheryl Cooper
    Alvernia University 





  • 3.  RE: Practicum hours over school breaks

    Posted Sep 11, 2023 12:21

    If a student is unable to complete their hours, due to a medical leave for example, instead of being allowed to finish their hours right away do they need to wait to finish hours until a new seminar starts or do they have to start all over in a future semester?

    Thanks



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    Myke Selha
    Field Education Director
    Grand View University
    Des Moines IA
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  • 4.  RE: Practicum hours over school breaks

    Posted Sep 11, 2023 12:40
    If a student has extenuating circumstances, we develop a plan for the student to complete the hours that is convenient for the student and acceptable to the university. Each circumstance is handled individually. The student will receive an incomplete until the hours are satisfied. 


    image004.jpg@01D75B8D.9CB198C0

     

    (Professor) Cheryl Cooper, LSW,MSW, MSODL

    Director of Field Instruction

    Social Work MSW Program

    P. 215-219-4783

    Francis Hall Room 301

    400 Saint Bernardine Street

    Reading, PA 19607

    Zoom Link 794 739 3969

    Alvernia.edu   


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  • 5.  RE: Practicum hours over school breaks

    Posted Sep 12, 2023 13:29

    Hello from Montana,

    we allow students to continue and count practicum hours over school breaks, including winter and spring break. Our winter break is 5 weeks+ and some folks use that time to make up hours and, as stated by somebody else, especially students with their own caseload or ones in employment based placements cannot take several weeks off. There have been no issues for us with students doing hours over break and I actually think it reduces stress for students since they can focus on practicum without simultaneously doing classwork. 

    Best

    KAT



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    Katharina Werner
    Director of Field Education
    University of Montana
    Missoula MT
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  • 6.  RE: Practicum hours over school breaks

    Posted Sep 13, 2023 13:54

    I agree with Kat, a number of our students use breaks as a strategy for reducing average hours per week and balancing their various commitments, and for students with caseloads, it is often essential for their practice and learning.

    Having students covered by liability insurance outside of official university terms is possible because our university has so many disciplines requiring practicals of some sort that it has a blanket policy renewed annually based on anticipated numbers of students covered - so it's not purchased on a student-by-student or semester-to-semester basis. This is a change at our university in just the last 5 or so years, and I only learned about it last year, when financial aid told us we couldn't offer our fall course "off-cycle" to cover winter break.

    While our seminars run biweekly during the fall and spring semesters, and students therefore don't have that resource during winter break, their assigned practicum liaison is available throughout if problems arise and I'm also available for support. 



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    Sarah Witry
    Clinical Asst Professor, Practicum Education Director
    University of Iowa
    Iowa City IA
    3193351256
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  • 7.  RE: Practicum hours over school breaks

    Posted Sep 14, 2023 12:51

    Hello all, 

    We've allowed students to complete field/practicum hours over the break.  Please consider some thoughts: 

    1. Students have used the time to complete hours to bank them for the spring semester.  For example, students who are interning in school districts. In NYS, there are multiple days the schools are closed. Last week in January-High Schools-Regents Week, A week in February-School break and a week in March/April for the Easter break. Without completing hours over the December-January break there would be no way for students to "bank" hours if they need to.
    2. Some liability coverages are for the full year.  This would be a conversation with the controller's or the legal department to clarify if this is the case for your institution. 
    3. Depending on the agency and services, we want to ensure clients have a continuity of care.  If the student will be on "break" then the student with the support of their supervisor has to create a plan of support for the clients they are working with.  This is good practice as they will have to continue with this through their professional career.  I hope the feedback is helpful.  Karen


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    Karen E Edmond
    Assistant Professor
    Daemen University
    Buffalo NY
    716-839-8515
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  • 8.  RE: Practicum hours over school breaks

    Posted Sep 14, 2023 15:23

    Thank you everyone for responding. My dean is going to be reaching out to some of your institutions. Her biggest concern isn't about insurance. Instead it is about how it is reported to the Department of Education. This is above my paygrade, but apparently schools register semester/quarter start and end dates with the DoE. It gets messy with students doing coursework during the in-between time.



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    Myke Selha
    BSW Program Director
    Grand View University
    Des Moines IA
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  • 9.  RE: Practicum hours over school breaks

    Posted Sep 15, 2023 07:18

    Hello Myke,

    I have a thought for your Dean.  

    How does the school report classes students take during the month of January.  In most institutions they are know as J-Term semesters. Could that same language be used?  Hope this helps.  Karen



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    Karen E Edmond
    Assistant Professor
    Daemen University
    Buffalo NY
    716-839-8515
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  • 10.  RE: Practicum hours over school breaks

    Posted Sep 12, 2023 16:07

    We do not allow it.  This is due to our liability insurance running concurrent with class. We do have students that intern providing therapy to clients and those students will buy their own liability insurance and are considered volunteers for the winter break. 

    I encourage students to take their winter break but many times students feel the need to continue the work and this is how we work around it. 



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    Alma R. Armendariz, MSW
    Practicum Coordinator/Interim MSW Program Coordinator/Clinical Instructor
    University of Texas at El Paso
    (915) 747-6595
    El Paso, TX 79968
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  • 11.  RE: Practicum hours over school breaks

    Posted Sep 08, 2023 22:53

    We allow students to complete hours over break.  Students take an In Progress grade so still covered by liability insurance since a grade hasn't been entered for the course.  Or the student has already registered for the next quarter so is covered in that way  

    We also have our students start field a week later in the fall (week after other classes start) and go a week after classes end to minimize the break for the reasons you stated.  Social work internships have a reciprocal nature.  The focus is on student learning but they also have access to clients and agency work in order to gain that learning.  

    Any agency that REQUIRES students to intern over the break beyond that must discuss this requirement with students in their interview and students have the right to refuse that placement.  We encourage all agencies to not ask students to intern over breaks to honor the time needed for self care.  Some students want to intern over breaks however for various reasons- catch up on hours, plan for future planned absences, etc. 



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    Aneesha Bharwani
    Assistant Dean for Field Education, Associate Professor of the Practice
    University of Denver
    Denver CO
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  • 12.  RE: Practicum hours over school breaks

    Posted Sep 09, 2023 11:43

    We allow our students to earn up to 100 field hours between semesters. This allows students who need to maintain employment during their fieldwork to spread out their hours a bit more over the academic year. It also allows for some continuity of care for those served by our students at their field sites. We explain to students that the reason they cannot earn more than 100 hours between semesters is that the majority of their hours must be completed while they are enrolled in concurrent social work courses so the application of their learning is actively occurring. We also do have a J-term but many of the students who continue to earn field hours between first and second semester are not enrolled in a J-term class. 

    I hope this helps,

    Debbie Minsky-Kelly, MSW, LCSW



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    Debra Minsky-Kelly
    Field director
    Carthage College
    Kenosha, WI 53140
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