I would echo what Warren says here. A lot of this really comes down to program policies. CSWE does not say that placements need to be completed all at once in one location, there are some schools who intentionally break the placements up. We generally intend for student to complete their entire placements in one setting, and that is tied to their participation in a seminar course, but like you encountered, there are times that the placement is interrupted. We take these on a case by case basis, if there are reasons to suspect there were student issues that led to things being unsuccessful, we may choose to have them repeat the entire experience, but in other cases, if there were life circumstances or some other reasons the placement needed to be interrupted, we would just determine what the student needed to complete moving forward. This would typically involve either a new or revised learning contract, usually new assessments, etc. We outline this in our field education manual. I believe this is one of those areas, like many where CSWE tells us that we must have policies to determine how we ensure student meet their hour requirements and competencies but not so much dictating exactly how we do it.
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Lindsey Rinehart
Field Education Director & Clinical Instructor
West Virginia University
Morgantown WV
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Original Message:
Sent: Aug 15, 2023 11:45
From: Warren K. Graham
Subject: return to field placement hours question
Jean,
For us, it all depends. We do have a concurrence policy whereby students must take Practicum with a Practice Course so corresponding assignments and the learning go hand in hand. With that said, we suggest, for the continuity of learning, that students complete their hours in one fell swoop but that doesn't always happen. Most times its a judgement call based on the number of hours the student has completed. For 215-220, we'd just continue them somewhere as opposed to starting all over.
Best, Warren
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Warren Graham, LCSW, ACSW, CASAC
Asst Dean of Practicum Education/Clinical Assoc Prof.
SUNY Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, NY
631-444-3161
Original Message:
Sent: Aug 14, 2023 14:01
From: Jean Sienkewicz
Subject: return to field placement hours question
Hi folks,
I hope you've had a great summer and are gearing up for Fall.
I have a quick question about students who are returning to field placement after an unsuccessful previous attempt.
I have two SPMSW students, each of whom had their placement end unexpectedly about halfway through the academic year last year. They had accrued, respectively, about 215-220 hours each towards their required 450. They are each planning to return to field for the coming academic year, both in brand new placements.
I have seen on this list, in passing, that students' field hours need to be completed all in one stint, no partials. Is this accurate?
If so, is there any chance someone could point me in the direction of where in CSWE's accreditation literature this can be found? I'd like to have the primary source documentation to reference.
Many thanks and best of luck with your transition to the new academic year,
Jean
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Jean Sienkewicz (she/her/hers)
Lecturer/Field Education Coordinator
University of Vermont
Burlington VT
802-656-9657
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