Course: SWRK 522/P. Generalist Practicum Education I and Placement (2/1)
Prerequisite: Acceptance to the MSW program. Corequisite: SWRK 522P. Generalist Practicum Education and Placement I and II are designed to empower the student to apply knowledge, skills, and ethics learned in social work coursework during their practicum experience. The chief purpose of the first year of practicum (522/P in Fall and 523/P in Spring) is to develop generalist social work practice skills that are applicable in a wide variety of practice settings. Students are assigned to a social service agency during the first semester and attend a practicum seminar designed to help integrate classroom learning and practicum experience. The courses focus on social work with urban communities and emphasize anti-oppressive, socially just practice.
The practicum seminars adopt an intersectional, trauma-informed collaborative perspective that embrace a strengths-based inclusive identity. Discussions related to the student’s practicum experiences help the student to reinforce material that they have learned in their practice class and other coursework, as well as their professional development in the areas of use of self, boundaries, professional communication, and management of legal and ethical issues. This is accomplished through various group discussion topics, suggested readings, role-plays, and course assignments which are the core of the practicum component.
The practicum courses combine a seminar and practicum component. Students will receive one unified grade for both sections (i.e., 522 and 522P or 523 and 523P) each semester.