Social Work

Purpose of Field Instruction/Internships

According to Charlotte Towle, "Professional education is education for use. Therefore, that education should include the opportunity for the student to learn to use knowledge and to experience himself as a helper under careful, individualized guidance and supervision" (Towle, 1954).

All Social Work majors are required to complete a Field Instruction/Internship experience as part of the curriculum. Students will be placed with an agency and work for a total of 448 hours. Concurrent with the field placement, students enroll in the Practice Skills Seminar course.

Field instruction is a key part of social work education. Its basic purposes are to:

1. Give the student opportunity to experience himself/herself in a professional role and, thus, to provide and opportunity for career testing through actual practice;
2. Give the student an opportunity to put the total score of knowledge he/she has accumulated to use by filling the role of a social worker and, thus, to begin to integrate knowledge and practice;
3. Give the student an opportunity to gain and refine social work practice skills;
4. Give the student understanding of the working of one particular social service agency and its relationships to other community agencies;
5. Give the student opportunity to develop self-awareness regarding his/her strengths, weakness and hence, areas of needed continued learning.
   

The links below provide necessary information and documents for beginning work as an intern.

Instruction/Information Sheet for Field Application/Student Profile.

List of Approved Social Work Internship (SOWK 423) Agencies.

Student Internship Application (Adobe Acrobat PDF).

Field Training Manual (Adobe Acrobat PDF).

Student Internship Evaluation (Adobe Acrobat PDF).

Cover for your Student Internship Evaluation (MS Word File)