RAMAPO COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY
BSW PROGRAM
STUDENT LEARNING CONTRACT
In 2008 the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) initiated a competency based education model and developed ten Core Competencies (EP 2.1.1 - EP 2.1.10) which are a sub-set of the over-arching Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). Our curriculum, including our field program, is organized around the EPAS as mandated by CSWE. This must be done in order to obtain and maintain CSWE accreditation
We ask that during the next few weeks you sit with your student(s) and begin to select tasks/activities that will be completed during their 400 hour field placement. Joint development of the agreement will produce the richest results. Please keep in mind, the Student Learning Contract must be provided by the student to their course instructor on the assigned due date in the Field Calendar. It is usually around the fourth week, but your student will know this date. Of course, the field instructor and student intern can add and delete tasks/activities that will or will not be completed and that are specific to this particular internship. Consider this a fluid document, which is open to revision, if needed. This agreement will be utilized by the Field Liaison when conducting the site visit.
Please remember, sometimes some of the most basic things can be easily overlooked by a field instructor and yet, be so important to the student. The student is new to everything, such as learning a new telephone system and how or where to get office supplies. That said, there are some particular things being agreed on that could easily be considered too obvious, but that bear unique mention:
1. Please plan for an adequate work space with computer and phone access.
2. Consider how the student is to deal with something that requires direction when they do not have access to their field instructor.
3. It is important to plan for a reasonable work volume and intensity. Understandably, this is sometimes easier said than done, but to the extent possible, the student should be busy with quality learning assignments without being overloaded with agency overflow. Approximately 12 of the 21 hours of weekly fieldwork should be direct work with clients, groups or families. This can include, but is not limited to observing/co-leading groups, phone contact with clients or face-to-face interventions with individual clients.
4. Supervision is essential to all student and professional growth. The expectation is that the student will receive approximately one hour of direct supervision per week. Group supervision is a wonderful medium, but it should not be conceived of as wholly replacing the opportunity for individual supervision.
Directions to complete the Student Learning Contract—For each Competency and Practice Behavior, in the space provided, state the agency learning task or activity which will give the student experience to learn a practice behavior. State how you will see the evidence that the learning has been accomplished. Using the accompanying document “Example of Student Tasks and Activities in the Student Learning Contract” you can select from the examples and/or provide your own but include at least 3-5 tasks or activities per competency that students will be engaged in over the course of their 600 hours of fieldwork.
STUDENT LEARNING CONTRACT
STUDENT NAME:
AGENCY NAME AND ADDRESS:
FIELD INSTRUCTOR’S NAME:
PHONE:
EMAIL:
TASK FIELD INSTRUCTOR (if applicable):
FIELD LIAISON:
STUDENT SCHEDULE AT AGENCY:
HOW STUDENT WILL BE ORIENTED TO THE AGENCY:
SUPERVISION TIME:
REQUIRED SUPERVISORY PROCESS RECORDING: (number of process recordings requested by field instructor, what you will bring to supervision):
RECORD KEEPING EXPECTATIONS (i.e. reports, notes for agency):
AGREEMENT FOR TIME AT HOLIDAYS
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF STUDENT ASSIGNMENTS (provide more details below under each competency)
Competency 2.1.1 Students identify as a professional social worker and conduct oneself accordingly.
In the space below, discuss what activities will be used to demonstrate, monitor & evaluate the following:
Practice Behaviors:
· Advocate for client access to the services of social work.
· Practice personal reflection and self-correction to assure continual professional development.
· Attend to professional roles and boundaries.
· Demonstrate professional demeanor in behavior, appearance, and communication.
· Engage in career-long learning.
· Use supervision and consultation.
Competency 2.1.2 Students apply social work ethical principles to guide professional practice.
In the space below, discuss what activities will be used to demonstrate, monitor & evaluate the following:
Practice Behaviors:
· Recognize and manage personal values in a way that allows professional values to guide practice.
· Make ethical decisions by applying standards of NASW Code of Ethics and, as applicable, IFSW/IASSW Ethics Principles.
· Tolerate ambiguity in resolving ethical conflicts.
· Apply strategies of ethical reasoning to arrive at principled decisions.
Competency 2.1.3 Students apply critical thinking to inform and communicate professional judgments.
In the space below, discuss what activities will be used to demonstrate, monitor & evaluate the following:
Practice Behaviors:
· Distinguish, appraise, and integrate multiple sources of knowledge, including research-based knowledge, and practice wisdom.
· Analyze models of assessment, prevention, intervention, and evaluation.
· Demonstrate effective oral and written communication in working with individual, families, groups, organizations, communities, and colleagues.
Competency 2.1.4 Students engage diversity and difference in practice.
In the space below, discuss what activities will be used to demonstrate, monitor & evaluate the following:
Practice Behaviors:
· Recognize the extent to which a culture’s structures and values may oppress, marginalize, alienate, or create or enhance privilege and power.
· Gain sufficient self-awareness to eliminate the influence of personal biases and values in working with diverse groups.
· Recognize and communicate their understanding of the importance of difference in shaping life experiences.
· View themselves as learners and engage those with whom they work as informants.
Competency 2.1.5 Students advance human rights and social and economic justice.
In the space below, discuss what activities will be used to demonstrate, monitor & evaluate the following:
Practice Behaviors:
· Understand the forms and mechanisms of oppression and discrimination.
· Advocate for human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice.
· Engage in practices that advance social, economic and environmental justice.
Competency 2.1.6 Students engage in research-informed practice and practice- informed research.
In the space below, discuss what activities will be used to demonstrate, monitor & evaluate the following:
Practice Behaviors:
· Use practice experiences to inform scientific inquiry.
· Use research evidence to inform practice.
Competency 2.1.7 Students apply knowledge of human behavior and the social environment.
In the space below, discuss what activities will be used to demonstrate, monitor & evaluate the following:
Practice Behaviors:
· Utilize conceptual frameworks to guide the process of assessment, intervention and evaluation.
· Critique and apply knowledge to understand person and environment.
Competency 2.1.8 Students engage in policy practice to advance social and economic well-being and to deliver effective social work services.
In the space below, discuss what activities will be used to demonstrate, monitor & evaluate the following:
Practice Behaviors:
· Analyze, formulate, and advocate for policies that advance social well-being.
· Collaborate with colleagues and clients for effective policy action.
Competency 2.1.9 Students respond to contexts that shape practice.
In the space below, discuss what activities will be used to demonstrate, monitor & evaluate the following:
Practice Behaviors:
· Continuously discover, appraise, and attend to changing locales, populations, scientific and technological developments, and emerging societal trends to provide relevant services.
· Provide leadership in promoting sustainable changes in service delivery and practice to improve the quality of social services.
Competency 2.1.10 Students engage, assess, intervene, and evaluate with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities
In the space below, discuss what activities will be used to demonstrate, monitor & evaluate the following:
Practice Behaviors:
· Substantively and affectively prepare for action with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.
· Use empathy and other interpersonal skills.
· Develop a mutually agreed-on focus of work and desired outcomes.
· Collect, organize and interpret client data.
· Assess client strengths and limitations.
· Develop mutually agreed-on intervention strategies.
· Initiate actions to achieve organizational goals.
· Implement prevention interventions that enhance client capacities.
· Help clients resolve problems.
· Negotiate, mediate, and advocate for clients.
· Facilitate transitions and endings.
· Critically analyze, monitor and evaluate interventions.
Field Instructor’s Signature______
Student’s Signature______
Date______
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