Field education question

[annie a]

Hi,

I am wondering about field education and policy-focused students. As I understand, first year students have to be "interns" in direct service work for most programs regardless of chosen concentration. After reading about this, I am not sure social work is the right field for me. Also, are people who have been working for years in the field supposed to suddenly commit themselves to three days a week of unpaid intern work? I simply feel like I have too much experience to suddenly be an intern.

Edited March 13, 2010 by annie a

[zachidacki]

Hi,

I am wondering about field education and policy-focused students. As I understand, first year students have to be "interns" in direct service work for most programs regardless of chosen concentration. After reading about this, I am not sure social work is the right field for me. Also, are people who have been working for years in the field supposed to suddenly commit themselves to three days a week of unpaid intern work? I simply feel like I have too much experience to suddenly be an intern.

My understanding is that the first year practicum is in general social work, meaning you may do some administration things, some clinical things, and some macro things. Since you do have some years of experience, I would look for schools that have agreements with organizations to do paid practicums. I have a friend at University of Washington, doing the MSW, and she just received a paid practicum for her second year at Children's Hospital. I'm pretty sure there are quite a few schools that have the option of doing a paid practicum, plus some schools that allow you to keep your current job for the practicum. It just takes some research.

[michigan girl]

My program does not operate like that. I will have a macro-focused field placement related to my concentration.