Internships/Fieldwork

[UrbanMidwest]

Anyone concentrating in school social work? Is the internship for the school year paid labor or are we expected to work for free for the sake of the children? If it's unpaid, well, I think I'll be dropping out.

Edited April 12, 2016 by UrbanMidwest

[Moxie2012]

Hello UrbanMidwest,

If being compensated for your work while undertaking your masters is important to you, have you considered being sponsored by your employer? Case Western offers the masters as an intensive weekend: http://socialwork.case.edu/academic/masters/intensive-weekend/

I am sure other schools do something similar.

xx

[ljo377]

I agree that it's very problematic that these internships are unpaid! I almost considered pursuing a different degree for this reason but am going to make it work ("thanks" only to semi-fake money from the government).

[Sketchitar]

This is a complication I ran into (am still in) in my undergrad. We were discouraged from taking paid positions because it's social services and most agencies (including schools) don't have the funds to support a field student, among other reasons. There are a fair number of MSW programs that will allow you to do your field work at your current job if you meet certain criteria, you could look into that.

[UrbanMidwest]

@ Sketchitar: My current work place definitely doesn't meet the field criteria, so I'm SOL.

If I choose to carry through, and if I'm lucky to get the internship of my choice, it's within the vicinity of my parents so I may just have to move back home with them for the school year. That will at least save me on rent; or maybe I can sleep on the sofa at a friend's place and work out my "rent" by making him meals and doing his laundry... Either way this totally sucks.

The reality of an unpaid internship just "hit"  me yesterday as I was making my budget for the next two-three years, almost forgetting about my expenses for the fieldwork part.

 

Quote

We were discouraged from taking paid positions because it's social services

 

This where I disagree with those overseeing field placements. I honestly consider this an insult. If we apply that exact same reasoning then the graduates of MSW programs should work for free, after all graduates will be working in social services. There is great irony to this. I  mean, do you see it as well? Social workers support a "living wage" and then they're expected to live an academic year without pay when pursuing the degree that allows them to practice and gain license. What's worse, $8.50 an hour or nada an hour? Something in the philosophy behind modern day social work is messed up. We aren't entering the religious life. I can understand agencies not having the funds, but work for free because "it's social services"? Give me a break ... And these professors/instructors are employed with full-benefits. The hypocrisy. It doesn't help that the fieldwork is the most important factor of the MSW; without it the MSW is just a wet noodle degree.

@ljo377 : That's what bothers me. I'm seriously thinking of dropping out due to this. It's a ludicrous reality. Add on loans geared towards tuition. It's almost completely pathetic.

"Help the disadvantage! Work for free for approximately nine months and be as poor as they are before you receive your diploma - with debt, too!"

I'd be fine working for free if by the end of the year the program produced  Army Rangers and/or Green Berets, but no. At least by that standard you'd be a bonafide bad_ss.

EDIT: Upon re-thinking, there's much dissonance, if not flat out ignoring economics, on the side of field instructors, professors and instructors. It's amusing to me that people support the increase of minimum wage, not really taking into account how that would negatively affect the businesses that are forced to implement the new wage (hint: it would lower the number of people hired), yet unpaid internships for social work are defended on "it's an education" but rarely on how a paid intern can eliminate the number of internships available.

Social work = a_s backwards & filled with contradictions yet the field will blame it on "society" and how "society doesn't value the helping field." And it's fitting as well, since it's National Equal Pay Day. (Which, the most common narrative being pushed, is false.)

 

Edited April 12, 2016 by UrbanMidwest

[ginabina]

The two year unpaid internship is what nearly kept me from applying to MSW programs. I was able to work during undergrad, so I graduated with no debt and a decent amount of savings. I'm pretty sure I'll be using my savings for living expenses and loans for tuition and other school stuff. If I wasn't living at home I don't think I would even bother with grad school since I would have to take out an even bigger loan for living expenses. I'm so amazed at the people who are taking on an insane amount of debt for a field that doesn't pay well.  

Interns not being paid is a terrible thing and I really wish more people would speak out about it. We see the occasional article about how unfair it is, but nothing is ever done about it. 

[UrbanMidwest]

1 hour ago, ginabina said:

The two year unpaid internship is what nearly kept me from applying to MSW programs. I was able to work during undergrad, so I graduated with no debt and a decent amount of savings. I'm pretty sure I'll be using my savings for living expenses and loans for tuition and other school stuff. If I wasn't living at home I don't think I would even bother with grad school since I would have to take out an even bigger loan for living expenses. I'm so amazed at the people who are taking on an insane amount of debt for a field that doesn't pay well.  

Interns not being paid is a terrible thing and I really wish more people would speak out about it. We see the occasional article about how unfair it is, but nothing is ever done about it. 

I'm sorta fine with interns not being paid, but that feeling is geared towards the 2-3 month undergraduate interns during the summer. I was lucky enough to be paid a little over minimum wage for my summer internships (research and as a second PI); these internships were part of research grants. My semester internship at a think tank was also paid labor -- and think tanks are non-profit, at least the one I was at.

What leaves me a little bitter is going 8-9 months unpaid for a masters. And you're right: almost nothing is ever done about discussing these social work internships being unpaid. It's as if the M.O. is "If we don't say anything about it maybe they'll go away ... " Crickets are present and fallacious arguments are usually brought forth by instructors and doctoral students. My favorite was "This internship got me my job!" Yea, so did my brother's internship at a Big 4 accounting firm which he was paid for. Then again his industry has a lot of money, so apples to oranges.

I want to re-state that upon re-thinking about the unpaid internships I'd be less irritated if field instructors and professors, and whoever, defend the no pay reality based on economic/*industry limitations. You know, reason debate and injecting critical thinking based on how economic systems work. I feel they aren't being honest (or maybe they're just stupid even with a Phd). But it seems like that's frowned upon as opposed to WE MUST ADVOCATE FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT HAVE A VOICE. The helping field can't even advocate for it's own workers so it's hard to take such indignation seriously.

 

Edited April 12, 2016 by UrbanMidwest

[ediblestranger]

25 minutes ago, UrbanMidwest said:

I want to re-state that upon re-thinking about the unpaid internships I'd be less irritated if field instructors and professors, and whoever, defend the no pay reality based on economic/*industry limitations. You know, reason debate and injecting critical thinking based on how economic systems work. I feel they aren't being honest (or maybe they're just stupid even with a Phd). But it seems like that's frowned upon as opposed to WE MUST ADVOCATE FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT HAVE A VOICE. The helping field can't even advocate for it's own workers so it's hard to take such indignation seriously.

 

I hear ya - it would be nice if this issue were given more attention.  And you make a good point about the utter lack of action from social work students and professionals themselves.  That said, what did you expect when you applied to programs in social work?  It is pretty well-known that the vast majority of internships in this field are unpaid.  If you want to advocate for fair labor practices that's wonderful, and it's something we all should do - but things are not going to change overnight.  In the meantime, I guess you have to decide whether or not it's worth pursuing.  If you feel that it is, these are your choices: a.) accept an unpaid field placement, b.) reapply to schools that offer a field stipend (ex: Case Western), or c.) find a job that does meet the field criteria and complete your internship there - they may even help pay your tuition.  It sounds like you're already in a better situation than most in that you at least have the option to stay with your parents.  And if you are a competitive applicant academically and in terms of experience, you may stand a good chance at getting scholarship support.  This doesn't solve the bigger problem of unpaid internships in general, but if you want the degree, you still have options.

[UrbanMidwest]

@ediblestrangerI overlooked the internship part. I have no delusions that the unpaid internships will be changed anytime soon, but I won't advocate it based "fair labor practices" since what is fair to one industry is not necessarily fair in another. If agencies cannot afford to pay interns then it's best to set up a fund/scholarship the way CW has done.

I am currently contemplating on whether or not I should pursue a MSW due to this realization. I haven't paid anything yet, haven't signed any loans, so I have some time to decide. The only tricky part is withdrawing and telling the dean of my program why. I do want to become a school social worker, later helping in the VA,  but I just think the process in order to become one is questionable. I may need to not think about it for a couple of days and later return to the matter.

Edited April 13, 2016 by UrbanMidwest

[morlvera]

I don't particularly like that not only are the internships unpaid, but you're also paying tuition for them. I'm paying to work?! I guess another way to see it is that I'm paying to learn valuable skills, but that's still a hard pill to swallow. If I have to pay for it, I'm going to make sure that I get quality placements and not just accept whatever scraps are thrown my way. 

[Sketchitar]

@UrbanMidwest It is crap that we don't/can't get paid and like morlvera said, the fact that we have to pay for the credits makes it worse. My comment on funding for field students is maybe more specific to my institution. Out in Farmville (yeah, that's a real place) money for agencies is almost nonexistent, but when the agencies do pay a stipend my program ran into a bigger problem. The paid student were being treated like employees--they were under-trained, put into dangerous situations, and sort of supervised. Certainly not to the level that you want a field student to be supervised.

That being said, we were allowed to take paid positions. The catch was we had to find them ourselves instead of relying on help from our faculty coordinator, which was incredibly difficult.

Unpaid internships suck. But depending on how many classes you have and the number of hours you're in field per week, it's not impossible to pick up a part time job to give yourself some savings and some pocket money.