Letter from the Director of Field Instruction

Welcome MSW Students and Agency Field Instructors to the School of Social Work Office of Field Instruction. 

The Council on Social Work Education states: “the intent of field education is to integrate the theoretical and conceptual contribution of the classroom with the practical world of the practice setting.” Essentially field education teaches future social workers “to think, to perform, and to act ethically and with integrity.” Student experiences during internships can be the most powerful and meaningful aspect of their education. 

Numerous organizations and settings such as family service agencies, community mental health settings, hospitals, residential treatment centers for children, homes for the elderly, group homes, crisis hotlines, health clinics, substance abuse and rehabilitation centers, veteran centers and governmental organizations have provided exciting and challenging opportunities for students to enhance their professional growth and development through experiential learning. 

The School of Social Work at Syracuse University thanks the agencies and professionals within those agencies who take on the role of teaching and mentoring students in their journey to become professional social workers. We understand the time, energy and resources that this commitment takes, and we appreciate the opportunity to work with each of you in the education and training of competent professional social workers.

This manual is intended to provide you with policies, procedures and other important information you will need during the field education practicum. Our goals are to provide an educationally sound experiences to each student, to ensure each student and field instructor is provided with individualized support and consultation and to successfully and effectively facilitate the development of social work competence. 

We hope your field experience will be both challenging and rewarding! 

Tracy T. Walker, L.M.S.W. 

Director of Field Instruction School of Social Work 244 White Hall 

Syracuse, New York 13244 (t) 315.443.5565 (f) 315.443.5576 (e) ttwalker@syr.edu 

The Office of Field Instruction (O.F.I.) Resources is designed to assist both students and field instructors to navigate successfully through the field experience. 

The following Schools of Social Work are to be credited for material in this handbook: SUNY Albany, Hunter College, University of Chicago, California State University, Michigan State University, University of Akron. 

Field education is the signature pedagogy of Social Work education and is the place where students integrate their knowledge, values and skills of the profession into tangible practice experiences.  The real world social work setting allows students to be socialized to the profession and learn how to effectively navigate multiple settings and systems.  The program has established the policy that as of Fall of 2023, all internships, across all program levels and types are to be located within agency-based settings where the student is expected to attend in-person.  The in-person experience is a fundamental requirement of social work education in the program.   

The BSSW field experience emphasizes generalist social work practice at the micro, mezzo and macro levels. Generalist practice is grounded in the liberal arts and the person and environment construct.  To promote human and social well-being, generalist practitioners use a large range of prevention and intervention methods in their practice with individual, families, groups, organizations, and communities.  The generalist practitioner identifies with the social work profession and applies ethical principles and critical thinking in practice.  Generalist practitioners incorporate diversity in their practice and advocate for human rights and social and economic justice.  They recognize, support, and build on the strengths and resiliency of all human beings.  They engage in research-informed practice and are proactive in responding to the impact of context on professional practice.  The learning experiences should be as broad as possible.

Field Practicum I & II

A field practicum (SWK 435 & 445) is required of the social work major and entails a minimum of 400 hours across 2 semesters of the senior academic year.  Students are placed in a social work setting for a minimum of sixteen hours a week, which meets the requirements for earning five (5) credits per semester.   Field Seminars I & II (SWK 436 and 446) and practice courses (SWK 401 & 402) are co-requisites of field practicum.  

Field Seminar I & II

Field seminar (SWK 436 & 446) facilitates students’ understanding of the learning experience through critical reflection on field and course work.  Students earn one (1) credit hour per semester for field seminar.

Field Instruction occurs throughout the graduate social work curriculum and is concurrent with specific coursework (see table below). Field Instruction requires two separate internships, one at the foundation level and one at the concentration level, either Advanced Clinical Practice (ACP) or Advanced Integrated Practice (AIP). 

The foundation level is a minimum of 400 hours (200 per semester) and typically occurs across two consecutive semesters in one academic year. The concentration level is a minimum of 500 hours (250 per semester) and typically occurs across two consecutive semesters in the second or third academic years. Students will intern in social work settings for a minimum of sixteen hours a week, which meets the requirements for earning three credits per semester. A field seminar is a requirement of SWK 671 Field Instruction I, SWK 672 Field Instruction II and SWK 771 Field Instruction III. The field seminar facilitates students’ understanding of the learning experience through critical reflection of field and course work. 

Field Instruction for Advanced Standing students is concurrent with specific coursework (see table below). Advanced standing students are required to complete one internship at the concentration level, either Advanced Clinical Practice (ACP) or Advanced Integrated Practice (AIP). This field placement is a minimum of 500 hours and typically occurs across two semesters in one academic year. Students are placed in social work settings for a minimum of sixteen hours a week, which meets the requirements for earning three credits per semester. 

Field Instruction occurs throughout the graduate social work curriculum and is concurrent with specific coursework (see table below). Field Instruction in the traditional online MSW program begins with a 3-credit remote simulated virtual field experience (VFX) course which is followed by a three-semester progressive learning in-person on site agency based internship (3-credits per semester).  This progressive learning internship begins with students developing social work foundation level competencies and then progressing into the development of the concentration level competencies, either Advanced Clinical Practice (ACP) or Advanced Integrated Practice (AIP). 

The SWK 671 VFX course allows for 200 hours of internship experience.  The 3-semester progressive learning internship results in a total of a minimum of an additional 700 hours of in-person agency-based field experience.  Students will intern in agency based social work settings for an average of 16-18 hrs. per week depending on how many weeks you engage in your internship. The break down is as follows:  First semester (foundation level) is no less than 200 hours.   Second semester (concentration level)  no less than 250 hours and the third semester (concentration level) is no less than 250.    Students are expected to physically attend their internship at the assigned agency based location.  Students are required to stay in the internship until the last week of their final semester at the internship.  This means that students can not "speed up" and bank hours to end their internship early.  The program model is predicated on a concurrent model of internship and practice class.  

The VFX requires students to engage in synchronous live classes for 4 hours per week (scheduled two hours twice a week) and asynchronous content.  Between the 4 hours per week live classes and the asynchronous content, students can expect to be spending a maximum of 13 hours per week on this course.

The SWK 672 Field Instruction II and SWK 771 Field Instruction III and SWK 772 Field Instruction IV courses also require students to attend every other week 1 ½ hour virtual field seminar.  The field seminar facilitates students’ understanding of the learning experience through critical reflection of field and course work. 

Field Instruction occurs throughout the graduate social work curriculum and is concurrent with specific coursework (see table below). Field Instruction requires two separate internships, one at the foundation level and one at the concentration level, either Advanced Clinical Practice (ACP) or Advanced Integrated Practice (AIP). 

The foundation level is a minimum of 400 hours (200 per semester) and typically occurs across two consecutive semesters in one academic year. The concentration level is a minimum of 500 hours (250 per semester) and typically occurs across two consecutive semesters in the second or third academic years. Students will intern in social work settings for a minimum of sixteen hours a week, which meets the requirements for earning three credits per semester. A field seminar is a requirement of SWK 671 Field Instruction I, SWK 672 Field Instruction II and SWK 771 Field Instruction III. The field seminar facilitates students’ understanding of the learning experience through critical reflection of field and course work.