Wondering where to start? Explore these six facts about field education at BU School of Social Work.
Full-time students complete a foundation placement in the first year and an advanced placement in the second year. Part-time students do their foundation placement in the second year of the three- or four-year program and an advanced placement in year three or four of the program. Human Service Experience (Online and Off-Campus Programs only) and Advanced Standing students complete a single advanced placement of 1,000 hours. Your field placement will be supplemented by a field seminar, the format of which differs depending on your campus and whether you are full- or part-time. Most students will complete two field placements.
Your foundation placement is intended to broaden your knowledge about social work practice and provide an opportunity to learn general social work skills with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. The advanced placement deepens skills in your major area and population of choice. Students interested in Clinical Practice may complete their foundation internship in public schools, after-school programs, therapeutic mentoring programs, nursing homes, housing and homeless services, or community agencies serving clients with a range of needs, from preschool to the elderly. Most foundation placements are not in hospitals or in outpatient counseling settings; these tend to be advanced placements. Macro Practice students are often placed in community agencies where they have considerable consumer contact and can practice a variety of skills, such as community organizing, research, policy advocacy, program planning, or human service management. Your foundation placement setting might vary from public schools to community agencies.
You will be assigned to a Boston University advisor who will serve as both your academic advisor and liaison to your internships. Advising roles vary depending on whether you are a Charles River, Off-Campus, or Online Program student. In addition, you will receive supervision in your field placement from qualified field instructors who are agency employees. Primary field instructors have an MSW and at least two years of post-master’s social work experience. You will receive plenty of support.
The field education staff determine student assignments based on the pool of agencies that have requested an intern, taking into account the student’s particular learning needs and career plans. One of the two placements can be done at a student’s place of employment as long as the placement meets the criteria for an employer agency placement. This means that there must be a clearly defined new and different assignment for the student, that the placement hours are differentiated from the employment hours, and that the supervisor is someone who is a qualified field instructor and is not the student’s work supervisor. Most students travel up to one hour each way to the placement either by car or public transportation. While having a car is not necessary, some agencies are only accessible by car or require a car for particular assignments. Finding your field placement is a collaborative process with you, your advisor, and the BU School of Social Work field education team.
You will interview for your foundation placement at one agency at a time. If the first match between you and the agency does not work out, you will be assigned another agency at which to interview. Although we know that students might like the opportunity to choose from several options, the large number of students in the field and the limited number of agencies able to provide placements require that we manage the assignment process. For the advanced placement, students may interview at several agencies since some placements interview a number of prospective interns for limited slots. You will interview in advance with your agency to determine a match.
Foundation placements are 16 hours/week for 30 weeks, for a total of 480 hours. Advanced placements are a total of 720 hours and can be completed in two semesters at 24 hours/week or three semesters at 16 hours/week. Advanced Standing and HSE placements are 1,000 hours and can be completed in 24 hours/week over three semesters or in 16 hours/week over four semesters. Most agencies require that the student be in placement from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Although some agencies may offer (or require) early evening hours to provide services to clients, it is important for you to be available to participate in the regular agency activities during the day. It might be possible to do the placement for a limited number of evening hours or even on weekends. However, it is not feasible to have the entire placement during weekend or evening hours. Your field experience will require you to be available during agency business hours.