Dear Field Instructors,
On behalf of Boston University School of Social Work, we would like to provide you with guidelines for any potential disruptions in current field education placements due to the Coronavirus outbreak. We have been mindful of the range of placement sites, as well as the many unknowns that students and sites are encountering. We are also aware of the many unanswered questions you may have on how to best support your student and adhere to CSWE field education requirements and hours. The guidelines we have developed provide some options in the event that students are not able to complete field education requirements in person and/or can complete some of their requirements remotely.
Our initial response to students has been to follow their agency safety/Coronavirus protocols, policies and attendance expectations. In the event the agency requests or mandates a student to work remotely or discontinue their physical presence at the agency, the student will notify their BUSSW advisor, who will reach out to you (Field Instructor) to confirm the mandate or request, anticipated timeframe, and discuss alternative placement related activities/ tasks the student can perform remotely.
As this situation continues to unfold, we ask that you excuse students from placements at any sign of their illness or hardship. We have provided our advisors with detailed information on how to support both students and agencies during this challenging period. We have posted information to this webpage to assist you in creating competency-based field assignments for students who are asked to complete placement hours remotely.
Since the course that the virus will take over the next weeks and perhaps months is uncertain, we may need to update these guidelines and will certainly be in touch with you if that happens. We appreciate that this is an extremely difficult time for everyone and thank you for all you are doing for your clients and constituents, your institutions and your social work students.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at denita@bu.edu or 617-353-7719 or any of member of the Field Education Department listed below. Thank you and take care!
Online Field Education Programs
Kristina M. Whiton-O’Brien | whitonb@bu.edu
Macro Field Coordinator
Andrew Spooner | spooner@bu.edu
Off-Campus Programs
Diane Crowley | crowleyd@bu.edu