Stand Out Macro Class: State Policy
Hello — my name is Jonathan and I am an Advanced Standing (AS) MSW student majoring in macro social work. As an AS student, I complete the MSW program in one year because I already have a bachelor’s degree in Social Work.
This spring, I am taking State Policy and I have to say that it is by far my favorite class. The purpose of the course is to help students understand how social welfare policy works, primarily in Massachusetts, and to better understand the work of a policy advocate. By the end of the course, students are familiar with the structure of the Massachusetts State Legislature, how a bill becomes a law, the state budgeting process, and how to incorporate social work skills in order to influence social welfare legislation. Overall, this course has helped me recognize opportunities for social workers to make an impact across many areas of social welfare policy.
If you have an interest in advocacy, policy reform, or state politics, this is the course for you! Personally, I have an interest in education policy and reform and this course has given me the tools I need to engage in that field.
Part of what makes this course my favorite is the instruction. In my experience, the professors at BUSSW come with a high level of hands-on experience in the area that they teach. This really helps to guide the courses and provide students with the support they need. My professor for State Policy, Kate Audette, currently works in government relations at a local hospital and uses her daily professional experience to help us gain better insight about what policy work looks like, from letter writing to giving testimony on the State floor. The experience that she brings into the classrooms has made for an enriching semester.
Professor Audette also makes this class stimulating by bringing a lot of energy into the course and using interactive activities to help us understand the concepts and the process of policy-making in Massachusetts. For instance, we’ve learned to write and provide oral testimony – both of which are important skills for advocacy work.
During class sessions, the professor makes sure to check the “temperature” of the room at the beginning and the end of class. On days when I come in feeling down or just not up for class, the professor manages to catch my attention and I typically leave the room feeling more motivated than when I started — which is important for a class that takes place at 6pm on Thursdays.
The assignments in State Policy are not your standard social work papers where you write in APA format. Rather, they allow students to exemplify work that a person engaged with advocacy or policy would experience. For one assignment, we were given a copy of legislation and asked to write a professional letter to our appropriate elected official asking them to support or oppose the bill. Through these real-world assignments, this course has given me a true sense of what I can expect from a career in policy.
I recommend the State Policy course for everyone – it doesn’t matter if you are majoring in clinical or macro. The information presented in this course is necessary and important for all students working towards becoming a social worker. If you come to the course with an open mind and questions, you’ll learn how to advocate for policies that impact all of the populations social workers serve.