Contextual Education for School of Social Work Dual Degree Students

Complete SSW’s & STH’s Field Education Requirements Simultaneously

Students who are pursuing the Master of Social Work alongside their School of Theology degree program have a modified Contextual Education process. SSW/STH students should complete the field education placement process through the School of Social Work, meeting those deadlines and securing internship assignments that fulfill the requirements of the MSW degree program. The STH Contextual Education Office always approves of whatever sites are authorized by the SSW field education team.

Add STH’s Integrating Theology & Practice Course to Your Schedule

While we honor all SSW site placements, the School of Theology requires that SSW students add STH’s “Integrating Theology and Practice” (ITP) small group course to any semester(s) of field work that they would like to count toward their STH Contextual Education requirement. ITP allows the student to add individual and group theological reflection to their social work field experience(s).

The School of Theology’s ITP small group course meets on Wednesday afternoons from 2:30 – 3:45pm, so the student should be available to take this course in-person at the School of Theology at this time. If a student’s SSW field site requires them to be off-campus on Wednesday afternoons, please communicate this to our STH Contextual Education Office by email (sthope@bu.edu) and we will see if an accommodation can be made. Please note: this accommodation would be a different format of ITP, not that this requirement would be waived.

Course Registration

School of Social Work students will register for the 1-unit Integrating Theology and Practice (ITP) small group course using the course registration code TF 821 (for fall) or TF 822 (for spring).

Navigating ITP Assignments & SSW Assignments in the Same Semester

We understand that you will be completing field education assignments for both SSW and STH at the same time. We don’t want you to have to do twice the work in those semesters! And yet we also want you to have a full ITP experience alongside your SSW internship(s). Hopefully the assignment integrations below provide some relief while also allowing you the theological learning needed to fulfill STH’s ConEd requirements.

• First, instead of the STH Learning Agreement, we are happy for SSW students to complete and turn in their SSW Learning Contract paperwork, instead. You will only need to provide a small addendum to your SSW Learning Contract paperwork: a paragraph to outline how you intend to fulfill the required 2 hour per week sabbath-keeping/self-care learning goal that is a part of STH’s ConEd experience for all students. This addendum can just be an additional Word document that you turn in along with your SSW Learning Contract paperwork to your ITP Leader by the date stated in the ITP syllabus.
• You may turn in SSW Process Recordings from your field placement site in fulfillment of your ITP Theological Reflection Paper/Case Study assignments, but with an addendum that includes any of the missing components of the five-fold process outlined in the ITP “guidelines for writing theological reflection papers” worksheet.
• You do have to complete the ITP site exegesis assignment in the same manner as all other ITP students do. This assignment does not change or adapt. However, if there are elements of this assignment that you can draw from your SSW assignments, feel free to do so.
• When it comes time for mid-year and/or final evaluations, you are responsible only for completing your ITP self-evaluation. We are happy to receive your site supervisor’s SSW final evaluation. You will just turn that evaluation in to your ITP leader once you receive it. Your SSW site supervisor does not need to complete an STH-specific mid-year nor final evaluation.

If you have any other questions about how your School of Social Work field placement interacts with the Integrating Theology & Practice course, do not hesitate to reach out to our office by email (sthope@bu.edu) or phone (617-353-3038).