• Manual Overview
• Curriculum and Field Education
• Selection of Agencies
• Selection of Supervisors
• Assignment of Students
• Field Education Responsibilities
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Selection of Supervisors

Field education supervisors are selected by the agency executive or program director in conjunction with the Director of Field Education. However, preference will be given to social work staff with B.S.W. or M.S.W. degrees and who have at least one year of experience working in the designated agency. If the potential field education supervisor does not have a social work degree, a bachelor’s degree and two years of experience within the designated agency is preferred.

The following efforts will be initiated in order to attempt to provide a social work perspective in the supervision of students placed into agencies where there is not a B.S.W. or M.S.W. supervisor:

1. Efforts will be made by the agency and/or PSU to secure supervision by a B.S.W. or M.S.W. once every two weeks, in addition to the weekly and ongoing supervision by the primary field instructor. The use of B.S.W.s and M.S.W.s who are agency board members, other agency staff and collateral community agency staff has proven useful to provide such supervision.
2. Efforts to promote inter-agency group supervision once every two weeks, led by a B.S.W. or M.S.W. will be attempted. Other agencies where PSU students are placed may be viable options for facilitating such collaborative supervision.
3. Students may attend peer supervision sessions that have B.S.W. and M.S.W. members, once every two weeks.
4. Field instructors will be taught through lecture, discussion, readings and small group exercises, field instruction techniques from the social work perspective through attendance twice a semester at training sessions and the mid-semester on-site visit with the Director of Field Education and/or other social work faculty liaisons.
5. In those cases where no B.S.W. or M.S.W. perspective is available on an ongoing basis, particular attention will be given during the co-requisite seminar, to the ability of the student to process his/her field experiences from a social work perspective.

The following criteria will be used to select field education supervisors:

1. A professional commitment to the values and ethics of social work;
2. A personal commitment to his/her own professional development and growth within a developing profession;
3. An ability to interest students in the values and practices of social work;
4. An ability and willingness to fill the role of social work educator, including respect for scientific inquiry, knowledge of the population served and effective communication;
5. Willingness to cooperate with PSU’s Director of Field Education and the student to design a mutually acceptable educational experience;
6. Willingness to accept individualized learning patterns of students and to develop individualized educational goals with students;
7. An ability to evaluate the student’s field practice.