Field Organization Selection

Field practicum settings are selected for their capacity to offer senior social work students beginning exposure to professional social work practice; the organizations offer BSW-level services to diverse client systems and reflect organizational mission, values, and services consistent with those of the social work profession.
Initial contacts for a new field site may come from an interested agency representative, a student's interest, or from social work faculty members suggesting a possible site to the social work program's field coordinator. Following the negotiation of a working relationship, a memorandum of agreement is prepared and signed for each placement by the student, faculty coordinator, field instructor, and organization director. The majority of the organizations providing student-field learning experiences are located in Harrisonburg, Virginia or driving distance in the Shenandoah Valley. We also have around a quarter of our students choose to seek practicums in Washington, D.C. via EMU's Washington Community Scholars' Center.  All students, local or at a distance, participate in the practicum seminar class with the cohort of students completing practicum in the same semester.

Selected agencies:

1. Commit to the mission and goals of generalist social work education.
2. Draw on the social work program’s mission, goals, competencies and practice skills to facilitate student field practicum learning.
3. Provide BSW level learning opportunities with diverse and multi-level client systems.
4. Provide adequate weekly student supervision to facilitate and assess student development of the social work competencies and practice skills.
5. Provide adequate student orientation: history, agency policy and procedures, standard(s) of care, including safety precautions to protect students.
6. Have a philosophy of service congruent with generalist practice and are in compliance with the professional Social Work Code of Ethics.
7. Provide students with opportunity to participate in overall agency programs, as appropriate, to meet their educational goals and the formation of practice skills.
8. Accept students without discrimination related to age, class, color, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, immigration status, political ideology, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation.
9. Provide adequate workspace and resources to facilitate student practicum learning.
10. Commit to providing a rich learning environment for the practicum student.
11. Provide the field coordinator with necessary agency documents to assess its capacity to facilitate student field learning experiences.
12. Are willing to sign the Memorandum of Agreement between EMU and the Agency. (see Appendices below).

Placing and Monitoring Students

The Faculty Field Coordinator and/or the Field liaison helps students successfully transition into agencies and the field learning experience. The Faculty Field Coordinator collaborates with the field instructor to facilitate agency interviews that reflect student interests. After the students have completed their agency interviews, The Faculty Field Coordinator connects with the students to assess for agency and student fit. Following the agency's invitation and the student's acceptance, dates for placement are confirmed. 

At the onset of the student's practicum, the Faculty Field Education liaison orients the field instructor to expectations of the student field learning experience, reviews required program procedures and how they may fit with the regular work of the organizational setting. Content covered for field instructor orientation includes:

1. EMU Social Work Program’s Mission and Goals
2. The Core Competencies and derivative practice behaviors
3. An overview of the social work curriculum
4. Expectations for the field instructor supervision of and support to the student.
5. An overview of the assignments that students’ complete in seminar class that should be discussed in reflective supervision.
6. The process for mid-semester and end of semester student evaluations
7. Processes expected to be used by faculty and field instructor(s) to engage in problem-solving and conflict resolution as necessary.

Participation in the practicum seminar class with the other students in that practicum cohort assists students to successfully navigate the early weeks of transition into their field practicum settings.
A Memorandum of Agreement between the student, the Faculty Field Coordinator or Field Education Liaison, Field Instructor, and organization director is signed. The agreement includes clarification about the student's professional liability insurance coverage. The University's liability insurance covers all EMU social work students in their field practicum. Agencies may also provide professional liability insurance for EMU social work student completing field education.  It is recommended that students purchase individual coverage through NASW Assurance services.

The Field Instructor and student complete the student's Learning Contract which identifies specific activities for learning in the placement.  The Learning Contract for practicum document operationalizes the program's core competencies to a particular setting detailing how the student will demonstrate social work practice knowledge, skills and values. The student's Learning Contract must be approved by the faculty coordinator.

The EMU Social Work Program maintains regular contact with the field site during the student's field learning experience, which includes site visits confirming student progress and ongoing in-person contact with clients and constituencies of the placement organization. Typically there is a visit near the onset of the senior practicum, there may be a mid-semester visit scheduled if need is apparent, and then a final visit is scheduled at the end of the practicum.

During field experience questions and concerns come up. To ensure the best possible learning environment, ongoing communication is necessary between student, field instructor, and social work faculty.  Communication between the student, and those supporting the student’s success: the Field Instructor, seminar instructor/Field Coordinator/Field Liaison is important.   

The Faculty Field Coordinator is primarily responsible for maintaining contact with field placements through email, phone calls, and site visits.  Other social work faculty may be assigned Field Liaison responsibility if staffing support is needed to adequately cover contacts for a particular student placement.  In addition, the instructor of the practicum seminar class (who is usually the Faculty Field Coordinator) interacts weekly with the field student cohort during the practicum seminar course.  The Field Coordinator may become aware of student concerns via reading student weekly journals or other class interactions.

Following the end of placement, the field coordinator follows up with personal contact with any field instructor who indicates questions or concerns in their evaluations regarding how any placement proceeded or the program’s procedures.  Ongoing placements continue in sites year to year, if the field coordinator judges that students have been given adequate field instruction and administrative support for successful placements. At the onset of each new student's practicum, even for sites that have hosted students previously, the faculty field liaison re-orients the field instructor to expectations of the student field learning experience, reviews required program procedures and how they may fit with the regular work of the organizational setting.