Program Policies and Procedures

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Last updated: Mar 22, 2021 by Carol Hurst

Admission to the Social Work Program

Students apply for admission into the Social work program as part of the course requirements in SOWK 220 Social Welfare History and Philosophy. Transfer students beyond the first year apply during their first semester of enrollment at EMU, and upper-level students changing their majors make application during their first semester taking social work courses. The requirements and process for admission to the social work program are described below.
Admission requirements

  1. Formal declaration of the social work major with the EMU Registrar.
  2. Current enrollment in or completion of SOWK 101 and SOWK 220.
  3. A letter grade of C or higher (equivalent of at least 2.0 quality points) in all social work and sociology courses required for the social work major.
  4. A cumulative EMU GPA of 2.5
  5. A completed application form (social work program application form)
  6. A completed autobiographical essay (to be reviewed by the program director using the autobiographical essay rubric)
  7. Three completed references (Reference for EMU Social Work Program applicant form): one each from a college/university instructor of your choice, a former employer or supervisor and another person of your choice (not a family member).
  8. A formal admission interview with the program director. The interview's purpose is to reflect on the student's aspirations, goals and potential for social work; to discuss the student's strengths and limitations in considering a social work career, and, if perceived necessary, to agree to a corrective plan of action that reflects the student's commitment to an area of growth. The interview also provides an opportunity for students to plan, clarify options, ask questions and voice concerns.


Program Admission Criteria & Outcomes
The criteria that provide a basis for assessing student potential for professional social work are: motivation for helping others, aspiration to uphold core social work values, emotional stability, recovery commitments from difficult lived experiences, positive relational skills, leadership ability, references and college GPA. Following an interview with the Social Work Program Director, program faculty meet to review each student application and to make a formal decision about granting admission. Students are formally notified by letter of the program's admission decision. Students are accepted, accepted conditionally or denied admission.

  1. Acceptance- student has earned an overall GPA of 2.5 or higher, received average or above average letters of reference, has affirmed a sense of calling or motivation for the profession, and has demonstrated behavior congruent with professional social work values and ethics.
  2. Accepted Conditionally- student may have an overall GPA below 2.5 or may lack a letter grade of C in a required social work course and have yet to retake the course. Conditional acceptance may also occur due to demonstrated behavior or attitude that is inconsistent with social work values. In such cases, students are provided with corrective action steps to achieve full admittance when the conditional admittance is reviewed in a subsequent semester.
  3. Denied Admission- student may have failed to perform academically near the required 2.5 GPA level. Other grounds for denial of admission include: evidence of academic dishonesty; repeated failure to take responsibility for completion of required coursework assignments; inappropriate personal behavior which could hinder professional practice; demonstration of prejudice and judgmental attitudes and behaviors toward particular groups of people; evidence of a violation of professional ethics.

Refusal to respond or comply with a corrective action plan to address behaviors of concern results in a denial of admission to the program.
Students are provided with reasons for a denial of admission in social work. Denied students may withdraw from the social work program but still meet requirements for completion of a degree in a different major at EMU.

Appeal process

The appeal process includes an opportunity for the student to provide additional information and to request a meeting with the program director accompanied by a support person or persons. Should the admission issues remain unresolved, a student may take their concerns to the academic dean for further attempts at resolution. Further appeal could follow the conflict and grievance procedure outlined by the University in the EMU Undergraduate Student Handbook.

Readmission
Students who voluntarily withdraw from the program or are denied formal admission to the program, may apply for readmission under the same requirements and procedures utilized for initial applications. It is recommended that students in this circumstance delay re-application for at least one full semester or until the concerns impacting student or noted in denial of admission are resolved.

Application to the Senior Practicum & Matching with Prospective Placement Sites


Practicum Admission requirements

  1. Students complete a practicum application, including top three choices of practicum organizations, while enrolled in SOWK 310 Social Work Practice I.
  2. A letter grade of C or higher in all SOWK or SOC courses required for major.
  3. Maintenance of cumulative EMU GPA of 2.5 or better.
  4. Completion of all required prerequisite courses as outlined in the course catalog.
  5. Formal admission to the Social Work Program is required before practicum placement.
  6. Membership in the National Association of Social Workers is recommended.
  7. Attend practicum readiness meeting or individual interview with the faculty field coordinator. This meeting provides an opportunity for students to clarify options, ask questions, and voice concerns. Results of the professional behaviors assessment rubrics completed by at least two social work faculty will be reviewed. The professional behaviors expected in practicum placement will be discussed.
  8. An ongoing consultation process with the faculty coordinator/liaison regarding student matching with prospective practicum sites proceeds the semester before the practicum placement. The faculty coordinator needs to make contact with prospective sites the student has interest in, in order to insure that the organization is willing to work with the EMU social work program in a particular semester, and to insure that an appropriately qualified field instructor is available to work with the student during the placement.
  9. After an organization states willingness to host a practicum student, the coordinator shares contact information between the student and the organization. Personnel at the hosting organization schedule a professional interview with the student to further discern whether or not they will offer the student a practicum position.
  10. Student and/or practicum organization site personnel communicate that a student has been accepted for placement. The faculty field coordinator ensures that the assigned field instructor has orientation to the basic expectations to work with the student during placement.
  11. The social work program is open to placing students in new practicum sites if students have community connections within organizations that are amenable to hosting him/her/them in a practicum. In this situation, a student needs to work actively with the field coordinator to share contacts and the field coordinator who orients the prospective new site to what is required for a student placement. Then, steps outlined in steps #8 and #9 above can occur.


Practicum Placement outside of the Shenandoah Valley


One of Eastern Mennonite University's innovative cross-cultural programs, the Washington Community Scholars' Center (WCSC), is located in Washington, D.C. EMU's social work program maintains a close partnership with the WCSC program due to the invaluable urban experience it affords for social work practicum opportunities.

Social work field practicum students earn additional credits beyond social work practicum credits when completing a Washington based practicum. The WCSC program provides a strong academic program for up to 15 EMU undergraduate students per semester who live together in a house in a diverse urban DC neighborhood. The WCSC program requires an interdisciplinary seminar analyzing social problems, faith issues, and urban experiences through arts, reading and writing, guest speakers, assignments, and group processing. Social work students participate in WCSC program seminar in addition to participation in SOWK 430 practicum seminar that integrates with their practicum placement. WCSC placements are recruited by WCSC faculty then approved by the social work field coordinator. The faculty field coordinator, or designee, makes digital site visits during the semester, and usually completes one on-site visit to non-local placement in the semester.

The EMU field coordinator maintains weekly contact with social work students placed in DC via the SOWK 430 seminar class. SOWK 430 Senior practicum includes both students placed locally in the Shenandoah Valley, their classmates placed through EMU's WCSC program in Washington, D.C. and any other non-local placement student connecting to class via digital technology. Students are required to complete the same practicum seminar course assignments as their on-campus classmates. Support for Washington, D.C. based practicums occurs collaboratively between the WCSC based faculty and the Social Work Field coordinator.

Other non-local Practicum Placement

EMU social work program aims to ensure that all students have quality placements and that social work program personnel can be available to assist organizations working with our students, and be available to assist our students should issues arise in the course of placement. This is much more difficult if the placement is unknown to us and in another geographic location. Therefore, it is out of the ordinary practice of the EMU Social Work program to have students complete non-locally based or non-WCSC (EMU's Washington Community Scholars' Center) practicum placements.

Therefore, in order for any student to complete a placement other than EMU local placements or WCSC placements, we require that a student submit a formal proposal regarding the placement up to a year before the placement occurs that can be reviewed to determine approval or not of the proposal. The proposal should be a formal written document, and the social work faculty will review the proposal in conjunction with administrative expectations at EMU and provide the student with a decision on whether the proposal will be accepted.

Any student considering such a practicum should be aware that in addition to the tuition that is paid for the semester in practicum, a non-local alternative placement may incur extra costs to cover the required faculty contact visit(s) (transportation and lodging etc) to the site during the placement. There may also be necessary extra costs to cover appropriately qualified social work field instruction costs in a particular placement that are not incurred in regular local or WCSC placements.
All students in practicum must participate in the weekly seminar class with their practicum cohort. The schedule of this class and any additional EMU class in which the student is enrolled should be discussed with the placement organization.

The Non – Local Practicum Proposal should be completed by the student and submitted to the Coordinator of Field Placement. The proposal will then be reviewed in conjunction with the Social Work Program Director and other social work faculty who may be impacted to provide support to the placement.

Topic areas to cover in Non-local placement proposal:

The written proposal should:

  1. Explanation of reasons for seeking a non-local placement.
  2. Provide name & address of organization.
  3. Provide names(s) and contact information of executive director or chief executive officer for organization.
  4. Provide name, contact information, and qualifications of the social worker on-site who would accept the responsibility of being field instructor.

The proposal should briefly discuss the contacts that student has had with the hosting organization and personnel, and detail the work that the student could be involved with in the organization.
Finally, the proposal should outline a tentative weekly schedule for what activities the student will be involved with, and the expectation of the availability of supervision for these activities. 


Practicum Placement in Employment Settings

The EMU Social Work Program aims to insure that all students have quality placements where students can be engaging new learning and experiences.  The relationship between an employee/employer is
different than a student/field placement.  Attempting a practicum placement in a setting where a student is employed can raise conflicts between the roles of student learner and employee being paid to perform a specific task.  Therefore, EMU Social Work program prefers that the practicum placement occur in an organization that is not the setting of student's employment.  During the pandemic year in 2020, the program developed this policy to allow for approval of a prospective placement in an organization where the student may be employed.

Optimal field settings must provide an environment where the student is first and foremost allowed to be in a learning role.  The setting needs to provide new learning experiences where a student can be observed and supported in demonstrating behaviors that they haven’t used before.  They need to work with a qualified credentialed social worker to reflectively understand and demonstrate practice competencies according to the nine core competencies.  Per this policy, a student may request approval for an employing organization to be the site of their practicum placement if this criteria can be met: 

  1. Learning Role: The field experience must be educationally driven rather than centered on routine roles that a student was already performing for the organization.
  2. Field Organization: The employing setting must be able to meet the same requirements that other field organizations meet in order to host a practicum. The field organization must give consent for an employed student placement and understand the need to support the student in taking on new learning assignments and enhanced responsibilities.
  3. The Field Coordinator consults with the executive director of the organization in question about how a particular student can step into an enhanced role for practicum, and how supervision for this role will be provided.
  4. The EMU Social Work Program will approve the student’s request if proposed program and client assignments and supervision available provide a learning focused opportunity for the student.

Ensuring Separate Assignments from Employment:

 Responsibilities & Role: The prospective field placement assignment in the organization should be completed in a different program or represent significantly different responsibilities with clients and/or roles in an interagency network than the responsibilities and roles the student had already been performing as an employee.

The student’s field learning tasks and activities must represent an enhancement over the student’s employment job description.   The student’s anticipated field learning activities should be geared to demonstrating social work practice skills according to core competencies.

Ensuring Separate Supervision from Employment:

 Credentialed Supervision: The proposed Field Instructor for the student should be focused on supporting the student as a learner.  The prospective Field Instructor needs to be a credentialed social worker holding either BSW or MSW degrees and two years of practice experience. Field Instructor and any ongoing employment supervisor must both be knowledgeable of and consenting to working with the field student within the employing agency in two different roles.

Guidelines for Termination from Program

Social work students must continually demonstrate academic and non-academic social work competencies and proficiencies in order to remain in the social work program. Students who fail to do so will be terminated from the program. Factors contributing to student termination from the social work program are below; examples of behaviors demonstrating violations of the requirements are also included.

  1. Failure to maintain an overall GPA of 2.5, or a 2.0 in all courses required in the social work major.
  2. Failure to demonstrate the capacity to master necessary generalist social work competences and practice skills, such as self-awareness, critical thinking, client empathy, non-judgmental attitudes, contributions to client self-determination, and good oral and written communication skills.
    1. Demonstration of consistently poor written and/or oral communication skills that impact on professional practice expectations.
    2. Evidence of academic dishonesty (i.e. cheating, plagiarism).
  3. Failure to demonstrate personal and professional conduct requisite for accepted professional standards of practice consistent with the NASW Code of Conduct.
    1. Inability to work with or relate to diverse population reflecting age, class, color, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, immigration status, political ideology, race, religion, sex and sexual orientation.
    2. Disregard for principles of confidentiality or client self-determination.
  4. Failure to demonstrate emotional stability requisite for professional practice
    1. Inability to deal with current life stressors through the use of appropriate coping mechanisms such as professional counseling.
    2. Derogatory oral and/or written statements about/toward others, including students, faculty, field instructors, and/or clients.
    3. Unwillingness to receive and accept feedback and supervision in a positive manner and/or failure to use such feedback to enhance professional development.
  5. Failure to respond in a timely manner to a plan of correction/resolution of the problem.
  6. Violations of expected professional conduct (ranging from poor attendance and follow-through on assigned tasks to inappropriate behavior towards clients) in field placements can be serious, as such conduct can lead to disruptions of placement and result in inability to finish a social work degree. 

Termination procedures

The social work program may receive a report from a classroom faculty, other student or faculty field coordinator/liaison, and/or a client or field instructor that a student has exhibited behaviors not consistent with required professional or ethical standards of practice. Such report will be reviewed by the program director and field faculty coordinator/liaison with other program faculty as necessary. If it is determined that the student may have exhibited failure to demonstrate either competence or proficiency in this matter, s/he will be formally notified by the program director or faculty coordinator/liaison. The notice will specifically enumerate the behavior(s) in question, and will require the student to meet with the faculty coordinator/liaison and another social work faculty member. During that meeting, the student will be given the opportunity to discuss the situation and explain his/her actions.

Following that meeting the program director and/or faculty coordinator/liaison will determine whether a violation occurred, will formally notify the student of the decision and will specify any corrective action deemed necessary. In all cases where it has been determined that a violation occurred, the student will be given a corrective action period of at least 30 days to write a corrective plan and take corrective action, as specified by the program director and/or faculty coordinator/liaison. During this time, the student will be closely monitored and supervised by a social work faculty member, who will make every effort to assist the student to achieve the required changes, and provide ongoing support and feedback regarding progress.

At the end of the corrective action period, the full social work faculty will discuss the violation and evaluate the student's work during the corrective action period. The full faculty will determine whether to revoke the student's admission into the program, place her/him on additional corrective action, or reinstate the student to good-standing status. The student will be formally notified of the faculty decision. Should the student wish to appeal the faculty decision, s/he will be given the opportunity to provide additional information and to request a meeting with the social work program director accompanied by a support person or persons. Should the issues remain unresolved, the student may utilize the grievance procedure outlined in the University undergraduate student handbook. All termination decisions and action must be documented and copies maintained in the student's file.

The social work program follows all University policies outlined in the undergraduate student handbook.