Employment-Based Practicum

Students who are already employed by a social service agency often inquire about using their employment as a field practicum site. There are guidelines that must be met in order to be placed at an existing employment site for practicum:

• The agency must be willing to provide the student with an educationally-focused experience for the required number of practicum hours. Therefore, if a student seeks to use their current employment as a practicum placement, the student must be assigned different educationally-focused duties, ideally in a different program/department than the one where they are employed
• Employment-based practicum placements must be approved by the Director of Field Education/Field Coordinator prior to the student being placed in the agency. Please note that MSW Two-Year students are required to complete two separate practicum placements over the course of the program. It is rare for a student to be placed with the same agency in both their foundation and concentration years. Occasionally, however, there are some agencies with multiple programs that are able to provide two distinct experiences for students
• The Agency Field Instructor (AFI) could potentially be an employment supervisor if it is clear that internship supervision will be distinct from employment supervision