Taught By:
Lissa Schwander
Associate Professor of Social Work
School of Politics, Society, Justice and Public Service
Central Michigan University
Read profile here.
Course Description:
Social Work is a professional degree program; professional employment in this field often requires licensure. In the State of Michigan social work professionals must have a degree from a college program that has been accredited by Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). To be fully licensed, one must pass a standardized exam and have 2+ years of professional work experience after the degree is earned. A person with a BSW may be employed for "generalist practice".
Social Work 450 is nearly the last step to becoming a professional social worker, as it is among the senior level courses required in the CSWE accredited program at Central Michigan University. CSWE accreditation standards require faculty to teach students to perform 10 competencies and CMU embeds understanding of rural settings into course content. You can learn more about all the competencies and practice behaviors by reading the Social Work Student Handbook by clicking the ink below: https://www2.cmich.edu/colleges/class/SASW/SocialWork/Documents/SWK_Student_Handbook.pdf
What is unique about SOWK 450 is that students do macro social work practice as social action rather than just learn about it. In a traditional course on macro social work practice, students read about theories of social change, analyze social problems, read about campaigns, develop an abstract understand of concepts, all with the professor being the “sage on the stage”. In this experiential macro social change action model, students read about theories of social change and apply it to real world campaigns, as well as define a social problem and develop concrete, quantifiable solutions (i.e., demands).
