Competency for Professional Practice Initiative
The profession of social work relies on social work educational programs to produce competent and ethical professional practitioners. Consequently, university programs function as the gatekeepers for the profession and are seen by the public as accountable for the quality of social work services available in the community. Social work educators recognize their responsibility to ensure that graduating students have achieved a performance level necessary for beginning practice.
To meet their obligations educational programs identify the components of professional performance that are associated with effective entry level practice. They design curriculum offered in academic courses, field practicum, and research experiences where students can integrate and master knowledge, values, and skills for social work practice. A range of teaching approaches are used in these domains of the curriculum as well as a range of methods to assess student learning and readiness to enter the field of practice.
All professions recognize that knowledge for practice is continuously evolving and changing and hence lifelong learning to ensure continuing competency is necessary. A range of educational approaches have been developed to address this need including ongoing clinical supervision, agency-based educational workshops, and continuing education courses.
The aim of the Competency for Professional Practice Initiative within the Research Institute for Evidence-Based Social Work is to improve the quality of social work practice through excellence in education. The Initiative will accomplish this goal through a focus on:
- determining the best methods for educating social work students to become competent, effective, ethical practitioners
- determining the best methods for practicing social workers to maintain, enhance, and expand their competence throughout their careers
- disseminating knowledge to social work teachers and educational programs, and to agencies and professional organizations who provide continuing education to social workers about best practices in social work education and continuing professional development
- collaborating with education researchers in allied professions investigating best practices for professional education and competence.
The Competency for Professional Practice Initiative conducts research in two main areas: 1) knowledge building for social work education and 2) knowledge building for continuing professional competence. Within each area a number of research projects provide empirical evidence to assist social work educators, professional agencies and organizations to design and offer effective educational programs.