SOCIAL WORK 679: Advanced Standing Bridge Course
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Course Description
This course is required for all advanced standing students and is aimed at providing the conceptual orientation for the concentration year graduate program. The goal of this course is to enhance theory, practice, research, and policy skills and knowledge in generalist social work. The key themes and concepts, presented, explored, and analyzed in this course include: the fit between the Social Work code of ethics and personal values and belief systems; critiquing the social construction of theories, policy, and practice and the interaction with research modalities applicable to social work; the importance of advocacy and the social worker’s role as a social change agent with respect to the promotion of social and economic justice, and the enhancement of human well-being.
Social and economic justice, social work values and ethics, populations-at-risk, and diversity are examined. Institutional racism, sexism, homophobia/heterosexism, poverty, alienation, and other oppressive conditions play a role in shaping the lives of clients. This includes an unequal access to power within political, social, and economic institutions and organizations.
Prerequisite
Admission to the MSW advanced standing program.
Educational Objectives
Upon completion of this course students will be able to:
1. evaluate the relationships between theory, research, policy, and social work practice from all size social systems (micro, mezzo and macro);
2. critically analyze human behavior and bio-psycho-social development from several theoretical perspectives including empowerment, ecological/systems, and social construction;
3. apply various analytical frameworks to critically understand theories of human behavior and practice knowledge as a basis for the Community Based Family Practice (CBFP) concentration;
4. evaluate social work research, apply research findings to practice situations, and evaluate own practice;
5. assess ethics, values, and cultural issues as it relates to all levels of social work practice, research, field, HBSE and policy;
6. develop an appreciation of diversity in social work practice and awareness of their own biases and assumptions in order to understand their sense of “other”; and
7. exhibit a knowledge of the influences of race, gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, and socio-economic factors on individual and family systems and the dynamic interaction between individuals and social systems, and an awareness of the impact of racism, sexism, social stratification, and other forms of oppression on society.