Congruence Between Specializations in Graduate School and Post-Graduate Employment Patterns for Social Workers

Abstract

At the graduate level, the design of the social work curriculum on the basis of specializations and concentrations is now well established even though there is much variance from one school to another. A question that has received little attention in research, however, is wheter graduates of school sof social work are typically employed in jobs which are congruent with their graduate school preparation. The present study explores the question through a survey conducted in one state. The reuslts revealed that approximately one-half of all respondents were employed in fields congruent with their graduate school specializations. Implications for social work education are discussed.