Educational Policy And Accreditation Standards Research Articles

Anti-Racist Social Work Education: “Ready or Not, Here I Come, You Can’t Hide...”

ABSTRACT The 2022 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) from the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) definitively identifies anti-racism as a necessary component of social work education. This change supports an effort to ensure that coming generations of social workers are more than culturally competent, but rather actively anti-racist in their practice across the micro, mezzo, and macro spectrum. While some social work programs have already embraced anti-racist education, many still have significant work to do. The fact remains that every accredited school will be required to make this shift to stay in compliance with CSWE accreditation once the newly ratified EPAS comes into effect. Although changes are expected of social work schools/programs, guidance on how to make such changes has been scarce. This paper provides an overview of what is meant by anti-racist social work education and why it is important, inclusive of emphasizing the difference between rhetoric and praxis. Based on a narrative review of the literature related to social work schools/programs in the U.S. and Canada that began incorporating anti-racism prior to EPAS 2022, suggestions for encouraging strategies within both the implicit and explicit curricula that align with anti-racist social work education are offered.

Knowledge Test Development for Use in Social Work Student Outcomes Assessment

Purpose: This article describes the process used to develop and pilot the Social Work Education Assessment Project (SWEAP) Curriculum instrument, a standardized multiple-choice test developed to assess student knowledge as it relates to each of the nine generalist practice competencies of the 2015 Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). Method: An expert panel evaluated instrument construct, content, and face validity. Test–retest reliability analysis was conducted on nine pilot instruments. Further reliability analysis was conducted on 2382 instruments. Results: Analyses support the validity and reliability of the SWEAP Curriculum Instrument. Discussion: Knowledge is one of the four dimensions that relate to each of the nine generalist practice-level social work competencies identified in EPAS 2015. Therefore, the evaluation of student knowledge is a vital component of social work program assessment. The SWEAP Curriculum Instrument is just one possible method for measuring student competency related to the knowledge dimension.

Linking Social Work Licensing Exam Content to Educational Competencies: Poor Reliability Challenges the Path to Licensure

Purpose: There has been increasing interest in the academy to assist social work graduates to become licensed which is likely to grow as the Council of Social Work Education (CSWE) cites licensure pass rates as a post-graduation outcome required for accreditation by newly adopted standards. This study determines the ability of academics to reliably link Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities statements that are the bases of licensure tests with the CSWE competencies in the Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). Methods: Four full-time faculty members at two institutions conducted an interrater reliability analysis on practice tests to determine the extent to which licensure questions could be consistently linked to EPAS competencies. Results: Study findings indicate weak reliability between social work licensure examination questions and CSWE EPAS competencies. Conclusion: Lack of consistency threatens the path to licensure and may explain why graduates of accredited programs lack the requisite knowledge to become licensed.

Leveling the Playing Field

Despite the numerous benefits of formal mentorship for all faculty, it remains underutilized within the academy. Specifically, this lack of critical support leaves historically marginalized groups, particularly women, underrepresented minorities, as well as part-time, intermittent, adjunct, or non-tenure track faculty, to struggle with navigating the challenging climate of higher education. To counter these inherent power differentials, this article asserts that formal mentorship is the responsibility of social work educators. This article presents a conceptual framework that integrates Relational Cultural Theory (RCT), the National Association of Social Work (NASW) Code of Ethics’ core values, and the Council on Social Work Education’s (CSWE) Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) as a mechanism to support faculty through formal mentorship practices. This article advocates for an amendment to the EPAS to include formal faculty mentorship within accredited programs.

Simulation in Social Work Education: A Qualitative Study of MSW Student Development

ABSTRACT The 2015 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) recognizes simulation as a means for students to gain skills, technical proficiency, and field practicum hours. Research on its use in social work education has been largely cross-sectional. The purpose of this 9-month qualitative study was to explore the influence of three simulations on 12 MSW students in practice classes, using students’ semistructured reflections. A thematic analysis identified three key themes: awareness of key learning elements, development from skill-based performance to the inclusion of theoretical concepts, and growth from self-awareness to goal orientation. A conceptual model for the development of student metacognition from the use of repeated simulations is proposed.

Studying Human Trafficking in Thailand Increases EPAS Competencies and Compels Action at Home

ABSTRACT This article reports on professional development of nine U.S. social work students of color who participated in a delegation exploring human trafficking in Thailand through a reverse mission program. Through the use of the 2015 Council on Social Work Education’s (CSWE) Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) as a conceptual framework, this qualitative study provides insight into delegates’ development related to professional roles and identities, understanding the complexity of social contexts, enhancing cultural humility, and sparking community engagement at home in the United States. This study points to the importance of critical reflection and peer support as tools to inspire delegates to take direct action upon return to their own contexts. Discussion of findings and implications for social work educators and students are included.

Assessment Processes in Social Work Education: A Review of Current Methods

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the process of assessment in social work education programs throughout the United States. Following the guidelines of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS), social work education has switched from student learning outcomes to competency-based measures. Included in this study is a literature review on current assessment practices and results of a research project on assessment practices in social work education programs nationwide. The findings may be useful to social work educators in addressing programmatic changes and revisions based on the 2015 EPAS.

Multiple ways of knowing: Teaching research under EPAS 2015

ABSTRACT Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) 2015 add new research requirements focusing on multiple ways of knowing and culturally informed approaches to knowledge building. These new requirements link to indigenous ways of knowing that orient the worldviews of many non-Western cultures. This article identifies key issues that distinguish culturally informed approaches to knowledge building from Western approaches. It provides an overview of a range of indigenous and culturally informed research principles. Two reflective examples of why and how these culturally informed methods are important to high-quality research are also presented. The examples show how different ways of knowing add to understanding and may enhance research usefulness.

Exploring Redundancy in SocialWork Education

The issue of redundancy has not been well explored in the social work curriculum. The Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) (CSWE, 2001) requires redundancy in the form of integration of material across content areas and addresses redundancy vertically between levels of education and year of program. Furthermore, research and theory support the notion that various types of redundancy produce educational benefits.This paper uniquely uses MSW students to track instances of redundancy over their first year of study and distinguishes between helpful and unhelpful redundancy. It presents both the study results and a description of the study process so that other schools may use or adapt it.

Teaching Note: Making Sense of Poverty Through the Use of Simulative Learning

Undergraduate social work students are often challenged by their inability to integrate the implicit and explicit course content in the matriculation of their studies. As educational mandates push for greater integration of skills and knowledge, some BSW programs are turning to the use of simulations to supplement classroom experiences and enhance competency-based training. This teaching note explores the authors' use of the Poverty Simulation, copyrighted by the Missouri Community Action Network, as a type of experiential learning in BSW education. Simulative learning is then linked to the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) 2015 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) Competencies to explore its usefulness in undergirding implicit course content.

Social Justice and the Capabilities Approach: Seeking a Global Blueprint for the EPAS

ABSTRACTThe concept of social justice shapes several of the competencies and practice behaviors of the Council of Social Work Education’s Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). Furthermore, a global perspective guides the social work profession and influences its educational programs. A number of social work scholars have adopted the capabilities approach, as defined by economist Amartya Sen and political scientist Martha Nussbaum, as a globally relevant social justice framework. This article builds on this scholarship, suggesting that the capabilities approach provides a blueprint to rethink and conceptualize the EPAS social justice pedagogy in the global context. Teaching illustrations integrating the capabilities approach in an EPAS curriculum are offered.

Assessing Cultural Competence in a BSW Student Population

Bachelor’s level social workers serve a population that is becoming more diverse. Social work educators must respond with adapted teaching methods, theories, and exercises to reflect the growing need for cultural competence in our practitioners. The 2015 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) outline the knowledge, value, and skills competencies central to social work education. These competencies include thorough integration of cultural competence in social work education; the ways in which this content is taught likely vary greatly between programs. This study assessed whether students gained competence as a result of taking a bachelor’s level social work (BSW) course in cultural diversity at a mid-sized public university. Furthermore, the study assessed whether their level of competence was related to student demographics, such as being from an urban or rural community. One hundred twenty-three students completed the California Brief Multicultural Competence Scale (CBMCS) at the beginning and end of a course specifically dedicated to cultural competence. Results indicate that the course itself is effective in increasing significantly student’s self-reported cultural competence. Study results lay the foundation for future research that will (1) assess more broadly the implications of a specific cultural competence course and (2) aid in the development of a social work-specific measure of cultural competence.

A qualitative study of an international social work course in Germany: Using the EPAS core competencies and practice behaviors as the coding scheme

This article discusses the methodology and findings of a qualitative study on the impact of an international social work course in Germany on four American undergraduate social work students. These students participated in a 2-week study abroad experience at a host university located near Berlin in what was formerly East Germany. The authors examined how the 10 core Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) competencies and their associated professional behaviors of the Council on Social Work Education Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards were exhibited in the students’ journals. This was done by having two independent coders review the journals and code the professional behaviors exhibited. Summative data were tabulated on the basis of frequencies of each respective professional behavior included in the study. Results were reported and implications discussed.

A Review of Social Justice and Diversity Content in Diversity Course Syllabi

Given United State's leading position among international social work organizations, it is important that its standards of practice for diversity in social work education are examined. Using a nationwide sample of syllabi (N = 174) in the United States, the purpose of this study is to measure the extent to which various facets of diversity and social justice are incorporated into social work course syllabi. The study further assesses whether social justice content is integrated into diversity courses according to the Council on Social Work Education's 2001 and 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). The goal is to better understand program adherence to diversity objects designed for social work education curriculum. An examination of course titles, syllabi content, and course objectives revealed a broad array of identified topics; however, terms such as culture/multicultural (79.2%), race (71.7%), diversity (68.2%), ethnicity (63.6%), gender (60.1%), oppression (57.8%), and gay/lesbian (56.1%) were addressed with greater frequency across all syllabi. In an assessment of adherence to 2001 and 2008 EPAS among syllabi, interrater agreement with the use of Kappa revealed modest agreement. Greater transparency in connecting EPAS with diversity course syllabi is an important step in the requirement to improve capability across programs. Implications for future research are discussed.

Does social work need a good spanking? The refusal to embrace BDSM scholarship and implications for sexually diverse clients

One of my favorite things about the field of social work has been its strong interconnections with other fields of study, including a full range of social and behavioral sciences. Social work formally utilizes a generalist approach, thus workers are trained to be able to respond effectively to a variety of client needs and potential problems. In doing so, ethical practice is emphasized, and social workers are admonished to challenge injustice, promote client self-determination, embrace human diversity, and practice with cultural competence (National Association of Social Workers, 2008). Since 2008, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), which accredits all social work education programs in the United States, has required that social work students demonstrate mastery of specific competencies, referred to as Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). These competencies include a focus on ethical behavior (competency 1), embracing diversity and difference (competency 2), social injustice and human rights (competency 3), and the interconnectedness of research and practice (competency 4) (CSWE, 2015). EPAS competencies are designed to apply across social work education and practice. In this paper, I will summarize scholarship on consensual bondage and discipline – dominance and submission – sadomasochism (BDSM) and briefly explain why this topic is relevant to social work practice. I will then discuss my frustrations in attempting to publish work on this topic within the field of social work. Apart from a notable exception in the journal Canadian Social Work (Williams, 2013), the topic of BDSM is absent from the social work literature. However, what is particularly surprising and disturbing to me, based on personal experience, has been the refusal of journal editors and reviewers to accept an accumulating empirical research literature on BDSM, which then results in manuscript rejection. I will discuss my experiences of manuscript rejection and editor/reviewer biases concerning BDSM shortly. Contemporary social work, after all, is predicated on EPAS core competencies, including those mentioned above, and also emphasizes evidence-based practice (CSWE, 2008, 2015; Rubin & Babbie, 2014). While I have occasionally encountered difficulty in getting specific manuscripts published, including on the topic of BDSM, it is only in the field of social work that I have faced consistent rejection.

The Intersection of Religion and Sexual Orientation: Pedagogy and Challenges

The Council on Social Work Education's (CSWE) 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) included the goal of competency in the ability to “engage diversity and difference in practice.” This goal continued efforts to raise awareness of diversity issues for clients articulated in earlier EPAS. Social work education has included cultural competence in areas of difference including sexual orientation and religion and spirituality. Undergraduate social work students should understand the complexity of this intersection to provide culturally competent services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer clients, and to understand religious backgrounds that may not include affirmative messages on sexual orientation. This article presents an overview of the intersection of religion/spirituality and sexual orientation, and recommends audiovisual materials that can highlight salient issues for BSW students in pedagogy on this intersection.

Social Work Competencies and Multidimensional Assessment

The authors review the Council on Social Work Education's 2015 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) related to the assessment of social work competencies. The 2015 EPAS focuses on the multidimensional assessment of holistic competencies (Drisko, 2015). This is a significant change from the assessment of practice behaviors approach of the 2008 EPAS. This article aims to clarify the intention and language related to assessment in the 2015 EPAS and to provide programs with an overview of possible ways of developing assessment plans that are in compliance with Accreditation Standard 4.0–Assessment.

From the Guest Editor for the December 2014 Issue of Sexuality and Disability: The Emerging Intersection of Sexuality and Disability in the Profession of Social Work

Welcome to this special theme issue on The Intersection of Sexuality and Disability: Implications for the Social Work Profession! I am proud, excited, and grateful to introduce scholars, practitioners, and intellectuals to emerging ideas, conceptions, research, and directions centered on a typically marginalized and overlooked topic in social work— sexuality and disability. Let me begin by providing the context to which this special theme issue originated, what you will encounter in intellectual and practical knowledge from the articles herein, and the potential roadmap of this area of inquiry. I am a councilor on the Council on Disability and Persons with Disabilities (CDPD) of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). I have been part of CDPD for the past 2 years and during that time have recommended topics to address in presentations, trainings, and curriculum within the social work profession. One such topic that I felt strongly about is how social workers are taught and trained in the area of intersectionality research, with a focus on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) individuals with disabilities. Intersectionality is a concept that I encountered as part of doctoral research, but never once heard in graduate classes in social work, nor in the field. As social workers, who attend schools accredited by the CSWE, it is mandatory that we attend the traditional diversity survey course in which learning is focused on identities, but they are conceptualized and understood as separate rather than as intersecting. This situation creates a place where and how social workers begin to make sense of the lived experiences of people’s identity categories, while accounting for power, privilege, and oppression at the institutional level. The CSWE [1] has emphasized in its Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) that accredited schools are required to teach students about the dimensions, variability, and intersectionality of identities and the application of social justice. However, when one looks for research in this area, a gap

The Power of Organizational Readiness to Boost Success With the 2008 EPAS in Social Work Education

Social work education is engaged in a significant evolutionary phase of its development, spearheaded by the Council on Social Work Education and the 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). This article suggests that an organizational change–anchored focus is a little discussed but ultimately important set of theories and frameworks that have potential to greatly affect successful EPAS implementation. Attention to the organizational change literature with specific focus on theories and models of organizational readiness for change, organizational resistance to change, and, finally, implementation science might enhance the effectiveness and, ultimately, the effect of the positive opportunities associated with the new EPAS while simultaneously protecting and preserving the most important knowledge, ethics, values, and traditions of social work education.

Norming or Transforming

The past decade has seen growth in the international and interdisciplinary literature about competency-based education (CBE). With the passage of the Council on Social Work Education’s Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) in 2008, the U.S. social work education enterprise joined other professional groups in embracing CBE. This article analyzes the positions of both proponents and critics of CBE. It reviews the core competencies for social work identified in the EPAS and explores challenges and opportunities that CBE and the competencies present to feminist pedagogy. It concludes with a classroom exercise that is used to integrate feminist pedagogy and the core competencies.