The School prepares students to work with diverse populations and issues. As our mission statement indicates, we educate students for advanced direct practice with individuals, families, households, groups, organizations and communities. Using this focus, the curriculum includes the following elements:
- A liberal arts perspective informed by recognition
of the critical import to social work education and practice of cultural,
political, and socio-historical contexts; skills in communication, reasoning,
analysis and critical thinking and inquiry; human behavior knowledge;
and scientific method.
- Social work knowledge, values, and skills essential
for making sound, ethical, and autonomous professional judgments and
decisions.
- Thorough exploration of the many dimensions of human
diversity including natural endowments; cultural heritage; histories
of social, economic, and racial oppression and their implications for
social work practice.
- Specialized training in advanced direct practice
with individuals and families. In Idaho, the majority of BSU social
workers function as direct practitioners at all levels, in public, private,
and nonprofit agencies with scarce fiscal resources and personnel. We
offer one concentration—advanced professional practice with Individuals
and families—preparing graduates for advanced direct practice
in agency settings responsive to basic social service needs of the sparsely
populated, largely rural state of Idaho.
- Building on the foundation developed in the first
year of the MSW Program or during BSW education, our advanced direct
practice concentration prepares students with knowledge and skills of
sufficient depth, breadth, and specificity for sophisticated, creative
analysis, decision making, leadership, and expert functioning at multiple
system levels.
- Building on a strengths perspective—a
conceptual framework incorporating understanding and appreciation of
diversity, ecological theory, and empowerment models of practice—the
concentration prepares for advanced practice interventions grounded
in a variety of theoretical perspectives and models.