The Commission on Educational Policy (COEP) and the
Commission on Accreditation (COA) of the Council on Social Work Education
(CSWE) have proposed the promulgation of a new statement of “Educational Policy
and Accreditation Standards” (EPAS). EPAS is intended to replace the
“Curriculum Policy Statements” and “Accreditation Standards” that have governed
accredited B.S.W. and M.S.W. programs for the past approximately eight years.
During October and November, NACSW sponsored two
events to facilitate discussion of the EPAS by Christian social work educators.
·
The 2nd annual informal
dinner meeting for Christian social work educators held in conjunction with the
Annual Conference of the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program
Directors (Destin, Florida, October 20) was attended by 38 educators from 21
Christian, 5 private secular, and 4 public institutions.
·
The 16th Annual Forum
for Social Work Educators in Christian Colleges, at NACSW's Annual Convention
and Training Conference (Columbus, Ohio, November 3) was attended by 23
educators from 13 Christian and 3 public institutions.
Discussion was wide-ranging, but consensus seemed to
emerge around the following points of concern.
·
Requiring the program
director and a majority of program faculty to hold a doctoral degree would
threaten the existence of many small social work programs, particularly those
in rural areas, including a number of programs located in institutions under
Christian auspices.
·
The concepts of B.S.W.
education as preparation for generalist social work practice, and M.S.W.
education as preparation for an advanced specialization based on a foundation
of generalist practice, should be restored to the policy and standards.
·
The numerical standards
or interpretive guidelines specifying 25% release time for program directors
and field coordinators over the calendar year, a minimum of two years of
post-M.S.W. practice experience for program and field directors and practice
faculty, a full-time support staff person (some uncertainty was expressed on
this), and maximum faculty:student ratios (25:1 for B.S.W. programs and 12:1
for M.S.W. programs), should be restored to the standards.
·
The concept of
"spiritual development" should be restored to the specification of
required content concerning human behavior and social environment.
·
Appreciation was
expressed for the greater flexibility in program and, particularly, curricular
design that is reflected in the EPAS, but with a concern that this flexibility
should not be extended to resource issues.
At the "Forum," NACSW President Lawrence
Ressler reported that the Board of Directors does not plan to submit to CSWE
any comments on the EPAS, but instead is urging individual members and the
social work education programs in which they serve to register their concerns
to the Council. The deadline for the first round of public commentary was
December 4, 2000.
The first draft of the EPAS can be downloaded from
www.cswe.org. CSWE plans to circulate a second draft of the EPAS prior to its
Annual Program Meeting (APM) to be held in Dallas, Texas, March 8-11, 2001.
This will reflect the commissions’ actions with regard to all contributions
submitted by the December 4 deadline. NACSW has scheduled its annual informal
dinner meeting in conjunction with the APM for Saturday, March 10th
(keep an eye out for the announcement of the details on the NACSW-Educators
listserv.) Discussion will be devoted to reviewing the second draft of the
EPAS.
After the APM, there will be a second round of public
comment. Comments may be e-mailed to epas@cswe.org. The chairs of CSWE's COEP
and COA have indicated that they would appreciate proposals of specifically
revised language. Following the second round of public comment, a third and
final version of the EPAS will be prepared and submitted to CSWE's Board of
Directors for its approval. If it is approved in full, the EPAS will be
officially promulgated July 1, 2002, and programs that are reviewed for initial
or reaffirmation of accreditation after July 1, 2003, will be accountable for
the new policy and standards. If the CSWE board does not approve the
document, the two commissions will go back to the drawing board.
I look forward to seeing many of you at the APM. I
hope you will be able to join your colleagues at the dinner gathering to
discuss this important document. In the meantime, let's use the educator’s
listserv (NACSW-Educators) to float any ideas about the EPAS concerning which
you would appreciate comments from your colleagues.
Ed
Kuhlmann, D.S.W., ACSW, LSW
Education
Resource Specialist, NACSW
kuhlmann@eastern.edu