Individuals who wish to practice social work in a public school in Illinois must possess a Professional Educator’s License (PEL) endorsed in School Social Work. In order to qualify for licensure in Illinois, Loyola students in the Micro Practice area of specialization and  Schools Track receive specialized curriculum,training and support to fulfill Illinois’s requirements to become eligible for a PEL with an endorsement in School Social Work. Eligibility for the PEL is based on successful completion of the requirements of the Loyola School of Social Work, the Council for Social Work Education (CSWE), and the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

CURRICULUM

Coursework

The following courses are required by Loyola and fulfill state requirements.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
SOWK 609A	School Social Work Policy and Practice I (Fall)	3
SOWK 609B	School Social Work Policy and Practice II (Spring)	3
CIEP 401	The Exceptional Child (offered through the School of Education)	3
Total Hours		9

Internship

Students in the Micro Practice in Schools Track must secure an internship at a site that has been approved by Loyola School of Social Work as a PEL-eligible school. Students are directed to these sites through placement interviews conducted by the Schools/PEL team.. For the internship, students are required to follow the academic calendar of the school district in which they intern. To that end, the internship may not follow Loyola’s academic calendar year. Students must complete at least 600 internship hours in a traditional public school setting. The internship will also fulfill the Council of Social Work Education’s required competencies.

Content Exam

Students must pass a Illinois State Board of Education content exam in School Social Work (ISBE #238). The Schools/PEL team will provide students with information about the exam as well as help students meet deadlines and criteria mandates from ISBE.

Graduate & Professional Standards and Regulations

Students in graduate and professional programs can find their Academic Policies in Graduate and Professional Academic Standards and Regulations under their school. Any additional University Policies supersede school policies.

MSW PROGRAM SPECIALIZED MICRO LEARNING OUTCOMES 

Competency 1: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior

Social workers have an obligation to conduct themselves ethically and to engage in ethical decision-making. Social workers are knowledgeable about the value base of the profession, its ethical standards, and relevant law. Social workers recognize and manage personal values in a way that allows professional values to guide practice; make ethical decisions by applying standards of the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics and, as applicable, of the International Federation of Social Workers/International Association of Schools of Social Work Ethics in Social Work, Statement of Principles. Social workers tolerate ambiguity in resolving ethical conflicts and apply strategies of ethical reasoning to arrive at principled decisions. Advanced practitioners in clinical social work are knowledgeable about ethical issues, legal parameters, and shifting societal mores that affect the therapeutic relationship.

1. Demonstrate professional use of self as a social worker, reflecting knowledge of personal professional strengths, limitations, challenges, and cooperatively resolving interpersonal conflicts.  
2. Demonstrate ethical use of advanced modalities in practice and any related technological applications. 
3. Demonstrate capacity to fulfill ethical obligation for advocating for social justice for clients, specifically anti-oppressive practice. 
4. Be able to recognize and manage ethical violations and resolve conflicting ethical obligations.  

Competency 2: Engage Diversity and Difference in Practice

Social workers understand how diversity characterizes and shapes the human experience and is critical to the formation of identity. The dimensions of diversity are understood as the intersectionality of multiple factors including age, class, color, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, immigration status, political ideology, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation. Social workers appreciate that, as a consequence of difference, a person’s life experiences may include oppression, poverty, marginalization, and alienation as well as privilege, power, and acclaim. Social workers recognize the extent to which a culture’s structures and values may oppress, marginalize, alienate, or create or enhance privilege and power; gain sufficient self-awareness to eliminate the influence of personal biases and values in working with diverse groups; recognize and communicate their understanding of the importance of difference in shaping life experiences; and view themselves as learners and engage those with whom they work as informants. Advanced practitioners are knowledgeable about many forms of diversity and difference and how these influence the therapeutic relationship and clients’ presenting issues. Advanced practitioners are knowledgeable about the ways in which various dimensions of diversity affect (a) explanations of illness, (b) help-seeking behaviors, and (c) healing practices (Cal-SWEC, 2006). Advanced practitioners are cultural beings and understand how clinical practice choices can be culture-bound.

1. Demonstrate understanding of discrimination patterns in society and how macro, mezzo and micro-level oppression impacts micro-level social work practice with regard to race, class, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, age and any other social categories in which oppression occurs. 
2. Demonstrate understanding of the impact of intersectionalities of marginalized identities and associated oppressions and plans practice accordingly. ​
3. Consistently uses self-reflexivity to examine and manage one’s own biases based on oppressive patterns in society. 

Competency 3: Advance Human Rights and Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice

Upon completion of a learned understanding of advanced human rights, social, economic and environmental struggles of people, advanced micro practice social work students are able to identify their own roles in advocating for change. Identifying ways in which they can respect the dignity of others, honor social justice, and demonstrate ideals based on evidence-based practice research, students are able to present their critical thinking skills for individuals in the micro field of social work practice.

1. Understands the human rights perspective as a way to integrate systemic change into micro-level practice, including global economic, ecological, human rights, and migratory patterns as they impact client systems. 
2. Ability to articulate human rights violations the client and client’s system are experiencing, including environmental and economic issues that endanger the health of the client system. 
3. Demonstrates the ability to formulate how the practice is advancing the client and client system’s human rights. 

Competency 4: Engage In Practice-Informed Research and Research-Informed Practice

Students at the advanced level of micro practice are able to evaluate diverse clinical models and evaluate applicable research methodologies in order to make the best determination of applicability to particular client needs.  Practice-informed research includes qualitative and quantitative ways of understanding what constitutes effective practice, considering the positionality of the clinician researcher and the social/political/historical context of the research.

1. Demonstrate understanding of and be able to contribute to the evaluation of social research regarding advanced practice. 
2. Be able to critically evaluate and select potential practice models relevant for the clients’ systems.  

Competency 5: Engage in Policy Practice 

Social workers understand that human rights and social justice, as well as social welfare and services, are mediated by policy and its implementation at the federal, state, and local levels. Social workers understand the history and current structures of social policies and services, the role of policy in service delivery, and the role of practice in policy development. Social workers understand their role in policy development and implementation within their practice settings at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels and they actively engage in policy practice to effect change within those settings. Social workers recognize and understand the historical, social, cultural, economic, organizational, environmental, and global influences that affect social policy. They are also knowledgeable about policy formulation, analysis, implementation, and evaluation. Social workers:  

1. Communicate to stakeholders and policymakers the implications of policies and policy change in the lives of clients.  
2. Conduct and design a plan of organizational analysis and change, working with relevant constituencies, to evaluate interventions that impact clients and communities utilizing best practice models reflecting social work values, ethics, and the mission of the organization.  
3. Collect, maintain, interpret, and analyze data from both internal and external organizational environments, the community of stakeholders and diverse client groups to identify and prioritize social problems.  
4. Recognize how oppression and social injustice affects client groups, organizations and communities and being proactive in intervening for human rights and justice.  
5. Understand strategies and techniques for advocating at local, state, and federal levels in policy development.  

Competency 6: Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

At the specialized level social workers build on their generalist understanding of engagement by practicing with a variety of cases involving individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities both in the classroom and in the field. Social workers critically analyze their knowledge of human relationships within a social/political/historical context applying an ecological perspective to advance practice effectiveness.

As they deepen their grasp of how their personal experiences and affective reactions impact their ability to effectively engage with diverse clients and constituencies, they are able to apply their skills in relationship-building and inter-professional collaboration to facilitate engagement with clients, constituencies, and other professionals as appropriate. This includes taking into consideration the effects of the macro environment, such as issues around migration and its impact on client systems at the micro levels.

1. Implements and describes the use of reflective listening tools when needed to engage and empower members of families, and groups.  
2. Applies culturally appropriate resources available to assist with problem solving. 
3. Recognizes and describes self-reflective competency in identifying bias, countertransference, and potential microaggressions when engaging diverse client systems. 

Competency 7: Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

Once social workers understand that assessment is an ongoing component of the dynamic and interactive process of social work practice within a diverse and antiracist framework, they can use their relational skills to select and apply theories of human behavior taking into consideration the social/political environment. In addition, they can critically evaluate and apply this knowledge to facilitate assessment of needs with clients and constituencies, including individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Social workers relate methods of assessment with diverse clients and constituencies to advance practice effectiveness. Social workers integrate the larger practice context in the assessment process such as migration and other factors and include interprofessional collaboration as relevant. Social workers are self-aware and can articulate the ways in which their personal experiences and affective reactions may influence their assessment and decision-making, including social dimensions of privilege. Social workers at the specialized level also:

1. Collect and organize data to support their professional decision-making as well as demonstrate critical thinking to interpret information from clients and constituencies. 
2. Illustrate knowledge of human behavior and the social environment, person-in-environment, and other multidisciplinary theoretical frameworks in the analysis of assessment data from clients and constituencies understanding the lack of political neutrality in their work.  
3. Exemplify a process in which mutually agreed-on intervention goals and objectives are generated based on the critical assessment of strengths, needs, and challenges within clients and constituencies in their social environment; and  
4. Convey a deeper understanding of how to select appropriate intervention strategies informed by assessment, research knowledge, and values and preferences of clients and constituencies through the exercise of antiracist practice principles. 

Competency 8: Intervene with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

Social workers understand they have a plethora of treatment models from which to choose in tailoring interventions to be maximally effective with clients. Remaining up to date about the multiple forms of available evidence concerning the effectiveness of these models for client systems, social workers choose models that are most suited to advance the client’s self-determination and to empower the client in relation to larger social systems that often are oppressive. Social workers co-formulate intervention goals with clients, ensuring those are revised as the client accomplishes one goal and seeks to move on to the next. Social workers consider how the client responds to different ways social workers use themselves (active expressions empathy v. quiet listening, degrees of self-disclosure and reticence for instance) and examine how the client responds so as to offer the client a relationship that fosters engagement and client progress.  Social workers attend to the powerful meaning the relationship can have for the client, understand dynamics of transference, relate using cultural humility so as to learn from clients about cultures different than the social worker’s, refrain from words or actions that can hurt the client, and carry out treatment respectfully to advance the client’s dignity and resilience.

1. Self-reflective understanding of the professional use of self in interventions with diverse types of client systems in order to understand and challenge oppressive social forces as well as to avoid perpetuating racist biases, microaggressions, and disempowerment of clients.  
2. Using supervision and consultation appropriate to developing skills for advanced and interdisciplinary practice.   
3. Demonstrating an ability to intervene collaboratively and collectively with clients in choice of treatment plans and their implementation. 

Competency 9: Evaluate Practice with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

Social workers understand that evaluation of practice is an ongoing activity. Social workers plan ahead for evaluating the treatment by reflectively articulating choice of intervention theory and model, formulating intervention goals that are amenable to evaluation, and planning how to keep notes that foster reflection about client progress. Social workers understand evaluation is participatory -- it occurs with clients in various ways both spontaneous and planned -- and so the social worker pays attention to client’s opinions about whether and how the intervention is helpful. Social workers make use of a diversity of models for evaluating treatment, such as participatory consumer evaluation interviews with groups, organizations, and communities; process notes with individual clients, families, and groups; engaging communities and smaller systems in reflecting on those relationship processes that bring about desired changes. Social workers understand that interventions can unintentionally include discriminations (microaggressions) and continually evaluate their practice with an eye to remedying and avoiding those discriminations.   

1. Demonstrate understanding of the logic and method of single case evaluation of practice from diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives. 
2. Competently demonstrate case evaluation, including identifying problems and their resolution, the fulfillment of goals co-identified with client, and managing systemic problems that impinge on client well-being. 
3. Demonstrates competence in incorporating client feedback processes in planning and carrying out the intervention plan.