Prepare to Make a Meaningful Difference in Your Community
Program Mission
To prepare generalist practitioners to enhance human well-being and eliminate social injustices through advocacy, cultural humility, global citizenship, scholarship, and service. The BSW program intends to address social problems and systems that affect diverse individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities through collaborative partnerships, ethical practice, scientific inquiry, social empowerment, and theoretical application.
Program Vision
To cultivate a competency-based, diverse, student-centered, technologically advanced learning environment that empowers generalist practitioners to advance human well-being through competent, culturally sensitive, anti-discriminatory, and anti-racist social work practice.
Program Values
Advocacy – Championing the rights of others through social, economic, environmental, and political forms of direct intervention and human empowerment.
Global Citizenship – Possessing an enhanced awareness of one’s local and global environments while recognizing the collective responsibility to act and participate in developing a just and sustainable society.
Diversity – Embracing individual and uniqueness and fostering a culture of inclusion that promotes collective learning, dignity, respect, and the advancement of human rights and social justice.
Research – Engaging in producing scholarly work to acquire new or improved appreciation, insight, knowledge, and understanding within social work.
Service – Serving and empowering individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities through exemplary servant leadership, public service, and quality programming for the betterment of society
Program Goals
- To provide a culturally sensitive, professional social work education that prepares generalist practitioners to engage in the empowerment of diverse individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.
- To prepare generalist practitioners to apply ethics, evidence-based knowledge, theory, and professional best practices in diverse communities and social work settings.
- To prepare generalist practitioners to identify and engage in professional social work practice focused on human well-being, alleviating poverty, and social injustices.
Council on Social Work Education Competencies
According to the 2015 Council on Social Work Education Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS), nine foundational competencies at the baccalaureate level include a set of professional practice behaviors that BSW students must demonstrate to enter the profession as entry-level generalist social work practitioners. These nine foundational competencies align with the BSW program goals and mission in addition to the broader mission of Pennsylvania State University. BSW coursework and field education experiences assist social work students in developing each core competency and professional practice behavior. The nine core competencies embedded in the BSW curriculum include:
- Demonstrate ethical and professional behavior
- Engage diversity and difference in practice
- Advance human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice
- Engage in practice-informed research and research-informed practice
- Engage in policy practice
- Engage with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities
- Assess individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities Intervene with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities
- Evaluate practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities
(CSWE, 2022)
