Field Education experiences at UTC provide opportunities where students begin to apply knowledge and skills. These field experiences begin in the first SOCW course, Introduction to the Social Work Experience, where students complete a 30 hour volunteer experience in an agency as part of the course requirements.
These field experiences are built into the curriculum so students have the opportunity to experience various types of social service agency settings, interact with a variety of client populations, and try out new skills PRIOR to the capstone Field Education I and II in the senior year.
The Council on Social Work Education Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (2001) defines Field Education as:
" Field education is an integral component of social work education anchored in the mission, goals, and educational level of the program. It occurs in settings that reinforce students’ identification with the purposes, values, and ethics of the profession; fosters the integration of empirical and practice-based knowledge; and promotes the development of professional competence. Field education is systematically designed, supervised, coordinated, and evaluated on the basis of criteria by which students demonstrate the achievement of program objectives."
Approved Field Education Agencies for 2009-2010 (these agencies will have senior social work students during both semesters)
- TN Department Of Children’s Services
- Hamilton County Department of Education
- Community Kitchen
- The Bridge Refugee Services
- Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Dept.
- TN Board of Probation and Parole
- SE Area Agency on Aging & Disability
- Partnership for Families, Children, & Adults Elderly Services - Crisis Resource Center
- Chattanooga State Human Services Specialist Program - BRIDGES TO THE BSW
