Program Overview

Introduction to the Bachelor of Arts in Social Work and Master of Social Work Degrees

The Bachelor of Arts in Social Work (BASW) and Master of Social Work (MSW) degrees at San Francisco State University are fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), located in Alexandria, Virginia, since 1967. Reaffirmation of accreditation is required every 8 years, with the last CSWE reaffirmation of accreditation granted in 2018, and it runs to 2026.

Program Goals and Objectives

Cognitive Domain

The program aims to achieve foundation levels of knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and creation.

Affective Domain

The program seeks to reveal basic abilities to receive and respond to diverse phenomena, and value and organize phenomena, showing beginning levels of internalization, adapted and applied from Benjamin Bloom's taxonomy of cognitive and affective domains.

Education and Research

The program provides rigorous social work education that achieves the nine Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) curricular competencies at the baccalaureate (BASW) level. Students learn from and apply education and research to inform and effectively engage in practice at micro (individuals, families, and groups), mezzo (organizations, institutions, and communities), and macro (societies and international arenas) levels.

Key Competencies

• Use knowledge and skills to affect all practice areas (direct and indirect)
  • Know and understand multiple forms of power, and their forms, uses, and implications
  • Be skilled at giving, engaging, and sharing power and instilling shared, delegated, and/or "other person" responsibilities in decision making and problem-solving
• Expect, accept, and appreciate human differences in all areas, including diversity of ethnicities, cultures, values, backgrounds, learning styles, problem-solving approaches, and more
  • Promote diversity to enrich environments, thought processes, experiences, and more
• Respect, value, and honor one another's personal and professional experiences, knowledge, skills, and values
  • Seek, receive, and utilize inputs from diverse persons, groups, and communities and make diversity-sensitive and appropriate decisions
• Engage in professional practices that are ethically sound and appropriate, consistent with the National Association of Social Workers' (NASW) Code of Ethics
  • Create ideas and action plans from research and interdisciplinary knowledge; instill visions among team members; and enact innovative actions having substantial impact on individuals, groups, organizations, communities, and societies

Progressive Development and Advocacy

• Expand and enhance cognitive and affective abilities through continuous development of knowledge, values, skills, and practices
  • Utilize research to develop best practices to improve human conditions and generate research agendas through practice experiences
• Know multiple forms and purposes of advocacy, and engage in change plans and efforts to achieve progressive change at micro, mezzo, and macro levels
  • Utilize evidence to set agendas, establish goals, create action plans, and move forward with efforts to enhance human conditions, including political, economic, legal, social, cultural, and physical environments

Equity, Social Justice, and Professional Versatility

• Identify, understand, and evaluate multiple forms of justice (e.g., social, economic, environmental, political, and legal justice) and rights (human and civil)
  • Promote and achieve fairness, equality, and human/civil rights
• Be equipped to work in a variety of settings, in a range of fields and forms of practice, and with diverse persons from multiple backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities, nationalities, ages, genders, experiences, abilities, orientations, classes, religions, and more
  • Be effective in systems processes through engagement, assessment, intervention, evaluation, and self-awareness

Cultural Humility and Career Outlook

• Appreciate the fact that cultures and values evolve and change, and that one never "arrives" with respect to knowledge, skills, and practices related to diversity
  • Identify and analyze the intersectionality of forces that impinge on lives
• Students who complete the undergraduate social work major are prepared for graduate study in accredited schools of social work and social welfare; and other helping professions, and professional or graduate training in related fields such as law, public administration, public health, mental health, nursing, health education, and psychology; and for entry-level professional positions in both public and private social welfare agencies
  • Examples of these agencies include local departments of social services, hospitals, and community mental health facilities; child care programs, services for the aged, drug and alcohol treatment programs, family service agencies; and community, neighborhood, and advocacy organizations
  • The major provides students with an opportunity to apply social science theories and social work knowledge and skills in a comprehensive field work placement during their senior year.