(61 credits)
NY State Program Code: 29270
HEGIS Code: 2104.00
CIP Code: 44.0701
Highly ranked M.S.W. programs at convenient locations.
The Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) program offers the preparation you need for professional social work practice. Our generalist curriculum provides the knowledge, skills, values and ethics essential to all forms and levels of generalist social work practice. In your specialized year, you will complete a concentration in social justice approaches in direct practice, -and learn to effectively and ethically apply social work knowledge, skills and values and to advocate for social, racial, economic, and ecological justice among diverse and marginalized individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities regionally, nationally, and globally.
Organization and Structure of the Curriculum
All students in the generalist year of the Adelphi University M.S.W. degree program are required to take the same ten courses. Eight of the ten are academic courses, and two are supervised practicums where students apply theories learned in class to direct practice in an organizational context. The ten required foundation classes are distributed as follows:
- two courses in social welfare policy
- two courses in human behavior theory
- two courses in foundations of social work practice
- one course in diversity, oppression and cultural influences in social work practice
- one course in methods of empirical research
- a foundation year supervised field internship
In the specialized year of the Master of Social Work program, all students must complete ten courses, two of which are supervised practicums. The eight remaining second-year classroom courses are distributed as follows:
- two courses in advanced social work practice
- one course in assessment and diagnosis from a social work perspective
- one course in advanced social work research
- one course in the organizational context for professional practice
- an integrative elective
- a clinical elective
- one additional elective
- an advanced year supervised field internship
Courses of Study
Our practice methods sequence will prepare you for direct work with individuals, couples, families, groups and communities. The courses cover:
- theoretical models
- empirical bases
- values and ethics
- professional skills
The Council on Social Work Education (C.S.W.E.) refers to practicum education as the “signature pedagogy” of social work education. Your practicum education courses, also known as your practicums or internships, will provide opportunities to apply and integrate the theory and knowledge you learn in the classroom through direct practice with organizations, communities, groups, families, and individuals.Through ongoing self-interrogation and brave conversations in the practicum setting, professional development training for students, and ongoing training for liaisons, instructors and other agency and community partners, our program aims to build teaching-learning communities that:
- Explore and analyze power dynamics in a social context through personal reflection and dialogue;
- Cultivate critical consciousness and reflexivity;
- Promote change in individuals, systems, and organizations;
- Emphasize reflection and action towards social justice.
Our human behavior and social environment courses provide foundational knowledge about the determinants of human behavior, including:
- biological determinants
- psychological determinants
- social determinants
Our social work research courses instill a scientific approach to practice and provide the tools required to:
- systematically evaluate a social work practice and its services
- build a professional knowledge base
- critically evaluate professional literature, as well as the literature of other disciplines
- assess the effectiveness of one’s own practice
Finally, social welfare policy and organization courses teach you about the social policies, programs and organizations that provide services and shape a professional practice. You’ll learn to direct social programs through:
- development
- design
- implementation
- evaluation
M.S.W. Program Options
The plan of study for the Full-Time Two-Year M.S.W. Program listed is the standard program for students who maintain full-time status over two years. While many students take courses on a part-time basis, the sequencing of courses and requirements is universal. All students must complete requirements within four years of matriculation and fulfill residency requirements by enrolling in nine or more credits in two successive semesters.