Louisiana Child Welfare Workforce Alliance

1. Louisiana Child Welfare Workforce Alliance Barbara Pierce, PHD(c) Northwestern State University April 12, 2010 Webinar NCWWI

2. Background information • The Alliance has been in existence for the past year. All social work programs in public universities with Title IV-E stipends in the State of Louisiana participate. There are currently 7 partner programs. The State of Louisiana Office of Community Services is integrally involved in this process. • A major goal of the Alliance is to establish and use competency based education in all programs in order to eliminate the extensive new worker training required by our state. Students who graduate from an Alliance program with a Child Welfare Certificate would be exempt from the extensive training. This saves the state money and allows for new workers to begin working with clients more quickly.

3. Work has been directed toward establishing educational competencies and standardizing the course work deemed necessary for successful child welfare practice. • Alliance members met last year to review a job task analysis completed by the State of Louisiana. Members agreed to base the competencies on these tasks.

4. Competency education • Mandated by the Council on Social Work Education as of 2009 • Encompasses the knowledge, values and skills necessary to practice professional social work in this case within the child welfare agency.

5. What is a competency? • In essence, a competency is the ability to perform a particular skill. (The ability to do something.) • In professional social work, our skills are informed by a certain knowledge base and our values as a profession. • A competency in social work is the ability to integrate certain knowledge and values to perform a skill.

6. CSWE competencies for BSW Education • 2.1.1 Identify as a professional social worker and conduct oneself accordingly. • 2.1.2 Apply social work ethical principles to guide professional practice. • 2.1.3 Apply critical thinking to inform and communicate professional judgments.

7. 2.1.4 Engage diversity and difference in practice. • 2.1.5 Advance human rights and social and economic justice. • 2.1.6 Engage in research-informed practice and practice-informed research.

8. 2.1.7 Apply knowledge of human behavior and the social environment. • 2.1.8 Engage in policy practice to advance social and economic well-being and to deliver effective social work services. • 2.1.9 Respond to contexts that shape practice.

9. 2.1.10(a)–(d)—Engage, assess, intervene, and evaluate with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

10. Practice behaviors • Each competency has various practice behaviors which serve as a measure of competence. The practice behaviors are as evidence-based as possible given the state of social work/child welfare research (not all assessment tools or interventions have been fully researched.)

11. Development of competencies • Started with the CSWE mandated BSW competencies and adapted them for child welfare practice. • The job task analysis informed the practice behaviors of each competency. Some involve understanding certain knowledge or skills while others actually measure a skill. • Each school reviewed the practice behaviors and defined where each behavior was taught in their curriculum. (See handout from wiki) • Field measurement tool (See handout from wiki)

12. Measurement and evaluation • Field supervisors are asked to evaluate the practice behaviors through observation of the student’s abilities with: • Actual practice • Written documentation • Conversation within the supervision session

13. Portfolio • The student is asked to keep a 3-ring binder with evidence of competence of the OCS/University Partnership Educational Competencies. • Forms (Examples) • Assessments • Case plans • Case notes • Research • Journal or log writings

14. Implementation • Faculty in all schools were able to identify courses in which the material was taught. The column on the field measurement tool is filled in for students by each program with their specific information on it. • Student is responsible for identifying opportunity to practice skills or demonstrate knowledge. • Field seminar instructor assists students to stay on target with completing the tool • Field instructor at agency assesses competence and indicates in the columns to the far right whether the student is meeting beginning competence. This tool becomes part of the learning contract and is designed to facilitate learning.

15. Problems and future work • Frankly, there are too many field instructors in the agencies who are not social workers and they appear to be a bit overwhelmed by the form and the task. • Seminar instructors have been attempting to assist with the completion of the tool. • There are many practice behaviors which can be measured via simulations in the classroom and these may need to be introduced. • Our state is researching ways to augment the salaries of field instructors in the agencies via extra services contracts as an incentive to work with students and as a thank you for the extra time it takes to complete the assessment of competencies. • Social work educators may all need to be evaluating the ability of the agency field instructor to assess competency since field is the signature pedagogy. Practitioners serving as field instructors may not realistically have the time to assess competency at the level now required. • Some universities have clinical instructors who go to the agencies. Social work programs may need to assess the efficacy of hiring clinical faculty.

16. References • CSWE, 2009. Educational policy and accreditation standards. Retrieved 8/7/09 at 2PM from http://www.cswe.org/NR/rdonlyres/2A81732E-1776-4175-AC42-65974E96BE66/0/2008EducationalPolicyandAccreditationStandards.pdf • IASWR, 2007. Partnerships to promote evidence-based practice. Retrieved 8/7/09 at 1:52 PM from http://www.iaswresearch.org/ • IASWR, 2007. Partnerships to Integrate Evidence-Based Treatments Into Social Work Training Evidence-Based Practice and Social Work: A Briefing Paper. Retrieved 8/7/09 at 1:55 PM from http://charityadvantage.com/iaswr/EvidenceBasedPracticeFinal.pdf