Curriculum

Misericordia University's Social Work Program curriculum is organized around the primary goal of preparing competent baccalaureate-level generalist practitioners. It evolved institutionally from the Religious Sisters of Mercy's own call to compassionate service through the ministries of teaching and healing and developed according to those mandates for curricular content established by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). These mandates include a liberal arts perspective, and a professional foundation composed of required social work courses and field work designed to provide an integrated experience to educate students in the critical areas of social work values and ethics, diversity, social and economic justice, at-risk populations, human behavior and the social environment, social welfare policies and services, social work practice and research.

Download the Social Work Curriculum Planner (PDF)

More information about the curriculum sequence

The suggested course sequence outlined in the Social Work Curriculum Planner (PDF) helps to plan for the four years of undergraduate education.

In the first two years, students study courses in the liberal arts core and build knowledge in areas of diversity, writing and critical thinking, the arts, mathematics, the sciences, and history. Students also take SWK 101 in the spring semester of their sophomore year.

During junior year, students complete courses and fieldwork to build knowledge of professional intervention. These skills include the development and use of professional self, practice activities, and the evaluation of practice activities. By the end of the junior year, students will have completed Research Methods, basic practice classes, Human Behavior and the Social Environment I & II, Junior Field Instructions. A certificate and/or minor area of study will also have been declared by this time.

During the senior year, students complete senior field instruction, Methods and Processes III, the Senior Capstone Course (SWK 490) and additional social work electives. ALL work from these courses culminates in the construction and completion of their portfolios.

In summary, this sequence provides students with a foundation in human behavior and the social environment, exposure to issues of diversity, special populations and effects of oppression and discrimination through both course work and field instruction, the context of social welfare, introductory and basic practice courses, research methodology and generalist practice, and a junior level field assignment.

Students then complete the prescribed program with senior field instruction, completion of a student portfolio demonstrating achievement of program objectives, and an integrative seminar, all of which provide review and integration of classroom material with practice applications.