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California State University, Long Beach
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Our Mission

The Department of Social Work at CSULB is situated in a multiculturally diverse and dynamic area of the nation. It makes itself broadly accessible to prospective students so that graduates can serve the varied needs of the local, state, national and international communities in which they practice. The Department is committed to recruiting and maintaining faculty who are highly skilled and who display excellence in teaching; undertake research and scholarship to advance the knowledge base; and provide service to the profession, university and the larger community.

The primary mission of the Department of Social Work is to educate a diverse student group for BASW and MSW entry into the profession who can demonstrate competent and ethical social work practice with diverse populations in systems of all sizes based on interventions that reflect state of the art and evidence-based knowledge.

In addition, the mission of the Department for faculty, students, and graduates, is to engage in activities to promote social justice, to enhance the quality of life for all persons, to advocate for the elimination of poverty, oppression and discrimination, and to take leadership roles in the development of effective service delivery systems.

Our Goals

The department has combined goals for the BASW and MSW programs, with additional goals for each program. The combined goals are overarching and apply to both programs. To fulfill its mission, the department's goal for both programs is to provide a dynamic curriculum, including fieldwork internships, that teaches social work attitudes, knowledge, and skills for strength-based and evidence-based practice. The focus in both programs is on diverse systems of all sizes:  individuals, families, groups, organizations and agencies, communities, and institutions.

Our programs strive to prepare social workers to evolve from learners to autonomous, self-reflective professionals attuned to the values and ethics of the profession. We are committed to the principle that all persons are entitled to equal access to societal opportunities, resources, and services. Students are prepared for practice in a rapidly changing social and economic environment, characteristic of the Los Angeles region and beyond. 

The curriculum is designed so that, upon graduation, our students are able to: 

  1. Demonstrate a commitment to advocating for and providing resources and opportunities to vulnerable and at-risk populations, while considering the perspectives and needs of persons of differing ages, cultures, ethnicities, genders, religions, and sexual orientations, as well as physical or mental abilities and national origins or ancestries;
  2. Be providers of and advocates for responsive human services and maintain respect for the worth and dignity of all persons and their right to individual choices, while conducting themselves ethically and in accordance with the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics;
  3. Recognize the impact of social, economic, and environmental forces on communities while assessing and responding to the strengths and needs of client populations using skills in social policy formulation, political processes, and advocacy; students are also able to respond to emerging social problems and concerns that result from rapidly changing local, state, national, and global issues;
  4. Respond confidently to change, integrate evidence-based knowledge into their practice, conceptualize principles for practice, and confront the difficult ethical dilemmas that may be inherent in practice.

Another department goal is to infuse professional social work practice into public social services, educational institutions, and state and local agencies. The department actively engages in ongoing consultation, research and program development with public, for-profit/proprietary, and nonprofit agencies, and provides educational opportunities for practitioners at all levels.

Goals at the BASW Level

There are full- and part-time programs to provide easy access to high-quality, professional, entry-level education. The BASW degree offers a curriculum that emphasizes generalist practice within an ecological systems perspective. The BASW curriculum prepares students to be able to: 

  1. Begin professional, entry-level, generalist social work practice with a knowledge of the distinctions among various levels of organization;
  2. Practice with populations reflecting the range of human diversity,  including practice with vulnerable populations;
  3. Be positioned for entry into traditional and advanced standing graduate social work programs, using information and advisement initiated by the Undergraduate Program Coordinator and other assigned advisors in group and individual settings.

Goals at the MSW Level

The department prepares social workers for leadership and specialized practice by offering advanced curriculum in two concentrations:  Children, Youth, and Families (CYF), and Older Adults and Families (OAF). To accomplish this goal, the CYF and OAF concentrations build on a foundation curriculum of generalist and ecological systems perspectives, and develop advanced knowledge of systems theory. The curriculum covers a variety of prevailing paradigms through the critical examination of the knowledge base and the attitudes, values, and skills needed for best practice. The curriculum focuses on development of multicultural knowledge and intervention skills. It also provides advanced training in research methodologies, culminating in the development and completion of a scholarly research-based project.

The program is provided in multiple formats so that both traditional and nontraditional students can have access to high-quality, professional, advanced education. This goal is met by offering an array of program models and methods, including Distance Education and Advanced Standing, in addition to two- and three-year educational opportunities. 

The MSW curriculum, in all models, prepares students to be able to:

  1. Recognize that the experiential and evolving developmental process may produce a specific and unique set of ethnic and cultural characteristics in each person and group;
  2. Incorporate significant aspects of multiculturalism; and understand, appreciate, and accept ethnic and cultural diversity in their practice;
  3. Advocate for persons to keep their ethnic and cultural lifestyles, languages, and traditions while simultaneously facilitating the adaptation and integration of diverse values and customs of local, regional, national, and international groups;
  4. Engage in evaluation of practice, development of evidence-based practice, and strengthening knowledge of and skills in research methods and practice.

Our Objectives

Please Note: These objectives were created in accordance with the Council on Social Work Education's (CSWE) Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) of 2001. These standards were utilized in our 2009 reaffirmation which is current through 2017. When we begin our next reaffirmation process, we will be utilizing the new CSWE competency-based standards in the development of our learning objectives. Please click here to view the new EPAS for accredited schools and departments of social work.

Based on the mission and goals of the department, we have derived specific objectives. Some objectives pertain to both the BASW and MSW programs, while others focus on one specific program.

Graduates of both the BASW and MSW programs demonstrate gains in social work knowledge, values, and skills, and are able to:

1. Demonstrate social work values and ethical standards within all practice activities.

  • Demonstrate and promote social work values and ethical standards in the classroom and internship;
  • Demonstrate awareness of personal values;
  • Recognize discrimination and injustice and advocate for social justice;
  • Analyze ethical dilemmas and the ways in which they affect practice, services, and clients.

2.  Define and implement practice strategies with diverse individuals and groups.

  • Identify culturally relevant practice strategies for interventions with diverse individuals and groups;
  • Implement evidence-based practices that are effective with culturally diverse individuals and groups.

3.  Commit to serving vulnerable and at-risk populations.

4.   Demonstrate commitment to promoting social and economic justice for all persons.

  • Analyze the factors that contribute to/constitute being at-risk and how group membership includes or precludes access to resources;
  • Determine the dynamics of risk and protective factors and engage in effective strategies to prevent or ameliorate negative conditions;
  • Examine the integration of social and economic justice;
  • Relate the understanding of human and civil rights to global forces that create discrimination, economic deprivation, and oppression;
  • Advocate for nondiscriminatory social and economic systems.

5.   Use the knowledge and theories gained in the Human Behavior and the Social Environment sequence in practice with systems of all sizes.

  • Demonstrate knowledge of human behavior as a product of the dynamic interactions and reciprocal relationships between persons    and environments across multiple dimensions;
  • Examine, and use in practice, culturally relevant theories and knowledge about the interaction between and among systems, and of biological, psychological, sociological, and spiritual development across the life span;
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the impact of social and economic forces on human behavior;
  • Differentiate ways in which systems promote or deter maintaining or achieving health and well-being.

6.   Employ analytical and advocacy-related skills gained in the Social Policy sequence to social work practice.

  • Demonstrate knowledge of the history of social work and social welfare and current structures of social welfare services;
  • Understand and analyze major local, state, national, and international issues related to social welfare policy and service delivery;
  • Demonstrate policy practice skills regarding economic, organizational, and political systems;
  • Use policy practice skills to formulate and advocate for policy consistent with social work values and to help individuals attain social well-being.

7.  Demonstrate professional competence with systems of all sizes and with the range of human diversity based on knowledge and skills gained in the Social Work Practice sequence.

  • Integrate attitudes, values, and knowledge, and acquire skills for sensitive practice with diverse and at-risk populations across the life span;
  • Integrate the knowledge base and skills for work with individuals, families, groups, communities, and institutions to help them achieve their goals and maximize their potential;
  • Apply substantive knowledge of the ecological systems perspective as a generalist theory base for practice with diverse populations;
  • Advocate and provide leadership for positive organizational and agency change in the public, nonprofit, and for-profit sectors;
  • Identify financial, organizational, administrative, and planning processes to deliver social services;
  • Intervene with current and emerging social work issues and social problems, and respond to current community needs and interests to promote social and economic justice;
  • Collect and assess information and identify issues, problems, needs, assets, and resources available in all surrounding systems;
  • Develop appropriate client-social worker relationships, taking into account the capacities, resources, and strengths of client systems;
  • Identify and implement evidence-based interventions;
  • Evaluate program outcomes and practice effectiveness.

8.  Apply knowledge and skills learned in the Research sequence to assessing and evaluating the quality of practice and to making contributions to social work knowledge and practice.

  • Evaluate the quality of one's own practice in an ongoing manner;
  • Use appropriate quantitative and qualitative research methodologies to contribute to social work knowledge and practice;
  • Develop and use empirically-based knowledge and evidence-based practice approaches;
  • Implement research to ensure high-quality services, to initiate change, and to improve practice, policy, and service delivery;
  • Evaluate research studies and apply research findings to practice and policy.

9.  Use communication skills differentially with diverse client populations, communities, and colleagues.

10. Demonstrate the ability to be a self-reflective and autonomous social work practitioner.

  • Integrate and apply the knowledge and skills learned;
  • Evaluate and integrate empirical and practice-based knowledge;
  • Understand the value of supervision and consultation;
  • Apply critical-thinking skills within the context of professional social work practice.