The Social Work Program’s principal mission is to prepare students for beginning level professional generalist social work practice in a culturally diverse society and an increasingly global environment. Central to this mission is preparing students for a profession dedicated to assisting individuals, groups, families, and communities in their quest for well-being. The program is committed to teaching students to work for the development of a society that promotes equality, justice, respect for human diversity, and adequate sustenance for all of its members. The program seeks to train and encourage its students to be active, personally and professionally, in taking leadership roles in addressing social problems and challenging social, economic, and environmental injustice. The program is committed to developing students’ skills in culturally competent social work practice, research, social service and social policy formation, and political advocacy in order to further this mission.

• To prepare undergraduate students firmly grounded with an interdisciplinary liberal arts education, social work values and ethical standards, an understanding of the social work profession’s history, purpose, and philosophical tenets.
• To prepare students with the necessary competency skills for generalist beginning level professional social work practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities in a culturally diverse society;
• To prepare students with the knowledge, values, and skills to be competent social work professionals who can effectively advocate for the development of social policies and social service delivery systems that improve the well-being of client systems;
• To prepare students to advocate, personally and professionally, for the alleviation and eradication of social problems, and to promote global social, economic, and environmental sustainability

The 2022 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) of the Council on Social Work Education measure learning outcomes according to competencies, which are defined by practice behaviors. The BSW curriculum at Ramapo College is built upon the CSWE competencies and practice behaviors.

• Competency 1: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior
• Competency 2: Advance Human Rights and Social, Racial, Economic, and Environmental Justice
• Competency 3: Engage Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ADEI) in Practice
• Competency 4: Engage in Practice-informed Research and Research-informed Practice
• Competency 5: Engage in Policy Practice
• Competency 6: Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations and Communities
• Competency 7: Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
• Competency 8: Intervene with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations and Communities

Competency 1: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior

• Make ethical decisions by applying the standards of the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics, relevant laws and regulations, models for ethical decision making, ethical conduct of research, and additional codes of ethics within the profession as appropriate to the context.
• Demonstrate professional behavior; appearance; and oral, written, and electronic communication
• Use technology ethically and appropriately to facilitate practice outcomes
• Use supervision and consultation to guide professional judgment and behavior

Competency 2: Advance Human Rights and Social, Racial, Economic, and Environmental Justice

• Advocate for human rights at the individual, family, group, organizational, and community system levels
• Engage in practices that advance human rights to promote social, racial, economic, and environmental justice

Competency 3: Engage Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ADEI) in Practice

• Demonstrate anti-racist and anti-oppressive social work practice at the individual, family,
  group, organizational, community, research, and policy levels
• Demonstrate cultural humility by applying critical reflection, self-awareness, and self regulation to manage the influence of bias, power, privilege, and values in working with clients and constituencies, acknowledging them as experts of their own lived experiences

Competency 4: Engage in Practice-informed Research and Research-informed Practice

• Apply research findings to inform and improve practice, policy, and programs
• Identify ethical, culturally informed, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive strategies that address inherent biases for use in quantitative and qualitative research methods to advance the purposes of social work

Competency 5: Engage in Policy Practice

• Use social justice, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive lenses to assess how social welfare policies affect the delivery of and access to social services
• Apply critical thinking to analyze, formulate, and advocate for policies that advance human rights and social, racial, economic, and environmental justice

Competency 6: Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations and Communities

• Apply knowledge of human behavior and person-in-environment, as well as interprofessional conceptual frameworks, to engage with clients and constituencies
• Use empathy, reflection, and interpersonal skills to engage in culturally responsive practice with clients and constituencies

Competency 7: Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

• Apply theories of human behavior and person-in-environment, as well as other culturally responsive and interprofessional conceptual frameworks, when assessing clients and constituencies
• Demonstrate respect for client self-determination during the assessment process by collaborating with clients and constituencies in developing a mutually agreed-upon plan

Competency 8: Intervene with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations and Communities

• Engage with clients and constituencies to critically choose and implement culturally responsive, evidence-informed interventions to achieve client and constituency goals
• Incorporate culturally responsive methods to negotiate, mediate, and advocate with and on behalf of clients and constituencies.

Competency 9: Evaluate Practice with Individuals,
Families, Groups, Organizations and Communities

• Select and use culturally responsive methods for evaluation of outcomes
• Critically analyze outcomes and apply evaluation findings to improve practice effectiveness with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

All programs accredited by the Council on Social Work Education’s Commission on Accreditation (COA) are required to measure and report student learning outcomes. All students are assessed using a minimum of two measures on their mastery of the nine competencies that comprise the Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) and any additional competencies programs may choose to add. These holistic competencies reflect the dimensions (knowledge, values, skills, and cognitive & affective processes) of social work practice that all social workers are expected to master during their professional
training.

• Assessment of BSW Student Learning Outcomes 2024-2025