The most commonly opted-for social work courses would have to be those for a master's and a doctorate in the course. Your average Masters in Social Work course is one designed to help you get started on a satisfying career path. Those who want to go focus more on the academic aspect of the field, though, should go with the PhD program.
A Masters in Social Work, also known as an MSW, includes course content in social policies and programs, methods of practice, human growth and development and social research. A couple of years shall suffice for this program. You might want to ask the school if they are affiliated with any grants for the program, because this is a degree that often has funders behind it.
Every participant in a social work class is obliged to produce proof that he has done at least 900 hours of time putting his skills to good use in the field. Social workers are going to be asked to deal with campaigns, organize and manage them, and possibly even evaluate them later for the agency funding them. Usually, you shall need to have a specialization, preferably an area of interest to you.
Among the specializations available would be public policy and the field of psychotherapy. The most common workplaces for people from the degree would be governmental agencies and non-profits. It is possible to sign up for a joint degree instead.
There is a body called the CSWE that works on accrediting programs of this type. The quality of social work programs accredited by this body is such that graduates of them are suitable for entry to most PhD programs. The beauty of it is that you have the option to complete the course more quickly.
The doctorate is meant to be an extended study course, a way of providing people with even more specialized and complex tools for social work and its evaluation. Some schools, however, prefer to call a DSW a PhD. Either way, they stand for the same thing.
You are probably going to be working as a theoretician, analyst, professor, or even researcher with a doctorate in the field. Because this is a research-focused life, the center of your world is going to be in analytical papers and publications, and not in the people actually being written about in those same publications. The doctoral enables you to draw attention to yourself as a major thinker and analyst in the field.
Your classes are going to deal with techniques and concepts for assessment and investigation. Like all other doctoral degrees, a DSW requires students to complete dissertations. The easiest way to think of a dissertation is as an enormous essay that is going to be a complete book by the time it is done, composed of work you have done in researching your chosen subject and conclusions you have drawn in the process.
Your average doctoral degree demands about 3 years of studying and research. With a PhD, you shall usually stick behind the desk, but there are a few who choose to play exception to this rule. Some even go so far as to juggle commitments to both areas of the field.
Compared to a masters in social work, the CSWE does not accredit doctoral degrees in social work. Those short on funds shall have to reconsider a doctorate program application because it does not usually have any scholarship offers. Longer years of working in the field as well as of study are valued when it comes to admissions for such programs, making them tough to enter.
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