Concentrations
As a graduate student in Social Work, you have a choice of three concentrations including Child and Family Practice, Gerontology Practice and School Social Work. As a post MSW student, you may take courses toward earning your Type 73 certification.
Child and Family Practice Concentration
Students who are interested in working with children (up to age 18) and their families will find this concentration most suited to their needs. Students will specialize in agency-based practice with and on behalf of children and families at risk. It emphasizes the development, delivery, and management of services to meet the specific needs of children and families. The curriculum prepares graduates for advanced practice across an array of settings including mental health centers and institutions, public and private child welfare agencies, substance abuse programs, youth centers, prevention agencies, hospitals, homeless programs, domestic violence centers, courts, and community centers. This concentration gives special emphasis to four key social problems affecting children and families: poverty, mental illness, domestic violence, and substance abuse. Understanding these social problems is central to serving at-risk clients.
Student experience and specialized knowledge are expanded through the selection of practicum sites and electives concerning special populations and specific social problems, and the related practice methodologies. These include, but are not limited to: foster care and special needs adoption, substance abuse, family violence, sexual abuse, physical and mental illness, agency administration and program planning, and supervision.
See Child and Family Practice Plan of Study
Gerontology Practice Concentration
The Gerontology Practice sequence prepares students for practice with older adults in a variety of settings. The most recent edition of the Occupational Outlook Handbook reports that 5 in 10 jobs in the health care and social assistance sectors will be for people with expertise in working with older populations. This sequence emphasizes the development, delivery, and management of services to meet the specific needs of the growing population of elderly. The curriculum prepares graduates for advanced practice across an array of settings including long-term care centers, assisted living centers, mental health centers and institutions, elder protection agencies, medical agencies, and community centers.
Students who pursue this concentration in the MSW program will also qualify for the Gerontology Certificate from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Some of the coursework, including electives, draw from a cross-disciplinary curriculum. In addition to course work that is specific to gerontology, students will complete their advanced practicum in an agency setting with older adults.
See Gerontology Practice Plan of Study
School Social Work Concentration
MSW students who choose this concentration take coursework that prepares them to do their advanced practicum in a school setting for one academic year. Upon graduation, they are ready to take their Type 73 certificate examination through the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), allowing them to obtain employment as a School Social Worker. In this role, social workers will assist in assessing grade school, middle school, and/or high school children’s needs, especially if the children are showing deficits in learning. Once those needs are clearly identified, the worker will collaboratively develop individualized education plans (IEPs) to meet these needs, and in most cases, will work with the student and his/her teachers and family members to make the student’s educational experience more successful. The worker will also provide individual, group, and family counseling services and serve as a broker in locating needed services within the community.
Classes specific to School Social Work include, but are not limited to:
- Social Work Practice in Schools
- School Policy
- Survey of Special Education (taken through the Special Education department of the College of Education)
Special Considerations with this concentration:
You may be required to travel to your School field placement.
This year, we will have approximately fifteen openings in the School concentration.
View the certification requirements for this concentration.
See School Social Work Plan of Study
Post MSW Type 73
The Illinois State University School of Social Work is now accepting enrollment for the post-MSW Type 73 School Social Worker certification process. Social workers who currently hold an MSW degree from an accredited school of social work and want to be qualified to take the Illinois State Board of Education Type 73 certification for school social work can enroll as a graduate student at large to complete the required course work for state certification.
