Toward A Community-Informed Social Work Curriculum: Responses from Local Social Workers

Abstract

As part of its effort to refresh its curriculum to meet the 2015 EPAS competencies, the Department of Social Work Education (DSWE) at California State University, Fresno carried out an engaged research project during the 2017-18 academic year. The project involved undergraduate and graduate social work students, and community stakeholders (i.e. field instructors). Through student-conducted interviews (N = 40), focus groups (N = 13) and surveys with stakeholders (N = 91), we were able to uncover the most pressing needs in surrounding communities, the skills and knowledge social work professionals most value, the skills and knowledge they wish they had received more training on during their time at as a social work student, their understanding of the relationship between DSWE and the communities it serves, and their ideas for increasing DSWE"s level of engagement and impact. In this paper, we discuss our findings and their curricular implications as well as lessons learned about community-informed curriculum development.