Core Program Competencies

The following ten competencies pertain to both the foundation and advanced (concentration) curriculum. By the end of their concentration year, students in the MSW program are expected to show proficiency in each of the following competencies:

  2. Apply social work ethical principals to guide professional practice
  3. Apply critical thinking to inform and communicate professional judgments.
  4. Engage diversity and difference in practice.
  5. Advance human rights and social justice and economic justice.
  7. Apply knowledge of human behavior and the social environment.
  9. Respond to contexts that shape practice.

Each of the ten program competencies include a unique set of “practice behaviors” that are composed of knowledge, values and skills. Each competency and its related practice behaviors are fully embedded throughout the foundation and advanced curriculum in a carefully designed manner so that students have ample opportunity to fully master them.