King's School of Social Work receives re-accreditation to 2024 by national accreditor

The Commission on Accreditation (COA) of the Canadian Association for Social Work Education (CASWE) has granted the School of Social Work at King’s University College re-accreditation for its Bachelor and Master programs from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2024. This is the maximum allowed period of re-accreditation.

The re-accreditation means that the Social Work program at King’s meets national standards with regards to processes, policies, content, adequate staffing, and resources.

According to the COA, the granting of an eight-year period of re-accreditation is in recognition of the excellent leadership and commitment of the School of Social Work as a whole to maintaining an outstanding program. The decision was based on the self-study’s readers’ reports presented by two COA members, a site-visit and report, and a discussion at a COA meeting.

The re-accreditation assures students, employers and the community that graduates from King’s University College have a degree from an accredited Social Work program, and have the certain skills, values, and knowledge to be a qualified, professional, Social Worker.

Dr. Peter Donahue, the Director and Graduate Program Chair of the School of Social Work at King’s, outlines the terms for accreditation which the school had to meet. “Currently, with the revised standards that we have for social work, there are approximately 70 different standards, 11 guiding principles, and nine learning objectives which our curriculum must meet.  It is a very comprehensive process.  Through a self-study document of approximately 200 pages, we have to systematically document how our program is meeting those standards with evidence.  In addition, we have to provide our policies, statistics around our students, course outlines, resumes and CVs of all our faculty members,” explains Dr. Donahue.

“During the site-visit, the COA met with 90 constituents who verified that what we have written on paper is actually happening here at King’s. The constituents range from students, field education partners, to employers of social workers, faculty, staff and senior administration both at King’s and Western,” Dr. Donahue adds.

To further support professional social work education, King’s is introducing a two-year Master program in the fall of 2017 as well as the Integrative Capstone Enterprise (I.C.E), and the Reflective Practice Project in our one-year MSW program. These new and innovative components to the Social Work program will allow students to work systematically through a case study, demonstrate the mastery of their knowledge, and plan ways to connect their applied skills to the workplace once they graduate.

Additionally, Professional Development Workshops will be introduced as a way for Master’s students to focus on a specific area of practice. A commitment of the School of Social Work at King’s is to recognize the needs of the community and to give back through education. Professional workshops will also be available for professionals to meet their continuing education requirement. Organizations which accept King’s students for practicum placements will receive “Social Work King’s Dollars” towards the registration fees to attend these workshops. The workshops will also be a valuable opportunity for current students to network with professional social workers.

“We have a great relationship with our community, “says Dr. Donahue. “Often universities are accused of being these ivory towers that separate themselves from the community. We work closely with our local branch of the Ontario Association of Social Workers, the field education community, and employers. We’re connected with them, and we are responsive to what they see as the emerging educational and training of our students.”

Congratulations to the School of Social Work from all of us at King’s.

To learn more about the School of Social Work at King’s University College, please visit: http://www.kings.uwo.ca/academics/school-of-social-work/

To learn more about the Canadian Association for Social Work Education, please visit: http://caswe-acfts.ca/home/