Aswb What Does It Stand for Continuing Education
Do you find the whole continuing education maze a bit confusing? Are you wondering whether you need to need to fulfill continuing education requirements to maintain your LMSW or LCSW license?
Figuring out your continuing education (CE) requirements can be a bit puzzling, particularly because the answer varies according to your jurisdiction.
Association of Social Work Boards' Rules
According to the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB), nearly every jurisdiction that issues social work licenses requires continuing education courses for renewal. However, the requirements vary from one state to another from the number of continuing education (CE) hours required to the type of courses that must be taken.
To find out the CE requirements for your jurisdiction in the United States and Canada, check them out at ASWB here.
For example, I live in New York and according to the ASWB, there are no CE requirements. However, if I lived/worked in New Jersey, I would need to complete a minimum of 20 credits and at least 10 out of the 20 credits must be directly related to clinical practice.
The Association of Social Work Board's ACE (Approved Continuing Education) program has a list of Approved Providers . If you have any question about whether your board will accept a particular CE program, make sure to seek clarification from the board before taking the course.
To ensure your ability to get proper credit for fulfilling your CE requirements for your licensing board, make sure you receive a signed certificate of completion for the program you participated in, as well as a detailed description of the program (including syllabus, outline and bibliography as applicable). Please check to see any special requirements needed for your jurisdiction here.
Ethical Considerations
Aside from the (potential) licensing requirement for CE, there are also ethical considerations for social workers to take into account.
According to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics:
"The primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human wellbeing and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty."
Furthermore, the mission of the social work profession is rooted in the following set of core values:
- service
- social justice
- dignity and worth of the person
- importance of human relationships
- integrity
- competence.
As you can see, competence is one of the core values for social workers. The ethical principle supporting this value is that social workers practice within their areas of competence and develop and enhance their professional expertise .
In addition, according to NASW's code of ethics 4.01 section (b)
"Social workers should strive to become and remain proficient in professional practice and the performance of professional functions. Social workers should critically examine and keep current with emerging knowledge relevant to social work. Social workers should routinely review the professional literature and participate in continuing education relevant to social work practice and social work ethics."
Professional Growth
Last but not least, you may want to take additional courses for your own professional growth – irrespective of whether you need CE credits for your jurisdiction.
In my case, for instance, I don't have the CE requirement because it's not mandated for New York. Nevertheless, I have quite a list of various courses that I want to take so that I have a nice toolkit of methodologies and techniques to be able to apply with my clients. I also love learning 🙂
What are your thoughts about continuing education requirements? If you work for an agency, how does your employer support your interest/requirements for continuing education? What do you feel are the most important skills or knowledge clinical social workers need to have/build in today's times?
Sources:
The Association of Social Work Board (ASWB) at www.aswb.org
National Association of Social Workers (NASW) at www.naswdc.org/pubs/code/code.asp
Image: NASW Lunchtime Series
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Source: https://www.socialwork.career/2012/02/continuing-education-optional-or-obligatory.html
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