Workers Services

If a social work degree is something that you are interested in getting, then you should prepare yourself. You will need to understand the different degrees that you can get and what will be required for each of them. Make sure that you know what you want to do with your degree so that you know whether or not you will need a bachelors or a master in social work degree or even a doctorate.

Each of these will require different things and will also require different amounts of dedication and hard work on your behalf. Make sure that you prepare yourself for the type of degree that you need and that you need to do in order to get it.

Bachelors

Bachelors will require 4 years and will be the base requirement that you will need if you are looking for a job in the social work field. This degree will help to prepare you for the direct service positions available on either the community or individual levels. They will be based on the curriculum of basic family and individual support services, intervention strategies, casework planning and national social welfare policy.

You will need to have at least 400 hours of field experience that is supervised. You will be qualified to work as a case consultant, a court appointed special advocate, a criminal justice social worker or a gerontology social worker. You will also be able to work as a child protective services worker and a child life specialist.

Masters

Once you have your bachelors you will be able to move on to a master’s degree. A master’s degree will be a 2 year program that you will take. If you are going part time, then expect to take up to 4 years to finish. This is something that is becoming a standard requirement when it comes to different specialized positions with administration and policy work as well as social and clinical work.

Along with your class work you will be required to have at least 900 hours as either an intern or in field instruction. It is a good idea to have fluency in another language. A person that has a master’s degree will be able to work in clinical social work, HIV and AIDS services counselor, psychiatric social worker, employee assistance program social work as well as a school social worker.

Doctorate

Once you have your social work masters degree, you can continue on to get your doctorate. This can take anywhere from 2 to 4 years. While you are studying you will be focusing a lot on different types of research techniques. As a person that holds a doctorate in social work you will be able to work as a social work professor or as the head of a social work practice. You will also have the opportunity to work as a policy advocate or advisor. As a person that holds the doctorate you will have the most amount of education in this field and you will have a lot of options available to you.