Silver to Cut Down on Field Requirement for Social Work Students
Washington Square News • By Carmo Moniz • May 24, 2023
“Master’s students at NYU’s Silver School of Social Work are slated to spend 300 fewer hours in the field by the fall 2024 semester, according to an announcement by Silver dean Michael Lindsey at the school’s graduation ceremony on May 17. The planned reduction comes after months of advocacy from students, who have been fighting to lessen the number of hours they spend in their field positions and secure wages for their field hours.
‘When you take on the challenge to dismantle systems, it is really difficult but necessary work requiring patience, steadfastness and a never-quit attitude,’ Lindsey said at the ceremony. ‘Other students engaged in advocacy to reduce field placement hours and ways to make placements more affordable to students. These are goals that we all share, even if in some cases there hasn’t always been total agreement on the path to get there.’
The change would lower Silver’s field learning requirement for Master of Social Work students from 1,200 to 900 hours, the minimum set by the Council on Social Work Education, the national accreditation body for social work schools.”
