ACOSA Community Practice Certificate: Advancing Macro Curriculum in Alignment with the 2022 EPAS

Overview: The Special Commission to Advance Macro Practice made recommendations to incorporate macro and community practice terminology into the 2022 EPAS our field has worked to promote. In this workshop you will learn how use the ACOSA Community Practice Certificate to advance your macro program in alignment with the 2022 EPAS.Proposal text: While community practice has deep historical roots in the social work profession (e.g., through the Settlement House Movement), it continues to represent a small portion of social work education and practice. Some of the factors contributing to this are declining enrollment in community or macro practice specializations, the lack of a community/macro social work license in most states in the U.S., and the disconnect between a social work community/macro education and career paths that are identified as social work careers or positions (CSWE, 2018). This has led to the social work profession becoming more clinical and focused on direct versus community practice, and on the lack of marketing community/macro practice to potential students. In response, the Association for Community Organization and Social Action (ACOSA) created the Special Commission to Advance Macro Practice in 2013 to increase student enrollment in macro social work specializations and rebalance micro and macro content in social work curriculum identified as integrated or advanced generalist.

The Community Practice Certificate offered by ACOSA provides a framework that addresses the knowledge, values and skill area that are integral to community practice and defines the work of community practitioners. The framework for community practice draws upon the earlier ACOSA national efforts (Macro Curricular Guide and Special Commission to Advance Macro Practice) that brought together macro and community practice scholars and practitioners to identify and define macro social work and community practice domains and competencies. The Special Commission to Advance Macro Practice also provided a forum to provide feedback and concrete suggestions for new 2022 Educational and Policy Accreditation Standards (EPAS) to ensure that they incorporate macro social work and community practice competencies that our field has worked so hard to promote. The ACOSA Community Practice Certificate provides a tool for schools to advance their macro program in alignment with the newly revised EPAS competencies.

In this workshop, participants will learn about the 2022 EPAS and the specific suggestions provided to CSWE by the Special Commission. Macro and community focused terminology was suggested throughout the EPAS document. For example, the words political and equity were suggested for Competency 2: Advance Human Rights and Social, Racial, Economic, Political, and Environmental Justice and Equity. Specific wording was also recommended for the descriptions of each competency. In addition, the Special Commission suggested adding macro and community focused definitions to the 2022 EPAS Glossary, including civic participation, community care and political justice. We will also discuss the community practice framework and domains for the Community Practice and how this framework aligns with the 2022 EPAS and the Special Commission’s recommendations. Finally, we will engage participants in a conversation about ways they can use the Community Practice Certificate to advance their macro programs in alignment with the 2022 EPAS. Worksheets will be provided to engage participants in each phase of the workshop so that they can apply what we are discussing to their own community/macro practice specializations and curriculum.