Foundations of Social Work and Social Policy

Student Learning Outcomes, Goals, Objectives:

Students successfully completing this course will be able to:

• Demonstrate ethical and professional behavior.
• Engage Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ADEI) in Practice.
• Advance human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice.
• Apply the social policy development framework and a descriptive policy model to a contemporary policy, program, or regulation which underlies and supports a program or service.
• Research, analyze, and discuss the historical evolution of the social work profession, including the lives and careers of significant individuals who shaped American social work, social welfare, policies, and evolution of professional social work behaviors and technologies.
• Articulate the contributions and influences of gender, social class, ethnicity, race, age, religion, spirituality, physical and mental abilities, and sexual orientation on the development of social welfare in the United States and the development of professional social work.
• Engage in policy practice.
• Identify and articulate the multiple roles professional social workers perform in the formation, implementation, and evaluation of social policy and the impact of social policies on social work practice.
• Identify how social policy at the local, state, and federal level impacts well-being, service delivery, and access to social services.
• Be knowledgeable of the historical and philosophical antecedents of the present social welfare institution, social welfare services, and current changes within policies and programs in the United States.
• Describe how social workers can exercise policy advocacy skills at the individual, organizational, local, state, national, and international levels.
• Use library, electronic, and writing resources for critically studying, researching, analyzing reporting on social welfare history, social policy analysis, and social welfare policies and programs.

Course Grading Information:

Activity/Performance Measure	Percentage/Points
Social Problem Identification (individual)	20%
Social Welfare Program Group Presentation (in group)	20%
Policy Analysis Paper (in group)	20%
Social Welfare Policy Action Reports (individual)	20%
Class attendance & Participation (in class and in group work)	20%

Attendance/Participation:

Attendance/participation is not a graded component included in the student's final grade for this course.

Course Materials Purchased by the Students:

• Ritter, J. A. (2025). Social work policy practice: Changing our community, our nation, and the world (4th ed.). San Diego: Cognella.
• Required Reading – selected chapters - available through the UNCG website or in Blackboard: Blau, J., & Abramovitz, M. (2014). The Dynamics of Social Welfare Policy, 4th Edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. [ISBN-10:0199316015 or ISBN-13:9780199316014] Please refer to the Book Study Questions and Discussion Questions in this website: https://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780199316014/res/