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Accreditation issues prompt social work awareness campaign

LU says it'll hire seven more social work faculty after being told it's at risk of losing program's accreditation
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In light of news that Laurentian University has been told to hire more social work faculty or lose accreditation for that program, the university's social work students are starting an awareness campaign. Supplied photo.

In light of news that Laurentian University has been told to hire more social work faculty or lose accreditation for that program, the university's social work students are starting an awareness campaign.

The Students Association of the School of Social Work said it's working to organize a series of events for November to “educate the public about the social work profession and gather support for the field.”

People are encouraged to use the hashtag #recognizeSW on Twitter. Beginning Oct. 17, the community can purchase apparel with a Recognize Social Work logo (email [email protected] to order clothing).

Laurentian University needs to hire seven professors and two support staff members (one full-time and one part-time) for the English, French and Indigenous streams of its social work programs to maintain its accreditation with the Canadian Association of Social Work Education (CASWE).

CASWE will make a final decision on the issue in January.

“Although the visiting team's recommendation has yet to be considered by the accreditation body, we are committed to ensuring we have adequate resources to maintain accreditation status and program quality, including hiring new faculty and staff,” Laurentian told Sudbury.com in an email.

“This will start with posting two English and one French faculty positions in the coming weeks. Other postings will follow in time to meet the conditions.”

On its Facebook page, the Indigenous Social Work at LU student group also said LU has given the group a “firm commitment” that the program director can hire two tenure or tenure-track professors and a field placement assistant.

The Students Association of the School of Social Work said in a press release students are “confident that Laurentian University will continue to work to maintain the accreditation and reputation of its program, as they have already committed to fulfilling the conditions that CASWE has yet to finalize for the Anglophone and Francophone streams.”

The students say they're launching the awareness campaign because “many members of the public do not know the extent of the work that social workers partake within our community.”


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