Internships
What is it
It consists of a first direct contact with the problems typically faced by social workers, aimed at verifying one's expectations and attitudes. The general objective is the encounter with need, understood as relating to people who are experiencing a difficult life situation. The student takes part in welfare, rehabilitative, socializing or social promotion activities, in contact with minors, adolescents, the elderly or adults with disabilities, with physical or mental health problems, with economic difficulties, immigrants in difficulty, marginalized people, caregivers.
The Introductory Internship is an integral part of the Social Work Orientation Workshop and is guided, through activities in small groups, by social workers teaching the Degree Course. Within the host institution, the Introductory Internship is followed by an operator responsible for the student and his/her activities during the stay.
REFERENCES
Coordinator of the Introductory Internship and of the Social Work Orientation Workshop
Prof. Elena Cabiati- e-mail: elena.cabiati@unicatt.it
INS AND OUTS
Duration: 75 hours in an external context of the University, plus 40 hours of laboratory in the classroom.
Compulsory: The introductory internship is compulsory for the total of 75 hours. Classroom attendance at the meetings of the Social Service Orientation Workshop is mandatory for 2/3 of the 40 hours.
N° ECTS assigned to the internship: The ECTS are assigned together with those provided for the Social Work Orientation Laboratory, for a total of 6 ECTS
Method of awarding ECTS: Indications for the assignment of ECTS are provided during the Meetings of the Social Work Orientation Workshop, of which the introductory internship is an integral part
ACTIVATION PROCEDURE
On the formal level of the regulation of relations between institutions, the introductory internship is configured as an educational visit. Detailed instructions for activation are provided during the Meetings of the Social Service Orientation Workshop.
What is it
In the professional internship, the student is placed in a real work context, in which he has the opportunity to observe and above all to try to exercise the professional activity in first person, in a guided way and with progressive autonomy. Every year the University avails itself of the valuable collaboration of hundreds of social workers available to follow the trainees, with whom it has established the appropriate agreements required by law, and indicates to the students the institutions where to carry out the internship.
In the internship experience, the student is helped:
- a supervising social worker, who works in the institution where the internship is located, and supports the student throughout the experience;
- a university tutor (social worker, lecturer of the Degree Course) who takes care of the work plan, monitoring and verifications of the individual internship;
- the work in small groups carried out in the Internship Guidance Laboratory, with the facilitation of one's university tutor;
- an organizational contact person, who is responsible for finding the internship locations and supervisors, and setting up the necessary administrative requirements.
REFERENCES
Internship Coordinator for the Milan campus
Prof. Francesca Biffi, e-mail: francesca.biffi@unicatt.it
INS AND OUTS
Duration: 40 hours of classroom work and 250 hours of fieldwork, to which the student can add an additional optional period of 50 additional hours (equal to 2 credits for "elective activities") or 100 additional hours (equal to 4 credits for "elective activities").
The professional internship takes place, indicatively, from January to May for two days a week, with an intensive period placed during the periods of interruption of classes. The specific calendar of each internship is set by the university tutor together with the supervisor of the host institution.
Prerequisites: in order to be admitted to carry out the Professional Internship activity, it is necessary to have passed, both by the end of October prior to the start of the Internship:
- the exam of Methodology of Social Service I;
- the Social Service Orientation Workshop.
Students who are not up to date with these prerequisites (and who therefore have not passed the relevant exams by the end of October) will attend the Internship Guide Laboratory and carry out their internship in the following academic year.
Compulsory: The internship is compulsory for the entirety of the 250 hours. Classroom attendance at the meetings of the Internship Guide is mandatory for 2/3 of the 40 hours.
N° ECTS assigned to the internship: 12 ECTS in total for the Internship and the Internship Guide Workshop
Method of awarding ECTS: ECTS are awarded following a specific exam, with a mark expressed in thirtieths. Evaluation criteria and methods are indicated in the Internship Activity Regulations (available at the link below).
ACTIVATION PROCEDURE
The University identifies the internship locations based on the availability of the host institutions and individual supervisors, and taking into account the training objectives. The University Tutor informs each student of his/her Internship location, chosen on the basis of the availability of the Institutions, training opportunities, and – when possible – also on the basis of the student's area of residence or domicile. Internships can be activated through the "ST&P" portal, as detailed in the Internship Regulations (available at the link below).
What is it
The internship requires the student to carry out an experimental activity or project, which is actually of help to the local community or to the users of the services. Often these experiences have the effect of promoting the profession of Social Worker, putting them in contact with new professional fields and thus offering valuable employment opportunities.
Experimental internships are a peculiarity of the degree course in Social Work at Università Cattolica, an excellence that has no equal in Italy, and has similarities with some significant British and American international experiences.
In the construction and implementation of his/her own experimental internship project, the student is helped by:
- the individual guidance of a university tutor (social worker, lecturer of the Degree Course);
- from a small group course ( Internship guide workshop);
- an organizational contact person who takes care of the necessary administrative formalities;
- by the professional supervision of a social worker.
If there is no social worker in the partner organizations of the project, supervision is guaranteed by a social worker who is a university professor, while within the organization a contact person is identified with whom the student interfaces for organizational aspects and administrative procedures.
REFERENCES
Internship Coordinator
Prof. Camilla Landi, e-mail: camilla.landi@unicatt.it
INS AND OUTS
Duration: The experimental internship includes 40 hours of classroom work and 175 hours for fieldwork and the final report, to which the student can add an additional optional period of 50 additional hours (equal to 2 credits for "elective activities") or 100 additional hours (equal to 2 credits for "elective activities"). The experimental internship, with the classroom activities connected to it, takes place approximately from November to June. The specific timetable depends on the individual student's project.
Prerequisites: in order to be admitted to the experimental internship, you must have passed the exams of Social Service Methodology 2 and Internship Guide by the second session in January. In the event of particular difficulties in passing the Social Service Methodology and/or Internship exams, the student, after a special interview with a commission made up of tutor teachers of Internship Guide and Internship Guide, may be required to enhance the skills acquired in the second year internship through an advanced internship instead of the Internship.
Compulsory: Attendance is mandatory for the entirety of the 175 hours provided for the Internship and for 2/3 of the 40 hours of the Internship Guide Workshop.
N° ECTS assigned to the Experimental Internship: 9 ECTS in total for the Internship and the Internship Guide Laboratory.
Method of awarding ECTS: ECTS are awarded following a special exam, with a mark expressed in thirtieths. Evaluation criteria and methods are indicated in the Internship Activity Regulations (available at the link below).
ACTIVATION PROCEDURE
The procedure for the activation of the Experimental Internship is reported in detail in the Internship Activity Regulations (available at the link below).