What Do MSW Students Say Matters in MSW Programs? Results From a Qualitative Study of the Implicit Curriculum

The Implicit Curriculum (IC) plays a critical role in the overall master of social work (MSW) educational experience. Graduating MSW students (N=262) from four different programs over a 2-year period completed the Implicit Curriculum Survey (ICS), which measures six domains of the IC - field education, academics, community, diversity, advising, and support services. The ICS includes 17 open-ended questions in addition to quantitative questions. This study presents the qualitative results from a mixed-methods study, which were analyzed using a constant comparative analysis. Results indicate that the relationships with faculty members, staff, and classmates play a significant role in all domains of the IC. In addition, students often feel that they are limited in their ability to engage fully in their field and school-related activities due to feeling overwhelmed. Some of the implications for social work education include the importance of supporting students in field, which includes providing strong supervision, as well potentially choosing to spend resources on relationships and recruiting a diverse student body over extra programmatic activities.