I Wanna Be A Social Worker...

April 17, 2007 3:20 PM

What can I do in social work and/or education that doesn't require a social work/education degree?

I'm currently doing a degree in Creative Industries, submajoring in CI management (basically arts management) and creative writing. It fits my interests, and arts management is fascinating, but I would really love to get involved in a career in either social work or education.

I am passionate about alternative education, and about educational and lifestyle issues such as students getting stressed out over pressure for grades, people doing degrees they don't enjoy due to outside pressure, etc. I also enjoy working with community projects and nonprofits, specifically those related to youth, the arts, or multiculturalism. I'd mainly like to work directly with the community, but would also enjoy logistics, policy, and advocacy.

While I do a lot of volunteering, and am currently working in the university's student union, I haven't managed to find more work along those lines that doesn't require a degree in either field. I'm not much of an academic; I prefer real-world and experiential education. Doing a Masters would probably kill me (gah, academic writing!!), but I may consider it if there is a suitable program. It's a bit too late to change my degree, though I do have my electives remaining, which I plan to use on exchange.

I was thinking of being a guidance counselor, but I happen to be in the only state in Australia (Queensland) that requires an education degree to qualify as one. I'm not interested in being a teacher. My dream job would be to travel as road staff on an international study-abroad program (the one I have in mind combines performance, community service, professional development, leadership, and travel). Diversity management looks interesting too but I don't know what sort of qualifications one would need.

What can I do? Has anyone managed to break into social work without a social work degree? Are there any ideas for jobs I may have overlooked?

posted by divabat to work & money (13 comments total)

A teacher friend of mine was complaining telling me about some other people that were being hired as teachers. These people lacked an education degree, but they had some four-year degree. The school needed teacher so bad that they were willing to lower change their standards so they could have enough teachers. (These were teachers in an elementary school, in Florida.)

Still not very helpful, but hopefully it gives you a little more to hope for.
posted by philomathoholic at 3:37 PM on April 17, 2007

Re: social work degrees: In my state (CT) many people get jobs with the Department of Children and Families as caseworkers and do not have MSWs. Also, there are generally jobs in shelters, halfway homes, therapeutic group homes, etc. where you can staff, even therapeutic and case management staff with no degree. Finally, there is (I believe) some of certification for substance abuse counselors that one can get that allows you to do that kind of counseling. Also, mentoring programs need programming directors and often do not require any kind of degree.

Just so you know, if you were to go for an MSW (a program I am doing now, email me if you want), you will not come across "academic writing" in a casework or groupwork or even admin concentration. Maybe in your policy or community organization classes, but minimally. A lot of the writing is fairly conversational and is about clients, client situations and the therapeutic relationship. Other people may disagree because it might have to do with the program. But the casework classes I have done have required papers that were indeed lengthy and required thought, but were not highly technical. Plus, if you have an interest in the material, which it sounds like you really do, it's fun.

Finally, on the pro-MSW side of things, social work is often a second career for folks. Therefore people do it while already employed and complete their degree at night, on the weekends, etc. MSW programs tend not to be the kind of all encompassing academic experiences that people associate with other degree programs.

As you can tell I love my MSW program and am a big proponent.
posted by sneakin at 3:43 PM on April 17, 2007

I wandered into volunteering for a queer health organization in the last city I lived in just by showing up at their quarterly volunteer orientation. They were revitalizing their youth group, so I decided (being 25 at the time) that I had enough in common with the demographic to give it a shot.

I put in a lot of weekends and extra time, got involved in other projects around the organization, and had a full-time job within six months. Everything else I learned I picked up either on the job, through professional development opportunities, or just from being an empathetic human being.

Not bad for a musician with a BA in English.
posted by mykescipark at 3:46 PM on April 17, 2007

You can do a 1 year graduate BEd at either QUT or UQ which will qualify you for registration as a teacher in Queensland with the Queensland College of Teachers. If you do the one at UQ Ipswich, you get generalist training in the Middle Years and can basically (if you choose) teach across grades 5-10. It's not at Masters level, the students in this class study along side regular BEd students who took a different pathway (4 yr dual degree).

Oh and there's a hella lot of practical (practicum) - 12 weeks I think, which means you basically do half your time at the uni, and half at the school.
posted by b33j at 3:55 PM on April 17, 2007

Oh, and I'm pretty sure Social Work per se requires affilliation with bodies which require you to have a dedicated degree.

Your university should be able to provide you with free career advice - check with Student Services.
posted by b33j at 3:56 PM on April 17, 2007

With an MS or MA you can generally get jobs as adjunct faculty at univeristies. You can also get jobs teach highschool in most states with just a Master's degree. If all you have is a BA, you have to get a teaching certification of some sort.
posted by jeffamaphone at 3:58 PM on April 17, 2007

I do consulting and freelance work for career education programs. I've written facilitators' guides, classroom lesson plans, materials for use in classes, and so on. I do presentations to people of all ages. I also teach for the continuing studies dept of a major university and I did GMAT prep teaching before that. I have a BA and an MBA.
posted by acoutu at 4:16 PM on April 17, 2007

Perhaps something with a university's arts center or venue? I know of quite a few (US) schools that offer an MA in Arts Management and some of those folks go on to stay in education and work for/run university museums or theaters, or do promotion for university events. Of course, most go on to external employers, but if you're interested in education, it might be worth considering (you might not even need the MA to get into those jobs). It doesn't interface directly with the classroom too much in the sense that you mention, but could be a good way for you to remain "connected" to your interests.

And now for a totally random suggestion - Perhaps you could try being a "education lifestyle consultant" and take on a client or two and help bridge the gaps and issues you're talking about. However, I totally made that up so I don't know if it's actually viable or not. It would be like a guidance counselor, but freelance. The more I write the crazier it sounds to me, but maybe there's a market for it in your area? Might need more qualifications though...(but I think a teenager is more likely to listen to someone young who has "been there" recently than an old fart that's similar to mom and dad).
posted by ml98tu at 4:31 PM on April 17, 2007

ml98tu: And now for a totally random suggestion - Perhaps you could try being a "education lifestyle consultant" and take on a client or two and help bridge the gaps and issues you're talking about. However, I totally made that up so I don't know if it's actually viable or not. It would be like a guidance counselor, but freelance. The more I write the crazier it sounds to me, but maybe there's a market for it in your area? Might need more qualifications though...(but I think a teenager is more likely to listen to someone young who has "been there" recently than an old fart that's similar to mom and dad).

Y'know, that's actually just the sort of thing I was hoping to start. I was trying to start a nonprofit back home (Malaysia...huzzah internationalization) that dealt with that sort of thing. Is there actually such a position?
posted by divabat at 6:04 PM on April 17, 2007

I guess it might be sort of like a life coach, but for the under 25 set (on a personal note, I would have liked something like this).

I know very little about Malaysia, so I don't know if what you're talking about is an issue there (alternative education, and educational and lifestyle issues such as students getting stressed out over pressure for grades, people doing degrees they don't enjoy due to outside pressure, etc.). I do think it is one in the US. I think you'd need to really look at the social and economic realities of Malaysia (or wherever you're thinking of) and do a pretty deep analysis to determine if something like this could fly. If there's a viable need, perhaps you could start that non-profit or get an existing non-profit to take you and this idea on as a side project. I'd suggest taking a full- or part-time job and trying to get this off the ground on the side (be sure to clear through your employer if you need to, you might even get their support/partnership). It might take a little longer since your attention is split, but if it doesn't pan out, you still have a way to pay the rent.

I know you aren't really into the idea of grad school, but there are a bunch of programs in non-profit management. Here's one in Brisbane. The site is confusing but it looks like you only need 8 courses from the Philanthropy/Non-profit group to get a certificate in Business - Philanthopy & Non-profit studies. Grad-level courses are likely to be less academic and will be more "real world" than your typical undergraduate coursework.

Also, would a graduate certificate in education be enough to qualify as a guidance counselor?

It bears repeating that unless you are studying to be an academic or generate research, most graduate programs are based more in real-world and experiential education and you won't see too much of the academic writing that you're fearing. Figure out what you want to do - if you need a grad program to accomplish that, don't be afraid of them.

I know very little about non-profit management, so I hope I haven't given misinformation about possible implementation.
posted by ml98tu at 7:35 PM on April 17, 2007

ml98tu: That's precisely the issues faced in Malaysia, hence me trying to start something up! And hee, the uni offering the non-profit degree is the one I'm in :)
posted by divabat at 8:07 PM on April 17, 2007

Referring to the earlier thread in which the degreed social worker decided they just couldn't take it anymore, "Learn to subsist on ramen noodles and Kool-Aid".
posted by Mr. Gunn at 7:19 AM on April 18, 2007

dude, totally join the peacecorps. you have to have a degree but you get to travel and help people in their countries and most likely in your area of expertise, it also looks great on a resume. I am a social work major and you are right that even low level jobs at most non-profit and in human services require a degree in social work or counseling, but these two are usually interchangeable and if you do decide to get your masters in psych or counseling of some sort you can open your own practice in some places or really find work in many arenas. There are also cool jobs out there for people with degrees. Someone I knew lived on a boat with a group of people and toured the ports of different countries where they each collected info on different aspects of the culture, environment etc and then emailed there findings back to an elementary school in New York, it was an interactive educational program and it sounded really cool, but I wouldn’t know where to begin looking for a job like that.... I would recommend going to the type of place where you might like to work and asking advice...good luck! One thing to remember is that usually human service jobs don’t pay well so you have to be comfortable with being "spiritually" wealthy and "physically" poor...its so worth it though
posted by madmamasmith at 6:05 PM on March 30, 2008