3 of These, 6 of These: Social work license renewal requirements
When was the last time that you looked at your state licensing requirements for continuing education? Most of us remember the total number of continuing education hours (CEU) that are required for each license renewal, but some licenses have some additional specifications that may require a bit more attention.
For example, the State of Texas Social Work Board of Examiners recently refined the specifications of the continuing education requirements for social workers in Texas. While the overall number of continuing education required hours has remained the same, at 30 hours per license renewal time period, what must be included in those 30 hours has become a bit more defined.
Some different categories of hours requirements include:
Ethics: pertaining to the state, and federal laws, or agency rules relevant to practice, practice guidelines defined by professional organizations, topics on the responsibility of the profession, and improved decision-making process for consistency and care.
Cultural diversity and competency: pertaining to specific education on age, disability, gender, ethnicity, gender, identity, language, race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, or socio-economic status
Supervisory hours: Anyone who holds a supervisor status may be required to do additional continuing education specifically pertaining to the supervision process
Human Trafficking: specific state-approved, educational programs on identifying and understanding human trafficking risks
Within the overall number of hours that are required for the license renewal, it is very common that a state administrative code may require that a specific number of hours be completed in the above categories or similar categories. This does require an extra level of intentionality on the part of the license renewal.
For example, a clinical supervisor for social workers in the state of Texas may be required to complete 30 hours of continuing education total for their license renewal, but six of those hours must be in the form of supervisory courses, six of those hours must be in the form of ethics courses, and three of those hours must be in the form of cultural diversity and competency. (1) So for this example clinicians, half of their required renewal hours must be allocated explicitly towards preset categories of training.
While the intention behind, these rules certainly is to improve overall care and quality within this profession, it is important that clinicians are mindful of these requirements, have a great record keeping for the number and types of continuing education that they are participating in, and remain aware of the regulations in their area. Should an individual be selected for a continuing education audit, it is assumed that they will be audited for not only the total number of continuing education units that they completed but also the specific types and categories of the hours completed. So stay informed, stay aware, and keep learning!
