BSW Program

The “Credits Not Included in the Major CGPA” that are outlined on the academic audit are referred to as the Elective Requirements of the degree. There are 3 sections of the Credits Not Included in the Major CGPA, generally this includes (please be advised that this will vary depending on year of entry into the program) 2.0 credits in related programs, 6.0 credits not in Social Work, and 1.5 credits in Free Electives.

What classifies a course as an elective is either courses taken in subjects outside of the Major (some examples include searching the different subjects on Carleton Central such as Psychology – PSYC, Criminology and Criminal Justice – CRCJ, Sociology – SOCI, Indigenous Studies – IDNG and so on and selecting courses that you meet Undergraduate Calendar requirements to take), therefore electives can be any subject not in the SOWK subject. Or free electives which refers to any subject including SOWK courses that are not apart of the Major Requirements of the degree (i.e. SOWK 2301, 3206, 3207, etc.) or excess SOWK electives in addition to degree requirements.

Students will want to be aware that there is limited free elective space, so if they are considering taking any SOWK electives (some examples of SOWK electives include SOWK 2300, 2301, 3206, 3207, 3804, 4102, 4105, or any of the Special Topics SOWK 4000-level courses) it is important to check if your audit to ensure you have free elective requirements remaining for your degree.

Searching for elective courses can be a bit more time consuming compared to your core SOWK courses, as this requires you to search up different subjects and course descriptions to narrow down your elective choices. To find an elective it’s helpful to search through all the subjects or specific subjects you are interested in from other fields of study and review course descriptions. Electives are a good way to broaden the scope of your studies, but you want to make sure that the courses you pick will count towards your degree. You can check this if you register for an elective and you run your academic audit on Carleton Central. Your audit will either indicate where that course falls in your degree requirements or if it doesn’t count for your degree it will show up in the “Courses Set Aside” section and the bottom of the audit. If you’re ever unsure about whether or not an elective will count, you are also welcome to contact the Undergraduate Administrator to confirm if a specific course would count towards your degree requirements.

Please register for BOTH the Fall and Winter terms once registration opens up to you. Courses have maximum enrolments and delaying registration may mean that you have limited choice in your scheduling options, course availability, and electives. Failing to register in one or more required courses may result in your degree progress being delayed by up to a year.

If you get a Registration Error when trying to register for a course, please submit a Course Registration Override Request if you feel you have a valid reason to be in the course. Information about when to register (your “Time-Ticket”) and how to register for courses can be found on the Registrar’s Office website. To confirm the requirements and/or restrictions for registering for specific courses please view the courses section of the Undergraduate Calendar.

All correspondence with Carleton University faculty and staff must be done through your Carleton email account. You can access your Carleton email once you have activated your MyCarletonOne account.

It is your responsibility to check this email account regularly as the University and the School of Social Work will use this as the main point of contact for students.

Please note:

• If you intend to attend full-time at a 100% course load, follow the sequencing above. You are required to successfully complete all 5 prerequisite courses in the fall term in order to go on to your practicum in the winter.
• If you plan to attend part-time or with a reduced course load, please note that core Social Work courses are not offered in the summer terms and you are required to adhere to course prerequisites. In these cases, it is highly suggested that you meet with the Undergraduate Administrator to plan out your course sequencing.

*Italicized courses are only offered in the indicated term for the fall/winter session.  The other courses listed for each year may be taken in either the fall or the winter terms, depending on course availability, with a maximum of five courses in each term.*

Students who enter the BSW program with 2nd year standing, and who do not have a transfer credit for SOWK 1000 (or SOWK 1001 & 1002) must add SOWK 1001 to the fall term and SOWK 1002 to the winter term, taking one less elective per term.  This is a heavy workload and we strongly recommend that you read the text listed below (or any other Introduction to Social Work in Canada text) over the summer in order to have some familiarity with social work before the fall term begins.

Ives, N., Denov, M., & Sussman, T. (2020).  Introduction to social work in Canada: Histories, contexts and practices (2nd ed.). Toronto: Oxford University Press.

*Italicized courses are only offered in the indicated term for the fall/winter session.  The other courses listed for each year may be taken in either the fall or the winter terms, depending on course availability, with a maximum of five courses in each term.*

Please note: the above table outlines course sequencing for students entering at the first year and attending full-time with a 100% course load over fall and winter terms only.  If you plan to attend part-time or with a reduced course load, please note that most core Social Work courses are not offered in the summer terms and you need to adhere to course prerequisites.  In these cases, it is highly suggested that you meet with the Undergraduate Administrator to plan your course sequencing.

*Italicized courses are only offered in the indicated term for the fall/winter session.  The other courses listed for each year may be taken in either the fall or the winter terms, depending on course availability, with a maximum of five courses in each term.*

The Bachelor of Social Work is a 20-credit (4-year) Honours degree program. The 20.0 credits include 10.5 credits in the Social Work Major and 9.5 credits outside the Major.

10.5 credits in the Major are:
SOWK 1001 (0.5) Introduction to Social Welfare
SOWK 1002 (0.5) Introduction to Social Work
SOWK 2001 (0.5) Structural Analysis and Social Work
SOWK 2005 (0.5) Values and Ethics for Social Work
SOWK 2100 (0.5) The Political Economy of the Social Welfare State
SOWK 2202 (0.5) Introduction to Social Work Practice with Individuals and Families
SOWK 2203 (0.5) Introduction to Social Work Practice with Groups and Communities
SOWK 3001 (0.5) Introduction to Research Methods in Social Work
SOWK 3002 (0.5) Introduction to Statistical Analysis in Social Work
SOWK 3100 (0.5) Social Policy and Administration
SOWK 3600 or SOWK 3601 or SOWK 3602 (2.0) Practicum I
SOWK 4000 (0.5) Social Work and Indigenous Peoples
SOWK 4600 (2.0) or SOWK 4601 (1.0) & SOWK 4602 (1.0) Practicum II

0.5 credit from:
SOWK 4001 (0.5) Advanced Social Work Practice with Individuals and Families
SOWK 4002 (0.5) Advanced Social Work Practice with Groups
SOWK 4003 (0.5) Advanced Social Work Practice with Communities
SOWK 4004 (0.5) Social Policy Development and Practice

0.5 credit from:
SOWK 4103 (0.5) Practice and Policy in Immigration
SOWK 4204 (0.5) Social Work and Aging 
SOWK 4300 (0.5) Social Work and Persons with Disabilities
SOWK 4301 (0.5) Racialization and Social Work
SOWK 4302 (0.5) Poverty and Social Welfare Policy
SOWK 4303 (0.5) Gender and Sexuality

9.5 credits not included in the Major:

• 2.0 credits in any combination of the following subjects: ANTH, CRCJ, ECON, HIST, HUMR, INDG, LAWS, PAPM, PSCI, PSYC, SOCI, or WGST
• 6.0 credits in non-SOWK electives
• 1.5 credits in free electives OR SOWK 4908 (1.0) Honours Essay and 0.5 credit in free electives.

Try to choose electives that interest you and do not conflict with your required Social Work courses. It may help if you look at the course list in the Undergraduate Calendar and then look in detail at courses under subjects that interest you. Start by looking at the 1000-level courses and check whether the course may be restricted to those degree students only (i.e. Architecture and Engineering courses will most likely be restricted to Architecture and Engineering students only). Perhaps you will notice some courses at the 2000-level or above that interest you, in which case you will want to check if there is a prerequisite course you would need to take first.

As noted in the BSW degree requirements, you need to take 2.0 credits in any combination of ANTH, CRCJ, ECON, HIST, HUMR, INDG, LAWS, PAPM, PSCI, PSYC, SOCI, or WGST, but you are welcome to take more of these if you wish. They will meet the 6.0 credits, not in Social Work requirement.

Some students may wish to consider taking a Language course(s) such as French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Italian, or American Sign Language. If you are interested in minoring in a language, you will likely want to start taking the required courses in your first year, as it can be difficult to meet language Minor requirements if you begin later in your degree.

Please keep in mind that you are able to take a maximum of 7.0 credits in 1000-level courses as part of your degree. Thus, you could end up taking a 1000-level elective even when you are at 2nd, 3rd or 4th year standing. Free Electives can be courses taken from within your major discipline (Social Work) or from another field of study.