Social work degrees, whether undergraduate or postgraduate, are popular degrees, and they’re also commonly degrees a student can earn online, whether undergraduate or graduate. That being the case, you can teach social work online as an adjunct professor—because there is a definite need for teachers.

There are many places to teach social work to students in online college programs. Social workers can teach online as a supplementary job, or even as a career. You will typically need to meet some degree and certification requirements, and having some experience teaching will be helpful, as well—though that is not always expected. Because social work programs don’t house what we might think of as traditional “academics,” that leaves the door wide open for experienced professionals to fill teaching positions.

If you’re beginning to consider teaching online, you probably have questions. Where can I teach? What are those requirements, and what will I need to submit with an application? We’ll look at all these questions here.

Can You Teach Social Work Online?

In Teaching & Learning in Social Work (site no longer available), the Chair of the Department of Social Work at Western Kentucky University, Patricia Desrosiers (2019), writes about adjuncting in the world of social work. She quotes a statistic from the Council on Social Work Education that says over half of all the social workers in this country are adjunct instructors. Over half!

One reason is that “part-time instructors bring their practice experience into the classroom, making book content come alive for students.” But strong part-time instructors, Desrosiers laments, are hard to find. Your goal: become that strong part-time instructor. And there will be plenty of students: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says that social work employment is expected to grow 16% between 2016 and 2026.

Why become an online adjunct in social work? For one, Derosiers says, teaching is fun—and you’ll have access to resources to improve your own practice and career, as well. You’ll also be adding to the profession, “giving back,” as it were. You’ll not only teach students, you may actively help them by identifying students for field placements and employment.

Derosiers points out two things you will need: qualification and time. She points to accreditation standards of the CSWE, which stipulates not only a Master’s in Social Work but a minimum of two years post-MSW experience in order to teach. You’ll need to budget time, as well: a three-credit hour course, she says, can take up six to nine hours weekly of time for prep, and that doesn’t factor in grading.

Again, you do not have to be an academic to secure a teaching job in social work—it seems apparent that the professional experience can account for far more than strictly teaching. As a social worker yourself, you could teach on the side or make a big career change and stick with teaching online. Let’s look at what you might need to make either change.

What Do You Need to Be an Online Social Work Professor?

Teaching social work is no different from any other teaching. Some of the basic requirements you’ll need to meet are largely the same.

The first thing you’ll need, of course, is a college degree from an accredited institution. According to The New Social Worker online magazine, CSWE accreditation standards establish a preference for a Ph.D. This will not always be the case when you start researching jobs, though.

George Fox University in Oregon, for example, prefers a master’s degree—and previous teaching experience is desirable, but not required. Liberty University, too, makes having an MSW a minimum qualification. Same with New Mexico Highland University, a college that may require social work licensure, depending on the course taught.

A teaching job posted at the University of Utah (an online assistant professor, and so full-time) asks for at least an MSW, though a Ph.D. or Doctor of Social Work degree is preferred. That job, however, even though it’s full-time, can give you a sense of where a career may continue—that is, where a part-timer can eventually attain to! Central State University, which urgently needs adjuncts for social work, among other disciplines, says that it welcomes adjuncts interested in becoming full-time, non-tenure track faculty in the future.

Even if you’ve only attained your master’s degree, you can teach.

Outside of that, it may—or may not—be important to have some teaching experience. Remember, though, that social workers are different from, say, philosophers. A philosophy major could earn a master’s or a Ph.D. and go straight into academia, teaching—unless they get a job outside academia and write essays on their free time! But a social worker is likely going to go straight into working, whether in the public sector (schools, state jobs) or nonprofits. Some can turn, after even a few years in the field, to teaching, but many don’t necessarily consider that move.

"Teaching” can mean many things. Any sort of conference where you’ve given a talk or a workshop is teaching. Training fellow employees is teaching. All of it should be kept on a CV.

How Do You Become an Online Social Work Professor?

Once you’ve decided on being an online adjunct of social work, you need only plot the course. You’ll need to assemble your materials, all of which, thankfully, can be uploaded directly to a college’s job site.

1. You’ll need your graduate degree (or degrees), but you’ll often need to send your college transcripts, as well. Most likely that will only need to be postgraduate transcripts.

2. You will need some form of letter of application—a cover letter. In that letter, detail your academic experience (if any) as a teacher, especially online. If you have taught online, you probably used a learning management system (an LMS); which one? You may be asked to provide a teaching philosophy (in some cases, a college may ask for a separate document containing that philosophy), but if not, you can add a brief account of your philosophy in the cover letter.

3. You will need your curriculum vita—your CV. Detail your education, of course, where you graduated from and when. List your job experience—remember that professional experience in social work is desirable! Include any teaching experience, online or traditional. Leading trainings with your colleagues counts as teaching.

4. Colleges may ask for professional references with contact information. Others may ask for three current letters of recommendation. Whether professors, supervisors, or colleagues, always keep those references handy—and if you’ve worked in the field, you most likely have them.

It should be noted that it is not uncommon these days for colleges to maintain a “pool” of applicants rather than specifically hiring for a single, specific role. If that’s the case, colleges will draw from that pool according to need—how many courses they actually have available to teach. College’s job postings on their websites will make this clear.

Adjunct Social Work Professor Jobs are Online

Since my search engine knows I’m in Kentucky, when I go looking for online social work programs, it doesn’t let me down—and in fact, I realized that there are a lot of online programs right here in Kentucky.

The University of Louisville has an online Doctor of Social Work program—100% of the fourteen courses it offers are online. Eastern Kentucky University likewise offers a 100% online program, their MSW. Campbellsville University offers a BSW and an MSW. Brescia University has a program. The University of Kentucky has a program. Even Maryville University in nearby St. Louis, listed as one of Forbes “Top Colleges,” hosts a BSW, and the University of Cincinnati has a program, and Indiana Wesleyan has a program, all of them neighboring Kentucky. And that’s only one state! That’s a lot of options—and of course, they’re all online. (If you lived in Louisville, you wouldn’t necessarily have to drive two hours to Cincinnati to teach!)

With social work a growing field, and the proliferation of online BSW, MSW, and DSW programs, there is an increasing need for teachers of social work. Whether you’ve been strictly in the profession or have taught previously, there is undoubtedly a need for your skills.

Adjunct World lists job postings daily, and you can utilize this resource to find a teaching position in social work that works for you.

References

Desrosiers, P. (2019). Becoming an awesome adjunct professor in social work. Website no longer available.