Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 6, September 16, 2024
(a)
Continuing education for certification or licensure renewal shall be required
to maintain professional knowledge and technical competency. Social workers
shall obtain 40 contact hours of Board-approved continuing education credits in
accordance with this Rule within each two-year renewal cycle. For purposes of
this Rule, a "contact hour" is defined as time spent actually receiving
education, excluding breaks. If a certification or licensure is for less than a
full two-year period, then social workers shall obtain 30 contact hours of
Board-approved continuing education credits in accordance with this Rule.
Continuing education credits shall be awarded as follows:
(1) continuing education units awarded that
do not reflect contact hours or clock hours of instruction shall be awarded at
the rate of one contact hour of credit for each continuing education
unit;
(2) one academic course hour
of credit shall be equal to 15 contact hours; and
(3) credit for auditing an academic course
shall be for clock hours of instruction attended with one clock hour equal to
one contact hour of credit.
(b) During each renewal period, all certified
and licensed social workers shall engage in a minimum of four contact hours of
continuing education focused on ethics related to social work practice and
ethical decision-making.
(c) The
following activities shall be approved for continuing education:
(1) academic social work courses taken for
credit or audit;
(2) agency-based
staff development, seminars, institutes, workshops, mini-courses or conferences
oriented to social work practice, values, skills, and knowledge;
(3) cross-disciplinary offerings from
medicine, law, and the behavioral/social sciences or other disciplines, if such
offerings are related to social work practice, values, skills, and
knowledge;
(4) distance learning
activities, including online courses and home study courses that have been
pre-approved by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) or the National
Association of Social Workers (NASW) and its associated state chapters. The
maximum continuing education credit granted for distance learning activities is
one-half of the required hours, up to a maximum of 20 contact hours per renewal
period. Synchronous audio-video broadcasts allowing for real time interaction
between the instructor and participants shall not be considered distance
learning activities but as a face-to-face offering; and
(5) a group of professionals within the
health and human services or related fields organized to come together to study
a particular topic focusing on social work practice, provided the following can
be documented:
(A) study topics;
(B) study materials;
(C) facilitator(s); and
(D) date(s) and hours of
attendance.
(d) Continuing education focusing on
practitioner self-care and well-being shall not exceed six contact hours of
credit during a single renewal cycle.
(e) Up to five contact hours of credit shall
be granted per renewal cycle for presenting a training focused on social work
practice provided that:
(1) the Board receives
confirmation from the organization for which the licensee presented that
identifies the licensee as the presenter, confirms the title and date of the
presentation, the length of the presentation, and number of attendees;
and
(2) the dates of the
presentation occur within the renewal cycle.
(f) Credit shall not be granted for:
(1) identical programs completed within the
same renewal period;
(2) job
orientation or training directed at procedural mandates such as health and
safety practices, new hire training, and compliance training; or
(3) supervision and case
consultation.
Authority
G.S.
90B-6;
90B-9;
Eff. August 1,
1987;
Amended Eff. September 1, 1993;
Temporary
Amendment Eff. October 1, 1999;
Amended Eff. January 1, 2009;
September 1, 2005; April 1, 2001;
Readopted Eff. February 1,
2017;
Amended Eff. October 1,
2021.
