Choose an area of focus. You should consider the difference between macro and micro level social work practice. Micro level social workers, also known as clinical social workers, focus on helping individuals on a one-to-one basis. They help people to understand their problems by talking about them, often through individual or group therapy. In contrast, macro level social workers are trained to help people by focusing on broader problems, through community organizing, program development and evaluation, advocacy and policy development.
Once you know what track you would like to pursue, you can find and apply to master's degree programs that are designed for this specific area. Investigate programs thoroughly, since they may also offer specializations such as training in psychotherapy or international social work.
Fulfill supervision and fieldwork requirements. These are the core elements of social work training. All accredited social work programs require a practical internship done under a licensed, qualified supervisor. In your fieldwork you have a chance to get firsthand experience working with people in the setting that you are training for. You can utilize your supervisor to learn more about how best to practice and apply what you learn in your course work.
For a master's degree, you are required to complete a minimum of 900 hours of supervised fieldwork experience.
Complete the course work and research required by your program. Course work includes learning about social work ethics and values as well as issues of cultural diversity in working with clients, how to work with at-risk populations and how to promote social and economic justice. Other areas of course work can include human behavior and the social environment, social welfare policy and social work practice.
Some programs require a course on social research methods; however, other programs may also require a thesis. A thesis is a written report of an independent research program. You should consider whether or not you have an interest in research when looking at social work programs.