“I Know What I Know… Unless I Don’t”: Examining Faculty Knowledge About Social Work Licensing

Despite clarion calls about the need for more research related to social work licensing and education, few studies have examined this area. This exploratory study investigated faculty (N=170) knowledge about social work licensing. Participants identified as a full or part-time faculty member at a CSWE accredited institution in one southeastern state. Researchers examined actual, perceived, and discrepancies in knowledge about licensing. Results indicate that participants tended to overestimate their knowledge about licensing. Findings also show that participants with tenure, and employed full-time tended to overestimate their knowledge to a greater degree, when compared to non-tenured faculty and those employed part-time, respectively. Regression tree methodology showed that being a full-time faculty member was the strongest predictor of knowledge discrepancy.