TL;DR: BSSW is a four-year degree set by CHED Memorandum Order No. 39, series of 2017, with a minimum of 140 units. Its defining feature is 1,000 hours of supervised field instruction — Field Instruction I and II at 500 hours each, worth 30 units together — and that 1,000-hour figure is not a curriculum preference, it is a statutory requirement under Republic Act No. 4373. Yes, there is a licensure examination. RA 4373 makes it unlawful to practise social work, or to be appointed to a social worker position in any private or government agency, without a certificate of registration from the Board for Social Workers.
Social work is one of the few Philippine degrees where the law reaches directly into the curriculum: the practical training hours are written into the profession's governing statute, not just into CHED's guidelines. This guide covers what CMO 39 requires, what RA 4373 requires, and where they overlap.
What CHED Prescribes for BSSW
The governing document is CHED Memorandum Order No. 39, series of 2017, "Policies, Standards and Guidelines for the Bachelor of Science in Social Work Program."
CMO 39's framing is worth reading closely, because it explains what the degree is and is not. Undergraduate social work education "shall be geared towards the preparation of students for generalist social work practice." Professional education in social work, CMO 39 says, requires "the acquisition and application of beginning level of knowledge, attitudes, values and skills in enhancing the social functioning of individuals, families, groups, and communities, linking people [client systems] with needed resources, improving the operation of social service delivery networks, and promoting social justice through organizing and advocacy."
Three things follow from that:
- Generalist, not specialist. BSSW is not a counselling degree, a psychology degree or a community development degree, though it touches all three. It trains you across a micro-to-macro continuum: casework with individuals, group work, and community organising.
- Values are explicitly part of the curriculum. CMO 39 states that "underpinning social work education is the formation and inculcation of values, attitudes, and behaviors that are deeply rooted in the profession's core values, philosophy, principles, and code of ethics." Adherence to the Social Work Code of Conduct appears among the programme outcomes.
- It is internationally benchmarked. CMO 39 notes the Philippine BSSW programme "integrates internationally benchmarked outcomes," citing the Global Standards for the Education and Training of the Social Work Profession.
How Many Units Is BS Social Work?
CMO 39 prescribes 140 units minimum:
| Component | Units |
|---|---|
| General Education (as per CHED requirements) | 36 |
| Human Behavior and Social Environment | 15 |
| Social Welfare Policies, Programs and Services | 21 |
| Social Work Practice | 24 |
| Field Instruction (FI I 500 hrs + FI II 500 hrs) | 30 |
| Physical Education | 8 |
| National Service Training Program | 6 |
| Total | 140 |
This is CHED's minimum. Schools may add institutional courses and social work electives consistent with their own mission, so a school's published curriculum often totals more.
What You Actually Study
Human Behavior and Social Environment (15 units) covers The Philippine Social Realities and Social Welfare; Filipino Personality and Social Work; Social Deviation and Social Work; Social Environment and Social Work (family, group, community and organisations); and Social Change and Development Perspectives.
Social Welfare Policies, Programs and Services (21 units) covers policy and programme development and management, Social Work Statistics, Social Welfare Agency Administration, Social Work Community Education and Training, and Social Work Research I and II.
Social Work Practice (24 units) is the methods core: Knowledge and Philosophical Foundations of the Social Work Profession, Fields of Social Work, Social Work Communication and Documentation, Social Work Counselling, and then practice with individuals and families, with groups, and with communities (community organising and community-based practice), plus a seminar on current trends.
Note the split between counselling and community organising sitting inside one degree. That is the generalist design working as intended — a Philippine social worker is expected to be able to sit with one family and also organise a barangay.
The 1,000-Hour Field Instruction Requirement
This is the part to plan your life around.
CMO 39 states: "Field instruction (FI) is an essential feature of the BSSW Curriculum. It requires students to spend a minimum of 1,000 hours as required by Social Work Law RA 4373. The FI is a supervised field work in a social welfare institution and in a rural or urban community with required documentation of the placement experience."
The curriculum implements it as Field Instruction I (500 hours) and Field Instruction II (500 hours), 15 units each, sitting in the final year.
RA 4373 is the reason. Among its qualifications for examination, the law requires that the applicant "has completed a minimum period of one thousand case hours of practical training in an established social work agency under the direct supervision of a fully trained and qualified social worker." So the hours are a licensure prerequisite, not just a graduation one.
CMO 39 adds several quality controls that are genuinely useful questions to ask a school:
| CMO 39 requirement | Why it matters to you |
|---|---|
| Maximum faculty-student ratio of 1:10 for FI supervision | Supervision quality is the whole point of supervised practice |
| A Field Instruction Unit headed by a Field Instruction Coordinator | Someone is accountable for finding and vetting your placement |
| Preference for three-year engagements with partner communities | You inherit an established relationship instead of starting cold |
| Placement in a social welfare institution and a rural or urban community | Both agency-based and community-based practice, not just one |
Ask a prospective school which agencies and communities it places students in, and who its Field Instruction Coordinator is. For a degree whose curriculum CHED largely fixes, placement quality is one of the few real differentiators.
The Research Requirement
CMO 39 requires a social work research or project output as a prerequisite to graduation and states that the output "is equivalent to thesis." Schools may let students choose between individual and group work on the project. The curriculum supports it with Social Work Research I (developing a research design) and Social Work Research II (implementing it). Field Instruction is where action research typically gets carried out.
Yes, There Is a Licensure Examination
Republic Act No. 4373 governs the practice of social work. Section 10 is broad and specific at the same time: "Unless exempt from registration, no person shall practice or offer to practice social work in the Philippines as defined in this Act, or be appointed as a social worker or to any position calling for social worker in any social work agency whether private or government, without holding a valid certificate of registration as a social worker."
That second clause is the one prospective students miss. It is not only clinical practice that is gated — it is appointment to social worker positions, including in government. If your plan is a municipal or city social welfare and development office, the licence is the requirement.
Qualifications for examination under RA 4373 include:
- a diploma as holder of a bachelor's or master's degree, or its equivalent, in social work, from a duly accredited and legally constituted institution; and
- completion of a minimum of 1,000 case hours of practical training in an established social work agency under the direct supervision of a fully trained and qualified social worker.
Scope of examination. RA 4373 does not itself enumerate subjects. It provides that the examination "shall consist of a written test, the scope of which shall be determined and prescribed by the Board, taking into consideration the curriculum of all the social work courses offered in schools legally constituted in the Philippines." In practice that means the Board's published table of specifications, not the statute, tells you what is covered — so get it from PRC rather than from a review-centre summary.
Dates and application windows change every cycle and are published by PRC in its master schedule of licensure examinations. Our social worker board exam guide walks through the process, and PRC board exam requirements covers documentation.
BSSW Compared With Nearby Social Science Degrees
| Degree | What it trains you to do | Licence |
|---|---|---|
| BS Social Work | Generalist social work practice across individuals, groups, communities | Yes — Board for Social Workers |
| AB/BS Psychology | Study behaviour; a route toward psychology and psychometrics licensure | Separate PRC board |
| Community Development | Community-level development practice | No dedicated PRC board |
| Sociology | Study of society and social structures | No dedicated PRC board |
If you are torn between social work and psychology, the practical difference is that BSSW is a professional practice degree with a licence and a required 1,000-hour placement, aimed squarely at service delivery. Psychology is a discipline degree with several possible destinations, one of which is a different PRC licence.
Careers
Registered social workers are employed in:
- Government — national agencies and local social welfare and development offices, where the licence is a hiring requirement for social worker positions
- Health — hospital medical social services, public health programmes
- Education — school-based social work and guidance-adjacent roles
- Justice — courts, correctional and diversion programmes, child protection
- Residential and community care — shelters, residential facilities, foster care and adoption services
- NGOs and development agencies — programme implementation, case management, community organising
The degree also supports postgraduate study; note that RA 4373 requires Board members themselves to hold a master's degree in social work, which signals where the academic ceiling sits.
We are not quoting tuition figures. Social work is a low-laboratory programme, so within a given school it usually sits at the cheaper end of the range, but the final year carries field instruction costs — transport to placements, documentation, sometimes relocation — that are easy to underestimate. State universities and colleges charge no tuition for qualified students under the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act. Get the current rate and the field instruction fees from the school in writing.
Should You Take BS Social Work?
- Are you prepared for 1,000 hours of supervised practice? This is a legal requirement, not a curriculum flourish. It will consume your final year.
- Are you comfortable with distress? Fields of practice include child protection, correctional settings and disaster response. The values component of the curriculum exists because the work is hard.
- Do you want breadth or depth? Generalist by design. If you want to be a clinician specifically, look at the psychology and guidance-and-counselling routes instead.
- Have you checked the school's Field Instruction Unit? Ratio, coordinator, partner agencies and partner communities. This is the question that separates programmes.
Senior high students heading this way usually come through HUMSS — see our HUMSS strand courses guide — though no CHED order restricts BSSW admission to a single strand.
Ready to compare schools? Browse social work programmes across Philippine schools on SchoolFinderPH.
Sources
- CHED Memorandum Order No. 39, series of 2017 — Policies, Standards and Guidelines for the Bachelor of Science in Social Work Program
- Republic Act No. 4373 — An Act to Regulate the Practice of Social Work and the Operation of Social Work Agencies (LawPhil)
- Professional Regulation Commission — Professional Regulatory Boards
