Assimilating Adjuncts: Strategies for Orienting Contract Faculty

Abstract

Social work education programs often rely on adjunct or contract instructors to teach a portion of their curriculum. Such teachers can supplement full-time faculty who are unavailable, and they can be used to bolster segments of the curriculum that would benefit from their specialized practice knowledge and skills. This article describes the critical elements of an existing training program designed to systematically prepare contract faculty for teaching responsibilities in social work education programs. This program can be used as a model by social work education programs in preparing and integrating this crucial segment of the instructional workforce.