Social Worker Licensure Board Exam: Application Requirements, Coverage, and Schedule

Are you now prepared to work in the country as a registered Social Worker? Then read on!

In this article, we will go over what you need to know about the Social Worker Licensure Board Examination in the Philippines, including all of the requirements you must present and how to prepare.

So, if you’re ready to get a massive advantage, keep reading to find out more.

What is a Social Worker?

Social workers are practitioners who strive to promote overall well-being and support communities and individuals in fulfilling basic and complex needs. Social workers deal with a wide range of cultures and people, with a special emphasis on the poor, disadvantaged, and impoverished.

A social worker may be expected to engage in policy procedures that frequently result in the formulation of social programs, depending on their profession, job description, and place of employment. To carry out their practice, they rely on social work values and beliefs, as well as academic study.

Social workers are educated and qualified to resolve social injustices and obstacles to the greater well-being of their clients. Poverty, unemployment, inequality, and a shortage of accommodation are only a few examples. They also assist clients and families who have disabilities, drug abuse issues or are involved in domestic disputes.

What are the Social Worker Licensure Exams?

The Professional Regulation Commission, or PRC, is the official committee in the Philippines in charge of all licensing examinations, with the exception of the Philippine bar exam. As a consequence, it is in charge of conducting the Social Worker Licensure Board Examination.

To take the Social Worker Licensure Exam, candidates must have a Bachelor in Science in Social Work from a well-known school, university, or college.

These conditions are mandatory for the qualifications of applicants and soon-to-be passers who have taken a licensing exam in order to protect the reputation of the workforce.

Requirements for the Occupational Therapy Board Examinations

Before applying to take the Social Worker Licensure Board Exam, all of the following requirements must be met:

  • Passport-sized image of the applicant with a white background and collared attire;
  • A valid NBI Clearance;
  • Transcript of Records accompanied by a scanned image and the remarks “For Board Review Purposes”;
  • A copy of the applicant’s Birth Certificate issued by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA);
  • A copy of the Marriage Contract from the NSO or the PSA (applicable to married female applicants only);
  • Documentary stamps;
  • Certificate of 1,000 case hours of supervised field practice signed by the faculty supervisor and/or head of the social work program, with updated Professional Identification Card (PIC);
  • Project Feasibility Study (hard & soft copy)
  • An examination payment of Php 900.00;

Social Worker Licensure Examination Registration Procedure

A simple database schema for every license exam is included in the PRC LERIS online portal – which makes it super convenient for all applicants to schedule an appointment. The PRC advises all aspiring professionals to check online appointments before submitting documents of their choosing to a regional or PRC Satellite Office.

Should you not be able to enroll because you are unsure of the protocol, our step-by-step method will help you arrange your registration – or head straight to the PRC LERIS website for registration if you already have a good understanding of the method.

Social Worker Board Exam Coverage

The Social Worker Licensure Examination will cover the following subjects, for which you must plan months, if not years, in advance. The following are the subjects that will be covered along with their corresponding weight:

Human Behavior and Social Environment – 20%

This subject in the board exam will mostly cover the main hypotheses and stages of personality development; historical viewpoints and various influences affecting the Filipino family; social structures related to the group and the cultural; community influences shaping group behavior; and the complexities of psychosocial issues.

Personality Development

  1. Theories of Personality
    1. Psychoanalytic theories
      1. Freud
      2. Erikson
    2. Behaviorist theories
      1. Piaget
      2. Skinner
    3. Humanistic theories
      1. Maslow
      2. Rogers
  2. Phases of Personality Development
    1. Steps in human growth and development and corresponding characteristics
      1. Oral sensory
      2. Muscular-anal
      3. Locomotor-genital
      4. Latency
      5. Puberty and adolescence
      6. Young adulthood
      7. Adulthood
      8. Maturity
    2. Developmental tasks
      1. Infancy and early childhood (birth to 6 years)
      2. Middle childhood (6 to 12 years)
      3. Pre-adolescence and adolescence (12 to 18 years)
      4. Early adulthood (18 to 35 years)
      5. Middle age (35 to 60 years)
      6. Later life (60 years and above)
    3. Determinants of behavior
      1. Heredity
      2. Environment
      3. Training

The Filipino Family

  1. Historical perspectives on the Filipino family
    1. Pre-Spanish period
    2. Spanish period
    3. American period
    4. Post-American period
  2. The contemporary Filipino family
    1. Socio-cultural factors influencing the Filipino family
      1. Family patterns and changing roles
        1. Types of family structures
        2. Functions of the family
        3. Authority in the family
      2. Institutions (schools, church, media, etc.)
      3. Cultural variables
        1. Folkways
        2. Moores
        3. Folklore
        4. Costumes
        5. Language
        6. Values
    2. Physical factors influencing the Filipino family
      1. Environmental changes
      2. Ecology
      3. Population growth
      4. Industrialization/modernization
    3. Courtship and Marriage
      1. Courtship
      2. Marriage and human sexuality
      3. Parenthood
        1. Child-rearing practices
        2. Decision-making pattern
    4. The Filipino Family in Crisis
      1. Sources of Disfunctioning
      2. Family disorganization
      3. Generation gap
      4. Role pressures and strains

Social Processes in the Group and Community

  1. The Social Process: definition
    1. Basic social processes
      1. Competition
      2. Conflict
      3. Cooperation
    2. Derived social processes
      1. Accommodation
      2. Amalgamation
      3. Assimilation
      4. Acculturation
  2. Understanding Group Behavior
    1. Group qualities
    2. Properties of group
      1. Communication pattern
      2. Values
      3. Composition of the group
      4. Group goals
      5. Standards or code of ethics
      6. Atmosphere or social climate
      7. Structure and organization
      8. Procedures of getting things done
      9. Sociometric pattern or relationship of friendship and antipathy
      10. Participation patterns
    3. Manner of forming groups
      1. Deliberate formation to accomplish objectives
      2. Spontaneous formation
      3. External designation
      4. Types of groups deliberately formed
        1. workgroups
        2. problem-solving groups
        3. social action groups
        4. mediating groups
        5. client groups
  3. Functions of group members
    1. Group building and maintenance
      1. Encouraging
      2. Mediating
      3. Gatekeeping
      4. Standard-setting
      5. Following
      6. Relieving tension
    2. Group tasks in achieving goals
      1. Initiating (suggesting new ideas)
      2. Information seeking (asking for relevant facts)
      3. Information or opinion giving (stating pertinent facts or beliefs)
      4. Classifying (probing for meaning and understanding)
      5. Elaborating (enlarging on previous comments)
      6. Coordinating (showing relationships)
      7. Orienting (defining the progress of discussion)
      8. Testing (checking readiness for action)
      9. Summarizing (reviewing the content of past discussion)
    3. Non-functional roles emanating from self-centered behavior of group members
      1. Blocking (interfering with the progress of the group)
      2. Aggression (showing hostility)
      3. Seeking recognition (calling attention to one’s self)
      4. Special pleading (introducing ideas related only to one’s own concern)
      5. Withdrawing (acting indifferently)
      6. Dominating (asserting authority)
    4. Group Cohesiveness
      1. Incentive property of the group
      2. Motive base
      3. Group solidarity
      4. Consequences of group cohesiveness
    5. Leadership and performance of group functions
      1. Traits of leaders
      2. ole performance
      3. Types of leaders
    6. Power and influence in groups
      1. Agent exerting influence vs. the persons subjected to influence
      2. By-products of power
      3. Influence of groups on individual behavior
      4. Social control
    7. Theories of collective behavior (Smerlser’s)
      1. Structural conduciveness
      2. Structural strain
      3. Growth and spread of a generalized belief
      4. Precipitating factors
      5. Mobilization of participants for action
      6. Operating of social control

Community Forces Influencing Group Behaviour

  1. Physical environment
    1. Environment cycles which relate to 3 systems
      1. Air
      2. Water
      3. soil
    2. Ecosystem (major types)
      1. Terrestrial
      2. Aquatic
      3. Technology
        1. high capital intensive
        2. low labor-intensive
        3. intermediate (less capital, more labor)
      4. Urbanization
        1. Problematic urban community relations: superficial, anonymous, transitory, overload (system’s inability to process inputs from the environment)
        2. Adaptive response to overload
      5. Industrialization
        1. Attitudes toward nature as an object to be exploited
        2. Emphasis on quantity as a key measure of the good
        3. Valuation plays upon knowledge as a source of power

Dynamics of Psychosocial Problems

  1. Deviations in Human Behavior/Social Dysfunctioning
    1. Theoretical perspective
    2. Typologies/classification (psychiatric disorders)
  2. Economics-related problems: psychosocial implications
    1. Poverty
    2. Unemployment
    3. Middle-class and social mobility maladjustments
    4. Irresponsible affluence
    5. Strikes and social unrest at the workplace
  3. Health-related problems: psychosocial implications
    1. Malnutrition
    2. Common medical disorders
    3. Mental illness
    4. Alcoholism
    5. Drug abuse
    6. AIDS, cancer, and other life-threatening diseases
    7. Physical disabilities/accidents
  4. Family breakdown
    1. Wife battering
    2. Child abuse and neglect
    3. Abuse and neglect of the elderly
    4. Solo parenting/stepfamilies
    5. Marital conflicts
  5. Armed conflict/Natural disasters
    1. Trauma
    2. Evacuation/refugee phenomenon
  6. Violations of human rights/child rights
    1. Child exploitation, sexual abuse
    2. Discrimination against ethnic or cultural minorities
    3. Discrimination against women
  7. Performance-related problems
    1. Inadequate job performance
    2. Inadequate school performance
  8. Crime and juvenile delinquency
  9. Neighborhood/community apathy and deterioration
  10. Squatting and homelessness

History, Philosophy and Ethics, Social Welfare Policy and Social Welfare Programs, Research, Social Agency Administration and Supervision – 20%

Historical Evolution

  1. Social Welfare
  2. Public Welfare
  3. Social Work

Theoretical Framework

  1. Philosophy and Ethics
  2. Conceptual Definitions
    1. Social Work
    2. Social Welfare
    3. Social Service
    4. Social Development
    5. Social Welfare Programs
    6. Social Work Strategies
    7. Social Welfare Agencies by auspices, target population, geographical coverage
    8. Client/Client categories
    9. Primary and Secondary Settings for Social Work Practice

Objectives and Functions of Social Welfare

  1. Institutional
  2. Remedial
  3. Residual
  4. Restorative
  5. Rehabilitation
  6. Preventive
  7. Developmental

Social Welfare Programs

  1. Major Fields
    1. Public Assistance/Emergency Assistance
    2. Family Welfare
    3. Child and Youth Welfare
    4. The welfare of Disabled Persons
    5. Women’s Welfare
    6. Community Welfare
    7. The welfare of Special Categories: squatters, slum dwellers, refugees, displaced immigrants, victims or armed conflict, rebel surrenderees, etc.
    8. History, Philosophy, and Ethics, Social Policy, Etc.
  2. Specialized Services
    1. Medical Social Services
    2. Psychiatric Services
    3. School Social Services
    4. Industrial Social Service
    5. Crisis Intervention

Social Policies

  1. Social Welfare Policies
    1. Philippine Constitution – 1987
    2. R.S. #4373
    3. R.A. #5416
    4. Child and Youth Welfare Code
    5. Family Code in the Philippines
    6. Local Government Code
    7. Updated Laws, Executive Orders, and others
  2. Contemporary Challenges for Social Welfare
    1. National Development Plans
    2. U.N. Strategies
    3. Philippine Realities

Functional Competencies

  1. Policy Formulation and Policy Analysis
  2. Social Planning
  3. Program Development
  4. Social Action and Advocacy

Auxiliary Methods in Social Work

  1. Research
    1. Principles and Basic Concepts
    2. Process
  2. Social Agency Administration
    1. Principles and Basic Concepts
    2. Administrative Functions
  3. Supervision
    1. Principles and Basic Concepts
    2. Rules and Functions

Social Work Method (Primary) – 30%

Social Case Work (10%)

  1. Value Orientation and Scientific Foundation of Social Casework
  2. Concepts and Principles
    1. Concepts of Social Casework
    2. Basic Concepts Relevant to Casework
    3. Concepts of Stress
    4. Professional Communication
  3. The Casework relationship
    1. Components of relationship
    2. Principles of the casework relationship
    3. Workable-Client-Worker Relationship
  4. Scientific Method of the Helping Process
    1. Components of the Problem-Solving Process
    2. Process
    3. Assessment of Clients Workability
  5. Tasks and skills required in the Helping Process
  6. Emerging trends in Social Casework Practice

Social Group Work (10%)

  1. Historical and philosophical foundations of social group work.
  2. Basic elements of social group work
    1. the group or client
    2. types and composition of groups
    3. dynamics of individuals in the group and the group as a whole (group life)
  3. Helping process in group work
    1. goals and objectives
    2. group information
    3. program development
    4. program media (values attached to various media forms)
    5. the group and the community
      1. federated groups (inter-group relationship)
      2. use of community resources
      3. understanding conditions in the community that affect group life
  4. Agency functions, programs, services
  5. The helping relationship
    1. the social group worker – function, responsibilities and roles
    2. workers- professional knowledge and competence; use of professional self
    3. indigenous leader
    4. individual members
    5. the group as a whole
  6. Emerging trends in social group work practice.

Community Organization (10%)

  1. The Conceptual Framework of Community Organization
    1. Definitions
    2. Theories/Concepts
  2. The Philosophical base of Community Organization
    1. Values
    2. Assumptions
    3. Principles
  3. Goals and Objectives of the Community Organization
  4. Models of Community Organization
    1. Community Development
    2. Social Planning
    3. Social Action
  5. The Community Organization Process
    1. Pre-helping Phase
    2. Helping Phase
  6. Roles, Functions, Strategies of Community Organization Worker
  7. Emerging Process
    1. People Empowerment
    2. Disaster Management

Field Practice – 30%

  1. Case Situation – demonstrating beginning skills in case analysis and problem-solving in casework practice.
  2. Case Situation – demonstrating beginning skills in case analysis and problem-solving in group work practice.
  3. Case Situation – demonstrating beginning skills in case analysis and problem-solving in community organizing or community organization. A single/comprehensive case situation may be used (instead of three separate case situations; work with an individual, group, and community) to give the examinee the opportunity to demonstrate the application of social work knowledge and skill in case analysis and problem-solving in an integrated manner.

Social Worker Licensure Exam Schedule in 2021

According to the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) examinations are usually carried out at least once a year.

Here you can find the calendar with all license reviews. This guide includes specifics of when the applications for the licensure examination for Social Workers are open and its deadline are noted in the calendar.

You may also regularly visit the official Commission website for the latest news and recommendations if you have any doubts or questions on the licensing examination, given the magnitude of the pandemic.