With the Illinois social work license renewal coming up in November 2023, there has been a lot of confusion and discussion within the professional community about whether or not you are allowed to get your Illinois Social Work required continuing education credits 100% online.
As an Illinois Social Work CE provider, I care deeply about this issue and want to get some clarification on this topic.
I researched to clarify if the 2023 social worker license renewal is allowed to be 100% online.
According to publicly available information, I reviewed the following 5 documents and presented my finding below:
The permission for all licensees to obtain their CE online was first announced on March 18, 2020. See the Illinois IDFPR press release here. There is no subsequent press release to this date from IDFPR to revoke this new rule. In this press release, it states,
"The Department is ... allowing licensees to complete their continuing education coursework without requiring live attendance and permit for interactive webinar and online distance education courses in addition to currently permitted methods. These and all Departmental licensees must continue to comply with all pertinent provisions of their respective licensing Acts.
“We are committed to primarily protecting the health and welfare of the people of Illinois and understand the challenges that the current COVID-19 pandemic creates for our licensees. These variances help alleviate some of the obstacles our licensees face during this time that are in line with our commitment and action towards responsible regulation efforts,”
Subsequently,
The Illinois Social Work Examining and Disciplinary Board met on April 23 2021 and documented their meeting minutes; within it, they mentioned permission of 100% online CE.
Within the meeting minute, it states,
"The Department released guidance (I believe it is referring to the press release above) concerning continuing education completed virtually due to the pandemic. The guidance permits up to 100% of the CE to be completed online."
(source: Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation Division of Professional Regulation
According to
IDFPR CONTINUING EDUCATION FACT SHEET for
LICENSED SOCIAL WORKER
AND LICENSED CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKER https://idfpr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idfpr/forms/dpr/ce-sw.pdf
It does not list face-to-face CE requirements.
and
Section 11 of the Clinical Social Work and Social Work Practice Act (225 ILCS 20/11) does not list face-to-face CE requirements.
But
Section 1470.95 b) 6) of the Administrative Rules published for 2013, on Social Worker CE requirements list a 50% face-to-face in-person instruction requirement:
CE credit also may be earned for completion of a self-study, computer or Internet-based course that is offered by an approved sponsor who meets the requirements set forth in subsection (c). Each self-study course shall include an examination.
Section b) item 6) stated, " Effective December 1, 2013, a minimum of 50% of the total CE hours required must be obtained by a method that includes face-to-face, in-person instruction or experience."
It appears the 2013 administrative rule was not updated to keep it consistent with the 2020 announcement.
Spring Advisory currently offers 100% virtual home-study CE credits, including topics on
and
multicultural awareness training
to help meet your Social Work license renewal CE requirements. We will have more courses released soon for additional topics. Join the mailing list on the CE webpage to get notifications for future course releases!
Spring Advisory, PLLC is approved to provide CE credits for social workers, psychologists, art therapists, and counselors.
See you soon and happy learning!
Shan