Social Work and Social Care professionals are involved in the lives and everyday lived “reality” of their users of service ranging from identifying their needs, to allocation of resources, to completing a housing form, etc.
This closeness to users of service and the practical nature of expected social work outcomes has generated a profound practice orientation that has advantaged the experiential nature of social work learning and practice. But, this as well as a number of other factors including social work’s history and the development of the profession have distanced practice from theory.
However, social work and social care practice involves a variety of decision-making challenges and these decisions inevitably have to rest on a series of assumptions which often cannot be proved, but, without which its’ practice and methods have no objectives.
Therefore, in our next debate on Tuesday (31 January) at 20:00 GMT / 15:00 EST we will try to explore some of the following as well as other relevant questions:
- Are social work theories actually relevant in social work practice?
- Is research relevant in day-to-day social work practice?
- If yes, how do you apply theories and research in your practice?
- What is the driving force behind social work and social care professionals decision making? Do social work practitioners actually use research and theory in preparing their reports?
- To what extent are social work and social care practitioners involved in research?
So we look forward to seeing you in our debate on Tuesday (31 January) at 20:00 GMT / 15:00 EST @SWSCmedia.
