'The Integration of Theory and Practice': a Re-examination of a Paradoxical Expectation

Summary Social workers seem to agree that the nature of the relationshipbetween theory and practice is problematic. However, few ofus have asked what we really mean when we talk of these problems.This paper re-examines the meanings commonly attributed to eachnotion and to the relationship between them. As a result ofthis process the paradoxical nature of the current expectationof ‘integrating theory and practice’ is exposed.This leads to a proposal that we modify our way of framing themeaning of ‘integration’ and thus introduce a newdimension to questions we pose when trying to improve socialworkers' ‘integration of theory and practice’. ‘Wecan no longer explain a paradix by running away fromit; we muststand and look it in the eye’.     

Achieving quality in day care for young children

SUMMARY. In a service such as day care, different beliefs about appropriate child care and family patterns make quality a relative concept. However, service providers should work towards overall aims and specific goals established on values and beliefs about day care. It is argued that the day care service needs to tackle the definition of quality, for the job satisfaction of the service providers, for the well being of the children involved and for the satisfaction and peace of mind of the parents. The day care service needs to take heed of the customers of the service—the children and the parents—and to move from a position of apology and defence to a positive evaluation of what quality can mean The article expands a presentation by one of the authors (JL) to the Values and Quality in Day Care Seminar, organised by the National Children's Bureau Under Fives Unit on 16 February 1988