Utopianism and pragmatism in interprofessional education

Definitions of interprofessionalism tend either to be vague and ambiguous or to ignore key stakeholders such as service users. The authors suggest that a combination of unsound theorising and lack of empirical data mean it is time to introduce a new approach to the study of interprofessional education. They argue that the search for a single factor common to all members of the interprofessional 'family' should be abandoned in favour of a re-conceptualisation of interprofessionalism as a 'family' of similarities and differences. This Wittgensteinian approach is used to look at the different ways programmes of education and training address interprofessional identities and cross-boundary roles and relationships. The centrality of one or the other is seen as indicating a certain kind of philosophical scaffolding within the educational culture of a programme and two case studies are used to explore the impact of Pragmatism and Utopianism. The case studies are drawn from the authors' experiences as teachers and examine how educational culture is shaped by primary philosophical positions. Finally, the implications of this for the future development of social work education are briefly considered.     

Has Social Work Heeded the Call? Sex Offender Content in Social Work

The relationship between theory, research and practice in the contemporary UK social work curriculum is examined in the context of the New Labour Government's insistence on making explicit the connections between knowledge, research, standards and ‘best practice’ in its regulatory discourse. The argument suggests that far from being obvious, settled or predictable in the way in which this discourse suggests, the relationship between research, theory and practice is highly contentious and certainly unresolved. The article then goes on to look at concepts of theory and research. ‘Theory’ is seen as having evolved with little reference to evidence and ‘research’ is seen as having established a new intellectual hegemony without having engaged with or contributed significantly to the development of practice theory. The article concludes that the trend towards a professional and intellectual fragmentation of the social work discipline needs to be reversed if students are to develop their own ‘research mindedness’.     

Social work, social networks and network knowledge

Summary The claim that there is something distinctive about the kindof knowledge associated with social work research is investigated.When three tests of distinctiveness are applied it emerges thatthe only way in which this claim can be upheld is by referenceto a prior claim to ontological distinctiveness. The natureof this distinctive ontology is explored using an image of linksand interdependencies. It is argued that complexity is integralto both the world of social work practice and the process ofdoing social work research. Alternative conceptions of complexityin the physical and social sciences are discussed but it issuggested that social work research needs its own concept of'network knowledge' if it is to deliver understandings of complexityrelevant to the world in which it exists. Finally, the extentto which network knowledge is networked knowledge, collectivelyowned and produced is examined. The article concludes that bylinking the concept of knowledge to the process of knowledgecreation, what emerges is not only a distinctive research paradigmbut also a way of rebuilding a concept of professional unityand purpose in social work education.