Planned Change and Contract Negotiation as an Instructional Model

To facilitate integration of the concepts of a purposeful planned change process and contract negotiation as integral parts of social work practice, a teaching model was developed whereby students were asked to design and implement a change process through the use of contracts with the instructor. The student as client system established change goals appropriate to beginning practice experience, negotiated a contract to reach these goals, and engaged in a change relationship with the instructor as change agent.

The use of this teaching model gave clear indication of students' understanding and integration of the planned change process and components of contracting for actual implementation in practice efforts.