Teaching Social Work with Groups: Integrating Didactic,Experiential and Reflective Learning

Social work with groups can be taught in many ways, with literature identifying the use of didactic and experiential methods to encourage knowledge and skill development, and reflective learning that identifies group concepts as they emerge within the classroom dynamic. This teaching model rather than focusing on one of these methods integrates all three, ensuring that the course is structured and learning is layered in a way that allows the development of the class as a group to create a space of safety from which students can risk new behaviors, integrate knowledge, develop skills, and grow in confidence.