| Abstract: | A multitude of influences have affected the development of social work education, one of the earliest of which was the settlement movement in British inner cities. This article explores the early impact of the settlements on social work education and presents the results of a survey of current settlements and their relationship with UK social work. Ideas from the settlement movement have continued to fertilise British social policy and community development practice but their numbers and influence have waned. In contrast, British social work and social services organisations exert a major influence on settlements both directly and indirectly. As part of the longest established sections of the voluntary sector within the UK, the settlement movement's survival may also offer suggestions about the organic development of welfare organisations which are of wider relevance in a rapidly changing social environment. |
