Integrated Learning in Social Work: A review of approaches to integrated learning for social work education and practice

This report was commissioned by the Scottish Social Services Council and written by academics from Glasgow Caledonian University and the University of Dundee as part of the Review of Social Work Education. The study adopted an approach informed by a social ecology framework which recognises the interconnectedness of the different elements in integrated learning and helps to conceptualise processes as complex and interdependent. The project concluded that, whilst there is much in the current delivery of social work education of which we can be proud, there is a need for a step change in how learning is owned and integrated if social work education is to achieve the outcomes required for a future focussed and sustainable social work practice. The key finding is that change is essential at a cultural and structural level, and it is important to move thinking beyond a number of the old dualities which include the academy and the workplace, theory and practice, tacit and explicit knowledge, professional and vocational education and formal and informal learning. This project has sought to take the opportunity to think beyond those dualities and not to be constrained by them.