Developing Rich Pedagogies for Fast-Track Social Work Education

This paper primarily explores current contradictions within social work practice and education in the context of contemporary English-based developments. How we define the boundaries around our profession—whether broad or narrow, theoretically limited or rich—fundamentally impacts on the role we perform in society and how we educate new social workers. The recent emergence of fast-track pre-qualifying social work programmes in England has raised concern that we may be moving to an overly narrow conception of praxis which may militate against a theoretically integrated generic approach. The top-down government reforms we are currently experiencing has a particular narrative around how social workers should be educated. The educational ‘fresh thinking’ currently required is to develop pedagogic frameworks with the potential to produce holistic, theoretically informed and process-sensitive curricula where interconnections across disciplines are foregrounded and reflexive practice is promoted within a condensed time frame. As a contribution to this debate, a case-study example drawing upon structured family observations is offered as a vehicle to illustrate how alternative pedagogic approaches can potentially contribute to a broader and more nuanced understanding of contemporary family life with particular resonance for fast-track education programmes.