Tensions and dichotomies between theory and practice: a study of alternative formulations

Those involved in professional education have been preoccupied with the interface between university courses and work settings. Often this preoccupation is referred to as ‘tensions or gaps between theory and practice, university ideals or ideas and the realities of work’. This paper takes as a case study the world of social work education. It analyses how writers in that field formulate, or explain and offer solutions for, the experiences and preoccupations of new graduates, persons who are said particularly to experience such ‘tensions and gaps’. The paper also summarizes a cohort of new graduates’ accounts of their own experiences and preoccupations. From these analyses, three modes of discourse are identified, each of which is based on a particular set of ideas about, and ideals for, professional practice, education, work settings and the nature of theory, practice and their relationship. Readers are invited to examine their own discourse to identify the assumptions that guide them in their work.