Isn’t It Time to Start “Theorising Practice” Rather than Trying to “Apply Theory to Practice”?

The idea of “applying theory to practice” is one of the core beliefs at the heart of social work education. It now informs an extensive literature and underpins teaching on theory and methods courses in university qualifying programs in the UK, much of Europe, Australasia and North America. It implies that we start with theory and then fit theoretical concepts and knowledge into practice situations. However, students and early career...