Styles of Practice: An Adult Learning Approach to Professional Development in Social Work

Abstract

Early in their careers social workers evolve patterns for dealing with the demands of practice. These patterns can be seen as 'styles of practice' and eight particular styles are identified and examined. These styles of practice evolve over time, are often invisible to the workers concerned and may not be congruent with the values or models espoused by these workers. In order to understand the adoption and maintenance of these styles a second set of constructs relevant to the choice of practice style are suggested. These constructs are detailed as six 'presuppositions' underlying the selection of practice styles and include the worker's preferred theory of change and preferred use of self. The examination of styles of practice and their underlying presuppositions is seen as part of adult learning in social work. The authors believe that this examination can be an important step in the development of context-responsive practice skills.

Some Constraints in the Learning of Family Therapy

“…(3) Thou shalt define the problem in relationship terms so that all players are more enlightened. (4) Thou shalt postulate that all symptoms have a positive function for the system. (5) Thou shalt know that all viable executive sub-systems are co-operative arrangements between equal partners.…”

“…These practice styles are thus adaptive, positive responses to the multi-level demands with which we are all familiar. The following table of practice styles (Furlong and Cook, 1985) represents coru raint s to the learning and practice of family therapy at a second level of abstraction.…”

“…The following table is designed to assist with the identification of the package of presuppositions underlying each worker's idiosyncratic style of practice. This table is based on work in an unpublished paper by Furlong and Cook (1985). The Table is not intended to be exhaustive but a guide to the reader.…”