The Benefits of an Innovative Teaching Pedagogy Aimed at Combining Theory and Practice in Social Work

ABSTRACT Being a social worker requires facing many social upheavals, juggling with organizational changes, and working with various populations with increasing complex social issues. Future social workers must quickly familiarize themselves with the conditions of the practice. In order to do so, it is essential to provide students with multiple opportunities to integrate theory and practice throughout the school curriculum through educational activities that are as close as possible to professional practise. This article shows the results of a qualitative study that compares the comments of two groups of students, one exposed to an experiential pedagogy and the other not, in order to better understand the benefits of pedagogy for the integration of theory into practice. One of the principal results of this study shows that putting students in situations similar to practice environments makes the learning meaningful, promotes the integration of theory and practice, and strengthens professional identity.