The A+ of a practice doctorate

Abstract

In light of the growing trend of developing practice doctoral degree programmes in social work, the author uses the first Doctor of Social Work (DSW) programme in Hong Kong, which is a unique programme in China, as a case study to examine the pedagogy and constraints of doctoral programmes in social work. The programme serves as an alternative to a typical PhD programme and is designed particularly for seasoned practitioners in the field who strive to achieve a balance between a research and practice orientation and between an academic and a pragmatic focus. This paper emphasises that, to stand out from the crowd, practice doctorates in Hong Kong should take part in practice-based research and publish in refereed journals.

依照发展实践博士学位社会工作课程的趋势发展，作者使用全香港首个社会工作博士学位课程，同时是中国唯一的同类课程作为案例研究，去考究社会工作博士课程的教学法与限制。此项课程可作为典型的博士课程的替代，特别是设计予经验丰富的业内实践者，让他们努力达成于学术及务实中的研究与实践取向之间取得平衡。本论文强调，为求在人群中脱颖而出，在香港的实践型博士应该参与实践为本研究及于权威期刊发表论文

Keywords:

• Social work education
• pedagogies
• curriculum development
• academic mentorship
• scaffolding