A FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING COMMUNITY PRACTICE

Abstract

Recent attention on community organizing in national politics provides an opportunity for social work educators to revisit and enhance community practice as a core practice of the profession. Drawing from social work's rich tradition of community practice this article provides a practical aid to understand the variety of strategies currently used by instructors and students. It proposes a framework that differentiates the underlying assumptions of three community practice paradigms—traditional, collaborative, and radical—with very different goals or visions for organizing. It examines multiple dimensions of practice within each paradigm including purpose, power, politics, and evaluation standards. In addition, it provides suggestions about how the framework can be used in the classroom.