The dialectical stance in nurturing the Net Generation of social workers: The interplay of changeableness and unchangableness

Abstract

Generational gap and different socio-economic context between social work students (and social workers) and clients hinder the sense-making of clients’ needs for rendering responsive services. Similarly, a generation gap is found between practice teachers (or fieldwork instructors) and social work students, which may affect the practice teaching and learning process. This current discussion addresses the challenges faced in training the Net Generation (born after 1980) of social work students. A dialectical stance – embracing the changeableness in pedagogy and the unchangeableness in the practical moral nature of social work practice – is proposed for preparing social work graduates to have the capability to practice for the good of human beings. Building on the findings of her previous study, the author illustrates this dialectical stance based on five pairs of practice teachers and their students in an exercise of pedagogical practice wisdom in social work practice teaching in Hong Kong. Implications for practice teachers are also drawn.