Abstract

A Professional Journal for the Social Worker and Social Administrator By CYNTHIA J. GREEN. FoR THE AUSTRALIAN SOCIAL WOm~ER who is interested in the development of social work theory, recent American literature shows some significant trends. Briefly they may be summarized as--The assimilation of social science concepts, such as social role and acculturation into social work, or as Stein terms it, 'putting the "social" back into social work' (9, p.147); the evaluation of the re- suits of social casework (6,8); the recognition of the need to conceptualize social work theory (2,5); and the re-examination of the nature of social work education in relation to the changing demands being put upon the profession (4). All these trends are obviously interconnected and reflect the seLf-con- sciousness of social work as a profession, and all point to a concern for the de- velopment of an explicit social work theory. The close connection between theory and practice has long been acknow- ledged in social work. Theory grows out of practice and in turn guides and is tested by practice at a new level. The link between these processes is edu- cation which can provide the knowledge of theory and its application and the