The potential of theoretical-practical education in the new curriculum: elements for debate

Abstract

This study analyses the possibilities for Social Work education, based on the curriculum guidelines of the current project for professional training of Brazilian social workers. The paper argues that there is a new logic inherent to the guidelines, which does not allow a separation between theoretical education and practical education in Social Work. To the contrary, it is based on a relationship of self-involvement between them. Therefore, all of the course subjects, both those that are basic as well as those that present information about interventional experiences, are responsible for placing professional exercise at the center of their discussions, giving priority to the required knowledge needed to develop the skills, abilities and values that compose the education and qualification of professionals prepared to respond to demands. This concept of education is the result of a maturing process that considers a close relationship between work and professional training, the goal of which, in this perspective, becomes a valuable tool of the strategy to confront the counter-reform of Higher Education in Brazil, underway since the first mandate of the Fernando Henrique Cardoso government.