What Do We Mean by ‘Constructive Social Work’?

Abstract

Over recent years, in close discussions with others, we have been trying to develop an approach to practice which we call constructive social work (Parton and O'Byrne, 2000). While the elements we discuss will be very familiar to readers of this journal we do feel the idea of constructive social work can offer something which is distinctive and challenging. The central purpose of this paper is two-fold: first to outline what we mean by constructive social work and what we see as some of its central elements; and second to discuss the perspectives associated with constructionism and which we see providing important theoretical frameworks for developing such an approach to practice. Before doing so, however, we outline why we feel it is important to engage in such a task at the present time. Why do we need a constructive approach to social work practice now?

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