Social Work Practice Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Europe: A Comparison of Qualitative Analyses of Conditions, Responses, and Innovations from Twelve Countries

This chapter aims to identify the main impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on social work practice education across 12 countries in Europe. The basis for this reflection is a qualitative study that was carried out among social work scholars with direct relations to social work practice education in their countries. Practice education in social work is regarded as essential for supporting the professional socialization required to turn social work students into social work professionals. As such, forms of practice education largely depend on the institutionalization of the social work profession in particular countries. A variety of political and societal responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly impacted social work education around Europe, particularly in the area of practice education. Hence, we strived to understand how (i) practice education is embedded in diverse European countries, (ii) how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected practice education, and (iii) what lessons we can learn from the diverse responses in practice education to the COVID-19 pandemic. In collaboration with social work academics from the different countries, we co-produced expert background reports from each country. Then, we applied content analysis and the limit type method to further analyze these reports. Limit types enable the description of extreme points on the boundary of a constructed phenomenon. However, our analysis was also able to identify various trends between the extreme points of the identified phenomena. In our findings, we describe an array of country-specific (i) conditions and characteristics of practice education, (ii) effects of COVID-19 responses on practice education, and (iii) inspiring examples for innovation in practice education in social work.