Teaching practice research through fieldwork placements : Critical factors for successful trialogical learning processes

Abstract

In this chapter, the authors describe and analyse the implementation of practice research teaching in cooperation with work communities. They are interested in what critical factors should be taken into account when students carry out their practice research in work communities. First, the authors examine the pedagogical basis of the practice research module, trialogical learning and how the module is built around it. After this they describe the practical implementation of the module. The practice research module was born from a need to produce competencies and information to help develop social work practices, as the results from academic research diverged into narrower and narrower subjects at the end of the 1990s. Trialogical learning is a broadly used pedagogical approach that strives to create new knowledge in working-life contexts. The trialogical approach to learning was developed as a part of a collaborative project with educational technology.