Practice-based stories: Tools for teaching and learning

The use of practice-based short stories as a teaching and learning tool in the education of human service professionals, particularly in social work, is the focus of this article. Based on teaching practice experiences, the use of written narratives is explored in relation to developing both content knowledge and reflective learning capacity. This edition of Children Australia also includes one of the stories used by Social Work students in their second year at La Trobe University as a basis for tutorial and seminar discussion, together with one of the essays received from students in response to the assessment task. Given the encouraging responses of students to the use of practice-based stories as a learning tool for human service professionals, professionals in the field and teaching staff are invited to consider the further development of storying techniques.