ABSTRACT
The School of Social Work at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) introduced PBL in 1983. In the early 1990s the name was changed to ‘issue-based learning’ to more appropriately reflect its placement in a social work course. It was felt that naming as ‘problems’ issues such as those associated with ageing and immigration unnecessarily pathologized them. Furthermore, presenting situations as problems implies there is a solution whereas social work is about exploring a range of perspectives and acknowledging the diverse responses which may be appropriate. ‘For social work students to start out with the notion that complex social and individual issues are problems to be solved is in itself problematic’ (English et al, 1994: 279). It is important for social work education to emphasize the need to engage consumers and others in this process rather than imply that social workers solve problems (Humphreys and Heycox, 1992: 5).
