ABSTRACT
Evidence-based practice is now firmly established in social work, and the impetus to develop an ‘evidence-based culture’ is an expectation of many social work organisations and education programs. This chapter suggests several entry points into the debate about best practice and evidence-based practice. It suggests additional ways to reflect on the practices and methods people might use to evaluate the work. It reflects on the social work profession, its place in a postmodern world, values and role in a rapidly changing political and ideological landscape, and best practice standards and the most effective strategies to achieve them. Social workers with a critical epistemology understand that people or groups who are outside the norms of expected human behaviour become marginalised, and thus are the targets of social work intervention. The practice of social workers is necessarily embedded in a theoretical and ideological framework.
