ABSTRACT
Social work has a rather storied history of not defining core concepts which either direct and inform its practitioners or educate and train its students. For example, despite the fact that professional social work practice (as we know it today) has evolved in North America since about the turn of the century, it was not until 1958 that the profession through the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), and spearheaded by Harriett Bartlett, put forward a clear working definition of practice (Bartlett, 1958). Ironically, up until today, this scaffolding definition is still not widely known or acknowledged (Holosko, 2003).
