Social work practice education in Spain during the COVID-19 pandemic: challenges for innovation

Abstract

Spain has been one of the European countries most severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to the scale of the virus and the range of measures implemented to mitigate its impact on the population. These measures have notably included changes to public services, including university education. These adjustments have significantly impacted training in areas requiring higher levels of practical experience, such as social work. Social work placements are a fundamental pillar of training in the field, but COVID-19 created a difficult context for the implementation of placements in Spain, with problems in terms of securing an adequate supply of places. This chapter aims to examine this situation, focusing on innovative education initiatives implemented in Spain to facilitate social work placements during the academic years most affected by the pandemic: 2019–2020, 2020–2021 and 2021–2022. Following analysis of the main scenarios, suggestions are offered concerning the sustainability of the measures implemented in response to the challenges.