Creating a Common Language between Academics and Practitioners through Negotiation of Meaning in Communities of Practice (CoPs)

For over ten years, the authors as (an initially small group of) academics at the School of Social Work, University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Northwestern Switzerland, have grappled with the question of how to bridge the gap between social work science and practice. Over time we developed a key situation reflection model in qualifying and post qualifying education. This reflection model was continually adapted and includes eight steps. As social problems are continually evolving due to historical and sociopolitical conditions, we decided to make use of a virtual learning platform, where the situations can be adapted accordingly. At present we are developing a new (discourse-) platform as part of a research and development project, which aims to support the discourse between academics and practitioners in social work.
The chapter will provide an insight into the functioning of a CoP and, into how a shared language can be developed through negotiation of meaning. This will be illustrated by our experiences in the BA studies and the post-qualifying training. Furthermore we will describe which tools are used in the construction of the discourse platform within our project.