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Free course

Exploring critical social work practice

Free statement of participation on completion
Exploring critical social work practice

This free course, Exploring critical social work practice, will support you to question assumptions and navigate complexity as a critical social worker. Through practice scenarios and reflective activities, you will be supported to think critically, balance professional judgment and respond ethically to uncertainty – skills that are essential across all areas of social work.

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course K355 Critical thinking in social work practice.

Course learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

  • identify, evaluate and synthesise information from a wide range of relevant sources (including research evidence, perspectives from lived experience and contributions from other professionals and disciplines) to inform reflection, assessment and decision-making in practice
  • appraise the impact of injustice, oppression, inequality, discrimination and exclusion in different contexts and consider how to promote equality and inclusion
  • critically reflect on personal and others' practice, views and contexts and work collaboratively to enhance outcomes for people who use services and their carers
  • critically engage with the ethical basis of social work and the underpinning values of social work practice.

First Published: 26/01/2026

Updated: 26/01/2026

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