The relationship between theory and practice has long been a subject of debate, not only in the field of social work but also in many other disciplines. Through years of practicum at the Centre for Social Work, the main institution responsible for implementing social work in Slovenia, I have become particularly interested in how much of the theory learned at university can be transferred into practice. In addition, I was interested in how well we are familiar with contemporary concepts of social work, which of these we use most frequently, and whether, in combination with these concepts and learning from mentors, we have developed any different approaches to work that have proven successful in practice at the Centre. In the present thesis, these questions addressed from a theoretical standpoint and further explored through interviews, which I conduced with male and female students of the Faculty of Social Work who, in their third or fourth year of undergraduate studies, completed their intensive practical training at a Centre for Social Work. In the interviews, I also asked about the factors that participants believe contribute to the transfer of theory into practice, as well as those that may present obstacles. I discussed all of this with social work students who completed their practicum in the third or fourth year of their undergraduate studies at the Centre for Social Work. The theoretical part of the master thesis is divided into four chapters: In the chapter Public Social Work, I describe the work of Centres for Social Work and the circumstances they are currently facing. In the chapter Theory and Practice of Social Work, I define both theory and practice of social work and describe the relationship between them. In the chapter Faculty of Social Work, I discuss social work education in Slovenia, particularly its development and structure. In the final chapter, Contemporary Social Work Concepts, I list and define the concepts of social work. The research topics, the coding structure in the analysis, and the discussion chapter likewise follow the structure of the theoretical part. The conducted research is qualitative in nature; I carried out semi-structured interviews with seven participants. The research instrument was an interview guide, which I designed based on the research topics (the relationship between theory and practice, the transfer of knowledge into practice, improvements in the educational process, the concept of “experiential learning”, and the use of contemporary social work concepts). I qualitatively analysed the collected data, presented the results, connected them with theory in the discussion, and, based on the findings, formulated conclusions and suggestions that could potentially contribute to a more effective transfer of theory from university into practice at Centres for Social Work.
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