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The role of play in social work education, training, and practice

Peter King Orcid Logo

Journal of Social Work Practice, Pages: 1 - 13

Swansea University Author: Peter King Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1080/02650533.2026.2624794

Abstract

This study explored the role of play within social work education, training, and practice. Thirty-nine social workers, ranging from current students to those with over five years of experience, participated in an anonymous online survey. The results found that over 90% of participants have or did no...

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Published in: Journal of Social Work Practice
ISSN: 0265-0533 1465-3885
Published: Informa UK Limited 2026
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71393
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spelling 2026-03-16T16:25:07.0864484 v2 71393 2026-02-06 The role of play in social work education, training, and practice b51f47c6c82135914b7612fdbc84f94b 0000-0003-0273-8191 Peter King Peter King true false 2026-02-06 SOSS This study explored the role of play within social work education, training, and practice. Thirty-nine social workers, ranging from current students to those with over five years of experience, participated in an anonymous online survey. The results found that over 90% of participants have or did not have any play-specific education or training although there was an overwhelming consensus that it was needed. A thematic analysis found that the benefits of play within social work practice included building relationships, communicating with children, reducing the power imbalance, and having a therapeutic role. The barriers to using play in professional practice related to the perceived professional role of social workers, time, resources, and the lack of training. This study provides one of the first research studies identifying from a social worker’s perspective the need for up-to-date play theory to support education and training and applied to professional practice. Journal Article Journal of Social Work Practice 0 1 13 Informa UK Limited 0265-0533 1465-3885 Play; social work; education; training; practice; Play Cycle 13 2 2026 2026-02-13 10.1080/02650533.2026.2624794 COLLEGE NANME Social Sciences School COLLEGE CODE SOSS Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) Swansea University 2026-03-16T16:25:07.0864484 2026-02-06T15:47:28.2996091 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies Peter King 0000-0003-0273-8191 1 71393__36409__bc8c4c28c9504fb38b8c75368debb6a9.pdf 71393.VoR.pdf 2026-03-13T12:49:07.7973233 Output 804860 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2026 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title The role of play in social work education, training, and practice
spellingShingle The role of play in social work education, training, and practice
Peter King
title_short The role of play in social work education, training, and practice
title_full The role of play in social work education, training, and practice
title_fullStr The role of play in social work education, training, and practice
title_full_unstemmed The role of play in social work education, training, and practice
title_sort The role of play in social work education, training, and practice
author_id_str_mv b51f47c6c82135914b7612fdbc84f94b
author_id_fullname_str_mv b51f47c6c82135914b7612fdbc84f94b_***_Peter King
author Peter King
author2 Peter King
format Journal article
container_title Journal of Social Work Practice
container_volume 0
container_start_page 1
publishDate 2026
institution Swansea University
issn 0265-0533
1465-3885
doi_str_mv 10.1080/02650533.2026.2624794
publisher Informa UK Limited
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies
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description This study explored the role of play within social work education, training, and practice. Thirty-nine social workers, ranging from current students to those with over five years of experience, participated in an anonymous online survey. The results found that over 90% of participants have or did not have any play-specific education or training although there was an overwhelming consensus that it was needed. A thematic analysis found that the benefits of play within social work practice included building relationships, communicating with children, reducing the power imbalance, and having a therapeutic role. The barriers to using play in professional practice related to the perceived professional role of social workers, time, resources, and the lack of training. This study provides one of the first research studies identifying from a social worker’s perspective the need for up-to-date play theory to support education and training and applied to professional practice.
published_date 2026-02-13T05:37:06Z
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score 11.099465

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