Social Case Laboratory: A Case-Based Pedagogical Strategy for Teaching Social Work Intervention

Innovation in teaching specific social work intervention processes is a growing necessity in today’s university education. Micro-level social intervention plays a central role in professional practice, driving the search for new pedagogical approaches that enable students to acquire the necessary competencies to design interventions tailored to complex social situations. This article describes the learning objectives, the sequence of classroom implementation, the activities carried out by the students, and the final student products of an innovative teaching initiative called the Social Case Laboratory, implemented in the Social Policy and Social Services course within the bachelor’s degree in criminology at the University of Valladolid. The Social Case Laboratory is a case-based pedagogical strategy designed to expose students to real or plausible problems in social protection systems, following the methodological process characteristic of micro-social intervention. The article also offers pedagogical reflections on the potential, limitations, and conditions for the transferability of the proposal. The results of our experience suggest that the Social Case Laboratory can be a relevant pedagogical methodology for teaching the micro-social intervention process characteristic of social work, while also emphasizing the need to continue evaluating and researching this type of strategy to strengthen the training of future professionals in social welfare systems and resources.