Practice-oriented research in the Dutch social care field – an urgent challenge: Praxisforschung im sozialen Bereich in den Niederlanden – eine dringliche Herausforderung

Substantial structural changes have recently taken place in the Dutch social work
terrain. Now the local governments have autonomous responsibility for the self-sufficiency and social inclusion of the elderly and the disabled people. This ‘transformation’ requires remodelling social services and hence investigation of its effects: practice-oriented research. Due to the binary character of the Dutch higher education system this kind of research almost exclusively takes place at universities of applied sciences whose research tradition only goes about a decade back. In order to preserve the values of the Dutch care system, that always sought to protect the vulnerable citizens, it is important that the practice-oriented research into the social domain is well-executed and that its results are directly translated in the curricula of the professional education. This calls for a targeted impulse to expanse the research activities at the universities of applied sciences, a closer cooperation with the research universities and direct connections with (local) care providers