THE NUMERATE SOCIAL-WORKER

In social work education, almost all efforts to teach quantitative analysis are relegated to statistics and research courses. This approach suggests that the only value of quantitative thinking is in formal research. Arguing to the contrary, this paper outlines some reasons why numeracy is essential to day-to-day social work practice. The mathematics preparation of social work students is reviewed and some attributes of the numerate practitioner are described. Some beginning steps are recommended to implement the proposed instructional strategy of integrating real-life quantitative modules in the curriculum. © 1990 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.