På engelska Only during the last two decades has the discourse on evaluation been on the Swedish agenda of social work and social care. One assumption is that a conscious need for evaluation knowledge and evaluation capacity has finally surfaced. This based on the view that work efforts of social service organizations are regarded as chiefly authority-based and to a lesser degree based upon scientific knowledge. This article addresses two questions: Which actors are involved in training evaluators in, and of, social work in Sweden and what kind of knowledge is communicated in training programs? Further, is the discourse of evidence-based practice incorporated into the training of social workers?



A national study in Sweden, conducted in 2002, reveals that only a minority of social work and social care students are exposed to the concept and practice of evaluation throughout their education, and this in a most rudimentary way. R&D-units offer practitioners more training in evaluation and related knowledge development activities. However, this work is not conducted in a focused manner nor is every Swedish municipality necessarily targeted.

If evaluation education and training opportunities are viewed in light of a supply-and-demand situation, we may find an explanation to the current curriculum for evaluation in the social work educational system and the corresponding evaluation practice levels in social service organizations.