Reimagining Macro Social Work Education: The Community Practice Innovation Framework (CPIF) As a Practice-Informed Curriculum Innovation Framework

Higher education increasingly requires graduates to demonstrate innovation capability, interdisciplinary collaboration, and socially responsive practice alongside disciplinary competence. Within macro social work education, authentic community engagement has long been recognised as a cornerstone of professional learning through community profiling, mapping, needs assessment, programme planning, implementation, and evaluation. However, macro social work curricula continue to emphasise community assessment as the primary educational outcome, with limited attention devoted to transforming authentic community learning into innovation competency. This paper presents the Community Practice Innovation Framework (CPIF), a practice-informed curriculum innovation framework developed through reflective teaching practice and informed by authentic learning, experiential learning, innovation pedagogy, reflective practice, interdisciplinary learning, and competency-based education. Rather than introducing innovation as an isolated classroom activity, CPIF positions innovation as a curriculum outcome that emerges systematically from authentic community practice. CPIF consists of three interconnected curriculum domains: Authentic Community Inquiry, Innovation Co-creation, and Professional Transformation. The framework is illustrated through the development of Hands of Hope, a student-led educational board game created following authentic macro social work practice. CPIF contributes to contemporary social work education by extending the educational purpose of macro practice beyond community assessment towards innovation-oriented professional learning, aligning with the aspirations of the Malaysian Qualifications Framework (MQF 2.0).

Macro social work education; curriculum innovation, authentic community practice

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