Making the transition from social work management to social work teaching: it's the same difference?

Within this article the processes and issues involved in making the transition from social work management to social work education are reviewed. The process is addressed on a number of different levels: these are the personal, the organisational and the legislative / political. In relation to these levels, issues related to gender, power and ‘difference’ are explored and recurrent themes highlighted by means of a binary framework. Within this framework, practice is reviewed in relation to theory, process in relation to task and the individual in relation to the team. The conclusion examines whether the differences are those of style rather than substance and highlights the ongoing dilemmas for women in both settings.