Prácticas profesionales de las estudiantes de Trabajo Social de la Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Medellín, Colombia: importancia, retos y aprendizajes

For the Social Work Program at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB), professional practice is consolidated as a fundamental process through which future professionals not only materialize the epistemological, theoretical, and methodological elements acquired in their training, they also develop and acquire new skills inherent in the occupational profile, which contributes to their comprehensive development. This article is the result of a qualitative research, with historical-hermeneutic methodological approach, from a documentary strategy, and with information collected through a questionnaire. The objective is to reveal the importance, challenges, and learning of UPB Social Work students in their professional practices between 2018 and 2023. The findings highlight the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that spurred innovation, mainly technological mediation and questioning of traditional paradigms. The direct contributions of the practices to Social Work fields, institutions, and communities are highlighted; the challenges are related to administrative, training-curricular, and research-intervention challenges; learning is identified within the framework of being, knowing, doing, and know-how. In addition, the professional practices contribute directly to the curricular management, nourish the disciplinary reflection by connecting the academy with social reality, and strengthen the professional and human skills of future Social Workers, preparing them to face complex challenges with flexibility, recursively and a deep commitment to justice and social transformation.