Reflecting current concerns in health and social care to bring theory and practice closer together, this is a comprehensive guide to integrating assessment, learning and practice. The authors - an academic, a training officer and a practitioner - present complementary perspectives on the problem. They argue that a holistic approach to learning can fit with a competancy approach to assessment, promoting both efficency and creativity in evidence-based professional practice. They demonstrate how their combined assessment and learning tool, the "signposted portfolio" (which forms both a summary of what the social work student or health care practitioner has learnt and the foundation of a potential assessment report) can work in practice.