Social work will be taught by academics with no practice experience if the shortage of professionals moving into teaching continues, according to an expert, writes Derren Hayes.

June Thoburn, emeritus professor of social work at the University of East Anglia, says the ageing academic workforce is not being replaced by new blood.

Experts fear the dwindling supply of academics could threaten the expansion of social work degrees or result in a drop in teaching standards.

So acute is the problem that the Social Care Institute for Excellence has joined the Economic and Social Research Council and Joint University Council to fund a review of university social work courses. It is due to report next spring.

Thoburn says the problem could turn into a "crisis" because of the ageing nature of the academic workforce.

She warns: "Either the expansion in social work degree places will have to be curtailed or the quality will drop as students are taught increasingly by social science academics with no social work experience."

Although the shortage can be blamed partly on the development of the new degree and subsequent rise in the number of institutions offering courses, there are other factors.

Ela O'Farrell, lecturer in social work at the University of Kent, says it is difficult to attract new tutors - usually practising social workers - because local authorities pay more.

"They are at a level they won't be able to achieve in the academic field because they don't have the experience or background," she says. "It has tended to be people at more managerial level who have applied but they could suffer a pay cut if they do now."

O'Farrell says the expansion of student numbers under the new degree has resulted in classes of 60-80 students. "There is in some ways less job satisfaction from lecturing to such large classes," she says.

Jill Manthorpe, professor of social care at King's College, London, questions whether a growth in targets in academia is taking some of the enjoyment out of teaching as a career.

She says: "Targets are set for publishing and research income by academics. It places people under pressure."

Long summer holidays used to compensate for lower salaries, she says, but the increased pressure to meet targets and the extra pastoral responsibilities that go with larger class sizes has made lecturing a less attractive proposition.

O'Farrell believes part of the answer has to lie in improved pay, but also says forging close links with social services departments and encouraging practitioners into the classroom to speak could also help "open their eyes" to becoming an academic.