The timeline was designed so that it would be possible to make connections between what was happening in social work education at The University of Edinburgh and its wider context — hence legislative and policy developments in the UK, and also the development of social work and social work education in the UK and across the world. The timeline is inevitably Scottish (and Edinburgh) centric; it cannot and does not try to reflect major policy shifts in other countries. But this does not take away from the general point — that we need to understand social work education within its social and economic context. Given that so much history places Scotland as a footnote, this may also be seen as a welcome addition to the policy arena.