The achievement and predicament of 30-year social work development in Chinese mainland

Abstract

China’s social work has established after the 30-year efforts of social work colleagues and the government. It celebrated 30 years of reconstruction in November of 2018 at Peking University. In the symposium of the 30 anniversary of the re-establishment of social work in China, the achievement in different aspects were introduced by government officials, NGOs representatives, local and international scholars, which can be summarised into three areas: the support and recognition from the government; the expansion of social work education; the innovation of social work practice. Social work profession obtained strong support and high recognition from the government. In 2006, it was officially announced by the Chinese government to “build up a strong team of social workers to help in the development of the harmonious society.” Moreover, a system of national qualification examination of various levels of social work professionals was introduced in 2007. An objective of “setting up regular posts for 2 million well-trained social work professionals by 2015 and 3 million by 2020” was further proposed in the National Medium and Long-term Plan of Talent Development by the State Council in May 2010. The National Social Work Manpower Training and Development Centre was also set up by the State Ministry of Civil Affairs to coordinate training to provide professional education and renewal of certification of social workers in 2011. Another milestone of China’s social work development was that the design of “guidelines for service-purchase from non-governmental organisations” became the core assignment of the State Ministry of Finance working with the State Ministry of Civil Affairs. The associated policy was formally implemented in 2015 by the State Ministry of Finance and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. In social work education, in line with the state policy and planning, the number of undergraduate and postgraduate programs of social work in universities and colleges expanded rapidly. In 2018, there were 348 undergraduate social work programmes (BSW) and 150 masters of social work (MSW) programmes in China. The striking number is often used as evidence to show the success of China’s social work education. In the field of social work practice, there was also a great success, notwithstanding the period of development was short. Its success has already been exhibited through the blossoming and sustainability of a large number of government and non-government organisations (NGOs) that actively promoting social work practice in different aspects in responding to different social problems and challenges, such as frequent disasters, rural poverty, population ageing, underprivileged children (especially the left-behind children of rural areas whose parents work in the cities), broken families, domestic violence, mental health, HIV, drug, youth at risk, etc. The pathway of social work development in China is complicated. In this special issue, Wang Sibin has highlighted that China’s social work development is affected by the CHINA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WORK 2020, VOL. 13, NO. 1, 1–5 https://doi.org/10.1080/17525098.2020.1774709