Collaboration with China in social work education: experiences, suggestions and implications

The theme of this special issue is Global Collaboration with China in Social Work Education. The goals of this special issue are (1) to increase our understanding of the expansion of social work education in Chinese contexts; (2) to highlight and showcase current research on the social work profession and multidisciplinary collaboration on social work education issues; (3) to provide a forum to debate and theorise effective social work education practices in Chinese contexts; and (4) to review and evaluate various approaches in social work education concerning curriculum, field placement, teaching and research models. In the first article, Lei et al. (2021) indicate that the number of social work education programmes has increased substantially in the Globe from 1,384 in 114 countries in 2000 to 2,230 in 153 countries by July 2020. China developed its first social work education programme in 1922, but social work as a profession was on hiatus from 1953 until 1987 (Mo and Chan 2020) due to government actions and policies. With this significant expansion comes the need for more well-trained and well-educated social workers to pass on their knowledge to the present and future generations. This juncture is where the supply and demand of qualified social work educators enter. When there is a growing need for social work agencies and social workers to provide training, there should also be a supply of qualified teachers to guide the educational direction (Lei et al. 2021). Still, the Chinese tradition of respecting high academic achievement has yielded well-read scholars and researchers who may not have direct practice experiences in social work. The second article by Xu et al. (2021) further explains the problem of professional identity in social work. The authors indicate that multiple studies have revealed social work education in China lacks the following: a field practicum to place all students, experienced field supervisors, a strong sense of professional identity and students’ desire to become social workers (Lei et al. 2021; Xu et al. 2021). Critical problems students face include a lack of integrative skills to transfer classroom knowledge into field practice. Chinese social work education programmes have partnered with several universities from Europe and North America for knowledge exchange and guidance in competencybased teaching for enhancing social workers’ professional image. The third article focused on working with universities to develop students as future professionals, partnering between social work educators and social service organisations, and helping students exercise their professional identity (Mo and Chan 2020). Researchers found that social work might not be the first programme choice for some students. Nevertheless, those students who stayed for the duration of the programme “expressed that social work values, knowledge and skills have had a positive impact on their personal growth.” Their professional identity grew when they had well-matched field practicum placements and experienced social workers as their supervisors. CHINA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WORK 2021, VOL. 14, NO. 3, 189–191 https://doi.org/10.1080/17525098.2021.2003936