Enhancing field education of social work in Mainland China: perspectives from students and faculty members

ABSTRACT

As part of the CSWE-China Collaborative, this article reports the outcomes of collaborative effort among two U.S. social work programmes and their partner schools in central China. It examines the challenges in social work field education through an indigenous perspective and offers suggestions through a cross-cultural lens. Using a mixed-method approach, we explored the perspectives of students and faculty members in central China. The survey included 200 students and 72 faculty members, and one focus group was conducted with eight faculty members. The identified challenges included low preparedness among students, lack of supportive resources from schools, unavailability of qualified supervisors and internship agencies and lack of environmental support. The solutions included providing students with orientations and ongoing support, enhancing faculty competencies, strengthen school-agency connections and implementing initiatives to increase the status of social work as a profession through evidence- and valued based social work practice.

作为“美国社会工作教育协会-中国合作项目”的一部分, 本研究闡述了两个美国社会工作学院及他们在华中地区合作学校之间的合作成果。它从本土化的角度审视了中国社会工作实习教育的挑战, 并从跨文化的角度提出了建议。我们采用定性研究和定量研究相结合的方法, 探索了华中地区合作学校学生和教师的观点。问卷调查包括200名学生和72名教师, 焦点小组讨论包括了八名教师。我们从调查中发现, 社会工作教育的挑战包括学生准备不足, 缺少学校的支持资源, 没有合格的实习督导和机构, 以及缺乏环境支持。我们提出的解决方案包括为学生提供详细的实习指南和实习期间持续的支持, 增强教师的能力, 加强学校与实习机构之间的联系, 以及采取措施, 通过基于循证和体现社会工作价值的社会工作实践来提高社会工作作为专业的地位。

KEYWORDS:

• Field education
• challenges
• international collaboration
• competencies
• indigenous

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).