Tensions confronting the development of social work education in China

Abstract

Social work education was ®rst developed in China 1 in the early 1920s in the most prestigious universities, and the social work curricula of these schools were largely modeled on those of the West, especially those of North America.However, all social work training programs were eliminated from the universities of the then newly established People's Republic of China (PRC) in the early 1950s.Other social science disciplines were similarly eliminated, and it was not until the late 1980s that social work was restored in the universities as a recognized discipline.In this article, the author will ®rst trace the development of social work education in the PRC since the late 1980s, and will also highlight the present scenario of social work education in the country.The author will then discuss the sources of tension confronting the development of social work education in China and the debates surrounding these tensions, as well as the efforts taken by Chinese social work educators to mediate or resolve such tensions.The result is a unique pattern of social work education which, though still in its formative stage, is re¯ective of and congruent with the social and cultural milieu of contemporary Chinese society.