An Imbalanced professional identity: the experience of being social work educators in Mainland China

ABSTRACT This study explored the lived experience of social work educators in China (SWECs). Eleven SWECs participated in individual interviews to describe their experiences under the expansion of social work education in China, particularly related to research-practice-teaching collaborations. SWECs still questioned their social work attributes when facing challenges in social work education as connected to the country’s policy and practise development. They expressed that their faculty identity is much preferred over that of a social worker. They felt that they must weigh the pros and cons of engaging in practice versus research. They emphasised that social work education aimed to help students build personal capacity, while only three mentioned the importance of developing students’ commitment to the profession. Their inputs informed an essential structure for understanding social work as a profession and a discipline in China where there is a need and demand for its population.