The contemporary development of Chinese social work has occurred in the context of strong engagement with international education exchanges and curriculum. Many issues in training students for practice have emerged. This study explored how Chinese students learned social work in two different educational contexts in China and Australia. A qualitative insider researcher approach with thematic analysis was used to explore learning experiences of two cohorts of participants over a two-year period. The first cohort studied social work in China only, while the second cohort studied both in China and in Australia. Five key themes emerged. The first three themes related to learning experiences, and the other two themes related to interactions with teachers and support systems. These five themes suggest that social work is learned in very different forms in China and Australia. Recommendations are made for better understanding of these differences and the resulting impacts for Chinese students.

当代中国社会工作在大力参与国际教育交流和课程的背景下发展起来。这个过程中, 出现了很多关于如何教育学生去实践的问题。本研究透过定性的内部研究者方法与主题分析, 探索两年内两组中国学生如何在中国和澳大利亚兩個不同的教育环境下学习社会工作。第一组参与者只在中国学习了社会工作, 而第二组参与者在中国与澳大利亚都学习了社会工作。 本论文讨论了五个关键的主题, 前三个主题与学习经历有关, 另外两个主题与教师的交流以及支持系统的互动有关。这五个主题表明, 在中国和澳大利亚, 社会工作有不同的学习模式。本研究建议了解不同的教育环境所产生的差异及其对中国学生所产生的重要影响