‘Where is the social work?’ Discovering and learning social work across Chinese and Norwegian contexts: A transcontextual perspective

Abstract

This article addresses how the global and local aspects of social work can be integrated into the internationalisation of social work education. Building on the transnational perspective, it introduces a transcontextual perspective, through which students develop critical and reflective knowledge about the importance of context in shaping social work practices. Such a perspective implies a dynamic understanding of social work, whereby any given social work practice can be understood as a contextual enactment. Using one short-term Sino-Norwegian exchange programme as an example, the article demonstrates how a transcontextual perspective can be implemented to foster transcontextual reflectivity among the students.