Flexibility and Professionalisation: Reflections on Adaptions by Social Work Services in China during COVID-19

Abstract

This article presents a conceptual framework of ‘flexibility’ to analyse social work responses to COVID-19 breakout in two Chinese cities. It explores how social workers adjusted in three interrelated ways: to new needs and service user groups, by changing the types of resources they coordinate, and collaborating with other professions and policy structures in new forms. It argues for greater attention to ‘flexibility’ in social work theory and practice, suggesting that this concept can boost the social work profession and build professional identity in contexts where social work is being established.

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