Moving Towards an ‘Indigenous’ Social Work Education in Vietnam

Abstract

Professional social work has been reintroduced to Vietnam recently as part of the effort to deal with increasing levels of social problems arising from changes in economic policy. It is estimated that about 25% of the population is in need of social work services. Though social work has not yet been officially recognized as a profession in Vietnam, programmes of social work education have been offered since the early 1990s. Following the issue of a government training code in 2004, social work education is considered to be the most developed aspect of the professionalization of social work in Vietnam. Social work education is now being offered in increasing numbers of training institutions. Nevertheless, social work education in Vietnam faces many challenges. As has happened elsewhere, Western models of social work education have influenced social work education in Vietnam. From this phase of ‘adoption’ of Western models, Vietnam is in an ‘adaptation’ phase, in that making social work education appropriate for Vietnam is the current major issue. Vietnamese social work educators are striving to develop social work training programmes that meet core international professional standards as well as fitting the Vietnamese cultural, political and economic background. This paper describes and discusses these developments.