ARTICLE
30 September 2026

Research on the Reform of the Practice-Oriented Talent Cultivation Model for Social Work Undergraduates from the Perspective of Service-Learning

Yiming He1*
Show Less
1 School of Social and Public Administration, Lingnan Normal University, Zhanjiang 524048, Guangdong, China

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

JCER 2026 , 10(9), 153–159; https://doi.org/10.26689/JCER.v10i9.15661
© 2026 by the Author(s). Licensee: Bio-Byword Scientific Publishing Pty Ltd, Australia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Against the backdrop of deepening social governance innovation and growing societal demand for professional social service talents, practice-oriented education has become the core link in the cultivation of social work undergraduates. However, constrained by the disconnection between curriculum teaching and practical training, the superficiality of student participation, imperfect training, incentive, and guarantee mechanisms, and fragmented multi-actor collaboration, the professional advantages of social work students are difficult to transform into high-quality services. Based on service-learning theory and drawing on empirical investigations into the volunteer service participation and community practice of social work undergraduates at a normal university in Guangdong Province, this paper analyzes the current status and dilemmas of practice-oriented talent cultivation. It proposes reform strategies in four aspects: curriculum system reconstruction, incentive and guarantee mechanism improvement, collaborative education ecosystem construction, and evaluation and reflection system establishment, so as to provide references for the high-quality development of applied social work talent cultivation in the new era.

Keywords
Social work education
Undergraduate talent cultivation
Service-learning
Practice teaching reform
University-community collaboration
References

[1] Li X, 2024, “Three-Level Linkage and Four-Stage Implementation”: Exploring a New Paradigm of Community Practice for Students in Higher Vocational Colleges. China Communist Youth League, 2024(2): 76–77.

[2] Yin JY, 2015, Construction of the Volunteer Service Incentive Mechanism for Social Work Students from the Strengths Perspective, thesis, China Youth University of Political Studies.

[3] Trager B, 2020, Community-Based Internships: How a Hybridized High-Impact Practice Affects Students, Community Partners, and the University. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 26(2): 71–88.

[4] Hart A, Wolff D, 2006, Developing Local “Communities of Practice” through Local Community-University Partnerships. Planning Practice and Research, 21(1): 121–138.

[5] Jiang W, 2018, Research on the Motivation Structure of Volunteer Service in China: Based on a Questionnaire Survey of Volunteers in Guangdong Province. China Youth Study, 2018(6): 57–63.

[6] Fitch RT, 1987, Characteristics and Motivations of College Students Volunteering for Community Service. Journal of College Student Personnel, 28(5): 424–431.

[7] Zhao XB, Zou H, 2001, A Review of Service-Learning Practice and Research in the United States. Comparative Education Review, 2001(8): 35–39.

[8] Yao JZ, Jiang SY, 2020, Service-Learning: An Action Research on the Ladder-Type Cultivation Model of the Social Work Major. Social Construction, 7(4): 55–67.

[9] Ohmer ML, Korr WS, 2006, The Effectiveness of Community Practice Interventions: A Review of the Literature. Research on Social Work Practice, 16(2): 132–145.

[10] Gutiérrez LM, Gant LM, 2018, Community Practice in Social Work: Reflections on Its First Century and Directions for the Future. Social Service Review, 92(4): 617–646.

Share
Back to top