ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses what it is that calling and vocation bring to our understanding of social work as a vocation in the Philippines and in England. It focuses on the place of calling and vocation in the lives and practices of social workers before going on to explore the tensions that emerge around this when Filipino social workers make the transition from the Philippines to England. The Filipino social workers who made the transition to England were forced to hide their internal calling and they did this by promoting their external vocation through a new assumed and ascribed professional identity. Prior to visiting the Philippines, contact was made by email with social workers, policymakers, educators, academics and representatives of other key social welfare agencies in the Philippines. In 1946, the Philippines became a republic and state welfare provision grew. In 1965, regulation of social work and social work agencies was introduced.
