Young people,social workers and social work education: the role of digital skills

ABSTRACT

This paper addresses a key issue in the development of youth-focused social work: the role of digital skills in the relationship between young people and social workers who work with these native digital users. To this end, we analysed data from the International Digital Economy and Society Index 2019 and Eurostat. Information from the sixth European Working Conditions Survey and a survey conducted by the Social Care Institute for Excellence and the British Association of Social Workers supported the empirical analysis. The main findings reveal a gap between the level of digital skills required in the labour market and the actual level of digital skills in both young people and social workers, despite efforts by both groups to improve their skills. Initiatives to foster digital skills are therefore recommended to bridge this digital divide. Lastly, it was concluded that both groups could act as mutual drivers of digital transformation.     

Social media,empathy and interpersonal skills: social work students’ reflections in the digital era

ABSTRACT

This paper examines second-year social work students’ (n = 19) reflections on empathy as part of an interpersonal skills course at a regional university in Australia. Students were asked to consider their personal, online and classroom experiences, before responding to a reflective learning prompt: ‘Online communication is killing connection: (the Facebook Like symbol) does not equal empathy’. Qualitative analysis of their responses identified tensions between students’ engagement with social media and their developing understandings of empathy. Students reported an ease and confidence in the use of social media, but were also aware of the risks associated with perceived anonymity, shifting boundaries and an absence of audial and verbal cues in establishing context and quality of communication. Their reflections also suggested that the range of stimulus material used in the interpersonal skills course—including podcasts—had increased their social media awareness and their desire to improve their online interpersonal skills. The implications for professional and pedagogical objectives, as well as curriculum design are discussed.     

Inequality in digital skills and the adoption of online safety behaviors

ABSTRACT

Cyber-safety behaviors are important in preventing the loss of an individual's digital assets and ensuring the safety of important daily online activities. Individuals’ cyber-safety is also critical for national cybersecurity. The issue is highly relevant for Israel, a country that relies on the digital capabilities of its workers for its major technology industries and is also often a target of cyberwarfare and cybercrime attacks. The purpose of this study is to identify the determinants of cyber-safety behavior. We investigate the role of age, gender and education in the use of safety-related digital skills and antivirus software. Using a 2014 survey of a national sample of Internet users in Israel (N?=?1850), we found that age, gender, education and quality of access are associated with the level of users’ digital security skills. In addition, these skills and the frequency of conducting financial activities online are the main determinants of antivirus behaviors. Our results expand the understanding of cyber-safety by showing that social and digital disparities are reproduced in the use of measures to prevent online threats, putting the digitally disadvantaged at greater risk of becoming victims of online threats.     

Ideas in action: some reflections concerning teaching language skills to social work students

In recent years, there has been a decline in language skills among the younger population in Sweden. Within several different academic programs, it has been observed that students arriving at the universities do not have the skills needed to make use of what is taught. This raises a number of problems, especially within social work education, because language skills, both written and oral, are important tools for practicing social work. This article presents a way of meeting this challenge and improving the students’ skills by including them in discussions on how to write academically as part of teaching method called language guidance. The students reflect upon their own and other students’ texts, and discuss how they can be improved with regard to spelling, grammar, paragraphing, and clarity. Overall, the resources devoted to improving students’ language skills have resulted in improvements in the essays the student write later on in their education.     

Inequality in mobilizing online help after a negative life event: the role of education,digital skills,and capital-enhancing Internet use

Many studies have investigated inequalities in coping with stressful life events and often education is found to play a role in this (the higher educated are usually more successful in dealing with their problems in terms of well-being consequences). We examine whether something similar occurs on the Internet, whether the higher educated are more successful in mobilizing help online, and whether this is related to their digital skills and the way in which they use the Internet. With the latter, we link online coping to digital inequality research. Researchers have investigated digital inequalities with regard to skills and types of Internet use. However, we know little about the extent to which these factors translate into inequalities in resources mobilized from the Internet. This latter type of inequality is highly relevant, since it is an intermediary step between Internet use and (improved) well-being and life chances. Using a large sample of individuals living in the Netherlands, we find educational differences in the mobilization of online problem-focused coping resources, but no differences with regard to online socioemotional or disengagement coping resources. The educational inequalities in online coping are somewhat smaller than educational inequalities in offline coping, leading to remarkable consequences for social policy. Furthermore, we find a relatively complex pattern of interrelations between offline inequality (education) and different types of digital inequality (skills, usage, resources). In our conclusions we make a plea for more research on outcomes of Internet use and we discuss the implications of our findings for further research.     

Transforming academic work: Communities of practice in Australian universities

Abstract

This article explores the model of communities of practice as an alternative to the competitive, corporatised model of universities prescribed in current Australian federal government policies and described in the document Universities: Backing Australia's Future (2003) and associated papers. The article argues that the federal government's policies, which include the proposal to create niche Australian universities, with specific purposes such as teaching-only, will reduce intra-institutional plurality and interdisciplinary activities. This represents a significant shift for most Australian tertiary institutions which have, over the past two decades, invested significant resources addressing disparate agendas of an increasing range of stakeholders. The current policies, with their emphasis on individualism and competition, have been criticised as demonstrating a poor understanding of academic work (Murray and Dollery 2005). The authors concur with this criticism and suggest that intra-institutional plurality, which may be reduced by the proposed changes, is more conducive to creative academic work. We argue that a government-regulated environment will limit the opportunity for collaborative and scholarly ways of doing academic work, such as the natural formation of communities of practice (Lave and Wenger 1991). The article suggests that the communities of practice model can offer a transformative approach to the organisation of academic work, by recognising and building on diversity, promoting collaboration and encouraging interdisciplinary research.     

Aggression in the academic workplace: a psychodynamic analysis of social work

Abstract

Aiming to promote quality collegial relationships in tertiary education, this theoretical study draws on the peer-reviewed literature to provide a psychodynamic analysis of workplace aggression in the social work discipline. Because the study assists academics to identify their aggressive practices and the aggressive practices of their colleagues, the findings can be of relevance to other practice-based disciplines. Elaborating on the causes and effects of the disciplinary, institutional and individual forms of aggression, this study identifies the avoidance of the emotional pain in work with clients as the main reason behind the active or passive–aggressive behaviours in the discipline. Academics act out this defensive manoeuvre through denying the existence of knowledge gaps in the discipline, denying the inextricable link between empirical research and theories of practice, teaching exclusively theories unsupported by empirical studies, and resisting to set boundaries on active and passive aggression. The study proposes the advancement of research-into-practice mindedness in social work schools, the requirement that prospective social work academics gain considerable practice experience before entering academia, the need for academic leadership positions to require peer-reviewed publications in both teaching and practice and the need for Schools to publish a volume of empirical research to be accredited as providers of social work education.     

Making ideas “app”-en: the creation and evolution of a digital mobile resource to teach social work interviewing skills

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the processes involved in the design, delivery, and evolution of a mobile app.’ The initial app’ was funded by an institutional Teaching Award to update the delivery of Egan interviewing skills to social work students. The article charts the progress of development, beginning with the initial rationale for the app’ and its subsequent evolution into a Motivational Interviewing resource for social workers within a designated local authority. Arguing for the increasing importance of digital resources, within social work training and practice, the article draws from theories of digital pedagogy, as well as highlighting the work of some prominent figures within this emerging field. The article is written as a collaboration between the lead author and the app’ developers, who have contributed technical detail and emphasized the need for collaboration. Whilst the article touches briefly on the mechanics involved with app creation, its chief aim is to act as a guide to the practical, financial and relational aspects of development – in order that other social work practitioners and educators are inspired to progress their own ideas into innovative digital resources. To facilitate this, the article concludes with a practical list of suggestions for successful digital development.     

Mentoring and the new curriculum of academic work

Abstract

This paper argues that institutional agendas associated with the development of the enterprise model of the university in many western countries are changing the nature of work and in so doing demanding new work practices and identities of academic staff (or faculty). Within this climate academic staff are exhorted to expand and enhance their performance repertoire, leading to the growth in emphasis on the professional development of academic (and other) staff. This paper considers the role of formal mentoring, in particular mentoring of women faculty, in promoting self-review and self-regulation in this increasingly performance driven climate. It argues that mentoring plays an important role in promoting specific dispositions and behaviours suited to the enterprise model.     

The capacity of elderly citizens to access digital media in Andalusia (Spain)

In most of the European Union (EU) countries, including Spain, there has been an increase in the number of inhabitants aged 55 years or older. As of 2014, in the EU (27) more than 65% of the population uses the internet daily. However, among the elderly, the percentage is drastically lower. This type of occurrence is found in technologically advanced societies, and turns the older citizens into a forgotten collective. With the digital divide (defined as physical access to the internet) surmounted in these countries, a new divide is becoming apparent in terms of personal use and societal participation. In this article, through the use of multivariate analysis techniques, we identify a new divide in Andalusia, Spain, with respect to the frequency of access to new media and the use citizens make of them. We will discuss the influence of the elderly's immediate environment as a source of opportunity for the Information and Communication Technologies to improve our quality of life and as a medium for more active social participation.     

Digital remediation: social support and online learning communities can help offset rural digital inequality

ABSTRACT

While all students enter college with varying levels of digital skills, those from rural areas may face extra challenges because their own skills and those of their pre-college networks may be underdeveloped. Without some type of intervention, digital deficits can perpetuate further educational disadvantages. We developed an online learning community (OLC) in two sections of an introductory college course and integrated collaborative learning into students’ weekly activities. Regression analysis of survey data (N?=?373) shows three impacts: access to social support is associated with higher skill assessment and improvements in digital skills; rural status is associated with a clear and significant disadvantage in digital skill assessment; and that involvement in an OLC contributed substantially to improvements in digital skills. We conclude with limitations and considerations for future research.     

Educational potential of e-social work: social work training in Spain

ABSTRACT

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have enhanced peer communication and contributed to social change and, as such, have become an essential tool in the initial training and professional development of future social work practitioners. In the new millennium, it is particularly important to provide the foundations for delivering appropriate interventions in the fields of social education, social services, healthcare and development cooperation. To face these new challenges, training programmes in the framework of the European Higher Education Area should facilitate the acquisition of skills and competencies through curricula based on ongoing assessment which promote creativity and educational innovation. Through a systematic and comprehensive review of the scientific literature, this article examines the educational potential of e-social work in Spain and the training needs of social workers from an interdisciplinary approach. A critical debate is presented throughout the paper to encourage reflection among professionals. The study highlights the importance of the acquisition of digital skills through the development of educational intervention programmes using the latest technological media and resources with a view to serving citizens in these new spaces of interaction.     

The social shaping of digital research

The social shaping of technology (SST) has become a broad umbrella term to cover a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives in the social sciences. It has also defined a set of funded projects in the UK focused on a particular technical initiative around e-social science – digital social research. It is increasingly understood that social science research and work on the SST, in particular, should be applied to the study of innovations in digital research and their implications for the sciences and humanities. This overview is designed to help introduce the diversity of perspectives that the social sciences can bring to bear, such as under the social shaping umbrella and explain why this set of perspectives is of value to policy and practice in this field. The continuing advance and diffusion of digital research make it ever more important to strengthen the role of the social sciences in this area of multi-disciplinary research, policy, and practice.     

Teaching research methods to social work students in India and Australia: reflections and recommendations

This paper draws on the reflections of two social work educators who have, for many years taught research methods to undergraduate and postgraduate social work students in India and Australia. The intent is to suggest measures for enhancing the quality of social work research education. The reflections are embedded in a social justice and human rights framework, privileging the educators’ unique social and cultural contexts and their commitment to engage with indigenous knowledge. The authors recommend effective social work research education requires the educator to draw on a deep understanding of their own context, as well as globally accepted research traditions. Particularly, we encourage research teachers to adopt student-centred approaches that emphasise a broad ‘research mindedness’ (in their students and themselves), building students’ practical capacities and confidence to become effective, research informed practitioners; capable of contributing to their own communities and to the social work profession more broadly.     

Interface methods: renegotiating relations between digital social research,STS and sociology

This paper introduces a distinctive approach to methods development in digital social research called ‘interface methods’. We begin by discussing various methodological confluences between digital media, social studies of science and technology (STS) and sociology. Some authors have posited significant overlap between, on the one hand, sociological and STS concepts, and on the other hand, the ontologies of digital media. Others have emphasized the significant differences between prominent methods built into digital media and those of STS and sociology. This paper advocates a third approach, one that (a) highlights the dynamism and relative under‐determinacy of digital methods, and (b) affirms that multiple methodological traditions intersect in digital devices and research. We argue that these two circumstances enable a distinctive approach to methodology in digital social research – thinking methods as ‘interface methods’ – and the paper contextualizes this approach in two different ways. First, we show how the proliferation of online data tools or ‘digital analytics’ opens up distinctive opportunities for critical and creative engagement with methods development at the intersection of sociology, STS and digital research. Second, we discuss a digital research project in which we investigated a specific ‘interface method’, namely co‐occurrence analysis. In this digital pilot study we implemented this method in a critical and creative way to analyse and visualize ‘issue dynamics’ in the area of climate change on Twitter. We evaluate this project in the light of our principal objective, which was to test the possibilities for the modification of methods through experimental implementation and interfacing of various methodological traditions. To conclude, we discuss a major obstacle to the development of ‘interface methods’: digital media are marked by particular quantitative dynamics that seem adverse to some of the methodological commitments of sociology and STS. To address this, we argue in favour of a methodological approach in digital social research that affirms its maladjustment to the research methods that are prevalent in the medium.     

Tapping your way to success: using Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) to reduce anxiety and improve communication skills in social work students

By the nature of their professional training and practice placements, social work students are prone to situations provoking the onset of anxiety. A programme of academic and placement support, termed the ‘Skills Lab’, provides help and support for students to develop their communication skills and prepare for their practice placements and transition into professional social work practice. Skills Lab evaluations indicated a high level of appreciation, linked with a strong sense of apprehension and anxiety, which some students report has negatively affected their performance. To address student anxiety, a pilot study using Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) was developed. EFT is an intervention, which may potentially be effective in reducing academic anxiety and enhancing public speaking. This mixed-methods pilot study measured participants’ (n = 45) subjective distress and anxiety before and after using EFT. Subjective distress/anxiety was invoked through a 15-min assignment lecture. Twelve of the 45 students also participated in one-one interviews to elaborate on their experiences of EFT. Quantitative findings indicated participants reported significantly less subjective distress and anxiety after using EFT. Qualitative findings indicated three themes whereby participants found EFT calming, relaxing and helpful; considered the transferability of EFT in other settings; and proposed some of the mechanisms of EFT’s action.     

The identity curation game: digital inequality,identity work,and emotion management

ABSTRACT

The research examines an understudied facet of digital inequality: how digital inequality impacts identity work and emotion management. The analysis reveals how unequal access to digital resources shapes how well youths are able to play what I call the identity curation game. Digital resources determine youths’ ability to succeed in this game that is governed by three implicit rules: (1) constantly update or be sidelined, (2) engage in constant reciprocated identity-affirming interactions, and (3) maintain a strategy of vigilance to remove traces of failed identity performances. This article draws on Symbolic Interactionism and pays particular attention to Hochschild’s theory of emotion management. Drawing on these frameworks, the findings reveal how under-resourced youths experience connectivity gaps that disrupt their ability to play the identity curation game, as well as the resulting emotional consequences. Under-resourced youths manage distinctive negative emotions arising from connectivity gaps that hinder their digital identity work, as well as engaging in distinct kinds of suppressive work to police their own emotions including longing, envy, shame, frustration, and stigmatization. In making these linkages, the research reveals the cascading effects of digital inequality among youths where constant connectivity is the sine qua non of social inclusion.     

‘Befriend them but not be their friend’: Negotiations of youth practice in a digital age

ABSTRACT

‘You’ve gotta befriend them but not be their friend’ is how one youth worker thoughtfully described the secret to successful youth practice. This paper draws on experiences of youth workers in the United Kingdom to consider how the growth of digital technologies comes to be negotiated and articulated in professional practice. Situating these experiences alongside young people’s accounts, this article highlights a distinction between young people’s relationship with the digital and adult perceptions of youth and technology. The aim of this paper is to consider what factors contribute towards this divide and where adult perceptions come from, if not from the experiences of young people themselves. The article then goes on to discuss the potential consequences of the presence of technology and discourses surrounding the digital for youth worker’s engagements with young people in professional practice. Overall, this article argues for the enduring relevance of youth workers and physical youth centres in a digital age and joins several scholars in critiquing the chronic under-investment in youth workers and provision in the UK and beyond.     

Key misconceptions when assessing digital technology for municipal youth social work

ABSTRACT

Municipal youth protection work has become infused with digital technology, and yet there is still limited research on how to assess the impact of digital technology on municipal youth social work. This article reviews a range of misconceptions regarding the assessment of digital technology for youth social work in municipal contexts. This review was generated in connection with the development of an app system for communication between young clients and their municipal social workers in Denmark. The misconceptions relate to: variations in technologies and contexts; the impact of digital technologies on the relationship; social justice; differentiating between the user and the digital technology; digitalization and standardization; stakeholder and functional models of municipal social work. The paper concludes that the relationship between municipal social work and digital technology is complex and that thus complex comprehensions of municipal social work practice are needed if the relationship between technologies and practice is to be grasped adequately. The paper argues that given the complexity of the field and the speed of technological and legal changes, external support with regard to assessing how to use, develop and incorporate digital technology needs to be made available to municipalities and social workers.     

Assessing parents with learning disabilities: The parental skills model

Definitions of what constitutes adequate or inadequate parenting continue to be unclear. Not surprisingly, professionals who are required to formulate opinions regarding parental competency often experience difficulties with this task. These difficulties are further compounded when the assessment involves parents with learning disabilities. They comprise a heterogeneous population many of whom have varying deficits and skills. The Parental Skills Model outlined in this paper is offered as a guide to professionals in their assessment of such parents. The model focuses on three primary areas which have been identified as crucial to parenting, namely, parents' life skills, familial history and access to support/resources. When difficulties are encountered by parents with learning disabilities in any of these three areas it appears to have a direct and indirect effect on the child's care and development. A model of good practice is proposed and illustrated with a case study.