Social Work in Rural New South Wales School Settings: Addressing Inequalities Beyond the School Gate

Children and young people in rural Australia experience disadvantage compared with metropolitan counterparts, with low educational attainment and disengagement from schooling being linked to poorer health outcomes. Schools are an existing contact point between individuals and health services. However, these health services are often overburdened and have limited scope to address broader social issues and teaching staff are focused on achieving curriculum outcomes. Embedding social workers within schools may provide an avenue for supporting students, yet social workers are rarely present in New South Wales public schools. This paper describes a study to determine teachers’ understanding of the socioeconomic issues faced by school students, and the role of the social work profession in addressing such issues as part of the early stages of establishing a Social Work in Schools (SWiS) project. Eighteen semistructured interviews were undertaken with teachers across four rural Australian schools. Participants identified their awareness of potential risk factors that could lead to educational disengagement, reflected on their own limitations in dealing with these broader health presentations given their teaching focus, and provided insights into their understanding of the potential role of social workers.     

A national study of educational reform: Implications for social work services in schools

A national survey of state offices of education identifies reform initiatives and points out pupil/family characteristics and school and community conditions that are barriers to excellence. Directions for social work services in schools are suggested.     

Rural High School Youth's Access to and Use of School‐to‐Work Programs

Rural youth face numerous barriers that may limit career exposure. School‐to‐work (STW) programs are one tool used to increase exposure and facilitate connections between school and work. Using a nationally representative data set, the authors investigated whether rurality relates to the availability of STW programs and rural youth's program use. Results indicate that most schools provide school‐based services (e.g., career plans/career majors), but few schools offer work‐based services (e.g., internships). Rural schools were more likely to offer vocational–technical prep programs and job shadowing but were less likely to offer school‐based enterprise. After controlling for program availability, the authors found that rural students were less likely to take part in job shadowing and community service. Conclusions are offered for career development research, policy, and practice.     

The Relationship between High School Sector and Educational Success: Focusing on the Social Background of Private High School Students

This study investigates the influence of high school sector on educational success in Japan. A range of previous research on disparities among high schools has revealed that high school rank (based on the academic ability of pupils, etc.) originated from the democratization of high school. However, given that the democratization of high school is supported by private high schools, high school sector may become a factor for high school ranking. The data used for the analysis are the 2005 National Survey of Social Stratification and Social Mobility (SSM) in Japan. The results indicate that students who enter private high schools have lower academic ability than students who enter public high schools. By contrast, private high school students have greater educational success than public high school students. Moreover, this study reveals that private high school students are generally from a higher social class than public high school students. Given that the use of entrance examinations for private junior high schools has been increasing since the 1990s, in the future, the effect of private schools on educational success may become stronger in not only high schools but also junior high schools. This study thus emphasizes the importance of paying greater attention to the relationship between educational success and the private and public school sectors.     

Le travail enseignant en lycée professionnel et ses paradoxes

The paradoxes in the work of teaching in French vocational education stem from the “symbolic closure” of these secondary schools. The latter, given the mass enrollment in general secondary schools, receive students marked by their failure in middle school. This has created a distance with the students' social and family environment and with firms, even though the latter are supposed to be the destination where these students are bound. The work of these teachers is strongly marked by “subjective ordeals” related to their subordinate position in the school system, to a concern for keeping peace in the schools and to doubts about integrating students in the world of work. Might the work of these teachers not lead paradoxically to reasserting the “weight of the educational form” by including therein actions that are supposed to help students “mature” and develop an “appropriate school identity”? In this case, the purpose of this work is the academic socialization and rehabilitation of young people as much as their vocational training as such.     

Social work educators’ perceived barriers to teaching with technology: the impact on preparing students to work with younger clients

ABSTRACT

The educational needs of current social work students have transitioned in time from fully face-to-face to hybrid and for some, to fully online instruction. This helps to address students’ need to save time and money, as well as it assists the higher education institutions to provide easier and more efficient access to education. The use of technology in educational instruction has a positive impact on the future social workers who have to address the needs of technologically savvy younger clients. This is due to parallels related to the access and the use of technology, communication preferences, and the wide use of social media platforms. A quantitative non-experimental research design was employed in this research study. Non-parametric statistics were employed. A Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the perceptions of barriers/challenges to eLearning among US and Spanish social work educators. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to find the differences in the perceptions of barriers/challenges to eLearning across different group characteristics such as age, academic position, and experience teaching online and hybrid courses. There are six main barriers/challenges identified in this article. When not addressed, these barriers could have a negative impact on social work students’ readiness to use technology in their future social work practice.     

Institutional responsibilities: providing placement for international students

ABSTRACT

Recent years have seen a rapid increase in the number of international students studying health professional degrees such as social work in Australia and internationally. Research indicates that placement educators perceive that extra time and effort is required to support international students on placement due to, for example, language barriers and cultural and educational differences. This paper reports on findings from a nationwide study investigating the experiences and support needs of placement educators who supervise international social work students. The data consists of 15 in-depth interviews and 66 survey responses from placement educators across Australia. Findings reveal that placement educators feel pressure from education providers to supervise international students, yet they also feel they lack support from the education provider to do so adequately. Placement educators cite a need to increase contact and coordination between agencies and education providers, including clarity around the education providers’ expectations of their supervision. Placement educators want closer working relationships between agencies and education providers to ensure rewarding and enriching experiences for both students and placement educators. Such findings suggest that increased institutional support for, and collaboration with, placement educators is required to sustainably maintain quality placements for international students.     

School Choice, Markets and Special Educational Needs

Locating the debate within a policy framework of school choice and special educational needs (SEN) in England and Wales, the article investigates the ways in which schools competing within the educational marketplace perceive and respond to the needs of parents of SEN students, and considers the perspectives, experiences and values of these parents relating to school choice. In focusing in-depth on one case study area the article draws on the qualitative findings of the Parental and School Choice Interaction (PASCI) study, a 3-year longitudinal investigation into the interaction between parental choice of school and school decision making. The findings reveal the pressures on senior school managers and the difficulties encountered by parents of SEN students and suggest that as schools working in a public-market increasingly 'privilege the academic' so the needs and preferences of parents, and SEN students are increasingly marginalised and devalued.     

Conquering with capital: social,cultural, and economic capital’s role in combating socioeconomic disadvantage and contributing to educational attainment

While socioeconomic barriers to learning have been well-documented by education, sociology, and social policy scholars, further research is needed to understand how students with low-socioeconomic status excel in high-performing schools. The collection and analysis of 20 in-depth interviews with female college students from different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds provide rich insights into the stark differences between the educational practices of low and high-SES students. Building on Bourdieu’s conceptualization of how habitus and capital influence practices in the field of education exposes unique, strategic practices that low-SES students use to attain educational success within a system of reproduction and power. While entering a high-performing school is often perceived as a definitive step for accessing high-quality educational resources, my findings illustrate how it is actually an important intermediary step within a more complex process. Increasing educational opportunity and attainment for low-SES students requires improving their access to social, cultural, and economic capital through knowledgeable mentors who contribute to a habitus and portfolio of capital which enable practices to successfully navigate and challenge the educational system.     

Caregiver Engagement in Religious Urban Elementary Schools

ABSTRACT

This article examines how school leaders in a religious school serving traditionally marginalized students improve their school communities through constructing space for caregiver engagement. This study suggests how counter-narratives of critical care can inform social justice leadership in schools. The results, from a case study of a Catholic urban elementary school that uses innovative and effective strategies to engage caregivers, show that educational leaders create spaces for engaging caregivers by developing relationships with them and systematically reducing barriers to their participation in the school community. Analyzing these results through the critical care theory lens illuminates how these spaces value diverse forms of social and cultural capital are strengthened by alliances with nontraditional support structures. This research contributes to our evolving understanding of caregiver engagement by presenting a textured analysis of a case study as viewed through a critical care conceptual framework.     

Twenty-first century learning in states: the case of the Massachusetts educational system

A current crisis in education is leaving students less prepared to succeed in the working world than any generation before them. Increasingly complex external, nonacademic pressures have an impact on many of today's students, often causing them to drop out of school. Only 76 percent of Massachusetts high school students graduate, and only 29 percent earn a college degree. National figures are worse. Most educational institutions share a common goal to support students in becoming skilled, productive, successful members of society, but the author argues that this goal is not being met. Despite the constant changes in the world, educational practices have remained static. Most public schools are not adapting to meet the shifting needs of students. Universities are not able to prepare the right mix of prospective employees for the demands of the job market; for example, schools are graduating only 10 percent of the needed engineers. Institutions of higher learning cannot keep up with employers' needs in an evolving global market: strong math, science, and writing abilities; critical thinking skills; and the ability to work in teams. The author draws on exemplary efforts at work in his home state of Massachusetts--whose improvements in student achievement outcomes have been some of the best in the nation--to suggest there is promise in twenty-first century learning. Middle school students involved in a NASA-funded project write proposals, work in teams, and engage in peer review. Older students participate in enhanced, hands-on cooperative school-to-work and after-school programs. Schools are starting to offer expanded day learning, increasing the number of hours they are engaged in formal learning. Yet such programs have not reached significant levels of scale. The author calls for a major shift in education to help today's students be successful in the twenty-first century.     

Critical social work and competency practice: a proposal to bridge theory and practice in the classroom

Social work education in North America is increasingly focused on competency criteria and micro skills training for future practitioners. Market forces are transforming the nature of social work practice in Canada, and social work regulators are concerned about the lack of evidence-based competencies in social work education. Since the Controlled Act of Psychotherapy was proclaimed in 2017, social work practitioners are in a position to offer psychotherapy services; as a result, universities are under greater pressure to shift to competency-based learning that meets the requirements of a regulated profession. This has raised concerns about the narrowing focus on critical social work theory in preparing students for practice. The divergence between anti-oppressive and direct practice schools is widening with the result that many students have difficulty bridging the gap between critical theory and competency-based practice. This paper attempts to integrate both traditions by offering students a course that directly links critical analysis of structural barriers and client centered interventions. The course is part of a developing critical competency curriculum that focuses on methods of facilitating empowerment and change in the helping process by articulating key relational components between service user and practitioner from a critical-competency perspective.     

The Role of Social Capital in Educational Aspirations of Rural Youth*

Drawing on a recent national survey of rural high school students, this study investigated the relationship between social capital and educational aspirations of rural youth. Results showed that various process features of family and school social capital were important for predicting rural youths' educational aspirations beyond sociodemographic background. In particular, parents' and teachers' educational expectations for their child and student, respectively, were positively related to educational aspirations of rural youth. In addition, discussion with parents about college was positively related to educational aspirations of rural youth. On the other hand, there was little evidence to suggest that number of siblings and school proportions of students eligible for free lunch and minority students are related to educational aspirations of rural youth, after controlling for the other variables. We highlight unique features of rural families, schools, and communities that may combine to explain the complexity of the role of social capital in shaping educational aspirations of rural youth.     

School Social Work in Australia

Abstract

This study explores the current state of social work services in Australian schools. A total of 65 social workers participated in the survey. The majority of respondents had permanent positions and over half of them were working part time. The number of schools serviced was wide ranging and the median was six schools. The major funding source was state governments, the primary referral sources were school staff, and the primary reasons for referral were behavioural and mental health problems. Respondents reported good support from employers and high levels of work efficacy and satisfaction. A large proportion of their hours were spent on counselling, paperwork, case management, and consultations. The major barriers to their work were lack of time, lack of resources, and lack of recognition given to social work perspectives and roles. Given the paucity of literature, findings from this study are expected to lay a foundation for future studies.     

Home-school-community connection: elementary school leaders' solutions for improvement

The author of this original case study research investigates advocacy barriers impeding the home, school, and community connection. Specific solutions by educational professions regarding how to bridge these three arenas are provided in this study. Twenty educators serving in varying teaching roles from two high needs elementary schools located in the greater western New York region, participated by answering a quantitative and qualitative confidential survey. Survey results indicate that a more unified home, school, and community connection is beneficial to include families, educators, and community service providers. Findings support that to advance ecological sensitivity and advocacy for school children at risk, educators should consult more with administration such as building principals and vice principals, collaborate more with outreach community social service providers, and communicate more with children's parents and/or caregivers.     

Bad Boys and School Suspensions: Public Policy Implications for Black Males

The focus of this research is the disciplinary policy of school suspension and its effect on black male students. We examined the application of public school suspensions by race and sex in an integrated school district in the southeastern portion of the United States. Data for the study were compiled from oficial records housed in the administrative complex for the entire school district. The suspensions cover one academic year from September of 1983 through June of 1984. During this period of time black males were disproportionately suspended in both the elementary and secondary schools. This finding is consistent with other research noting that black students, and in particular black male students, are disproportionately affected by the various policies of public schools. We then discuss the implications of these findings for black males. Policies which limit educational opportunities for black males increase the probability of their need for welfare services, incarceration in prisons, and commitment to mental hospitals. Our conclusion is that the policy of suspending problem students is not only an effort by elementary and secondary school administrators and faculty to remove bad boys but is also one of several policies which limit educational opportunities for black males.     

Integration versus segregation: the experiences of a group of disabled students moving from mainstream school into special needs further education

Although the latest education policy for disabled students is one of inclusion, some students are moving out of mainstream schools into specialist colleges for their further education. This research uses a combination of group and individual interviews to explore why this move away from mainstream education is made. Results show that these students' moved into specialist education because of the inadequate physical accessibility of their mainstream colleges, the quality of disability services available to them and their previous experiences whilst in mainstream school. These students were able to identify both strengths and weaknesses within mainstream and special education for disabled students, and believed that educational placement should therefore be a matter of choice depending on the physical, academic and emotional needs of the individual. It would appear, however, that for the students participating in this research, their local mainstream colleges were unable to cater for their needs, indicating that their decision to move into a special needs college was not based on a real choice. Mainstream colleges are challenged to create a truly inclusive environment so that disabled students are offered a real choice.     

Promoting a Development Focus in the Community Organization Curriculum

As the problem of poverty has become more acute, community organization teaching needs to focus more directly on programs that will raise standards of living at the local level. This article suggests that African community development is highly relevant to the promotion of community-based economic and social development projects. Although the idea that approaches from Third World countries can be adapted to enhance educational programs in the United States is a novel one, the African approach to community development has much to offer American schools of social work that are seeking to prepare students to work with poor communities in both inner-city and rural areas.     

“It's Really Not Easy to Get Help”: Services to Drought-Affected Families

Abstract

The present paper details the results of research conducted with drought-affected farm families in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The study reveals the significant health and welfare stresses experienced by families and the lack of access to services and support. The research was conducted in three sites in rural and remote areas of NSW in 2003. Farm family members, service providers, and other community key informants were interviewed. The paper outlines ways that the social work profession can respond to significant natural disasters.     

An Educational Partnership: Preparing Social Workers for a Changing Society

The learning-service center approach appears to offer a new and efficient way of bringing university resources to bear upon the social needs of local communities while providing a reality-based education for students. This paper describes the efforts of two schools of social work, Atlanta University and the University of Georgia, to develop an educational partnership through the use of this approach. The authors describe the early stages in the work of operationalizing the learning-service center concept as a possible means of effectuating a viable partnership between the two schools and the community.