Family engagement within the context of assessment in child protection practice: The case of Estonia

Engagement in the context of child protection is of significant international interest, as the participation of family is a central notion in child and family social work. Drawing on in‐depth, semistructured interviews with a sample of 26 child protection workers in 1 region in Estonia, this article reports the findings of the participants' perspectives on family engagement in the context of child protection assessment. Child protection workers perceive the engagement related to 3 aspects: first, it is associated to the acts of the worker; second, it is associated to parental part of actions—depending on parents themselves; and third, engagement was seen as “doing together” with the family, referring to partnership. The aim of the engagement was mainly considered in the terms of empowerment—empowering family to cope on their own and to take charge of their lives. The negative image of child protection was recognised as one of the main barriers to the family engagement. Understanding the family and their situation was seen as the basis for a trusting relationship, being the most crucial factor to promoting family engagement.     

Intercultural education in the curriculum: some comparative aspects from the Baltic and Nordic countries

During the 1990s, the educational systems of the Baltic countries, newly independent of the Soviet Union, underwent rapid and far‐reaching change. National educational traditions were re‐established and the countries achieved an internationally recognized quality of education. In the second half of the past decade, however, it came to be increasingly asked whether the existing national curriculum actually serves the interests of all those participating in the education process in an equitable way. Another question is whether it directs learners towards acquiring the necessary skills for succeeding in a culturally pluralistic society. The present paper will analyze how the principles of intercultural education are reflected, above all, in the national curricula of Estonian and Latvian comprehensive schools. Comparisons will be made with the Nordic–Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian curricula and their approach to intercultural themes. The paper will also try to answer the questions whether and how the Nordic curricula could serve as role models for the Baltic countries.

1990ndatel aastatel on Nõukogude Liidust eraldunud Balti riikide haridussüsteemid läbinud kiire ja tulemusliku arengutee: taastatud on rahvuslikud haridustraditsioonid ja saavutatud rahvusvaheliselt aktsepteeritav hariduse kvaliteet. Viimase kümnendi teisel poolel aga on tõstatunud küsimus, kas olemasolev riiklik õppekava teenib võrdselt kõigi haridussubjektide huve ja kas see suunab õppijaid kultuuriliselt pluralistlikus maailmas ja Euroopas toimetulekuks vajalike pädevuste omandamisele. Käesolevas artiklis analüüsitakse interkultuurilise hariduse põhimõtete kajastust peamiselt Eesti ja Läti üldhariduskooli õppekava üldosas. Võrdlevalt heidame põgusa pilgu ka Põhjamaade—Soome, Rootsi ja Norra õppekavadele, millised on sealsed rõhuasetused ning võimalikud eeskujud Baltimaile.     

Undergraduate students’ perception of their own strengths and weaknesses as potential social workers

This article offers some insight into how undergraduate social work students perceive their own strengths and weaknesses. This qualitative research study explored responses from 51 s-year students. Participant responses revealed five main themes in strengths and weaknesses categories: characteristic features, client work related, communication skills, expert-centred approach and problem-focused approach. In order to teach students social work core values and perspectives, it is crucial for the educators themselves to explore their own approaches related to the strengths perspective vs deficit-based approach and their willingness to change their own views and teaching methods to prepare future professionals.     

Child-centered approach in the context of the assessment of children in need: Reflections of child protection workers in Estonia

Objective

This article describes empirical results on how practitioners understand the concept of child-centered approach and how it is applied in practice, extending knowledge of the unresearched phenomena in Estonian child protection practice.

Method

A small-scale study included twenty child protection workers from different regions in Estonia, exploring the child-centered approach in assessment practices through in-depth semi-structured interviews.

Results

Results indicate that child-centered approach in the child protection workers' practice is characterized, firstly, by doing work for the child, and less by working with the child, including the fact that some practitioners are somewhat unclear about the meaning of child-centered principle. Majority of the participants underscored the importance of child involvement and partnership in the decision-making process, nevertheless, their case reflections showed that most of them did not include the child in the assessment.

Conclusions and implication for practice

Findings highlight several challenges in Estonian child protection system and suggest a need to find ways to support child protection workers' competence and confidence to conduct comprehensive assessments based on the child-centered approach, including the child in the assessment process.     

Estonian teachers in the late 1990s: Their willingness and preparedness for work in a multicultural classroom

Intercultural education is a multidimensional process. Until now, the notion has been understood in Estonia as a process of integrating non-Estonian children, usually of Russian origin, into Estonian society and providing them with the education necessary for success in Estonian society. Actually, this interpretation is just a part of intercultural education. Another issue in intercultural education, and obviously an even more essential issue, is educating all children to be prepared for life in a pluralistic society containing many cultures, peoples, religions and views. This includes teaching people to be tolerant towards cultures that are different from their own. Considering the fact that Estonia is endeavoring to become a member of the European Union, this is one of the most pressing questions in Estonia's contemporary educational policies. This paper is about recent processes in Estonian education, with a special emphasis on training teachers for work in multicultural classrooms. It offers a survey of recent research on the content and prospects of intercultural education in Estonia. The results of three research projects are also presented: (1) the prospects of education in foreign languages in Estonia, as seen by non-Estonian students, parents and teachers; (2) the willingness and readiness of students in teacher training to work in multicultural classrooms; (3) experiences from a course called Intercultural Education at Tartu University, and the opinions and attitudes of the students taking the course. Paljukultuuriline haridus on mitmemootmeline protsess. Eestis oleme me tanaseni moistnud selle all mitteeestlaste, eelkoige vene opilaste integreerimist Eesti uhiskonda ja neile toimetulekuhariduse andmist. Tegelikult on see mitmekultuurilise hariduse uks osa. Teine ja olulisemgi, on koigi opilaste kasvatamine ja ettevalmistamine elamaks kultuuriliselt, rahvuseliselt, religiooniliselt jne. pluralistlikus uhiskonnas. See on tolerantsuse kasvatamine teiste kultuuride suhtes. Euroopa Liitu kaasamisprotsessi taustal on see uks aktuaalsemaid kusimusi Eesti hariduspoliitikas. Kaesolevas artiklis vaadeldakse protsesse, mis on toimunud viimastel aastatel Eesti hariduses rohuasetusega opetajate ettevalmistamisele tootamaks paljukultuurilises klassiruumis. Kokku on voetud paari viimase aasta uurimuste tulemused mitmekultuurilise hariduse sisu ja perspektiivide kohta Eestis. Autorid tutvustavad peamiselt kolme uurimisprojekti tulemusi: (1) muukeelse hariduse tulevikuperspektiivid vahemustest opilaste, lastevanemate ja opetajate hinnanguil; (2) tulevaste opetajate ootused ja valmisolek tootamaks multikultuurilises klassiruumis; (3) Mitmekultuurilise hariduse kursuse opetamise kogemus ning Tartu Ulikooli uliopilaste hinnangud ja suhtumine antud temaatikasse.     

Assessment of the developmental needs of children in need: Estonian child protective workers' case reflections

Child protective workers must be able to evaluate children's developmental needs in order to assess problems and delays. Skilful and comprehensive assessment leads to outcomes for children that promote their well‐being and development. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study on a sample of Estonian child protective workers that investigated their assessments of the developmental needs of children in cases with child protection concerns. Only half of the child protective workers considered some dimension of the child's developmental needs in their assessment, suggesting a profound need to incorporate a developmental assessment framework and implement training of such in Estonia to increase child protective workers' competencies to conduct consistently comprehensive assessments.     

Graduate Social Work Students’ Approaches and Ways of Thinking in Child Protection Assessment: Case Vignette Reflections from Estonia

This article examines Estonian graduate social work students’ (MSW, n = 41) assessment approaches (deficit-based versus strengths-based) in the context of a child protection assessment through a case vignette format. The study found that students tend to focus more on a traditional deficit-based approach in their responses to a presented case, and less on capabilities and resources. The study indicates the need to find ways to promote more client-friendly approaches (for a shift in the way of thinking) in social work education to empower families through developing a respectful and effective helping relationship that promotes comprehensive assessment guided by social work values. Practice implications are discussed and recommendations for future research are outlined.     

Social work students’ reflections on a solution-focused approach to child protection assessment: a qualitative study

This exploratory study examines how Estonian graduate social work students’ reflections of the solution-focused approach in the context of child protection assessment can change as a result of coursework in this model. Students’ responses indicate some changes in the nature of responses after the solution-focused training course, including the adoption of techniques that help to focus on solutions (e.g. miracle question and scaling questions). Following the training, students underscored the importance of changing problem-focused ‘traditional thinking’. The findings highlight a challenge in social work education, suggesting a need to target goal-directed talk throughout the social work curriculum to support competence in conducting comprehensive, strength-based assessments.     

Estonian social policy: from Soviet heritage to understanding the principles of deinstitutionalization

Deinstitutionalization is a key issue in the field of social policy. The community-based services movement has challenged the role of institutions as far back as the 1950s, but it is a relatively new development in Central and Eastern Europe. EU membership and the use of structural funds have been key elements of change in many countries; however, the Soviet heritage still overshadows progress and decision-making in social policy. Though deinstitutionalization’s overall meaning and aims are generally well known, less information is available about the processes and policies underlying deinstitutionalization. In post-communist countries, deinstitutionalization is often narrowly associated with large institutions, but its embedment in the social welfare policy framework is less discussed. Nevertheless, first attempts to change the design of social services to more participatory and integrated solutions are evident. For more than 20 years, developments in the field of social-welfare policy have aimed to reduce the gap between Estonia and other developed countries. This article reviews relevant documents in Estonia’s social welfare policy reforms from re-independence to the present. The article discusses the prospects and challenges for achieving deinstitutionalization’s intended goals in Estonia.     

A systematic review of children’s participation in child protection decision-making: Tokenistic presence or not?

This article examines children's views on and experiences with participation in the child protection system's decision-making process. The systematic review follows the PRISMA statement and includes 12 peer-reviewed articles published in academic journals from 2006 to 2017. Findings suggest that children's contact with their worker was limited or non-existent, which minimised opportunities to express views regarding their situation; child–worker contacts lacked dialogue, information about the process of intervention and trusting relationships, meaning that without a voice, children were not engaged in making decisions. Although data are limited, they suggest little or no dialogue with children by child protection workers. Furthermore, children voiced their experiences of not being informed of or understanding the process or decisions made about their lives.