Social work refers to the services contributed by social workers to strengthen the community. These individuals aim to meet people’s demands by helping those in need and doing whatever it takes to enhance the well-being of the population group. They solve problems by planning activities like charity, food or clothing drives, or directly working with other organizations, i.e., nursing homes, NGOs, schools, and hospitals.
It has been argued that school social workers are an integral component of society as they help build children’s foundation by instilling academic values.
From a very young age, social workers help children be aware of principles like the importance of human relationships and management of stress and help them be familiarized with the need to commit to academic goals. To what extent are social workers important in the department of education? Here are a few points that’ll help you make a judgment.
To put it simply, an education-related or school social worker focuses on the betterment of students. Their goal is to help children by providing any facility that maximizes their academic potential and aids personal growth.
These services are focused on three target groups: the school, the family of the child, and the child itself. Each of the groups is catered to via a different set of services. Some of which are:
Services To Schools
There are many ways school social workers contribute to the schooling system. The most prominent service includes participating in school board meetings. This is where key topics are discussed.
Some popular subjects include planning the annual curriculum, decisions regarding annual budget division, and most importantly, the management of school resources. In these meetings, social workers are allowed to offer their opinions and come up with innovative strategies to make resources attainable to students.
If this sounds like something that fits your interest, you can try applying for a master’s degree in social work online. This online program is designed to provide you with all the knowledge regarding social work principles, their importance, and their purpose in our community.
This degree also stresses practical work. Therefore, pursuing it would mean learning clinical skills, doing internships, and collaborating with other professional social workers.
Also read: Aim of education philosophy
Services To Parents
Children that are from disadvantaged backgrounds have a much more difficult time coping with academic responsibilities. Disadvantaged children refer to those that may either be dealing with abusive parents, parents suffering from addiction, or divorced/single parents.
These households create a negative impact on students’ learning abilities. Studies have shown that students from troubled backgrounds have much poorer grades and a lower concentration span than students from privileged backgrounds.
Social workers strive to achieve the following goals to level the ground and make educational facilities more accessible to these students. The first and foremost priority is meeting the parents and discussing their roles in the child’s performance.
They may assist the parents by making them aware of specific programs that help eliminate any form of family stress, or they can help identify signs of abuse/child neglect and report it accordingly. Overall, the mission is to establish cooperation between both the parental and school bodies to address and consider the child’s needs.
Services To Children
For the most part, educational social workers strive to optimize the learning environment for the children. Hence, most of their policies are tailored to target students. The main objective here is to provide children with appropriate means to support successful social and emotional development.
This is done by providing professional staff that can help students of special needs to adjust and by providing licensed therapists that can teach children to accept themselves, identify their behaviors, and deal with negative feelings.
If inappropriate behaviors like drug use or anger management issues are spotted, social workers can help combat that by providing appropriate therapists and counselors. Social workers may also grant high achievers benefits like concessions in school fees or scholarships/grants to stimulate academic excellence.
Staff may also be re-trained to understand better the disparity amongst students caused by being from different ethnic backgrounds or having mental health concerns/disabilities.
They may also suggest ways to improve teaching, make content easier to learn, and advocate methods by which student interest can be increased. Schools will also be provided with top healthcare systems, and frequent checks shall be carried out so that any progress can be noted or complaints can be dealt with, respectively.
To conclude, school social workers are essential for instilling confidence in students and creating a productive learning environment that promotes student success. They do this by smartly targeting students, families, and schools individually.
Social workers intend to facilitate the child in every possible manner so that nothing hinders them and their studies. In this way, they also promote the integration of human rights while meeting their own goals.
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