Transcript Social Work In The Schools

Social Work In The
Schools
Chapter 11
Introduction
► Functionally
illiterate adults in the U.S. total
25,000,000.
► The nation is at risk due to the failures of
our public schools.
► Social services were first established in the
schools at the turn of the century in New
York, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
The Education Delivery System:
New Approaches
► The
National Center for Family Literacy seeks to
end the intergenerational cycle of poverty and
under-education resulting in economic failure,
hopelessness, and despair by fostering education
where disadvantaged parents and children attend
school together as partners in learning, partners in
success.
► This program to increase family literacy will
strengthen the family by increasing the adult’s
self-esteem and will make it possible for the adults
to get better jobs.
New Approaches
► The
Alternative High School program was created
to meet the needs of drop outs and potential drop
outs.
► During the past decade 25 percent of all eighteen
year olds have failed to graduate from high school.
► One program gaining momentum is the Freedom
to Choose plan, which allows parents to select
their children’s school.
► Nearly five million school-aged children were
enrolled in private schools in l991.
Problems Plaguing the Public Schools
► Discipline
problems in the schools are
caused by:
 Disruptive students
 Students demanding their “rights”
 Teachers no longing having authority over their
students
 Teachers’ fear of being sued.
Problems Plaguing the Public Schools
► Violence
► School
shootings
► Drugs
► Gangs
► Cheating
 Widespread because students want to get better
grades, teachers allow it so students will excel and
universities select only those with high GPA’s.
► Harassment
► Teaching
values
Social Work Practice in the Schools
► School
social work helps to achieve educational
objectives by contributing knowledge, attitudes,
and skills uniquely identified with the profession of
social work.
► Social work practice in the schools involves:
 The provision of diagnostic counseling and treatment
 Work with individuals, groups, and the school system
itself
 Addressing and treating problems interfering with the
teaching-learning process.
 It is not involved in administering achievement tests!
Social Work Practice in the Schools
► Tasks
and responsibilities of the school
social worker are best described as both
direct and indirect.
► Social work practice in the schools accepts
the need for continuing examination and
refinement of theory and practice.
► The range of problems and issues within the
schools is wide.
Work with Individuals
► Work
with individuals is a traditional casework
approach.
► A national problem impacting our schools is the
high number of teenage pregnancies.
► Studies show that 70 percent of teenagers who
become pregnant do not finish high school.
► Knowing that it is not the “norm” for teenagers to
talk through their feelings or to think about
consequences, the social worker helps them to
look to themselves for answers.
Social Work Using a Group Approach
► When
resources are at a minimum, social workers
in some school districts have mobilized an
untapped resource in the schools – peer helpers.
► Peer helpers can be recruited and trained to help
classmates prepare assignments, handle drug
problems, and deal with other adjustment
problems.
► Results of this activity were rated very good as a
preventive measure, and it had some value when
used with students who had previously acquired
drug or alcohol problems.
Working With Minorities
► Large
numbers of immigrants and refugees
arriving on our shores will challenge
educators with new acculturation and
education problems.
► It has been estimated that by the turn of
the century the population in this country
will exceed 300 million.
► This is attributable not to a high birth rate,
but to immigrants and refugees.
When the System Fails
► Dropout
rates in public schools have
reached to 30% overall and as much as
50% in some areas.
► Students commit suicide, “cop out” on drugs
or alcohol, or vanish from school.