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.