scholarly journals School Social Workers in the Milieu: Ubuntu as a Social Justice Imperative

2022 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn Lim ◽  
Johanna C Baez ◽  
Meghan Gabriel Pataky ◽  
Ellen Wilder ◽  
Hester Wilhelmina van Sittert
2021 ◽  
pp. 153-163
Author(s):  
Mimi Mumm ◽  
Amanda Monaghan ◽  
Jennifer Oesterling

This chapter addresses common ethical dilemmas and “sticky” practice situations related to the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics, which plays a crucial role in how school social workers perform their job duties. The Code of Ethics is grounded in six core social work values: dignity and worth of the person, social justice, service, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. Ethical challenges arise when values or principles clash and one value will need to take precedence over another. This chapter highlight five challenges that school social workers are likely to face: competence, confidentiality, boundaries, collegial relationships, and school reform efforts.


2021 ◽  
pp. 64-74
Author(s):  
Carolyn Curtis ◽  
Tynisha Jointer ◽  
Andrew Brake ◽  
Ashley Bonton

As social justice allies and advocates, the top professional priority of school social workers should be to embrace and advance antiracist policies and practices to (re)build schools as institutions of equity, inclusion, and opportunity. This chapter addresses a critical question related to the struggle for diversity, equity, and inclusion in P-12 schools in the United States. It explores how new school social workers in their first three years of practice can establish themselves as leaders in guiding their school to assess the degree of cultural acceptance, while taking steps toward advancing antiracist policies and practices. Finally, the chapter offers an array of tools regarding assessing cultural acceptance and techniques for incorporating them across all tiers of a school community.


Author(s):  
Michael S. Kelly ◽  
Rami Benbenishty ◽  
Gordon Capp ◽  
Kate Watson ◽  
Ron Astor

In March 2020, as American PreK-12 schools shut down and moved into online learning in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, there was little information about how school social workers (SSWs) were responding to the crisis. This study used a national online survey to understand how SSWs ( N = 1,275) adapted their school practice during the initial 2020 COVID-19 crisis. Findings from this study indicate that SSWs made swift and (relatively) smooth adaptations of their traditional practice role to the new context, though not without reporting considerable professional stress and personal challenges doing so. SSWs reported significant concerns about their ability to deliver effective virtual school social work services given their students’ low motivation and lack of engagement with online learning, as well as significant worries about how their students were faring during the first months of the pandemic. Implications for school social work practice, policy, and research are discussed.


Despite their academic preparation and lived experiences, new school social workers face a learning curve when moving from entry-level practice to proficiency. The Art of Being Indispensable: What School Social Workers Need to Know in Their First Three Years of Practice is the first book focusing specifically on the needs of new school social workers as they transition to this complex role. Each of the book’s 20 chapters features an academic scholar and at least one school social work practitioner; overall, there are 18 academics and 42 practitioners from 28 different states. The diversity of the authors’ experiences, representing all variations of schools and districts, ensures that the content is applicable to a variety of practice contexts. Each chapter addresses the challenges of a public health pandemic and the impact of racial injustice. There is a timeless quality to this text since every year, new school social workers are being hired, whether from master of social work and bachelor of social work programs or from the ranks of professional social workers changing fields and becoming school social workers. This indispensable guide will help new school social workers to effectively execute their roles and responsibilities.


Author(s):  
Susan Flynn

Despite the traditional social justice mandate of social work, and critical and radical theoretical traditions that pursue egalitarian and just societies, the engagement of the social work academy with Irish politics has been underwhelming at best. While there are abstract analyses that address sociopolitical theory and ideological wrongdoings related to neoliberalist rationality, attention in social work academia to the nuts and bolts of everyday political life in Ireland, such as democratic party politics and electoral representation, leaves much to the imagination. This article therefore pursues a more grounded reading of social justice in Irish politics for social workers. The supporting proposition is that to effectively interject in political misrecognition and marginalisation, social workers must understand the present political state of play. Towards achieving this, Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition aids thematic critical commentary on the literature.


1980 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 5-11
Author(s):  
Marion Huxtable

Author(s):  
Abdulhadi Sharhan Alotaibi ◽  
Mohd Suhaimi Mohamad ◽  
Nor Jana Saim ◽  
Ezarina Zakaria

2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony S.K. Tam ◽  
Lilian P.K. Mong

English Job stress and perceived inequity are revealed as correlates of burnout among school social workers in Hong Kong. The findings do not support the expectation that burnout is general, in spite of the government’s reforms in the social welfare services. A sense of personal accomplishment may serve as a mediator. However, the respondents suffer from role strain and identity confusion due to lack of communication among schools authorities, students and parents. French Cet article décrit comment la conjugaison du stress au travail et inéquités perçues sont liées au `burnout' chez les travailleurs sociaux en milieu scolaire à Hong Kong. Les résultats ne semblent pas confirmer la croyance que le `burnout' existe de façon généralisée malgré les changements observables introduits par le gouvernement en vue d'améliorer l'efficacité des coûts des services de bien-être social. Un sentiment d'accomplissement personnel sert possiblement de médiation efficace. Les répondants souffrent néanmoins de tensions face à leur rôle et de confusion identitaire dues à l'incompréhension du rôle du travailleur social scolaire par les autorités scolaires, les étudiants et les parents. Spanish Este trabajo describe el agotamiento en el trabajo y la percepción de inequidad como correlatos del descontento entre los trabajadores sociales de la escuela en Hong Kong. Los hallazgos no parecen apoyar la expectativa de que el descontento exista como patrón general a pesar de los cambios observables introducidos por el gobierno en los servicios de bienestar social. Un sentido de realización personal puede servir como ,mediador efectivo. Sin embargo los entre,vistados padecen una tensión de rol y confusión de identidad que proviene de la falta de comunicación entre autoridades de la escuela, los estudiantes y los padres de familia.


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