The Provision of School Social Work Intervention Services: A Case Study of Schools in Johannesburg

Abstract

School Social Work has been practised for decades in countries such as the United States of America, Australia, and the United Kingdom. However, in South Africa although social work is widely practised, not many of these professionals are placed in schools. School social work intervention is described as the first experience of psychological support that most children receive. However, many schools in South Africa are without access to school social workers. Hence, they rely on one regional social worker who services multiple schools. Wealthy schools have access to multiple professionals such as educational psychologists and social workers, to provide learner support. The use of non-probability purposeful sampling was applied in this qualitative study, 10 social workers, who were placed in: public schools, governing-body schools, and private schools, which represent different socio-economic communities in Johannesburg. Data were collected through interviews and the use of a semi-structured interview schedule and thematic coding was utilised for data analysis. Findings reveal the complex and ununified state of school social work They also shed light that there is a need to train more school social workers, especially those rendering services to learners with special needs. Additionally, there is a need for more resources, and staff to be made available, especially in public schools totally dependent on the government for funding to ensure the provision of high-quality school social work services. The main findings also indicate that many school learners occasionally experience some form of psychosocial challenges, which requires support from a social worker. However, many schools’ social workers are inundated with high caseloads. Therefore, the study concludes that there is a need for more school social work services. This is because many children in public-schools are more disadvantaged due to inaccessibility of school social workers. Thus, the burden is placed on teachers to teach while they also identify learners’ need and support them