1. School Social Work Practice â
Connecting Schools, Families and
Communities
Presented by:
Bimal Antony
II MSW, No. 111
2. School Social Work
ï¶ facilitate successful learning outcomes through the
relief of distress and removal of barriers or inequities.
ï¶ coordinating and influencing the efforts of the school,
family and community
3. SSW â Major Areas of Practice
âą Direct Practice with students/families/school personnel
âą School Social Work Service Management
âą School Development and System Change
âą Education, School and other Policy
âą Research into education, family, child/youth issues
âą Education & Professional Development.
4. Schools and Community
âą Strengthening schools and improving their power to help
young people succeed.
âą Improving transitions for young people across developmental
levels and learning environments.
âą Building the capacity of parents and community organizations
to support young peopleâs healthy development.
âą Preparing young people for college and careers.
âą Strengthening neighbourhoods and entire communities.
5. Schools and Family
Epsteinâs framework outlines six dimensions of parent-school partnerships
ï Parenting
ï Assisting families with parenting skills
ï setting home conditions to support children as students
ï assisting schools to understand families
ï Communicating
ï effective communications from school-to-home and
from home-to-school about school programs and student
progress
6. Schools and Family contd...
ï Volunteering
ï Organizing volunteers and audiences to support the
school and students
ï Learning at Home
ï Involving families with their children on homework and
other curriculum-related activities and decisions
ï Decision Making
ï Including families as participants in school decisions
and developing parent leaders and representatives
7. Schools and Family contd...
ï Collaborating with the Community
ï Coordinating resources and services from the
community for families, students, and the school, and
providing services to the community
8. References
ï Linda Taylor, Ph.D, Howard S. Adelman, Ph.D (2000): Connecting
Schools, Families and Communities, California: ASCA.
ï Linda Taylor, Ph.D, Howard S. Adelman, Ph.D (2008): Fostering School,
Family, and Community Involvement, Washington: Hamilton Fish Institute
on School and Community Violence.
ï Jeanne Jehl (2007): Connecting SCHOOLS, FAMILIES &
COMMUNITIES, Maryland: The Annie E. Casey Foundation.
ï Catherine Jordan, Evangelina Orozco, Amy Averett (2001): Emerging
Issues in School, Family, & Community Connections, Texas: Southwest
Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL).
ï Debbie Ellis, Kendra Hughes (2002): partnerships by design - Cultivating
Effective and Meaningful School-Family-Community Partnerships, Portland:
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.
Why Collaboration Is NeededConcern about violence at schools provides opportunities for enhancing connections with families and other neighbourhood resources. However, in too many cases, those responsible for school safety act as if violence on the campus had little to do with home and community. Children and adolescents do not experience such a separationâfor them violence is a fact of life.The problem goes well beyond the widely reported incidents that capture media attention. For children, the most common forms of violence are physical, sexual, and psychosocial abuse experienced at school, at home, and in the neighbourhood. There are no good data on how many youngsters are affected by all the forms of violence or how many are debilitated by such experiences. But no one who works to prevent violence would deny that the numbers are large. Far too many youngsters are caught up in cycles where they are the recipient or perpetrator (and sometimes both) of harassment ranging from excessive teasing, bullying, and intimidation to mayhem and major criminal acts.Clearly, the problem is widespread and is linked with other problems that are significant barriers to development, learning, parenting, teaching, and socialization. As a consequence, single-factor solutions will not work. This is why guides to safe school planning emphasize such elements as schoolwide prevention, intervention, and emergency response strategies, positive school climate, partnerships with law enforcement, mental health and social services, and family and community involvement. (See the other titles in the âEffective Strategies for Creating Safer Schools and Communitiesâ series for information on these areas of emphasis.)The need is for a full continuum of interventionsâranging from primary prevention, through interventions as early after onset as is feasible, to treatment of individuals with severe, pervasive, and chronic problems. School and community policymakers must quickly move to embrace comprehensive, multifaceted schoolwide and communitywide approaches. And, they must do so in a way that fully integrates such approaches with school improvement efforts at every school site.