Literature Review: Social Work Leadership in Schools

Literature Review: Social Work Leadership in Schools

School social workers are great assets to school communities. They provide links between students, educators, parents and school districts. Also, they take on many roles including student mediators, case managers, student advocates, and counselors. Typically, they serve important and unique roles. Not all schools have social workers. However, they are becoming more common as more students find comfort in talking about their everyday life problems.

As leaders, social workers play crucial roles in promoting students’ social-emotional learning and improving schools’ overall climates. In (2011), Laura Hopson’s and Hal Lawson’s authored the article “Social Workers Leadership for Positive School Climates via Data-Informed Planning and Decision-Making” to examine the roles of social work leadership in creating positive school climates. From their perspective, social work policy interventions such as the No Child Left Behind Act are important to improving student results. These legislation and policy interventions influence the design and implementation of programs that promote school climates. In their consideration, data-driven decision making is crucial to achieving positive school climates. They argue that data-driven decision making prioritizes students’ needs and other organizational factors that promote better academic outcomes. Thereon, they conducted a research study where data from a school district was used to explain the importance of positive school climates in improving students’ academic outcomes.

As reported by Hopson and  Lawson (2011), professional collaboration, as well as teamwork of school staff and social workers, are crucial to improving school climates. In this context, social workers and schools should collaboratively create foundations that nature positive relationships between students and their families. To achieve this, they should encourage parental involvement when planning for school activities. Such stratagems can enhance students’ socio-emotional competence and improve their academic outcomes on the whole. Besides, social workers can help create positive school climates by fostering effective communication and helping students to develop skills that promote positive school environments. The authors’ bottom line is that school social workers are leaders and through their expertise, play important roles in improving students’ outcomes and creating positive school climates.

Daly, Liou, Tran, & Cornelissen (2013) conducted a research study in an attempt to better understand the importance of good relationships between educators and social workers in implementing reforms that improve learning and teaching.  One of the functions of school social workers is to help school districts achieve their academic missions. One of the ways in which they carry out this role is by impacting academic reforms and introducing paradigms and innovative ideas that enhance the success of students. In this context, Daly, Liou, Tran, and Cornelissen (2013) argue that educators are crucial and should be engaged in any reform efforts and initiatives made towards promoting student success. Failure to do engage them only attracts significant sanctions. To enact school reforms effectively, the authors suggest the need for coherent and coordinated efforts between educators and social workers who in this case, serve as site leaders. In coming together and exchanging knowledge and expertise, educators and school social workers place themselves in more plausible positions of supporting and sustaining good change efforts.

In an attempt to gain a better understanding of the importance of desirable relationships between social workers and educators in making reforms, Daly, Liou, Tran, and Cornelissen (2013) administered a Leadership Network Survey questionnaire to several district leaders and principals in southern California schools. The participating educators had previously been sanctioned by the No Child Left Behind legislation for poor performance. The questionnaire required the participants to self-assess their personality traits and evaluate the effectiveness of their instructional forms of leadership. From their findings, most educators and district leaders perceived themselves as agreeable, conscientious and extraverted individuals. Also, their self-concepts revealed that they were individuals with less neuroticism. These personality traits were essential to their abilities in seeking and receiving advice from outward ties like social workers. Also, they felt competent enough to engage in leadership and management positions. Overall, the study was important in highlighting the value of seeking advice from social workers for successful reform efforts in schools. Besides, social workers have great capacity and are trained effectively to implement school reforms and empower communities. Therefore, as leaders, social workers ought to be involved in planning and implementing school reforms.

The principles of social justice are embedded in contemporary social work. As regards to school social work, social justice involves making sure that students acquire equal opportunities and that they get the necessities required to thrive in their academics. When school social workers engage in social justice, they ensure that students are treated humanely and with respect. Their overall main role in this context is to ensure that the students’ social wellbeing is protected. As claimed by Trujillo & Cooper (2014), educational researchers are all the time considering how social justice and its theoretical concepts prepare school social workers into becoming leaders. Hence, the authors sought to address gaps in existing literature as relates to the study as well as how pedagogy can effectively be constructed. By addressing these gaps, the researchers were in plausible positions of knowing how to measure the attitudes, knowledge, and skills f social workers when working towards achieving the goals of social justice.

Trujillo and Cooper’s (2014) article was essential to understanding the concepts of instructional and social justice leadership in the broader field of social work. This study’s findings can be used to enhance school programs for improving students’ outcomes. Overall, the article strived to improve emerging practice and theory of equity-oriented social justice leadership programs in schools. It provided a deep and sound understanding of the ways in which university-based programs prepare social workers to work towards social justice and equity in schools. In these circumstances, they are able to become great leaders as well as create and promote socially just school environments.

Over the years, social work leadership has faced many unprecedented challenges. Social care services continue to be subjected to many pressures. At the same time, the demand for these services is increasing, consequently placing huge burdens on social workers and their leaders. In this regard, it is important to have effective and confident social work leaders who can lead and inspire their teams even in complex and multifaceted situations. In school social work, good leadership is crucial to better impact and enhance the effectiveness of social care services. Moreover, it ensures that the school social work as a profession is sustained further into the future.

Sullivan’s (2016) article gives an overview of leadership in social work. It seems to Sullivan that social work leaders play unique functions in promoting social change and development in societies (Sullivan, 2016). However, they also face some obvious challenges in the field. These challenges include dwindling self-determination, government regulations and high burnout rate among others. Sullivan proceeds to distinguish the concepts of leadership and management and provides a chronological review of the development of leadership within social work. Also, he reviews the effectiveness of several leadership models within the practice.

From the study’s findings, the most suitable model of social work leadership is client-centered leadership. Sullivan argues that client-centered leadership complies with the goals and values that underlie the social work profession. In school settings, client-centered leadership is all about supporting the students and empowering them through useful change. Also, it helps to build commitment with other stakeholders who share in these students’ and schools’ goals. Therefore, school social works should embrace the client-centered model of leadership to make a useful change among students and relate clients.

As earlier mentioned, one of the social workers’ roles is to identify factors that influence students’ success and assist students to maximize their academic outcomes. Cuellar, Elswick, & Theriot( 2017) conducted a research study to understand how school safety strategies and practices affect students and their overall school environments. According to the authors, there is a large research base on students’ and school personnel’s perceptions regarding safety in schools. However, school social workers are not involved in discussions regarding school safety as much as they should. For this reason, the authors conducted a research study in which data was collected from social school workers in schools all across America.

This study’s purpose was to examine the participants’ views regarding school safety. As a result, the authors were in a better position to give timely and useful implications regarding school safety from a distinctive perspective. This study provided great insight into what school social workers and educators alike should be reviewing when determining the best applicable safety strategies and practices for their schools. Hence it is safe to say that as leaders, school social workers have a crucial role in promoting safety in schools.

References

Cuellar, M. J., Elswick, S. E., & Theriot, M. T. (2017). School Social Workers’ Perceptions of School Safety and Security in Today’s Schools: A Survey of Practitioners Across the United States. Journal of School Violence, 1-13.

Daly, A. J., Liou, Y.-H., Tran, N. A., & Cornelissen, F. (2013). The Rise of Neurotics: Social Networks, Leadership, and Efficacy in District Reform. Educational Administration Quarterly, 50(2), 1-46.

Hopson, L., & Lawson, H. (2011). Social Workers’ Leadership for Positive School Climates via Data-informed Planning and Decision Makin. Children and Schools, 33(2), 106-118.

Sullivan, W. P. (2016). Leadership in Social Work: Where Are We? Journal of social work education, 52(1), s51-s61.

Trujillo, T., & Cooper, R. ( 2014). Framing Social Justice Leadership in a University-Based Program; The University of California’s Principal Leadership Institute. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 1–26.