Noticing ‘them things that may have gone amiss otherwise’: exploring social work placements in schools in England

ABSTRACT

Schools play a crucial in the lives of children, families and communities and are increasingly used by social work programmes in England for practice learning. This qualitative study involved in-depth semi structured interviews with ten social work students who had undertaken at least one placement in a school in England. The aim of this study was to understand social work students’ experiences of placements in schools and to explore the benefits and challenges associated with school-based placements. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, manually coded and analyzed for broad themes. The findings indicate a lack of clarity about the roles and tasks expected of student social workers in schools and highlights some benefits for children and families. Implications for social work education and practice are identified.

KEYWORDS:

• School social work
• students
• England
• placements
• practice learning child welfare

Introduction

Social workers in schools (SWiS) is common practice in the United States of America (Altshuler & Webb, 2009), New Zealand (Beddoe et al., 2018), South Africa (Vergottini, 2019) and Australia (Testa, 2023). Although England does not have this role in all schools, it has been reported by Rafter (2022) that with an emphasis on early help and a better understanding, the role of SWiS would be a welcome addition wherever possible.

Westlake et al. (2020) argued that the increasing numbers of children in Local Authority Care in England make schools an important space where early safeguarding concerns might be flagged and addressed. However, the findings from a recent pilot study in England, funded by the Department for Education (DfE), identified that there was no decrease in referrals to children’s social care from the schools where social workers were employed (What Works for Children’s Social Care, 2023).

In this paper, we present the findings about the experiences of ten student social workers undertaking their placements in schools in England drawing from a larger 2-year study into the role and purpose of school social work. We argue that if schools are places where students can develop their social work knowledge and skills, then there should be more opportunities for qualified social workers in these spaces. These findings also extend literature on school social work in England and specifically the value of social work students in schools (SWSiS) for their placements.

Social workers in schools

Research about social workers in schools is drawn from the United States of America (USA) where this practice is well embedded and recognized. Globally, countries such as South Africa (Vergottini, 2019) and United Arab Emirates (Tedam, 2020) have recognized the role and value of school social workers and crucially, the need for student placements in schools and education establishments. Tedam (2022) proposed that school social workers could be used to advance the realization of some of the sustainable development goals.

According to Vergottini (2019, pp. 37–38):

School social work is the application of social work principles and methods within the education system in order to render holistic social work services to learners, parents, educators and the school as community, with the main goal of addressing personal, emotional, socioeconomic and behavioural barriers to learning and create an environment where the learner can reach his or her full potential.

Testa (2023) citing the Australian Association of Social work (AASW) argues that the role of SWiS is ‘the relief of distress, the removal of barriers or inequities, and the development of safe and inclusive schools and communities’ (AASW, 2020, p. 4).

Social work placements in schools

There are different routes to social work qualification in England including post-graduate or under-graduate as well as employer-led pathways such as apprenticeships. However, placement requirements are the same regardless of the route taken (Ixer et al., 2022). Practice learning in social work has been described as the ‘signature pedagogy’ of professional training (Wayne et al., 2010). Social Work England (SWE, 2023) mandates every social work student to undertake 200 days of practice learning split as 30 skills days which can be embedded into the curriculum by universities, 70 days in an initial placement and 100 days for the second and final placement. The initial and final placement must also provide students with contrasting learning experiences (Ixer et al., 2022). Traditionally these contrasting placements have been in a voluntary, independent, or not for profit organizations for first placement (such as schools) and statutory social work organization for final placement (Beesley, 2020). The professional regulator (SWE) requires students to undertake placements in two different settings and in places where professional skills can be developed and enhanced.

For social work students in schools (SWSiS) to be successful, Testa (2011) suggests that they should provide the student with opportunities to develop professionalism, understand and apply theory in their practice and engage in research. Learning opportunities for SWSiS are provided by on-site supervisors (OSS) usually someone positioned as the Designated Safeguarding Lead, Inclusion Officer, Special Education Needs Coordinator and so on who make sure the student is allocated work. The overall assessment of student’s learning as per social work assessment frameworks, is done by an external social work practice educator, commonly referred as off-site practice educator, who takes on board feedback from the OSS on student’s progress.

Whilst there is no formal and recognized role of social workers in schools in England, it is acknowledged that schools offer and provide a range of opportunities for social work students to develop and enhance their skills. Recent policy updates have recommended that social workers assess and intervene ‘with peer groups, schools, and public places where extra-familial harm (EFH) can occur to support young people and families affected’ (Firmin & Lloyd, 2022 p. 1). Morse (2019) reported that schools come second after the police for safeguarding referrals to social services. Schools thus provide early intervention and prevention work for children and families who may not necessarily meet the threshold of care for social support (Wilkin et al., 2008). Such shifts have seen renewed interest for social worker roles in schools (Rafter, 2022). Consequently, in the United Arab Emirates University for example, all first placements must be undertaken in schools as schools are one of the largest employers of social workers in the UAE (Tedam et al., 2021). Students can integrate services between education and social services to better meet the needs of children in schools (Wilkin et al., 2008).There is growing research internationally in the area of school social work and the role that SWiS play in the lives of children and the school community. What is less researched is schools as placement opportunities for students of social work.

The study

This qualitative exploratory study became necessary to better understand school social work in England and specifically the benefits and challenges such placements present to all involved. The study took place during the COVID-19 pandemic although participants did not necessarily undertake their placements during the pandemic. Only two out of the ten students undertook their placement during the pandemic. This study explored the overarching question ‘what is the role and purpose of school social work’.

Ten students and three practice educators took part in this study, however we present the findings only in relation to students in this paper.

Methods

A semi structured interview protocol was designed to gain insight into students’ understanding of their roles within schools. There were ten questions often followed by probing questions (Appendix 1) and interviews lasted up to one hour. Participants were asked to describe their roles within schools, the challenges they experienced and how they contributed to children’s wellbeing. The research protocol for this study was approved by United Arab Emirates University [anonymized for peer review] in May 2020 and funded by grant number G00003331 [anonymized for peer review]

Participant recruitment and selection

Participants were recruited through social media (twitter, linkedin) and using purposive snowball approaches where participants recommended others to take part. Participants must have completed or nearing completion, at least one placement in a school setting in England. Ten undergraduate participants were recruited and interviewed as shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Participant profiles.

Name	Type of School	Placement Days	Gender	Ethnicity
Emefa	Primary	70	Female	Black African
Remi	Secondary	70	Male	Black African
Temi	Primary	70	Female	Black Caribbean
Olivia	Primary	70 (in Covid)	Female	Black African
Sandra	Primary	70	Female	Black African
Don	Therapeutic primary school	70 day (in Covid)	Male	Black African
Mandy	Secondary school	80 days	Female	White British
Tanisha	Primary	70 day	Female	Black African
Sheila	Primary school	70 day	Female	Black African
Rose	Primary	70 day	Female	Back African

Data collection

Participation was voluntary and interviews were scheduled at the convenience of the participants who had also been advised that they could withdraw from the study at any point. Due to COVID-19 precautions, interviews were conducted online using MS Teams or Zoom and participants responded verbally to their consent which was captured during transcription. After each interview, the recordings were downloaded and manually transcribed. Interviews occurred between June 2020–March 2021.

Data analysis

The findings discussed here are part of a larger research project which explored the question ‘what is the role and purpose of school social work’ in three jurisdictions- England, Ghana and the United Arab Emirates. Some of these findings have already been reported (Tedam, 2022) exploring specifically the contribution of school social work to the realization of the sustainable development goals. The findings reported here are specifically from the participant cohort in England.

Semi-structured in-depth interviews were used to elicit responses from participants. All interviews were recorded, manually transcribed, read and re-read by both authors independently to gain familiarity with the data. Using Braun and Clarke’s (2021) six step process, data was thematically manually coded. The opening question, ‘tell me about your role and involvement in the school’ was a useful introduction into the discussion and enabled the participants to take this in whichever direction they felt was appropriate. This generated themes broadly assigned to benefits or challenges of SWSiS.

For the purposes of this paper, we have identified the broad themes of benefits, challenges and opportunities. Pseudonyms are used in this paper.

Researcher positionality

Both authors are Black, female, social work academics with an interest in the potential of school social work to support families and enhance the wellbeing of children. The lead author works at a university (outside of the UK) where all social work students undertake their first placements in schools. Additionally, both authors have experienced hesitance from social work students assigned to schools for their placements, as students sometimes viewed placements in schools as less challenging and more difficult to meet the professional capabilities framework. Students from Black and racially minoritised backgrounds have highlighted being disadvantaged in placement allocation where the placement required the use of a car (Bartoli et al., 2008). This could in part account for the over-representation of Black African students in this study.

Limitations of the study

Although this study offers important empirical insights into an under researched area, it is not without limitations. One limitation is the timing of the study which occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the unpredictability of how long the lock down, social distancing and work from home measures would last, it was not possible to suspend interviews in order to have them in person. Interviews were conducted online via MS Teams or Zoom and it has been argued by Archibald et al. (2019) that these forms of data collection are not new, but became popular during the pandemic and that they are relatively easy to use, cost-effective and have data management and security options.

Discussion of findings

We noted that all student participants in this study had undertaken or were in a school for their first placement of 70 (or in one case 80 days), and not the longer second placement which is around 130 days. This mirrors the process in the United Arab Emirates University (Tedam et al., 2021) and also aligns with the expectations by SWE that only initial placements can be within the PVI or not-for-profit sector which can enhance skills required for social work tasks.

Two students were in secondary schools, eight in primary schools working with children between the ages 5–16 or 18. The findings evidence the appropriateness of these schools for social work students who were able to meet all nine professional capabilities Framework (PCF) domains and social work values.

We present our qualitative findings alongside the discussion as a way adequately addressing the benefits and challenges of undertaking placements in schools.

Theme 1 benefits of school placements

Broadly under this theme, participants articulated variously how placements in schools benefitted children and their families as well as how school placements developed them as students.

Benefits for children and their families

One of the benefits identified was that social workers in school settings had opportunities to provide intervention services that were more focussed on individual need and not specifically time restricted as would usually occur in statutory service provisions.

Remi stated that:

It was a secondary school and basically I had about 2 roles I can say, one was to support young people with behavioural needs and err that was just a matter of mentoring them to know what is right and what is wrong, the consequences of their behaviour

before expanding that he supported young people with direct work sessions to explore the reasons for and impact of missing school.

He continued:

we had children who also displayed those behaviours not because they were just difficult young people, but because of various things that were going on in their life, coming from families with domestic violence, separation or substance misuse and those things were impacting on their day to day behaviours. So talking to them through that, you end up in a position of discussing it with the families, to say look, this is the impact of what you are doing at home and it’s impacting the learning of your child

What Remi appears to be referring to is what Pascoe et al. (2020) posit as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) which may impact attainment of students’ health and wellbeing, consequently positive educational outcomes, if not addressed in the learning environments these ACEs are observed. Remi’s statement evidenced the ways in which he addressed these issues as a student social worker.

Sandra articulated her role was:

mainly about checking attendance records. If there were children who were kind of missing school quite a lot, we were approaching the parents just to find out why the child was coming late or why the child does not come into school. We would find ways of supporting parents

Jarolmen (2013) noted that SWiS support students through issues associated with interpersonal conflict or intrapersonal difficulties including aspects such as attendance, grades, and tardiness which could signal distress for the students exhibiting those behaviors. Conversely, these inter/intrapersonal issues require close monitoring for congruent support provision, sometimes on a daily basis, and student or social workers positioned in a school are more suited to provide that consistent support during the course of their placement duration. Rose reflected

I worked mainly with a diverse group of children and their families who were experiencing difficult arrays of issues such as challenging behaviour, learning disability, domestic and emotional abuse, and violence within the home. Then also we had a breakdown of family relationship, mental health with the parents and social isolation as well.

This corresponds with the AASW’s (2020) position statement mentioned earlier regarding provision of necessary support for the wider family and meets PCF,3, 4 and 5). Participants had more time to focus on the wellbeing, safeguarding and emotional distress of students, as whilst allowing teachers to focus on the educational element. Rose remarked

‘so, what I did prior to that meeting is, do thorough work with the children. Just to get information and hear their voice and just advocate for them in the meeting’.

Sheila commented ’so the nurture group it works with children, also, like who are having behaviour, issues at home, issues in class or just concentrating, the kind of like a timeout in the afternoon to just come in maybe have some toast, play games and then we’ll just talk about what’s going on. What’s working well and what’s not working well’.

SWSiS therefore provide the link of support between home and school, therefore promote educational achievement regardless of what could be happening at home as they bridge the impact on those experiences of school engagement and attainment. In so doing, Sheila was able to meet PCF 1, 2 and 7.

Rafter (2022) discusses the centrality of schools on providing contextual safeguarding around issues of bullying, special educational needs support in schools, friendship rivalries, supporting children and families with routines, managing issues around neglect and so on. A few participants highlighted similar themes, for example Mandy said she

would do pre-assessment with them and see what I would need to support them with … . try and look at things through the whole sort of network like home life, school life, friendship groups, how they would be impacted and then I would just do direct work with them.

Temi reflected I was allocated for example one child who had anxiety problems where she was having panic attacks like every day in the class, so I was allocated that child … . behavioural issues cos a lot of them had behavioural issues.

In essence, participants had the time to provide early intervention support which meets the needs of pupils who were involved with social care. McAllister (2022) notes that early intervention support improves outcomes for children and families whilst informing long-term sustainable positive difference, a point that Rafter (2022) refers to as SWiS interrupt risk and bring protection to the pupils.

The advocacy role for SWiS within early intervention services was also prominent as another finding. Although implemented on a micro-level, interviewees discussed advocacy as a critical role for SWiS that impacted macro systems of support for the children they supported in school. In fact, the safeguarding role in school settings involved analyzing behaviors in school pupils such as unauthorized absences and/or engagement with school peers to explore the impact on overall wellbeing, safety, welfare and educational outcomes for school children (Department for Education, 2023). More often, such analysis leads to understanding of micro needs, which informs advocacy on a macro level for where there are concerns about a child and their engagement to education. The knowledge that young people experience significant harm in a range of social contexts and from adults and peers unconnected to their caregivers (Firmin, 2020) is specific to social work practitioners who can then explore such concerns in early help discussions to determine congruent support packages with other practitioners (Department for Education, 2023). Sandra discussed negotiating for healthy meal provisions for the families of the children she supported. Research from the USA outlines multiple benefits of social workers in schools including early intervention in the lives of vulnerable children as required. For SWSiS the ability to recognize and support children who did not always bring lunch to school was highlighted in various ways:

Checking on school lunches- what was in the lunch box this was just trying to maintain a balanced diet for children.

(Rose)

We got to a point where we felt that food was not good enough we would speak to mum or could apply for school dinners or get support from school.

(Tanisha)

I remember a child who used to bring cold chips almost every day. (Rose)

These statements express ways in which PCF 1, 3, 4 and 9 were met through addressing the wellbeing needs of children either through direct provision of meals and snacks or supporting parents to apply for free school meals which they might not have been aware they were entitled to.

Social work students as ‘protective factors’ for school pupils

The relationships that social work students established with school staff, with pupils and their families, was key to safeguarding. Temi asserted

‘I couldn’t just ignore and not work with the child ‘cos sometimes children will tell you things that they will never tell their parents.’

Similarly, Mandy stated, you

know you’re there as a sort of safety net so you can kind of; like one day we were walking down the corridor and there was a boy with a black eye and you know we were able to just bring him in, find out how that happened, is everything ok, what’s going on, you know, so we were there sort of straight away just to notice them things that may have gone amiss otherwise’.

The black eye was a consequence of bullying in school’. Extra familial harm acknowledges that school pupils may be relatively safe with their caregivers in the majority of cases but at risk of significant harm from peers and or adults unconnected to their families (Firmin & Lloyd, 2022). Addressing the issue at the point that it occurs becomes an important intervention strategy to address issues such as bullying. This type of intervention from Mandy highlights that SWSiS were able to address the pupils’ needs quite quickly.

Research has shown that many pupils in schools struggle to respond effectively to the school environment due to the stress experienced in home (Openshaw, 2008) and the SWiS can work toward early intervention strategies to minimize risk to children (Tedam, 2022). Indeed the SWIS can positively influence the relationships between the pupil, school and the family to encourage pupils to overcome obstacles which may impede their academic and social success while in education (Tedam, 2022). Subsequently, school social workers and educators (teachers, school counselors, Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators, therapeutic support, designated safeguarding leads) help to cultivate psychological and physical safety with the pupils they support (Kelly et al., 2022). Participants undertook significant family engagement work, building the capacities of the young person in education through addressing individual needs whilst co-ordinating with the school educators to achieve positive educational outcomes. This approach places the SWSiS or practitioners as protective agents in education settings.

Benefits for social work students

All participants described being creative and innovative in their approaches to meet the needs of the children and families they supported. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2016) notes that innovative projects in schools and education cannot happen in a vacuum but rather require openness and interactions between systems and their environments. Alongside the clarified expectation for students to support pupils with issues of anger, bullying, self-esteem, and emotional well-being (Gregson & Fielding, 2012); to keep children safe in education, SWSiS worked to promote holistic early intervention through working closely with the parents of the pupils. Wilson and Hillison (2005) found that SWSiS contributed to early intervention support which reduced stigma associated with directly accessing statutory social work services for children and families. All participants introduced new ideas or projects within the schools. Temi, for example arranged English language classes for parents and sourced a facilitator from a charitable organization to run this group at the school. Remi introduced a mentoring group for pupils at his school. Mandy introduced a period poverty awareness class. Sandra introduced healthy eating and provided access to community support for migrant families with limited recourse to public funds. Mandy said,

I advocated for parents in terms of language … … . for them to receive food and all that, and send them to agencies where they were receiving donations, and also approached the council. Because there was a huge percentage of parents who could not speak or understand English.

Temi stated,

I set up a tea and coffee meeting with the parents and that was through the school newsletter. So I created an advert and I did a little profile about myself, and I’m based in the school and I invited all the parents for an informal chat so they could be familiarised with me and know exactly what I could help them with.

Temi’s proactivity, innovation and ethical approach are applaudable. Nevertheless, this is only possible because she had a completely separate role from teaching staff. Gregson and Fielding (2012) found that SWSiS had ample opportunities to consider professional values as they worked within the different value systems of teaching staff and other professionals. Whilst Temi had relied on bilingual teachers or staff members to help interpret she quickly identified that communicating with parents and children in this way slowed down their work in the school. One of the principles of Working Together (HM Government, 2023) regards safeguarding children as ensuring that children can grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care whilst taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes. It cannot be questioned that Temi’s actions to introduce a class for the parents and enable effective communication works toward ensuring sufficient inclusion for decision making for children and their families. Temi also responded to a need in the community to promote inclusion through enabling migrant parents to communicate well, understand the expectations of education and access necessary school support for their children in England school culture. Chavkin (2017) proposes that SWSiS pick up and address issues relating to safeguarding children, resulting in better integration akin to the social pedagogic model. The experiences of supporting migrant families and advocating for parental support in order to meet the children’s needs was reported by other students interviewed including Sandra who had interacted with a parent: ‘

she showed me she had a lot of bruises because of their attire, which covers the whole body in detail what was going on. So she had bruises all over her head. And she lifted up the top. She had bruises all over. She didn’t know what to do because she was on the husband’s visa.’

Sandra then signposted this mother to domestic violence support services in the community.

The use of early prevention and intervention strategies by SWSiS to explore supportive strategies which enhance their decision making and professional identity is evident here. Sheila indicated

because the teachers are overwhelmed with the job that they do without having to worry about the social side of things … . trying to find oh why are you not wearing the school shoes … the teacher doesn’t have that time to stop the whole day to find out why that child didn’t get breakfast. So me being there or social workers being in the school. They’re able to find out why you’re not having breakfast, what’s going on at home? Then they can follow that up with the parents and try to find out if they have any financial difficulties.

Overall, students’ experiences above highlight the centrality of their professional identity formation and skills development to work collaboratively with other professionals as the lead professional, which only contributes to extending their learning and growth.

Theme 2- challenges

Role & scope (boundaries)

Role confusion has been found elsewhere to be a feature of SWiS where there may be blurred boundaries or battles for recognition by multi-agency stakeholders (Testa, 2023). One student explained the lack of clarity of the role in her school. This lack of clarity is not uncommon especially where schools were offering placements for the first time. This lack of clarity especially at the beginning of the placement is shared by Sandra when she said:

‘I wasn’t sure about what I was supposed to be doing’

Such a sentiment is supported by Westlake et al. (2020) who found there to be a risk of social workers encroaching on the duties of other professionals. There is a risk of the role becoming one that has been likened to a ‘garbage can’ which Kjellgren et al. (2022) argue is when SWiS are given tasks that lie outside the remit of social work due to a lack of understanding about the role.

Issues of trust were raised by a few participants. For example, Remi cautioned:

it is difficult for someone walking into a school and get impact straight away. For young people who have not been trusted and who have not been listened to, you need to build rapport, get their trust. It is a process you need to get over time. They will only accept your support if they trust you.

Remi continued to say that this lack of trust was also related to teachers and other staff. He said ‘there is a culture of under, mistrust and thinking that you do not know much. They do not respect you because you are a student’.

Olivia echoed this view about the importance of rapport building with children and young people. She stated that ‘young people have got trust problems, building relationships is one of the things I learned from working within a school’

Limited safeguarding support during Covid

Challenges for SWSiS were exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Children were not seen as they became inaccessible to school staff when lockdown was introduced and subsequently their voices and needs were not sufficiently heard either., Luthar et al. (2021) from USA found that the most significant impact of the pandemic has been on the mental health of children and their caregivers. In the UK, Ford et al. (, p. 1) found that the ‘mental health of the UK’s children and young people was deteriorating before the pandemic, while health, educational, and social outcomes for children with mental health conditions were worse’. At a time when increased support measures would have promoted positive safeguarding outcomes through young people’s visibility to services, the lockdowns meant that these young people became further disadvantaged and were less visible to safeguarding support. Factors such as the disruption in children’s lives due to remote schooling, reduced time with friends, parental stress, economic costs to families, and the loss of loved ones contributed immensely to school children’s inaccessibility to school staff as families had to adjust and manage the imminent pressures presented by these factors (Luthar et al., 2021). Ultimately, with children not attending school, the scope for school staff (including social work students) to identify pupils requiring safeguarding support was reduced.

On the theme of children not being seen during the pandemic, Olivia had this to say:

when schools closed this was really tough and unknown territory because we knew about some vulnerable children. She went on to say they were at risk of not getting enough food, health risks, risk of abuse because staying at home with their parents who couldn’t feed them must have caused tempers to rise in the home

A critical role for schools is that they have a statutory duty to identify and support vulnerable children in need to enjoy and achieve in education whilst intervening for those students considered to be at risk of significant harm from their familial environments. On placement during Covid-19, Olivia and Don reported their anxiety around switching off from their ethical duties to safeguard the most vulnerable pupils whom they supported. They reported feeling worried about the pupils’ wellbeing in the absence of any professionals to visibly monitor their health and wellbeing. Both students noted how observing the children in the school setting gave them re-assurance and a sense of working together with the family to ensure that at least the pupils were supported appropriately according to their social and educational needs. Many families faced financial adversity, struggled to home school their children whilst adjusting to working from home themselves, and risked experiencing vicious cycles of increasing distress adjusting to living through a pandemic (Ford et al., 2021).

Olivia offered the view that they were ‘pleased when the government offered vouchers to parents to help them get food for their families’ and that ‘it really helped put the teachers at ease’

Remote learning placed more responsibility for learning on parents and guardians who were also experiencing worries and uncertainties regarding how best to support their children during the pandemic as well as experiencing mental exhaustion from juggling multiple responsibilities (Shum et al., 2023). Parents, carers and guardians played a crucial role in influencing their children’s wellbeing and education, but when there were existing safeguarding concerns, Olivia and Don noted that the reduced visibility of those pupils through lockdown impacted assurance of their well-being and safety.

The quality of decision making through collaboration with other agencies about whether a child required safeguarding was subsequently reduced during lockdown because schools had limited access to extended family members (such as grandparents, uncles or aunts) and friends or community groups that were networks of support. Both Olivia and Don who were interviewed as they were on placements during lockdown reported that many of the children they supported became more vulnerable and at risk of abuse or harm as a consequence of their parents, caregivers or guardians managing complexities of living in a pandemic.

Don shared that he ‘covered the early intervention support and made referrals to social services before lockdown. During lockdown this became more difficult, mmmmm, so I think some children went under the radar when they were at risk.

According to Olivia

some parents were also struggling with mental health or loss of income. This is just my view because at least when the kids were in school, they could get fed a normal meal; breakfast and lunch was guaranteed. So when at home, no one really knew, err if the teachers could be confident that these kids had food.

She continued to say

so many of the kids who are vulnerable I think were more at risk honestly. At risk of not getting enough food to eat, health risks, risk of abuse because staying at home with their parents who couldn’t feed them must have caused tempers to rise in the home, in some cases, of course not everyone.

Resources in the school, including staffing levels, masks, sanitizing gels and social distancing measures for example were put in place but these were more problematic to implement efficiently as guided by medical experts in schools where students had Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SENDs). Don stated that he was placed in a school for children with autism or on the spectrum, and adhering to the social distancing measures was difficult despite the bubbles, given that the children could not fully comprehend the risks with Covid. Toseeb et al. (2020) further uncovered that many families with children who had SEND experienced varied unmet support needs during the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK, a risk highlighted by Don and Olivia.

Don and Olivia presented as conflicted about their role to safeguard and manage risk whilst showing empathy during the COVID-19 pandemic as the two roles became intrinsically linked. Whilst social isolation became the norm overnight to manage the spread of COVID-19 infection, social isolation in itself posed a risk for children with SENDs who thrive on carefully established relationships and routines. Measures such as self-isolation and social distancing, which were limiting and difficult for majority neurotypical individuals to adjust to, were particularly challenging for children with SENDs and their families, given their reliance on routines and relationships as well as professional and informal support (Toseeb et al., 2020). Individualised care equipment and professional expertise that could be provided in a school environment only was therefore not readily available anymore and Olivia commented that empathic responses and emotional support to the pupils became the key principles of practice for his role to ensure he maintained a supportive role sensitively for the students he worked with. It came across as though Don himself thought he was almost privileged at the time to still be alive to offer support to others as he stated that ‘as a Black male it was tough going into placement when every day I saw on the news of people dying, particularly Black people’ and that the goal was to get through the placement ‘alive at least’. Don was a Black male, diagnosed with an enduring medical illness which also placed him as high risk of contracting Covid, and despite being a key worker at that particular time, he expressed disappointment that social workers were not prioritised for the vaccine. Limited safeguarding in this case was two-fold, for the students he was supporting but for himself as someone medically at high risk of getting COVID-19 infection. By virtue of the concerns they raised of school pupils’ going off the radar, It would seem Don and Olivia prioritized the wellbeing of pupils over their own during the pandemic, demonstrating social work values and principles in action.

Implications for social work education and practice

This research aimed to understand the role and purpose of school social work in England and this uncovered social work students experiences of placements in schools. SWSiS gained experience in and contributed to children’s overall wellbeing by enabling access to early and preventative support. Students were innovative and developed a range of skills, drawing upon various theories and practice models. Universities should ensure better preparedness of their students for school placements because participants felt that they needed to be better prepared through the curriculum.

SWSiS can engage children in discussions about equality and diversity. E. Wilson et al. (2023) in their Irish study used the dialogue approach to explore the topic of racism with teenagers in an Irish school. One key conclusion was that anti-racism policies and education are required as the majority of the students were unaware of systemic racism. Additionally, the Rafter et al. (2024) study found that SWSiS support interventions with secondary school students who identify as LGBTQIA+, two examples of how anti-racist, anti-homophobic and intersectional work can be undertaken by SWSiS.

Universities and practice educators can encourage students to initiate and develop projects and programs to address issues of inclusion, diversity and equality which will enable students to achieve PCF domains 3, 5,6 and SWE practice standards.

Kjellgren et al. (2022) reported the importance of collaboration to make SWiS a viable and effective addition to the team within schools. However, to avoid the ‘garbage can’ outcome it is imperative that better structures and processes are put in place to ensure the roles, duties and responsibilities of student social workers in schools is clear and unambiguous. This emphasizes the importance of interprofessional learning at University also proposed by Gherardi et al. (2022).

According to Dupper (2003) SWiS provides explorations of reciprocal interactions of students with environmental factors where each child is treated as an inseparable part of various other social systems. The notion of interactions here equates to the centrality of key relationships contributing to the pupils’ overall wellbeing and achievement in education. Mandy, for example, met PCF domains 1, 8 and 9 by introducing a project on period poverty after noticing the school was in a deprived area and many of the girls could not afford sanitary products.

Westlake et al. (2020) present that social workers can identify common issues in schools and challenge current ways of working. Mandy confirmed that she was allocated the lead on triaging safeguarding referrals, worked closely with the social worker for some of the children on a Child in Need plan, undertook direct work alongside introducing the poverty project. This seemed to increase her own confidence as she stated ‘I suppose that was a very good contribution because I contributed to the whole school’.

According to Donagh (2020) children and young people continually tell social workers that school is one of the places they feel safe enough to ask for help, for this reason SWiS and SWSiS can promote trauma-sensitive schools which Cole et al. (2013) say is one ‘in which all students feel safe, welcomed, and supported and where addressing trauma’s impact on learning on a schoolwide basis is at the center of its educational mission’ (p. 11). This is a key role played directly and indirectly by SWSiS who participated in this research.

Finally, there is also evidence of the value of specialist Masters and post graduate programs in school social work (eg. University of Witwatersrand, South Africa) and this may be a consideration for CPD in the future.

Recommendations and future research

There is scope to examine SWSiS in the four countries of UK, alongside the involvement and role of staff (teachers, pastoral leads, Designated Safeguarding Leads, Inclusion Officers, Special Education Needs Co-ordinators and so forth) as on-site supervisors. Schools have become increasingly diverse (Wilson et al., 2023) not only in terms of the student population but also in the specific staff needed to support the varied diverse needs of their students to promote inclusive teaching approaches. With SWSiS on track to become more prominent in the UK (Rafter, 2022) as in other parts of the world like America, Australia and United Arab Emirates, additional research is important.

Another strand of research for the future is exploring the role of off-site practice educators for SWSiS.

Conclusion

The opportunities afforded by SWiS has been addressed in research mainly in the United States of America, and more recently in South Africa (Vergottini, 2019) in Sweden (Kjellgren et al., 2022) and the United Arab Emirates (Tedam, 2020, 2022). However, the experiences of SWSiS is a lesser researched area. While research is growing in England, there is still some way to go in terms of providing the evidence base of the efficacy of the role more broadly and the benefits for stakeholders specifically.

The intention of this paper was to contribute to knowledge and understanding about the challenges and benefits of social work placements in schools. SWSiS contribution to children and young people improved attendance and enhanced their wellbeing alongside supporting parents. Whilst SWSiS reported being unsure of their role at the beginning of placement, they achieved much clearer understanding of their role and purpose as placement progressed enabling them to notice ‘them things that may have gone amiss otherwise’.

The findings from this study suggest that schools are an appropriate placement setting which enables them to integrate and contextualize classroom learning while offering benefits to pupils, families, schools and the wider community.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the United Arab Emirates University, Start Up Grant [G00003331].

Notes on contributors

Prospera Tedam

Prospera Tedam is Professor in Social Work at University College Dublin. She was previously Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Social Wellbeing at the United Arab Emirates University where she was awarded a grant to undertake this study. Prospera is professionally qualified and registered with Social Work England. She holds the Practice Teaching Award and her doctoral research examined the placement experiences of Black African students in England.Irine is a qualified social worker and currently a Senior Lecturer Practitioner at Anglia Ruskin University in Peterbrough. With a Master of Science in Practice Education.

Irine Mano

Irine Mano is passionate about supporting students to successfully navigate placements and her ongoing doctoral study is investigating the additional support needs of Black students studying Social Work.

Appendix 1.

Interview Questions

Topic- What is the role and purpose of school social work

Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed for this project.

Please note the interview will last about 1 hour.

1. Tell me about your role / involvement in school social work/ what kind of school/educational setting were/are you based in?

2. Please specify what the role of school social worker entailed for you in your setting?

3. What type of support/frameworks/skills did you apply to facilitate good enough practice in this field?

4. What challenges did you experience?

5. In your view, how did you as a school social worker improve/contribute to the wellbeing of children and families you encountered?

6. If you were asked today, what can you advise the government about school social work (scope, changes, responsibilities)?

7. What else would you like to share as knowledge/wisdom/points to consider about this role?

8. How would you explain to a parent the difference between a school social worker and other ‘support’ or auxiliary staff based in school?

9. In what ways do you think your university/programme prepared you to undertake the tasks you currently do? (hopefully they will also mention gaps in the Univ programs otherwise you can ask as a back up question.)

10. In your opinion, do you think the UK needs more or less school social workers and WHY?

11. Is there anything else you wish to add?