Wednesday, September 1
For School Social Workers: Synergistic Social Work in Schools
Schools offer a unique opportunity, as well as unique challenges, for providing social work services to children and adolescents. Social workers in schools must navigate a setting in which they are often viewed as intruders by teachers and administrators. Their role and identity are often unclear in a school system and can vary from school to school. Even if their role is clear, changes in administration can disrupt their role as new ideas of what a social worker is and what a social worker can do changes with each change in leadership. As a result, the social worker must be able to constantly adjust to changing systems and the varying views of those with whom they work.
The goal of the social worker in a school is to operate in a manner that facilitates a “synergistic effort” at a systemic level. But what is synergy? Synergy comes from the Greek word synergo which means “working together.” It is a dynamic state in which the combined action of the parts in a system creates a greater result than could be accomplished by each part individually. The task of the social worker is to be able to join the system and act in a manner that helps synergy evolve. It is important for the social worker to remember that synergy does not occur solely by the action of the social worker, but through the cooperative effort of all the members in the system working efficiently together. When a system is dysfunctional, dyssynergy occurs. Dyssynergy is a sense of isolation in a greater whole, in which we feel as if others are working against us. The organization moves slowly and it takes great effort to get simple tasks accomplished. Synergy and dyssynergy aptly describe the challenge that faces social workers in schools.
As social workers, we must be aware of the context in which we provide our services. Understanding key aspects of the system we work in goes a long way towards helping the social worker survive. We tend to put all of our attention on the students and families we assist and tend to ignore the circumstances from which we operate. Our tendency is to view clients within the framework of the social systems with which they interact, but we often ignore assessment of those social systems that interact with us. Utilizing our understanding of system theory and self-reflecting on our role in the system is crucial in both surviving and influencing the system.
Social workers should assess the school at which they work. When entering a school or school district, the social worker should take the first year or two to assess the organization. During this time the social worker should be a “good soldier,” doing their best to accomplish the tasks of the organization without publicly questioning the organization. The social worker will have questions about the organization and how it works, but should avoid questions that would be interpreted as judgmental, unless, of course, there are unethical or criminal practices occurring. The biggest mistake made when people start working at a new school is to talk about how things were done at their previous school. Never refer to how a previous school you worked for did anything! This is the easiest way to lose credibility, offend others, and demonstrate that you haven’t made the transition to your new school. It is important to establish credibility first before offering ideas to change the system in which you are now working. Another reason to take a year or two in assessing the school is that you will simultaneously be working to establish your own credibility. Credibility does not come with the title of social worker; it has to be earned. It is only after you have established yourself as a credible social worker that you will be able to influence the culture.
What should be assessed in the school? There are many areas that need to be assessed in a school, but we will focus on the school culture. Culture can be thought of as the unwritten rules of how to interact within the system, which are learned through interactions with one another. This includes attitudes, beliefs, procedures, philosophy, and expectations that are shared by the group. Culture develops over time and can be influenced by events that occur in the world at large or in the school district’s community. Historical changes in culture include: the earth revolving around the sun, viewing the earth as round as opposed to being flat, the Great Depression, and the Civil Rights movement to name a few. In school districts, significant events impact culture, such as changes in administration, changes in political policies (i.e., No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top), or crisis situations within the district (financial or legal problems, Columbine High School massacre). These events interact with the culture to alter the attitudes and beliefs of the school community.
A factor in the school culture that determines the synergy of an organization is focus. The focus of an organization usually centers on a common goal. The more the members of the organization buy into the common goal, the easier it is for the system to work as a unit. One of the questions that the social worker needs to explore is to what degree do the various components of the system believe and act according to the common goal? When it seems that one of the components do not act in accordance with the common goal, it is helpful to identify what goal that component does have. This information will allow you to devise a strategy later in efficiently working with that component.
Districts will try to define their culture through their mission statement, core values, touchstones, and so on. It is important to know the district’s mission statement and utilize it as a guide to evaluate the actual day-to-day practice. A tip for those going on job interviews is to research the mission statement for clues on how to respond in the interview. This will also demonstrate serious interest in working for the district. Mission statements in schools tend to focus on what type of learning will occur and how it will be implemented. The activities that a district engages in to incorporate their mission statement into practice determine how much of their mission becomes a part of the school culture.
There may be nu
merous cultures in a school that is large in size, such as most high schools. In high schools, there are often different divisions of learning, such as a math department, English department, and Special Education. Each of these departments can have their own culture that the social worker must be able to work with and establish credibility. Many times culture is talked about as if it were a single entity. There are numerous cultural influences within the school as well as the community. The diagram (left) is a model of a perfectly aligned social worker and school. The outer circle represents the culture of the community in which the school district resides. Ideally the school district’s culture will blend in with the culture of the community and reflect the attitudes, beliefs, and expectations of the greater community. The individual school culture should blend in and reflect the district’s culture. If it doesn’t, it usually means it’s time for a new principal. Each department in the school should reflect the general culture of the school. If the culture begins to vary outside of the culture of the school, it will get feedback from the principal to become aligned with the building culture. Finally, each one of the employees, as well as the social worker, brings his/her own culture of origin and experiences, which ideally would align within the other cultures. Each of us has “mental programs” acquired over a lifetime of learning. Our earliest cultural experiences are deeply rooted within us creating core values that guide us in life. As a child our family and environment provides the foundation for understanding how to cope with the world. Education is another influential factor contributing to our individual culture. Whether one pursues college, graduates from high school, or drops out, education influences the cultural development of the mind. Even what major one pursues will impact our cultural experience. As social workers, we have been exposed to the culture of mental health. Our focus, in general, is to assist our students and families to develop optimum mental health and coping skills. This is not necessarily part of the culture of educators, although it appears to be more a part of the culture through the implementation of social and emotional learning standards. An effective social worker in a school pays attention to these differences, respects them, and works within the culture to provide services and influence the culture.
However, there are times when the various cultures are not aligned with one another. In these situations, tensions that exist between the various cultures and the environment can be quite hostile, making it difficult to implement any programs or consistent services. The individual’s culture may not be able to align within any of these other cultures either. When this happens, it is a sign for the individual to seek another employment situation or find ways to cope with the stress of the dyssynergy in the system.
There are many factors that play into an organization’s synergy or dyssynergy. A major factor is the size of the school. The larger the school, the more complex the system is and therefore, more effort is needed to achieve synergy. Smaller organizations can be easier to survive in, as they tend to be less complex. The social worker can more easily identify the structure of the system and devise a survival plan. However, small organizations that are dyssynergistic can be more rigid in their patterns and have fewer entry points to influence the organization. In smaller organizations, obstacles are easier to identify.
The main resource that social workers have in a school system is their ability to build relationships. Fostering positive relationships should be a main focus for social workers in schools. One of the first groups that the social worker should be cognizant of fostering relationships with is the paraprofessionals, custodians, and secretaries. These groups can feel disconnected from educators and undervalued. Their importance in the operation of the school is often overlooked. A social worker with a strong social network with these groups now begins to have true influence in the system, as this group can provide services that aid the social worker in accomplishing many tasks. For instance, in working with my special education students, there are numerous times during the year in which I find students whose lockers are located in areas that they do not readily access, due to organizational problems, class schedule, or so forth. Students are typically assigned the same lockers for four years. There are only a few more lockers than students, so the process for changing a locker can be tedious, as well as inconvenient for the support person in charge of lockers. As a result of having established a relationship with the paraprofessional, they are willing to find a solution for my student’s locker problem. From the perspective of the student and their parent, the social worker can get things done. The reality is that the social worker can only accomplish tasks with the cooperation of all participants in the culture. Cultivated relationships are an essential component of being a synergistic social worker.
Working in a school system requires a social worker skilled not only in providing direct services to students and their parents, but adept in managing a complex system with its own unique culture. Synergy can only be achieved with a coordinated effort of all the components in the school system. The social worker must realize they are only one component that must align with the others to achieve synergy.
Matthew Jameson, MSW, LCSW, has thirty-six years of experience in various settings working extensively with adolescents, both on psychiatric units and in public schools. He has worked in private practice providing individual, family, and marital therapy. He is current a school social worker at Amos Alonzo Stagg High School in Palos Hills, IL, working there for the past twenty-five years. He received his MSW degree in 1979 from George Williams College. Matt is an instructor with “Meaningful Solutions,” an organization that provides consultation and training to mental health practitioners on solution-focused therapy, positive psychology, and Ericksonian psychotherapy.
Russell G. Johnson,LCSW, ACSW, has over thirty-two years of experience in a variety of settings including police social services, psychiatric hospital, private practice, elementary schools, and high schools. He has been employed as a school social worker at Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park, IL, for the past twenty-seven years. He also received his MSW degree from George Williams College in 1981. Russ is a certified and master practitioner of neurolinguistic programming, receiving his training through the Midwest Institute of Neurolinguistic Programming. His interest is integrating neuroscience research into clinical practice.
