Perceptions of the role and performance of the school social worker

Currently there exists confusion and conflict in Tennessee concerning the roles of the various professionals in pupil services. There is overlap in the state job descriptions for school social worker, school psychologist, counselor, and attendance worker. The purpose of the study was to identify and compare the current role of the school social worker in the four largest urban public school systems in Tennessee and to evaluate the quality of his/her performance in that role. The descriptive questionnaire was composed of 26 school social work services. Respondents were to answer three questions: 1. Does the school social worker provide the service? 2. If not, who provides the service? 3. If the school social worker provides the service, how effective is it? Five open-ended questions completed the survey. Participating school systems were Chattanooga, Davidson County, Knox County, and Memphis. Subjects were a stratified random sample of the following professionals: selected central office administrators and supervisors, principals, counselors, school psychologists, and school social workers. The sample was 309. Each subject received three mailings. Respondents believed that 65 percent of services listed were provided. An additional 19 percent were perceived to be performed in one or more of the participating systems. Forty-seven percent of services school social workers provided were social casework activities. The most important service was providing social work service to families. Counselors thought school social workers provided the fewest services. There was more perceived overlap of duties with the counselor than with any other professional. School social workers were rated the most effective for the most important services they provided. In the participating systems, school social workers were attempting to reach more troubled youths than would be possible with the casework approach alone. A team approach would avoid duplication of services and make the maximum use of pupil services specialists. To become more effective, school social workers need to become proactive and more visible in schools. They need to initiate programs of a preventive nature to reach groups of parents and students.