TY  - THES
AB  - The American public school system is facing a severe shortage of school social workers, such that the country employs only one of these professionals for every two elementary and middle schools. Because school social workers are less common on school grounds than faculty, administrators, or even counselors, educational institutions often lack organizational knowledge of their roles and responsibilities, making school social workers particularly prone to being misunderstood and overworked. This investigation draws upon organizational sociology theories and interview data to assess not only the degree to which school social workers are misunderstood throughout the school day, but also whether and how these individuals revise their colleagues’ inaccurate impressions of school social work. Nine school social workers from around the Chicago area and one education researcher participated in semi-structured interviews, lending perspectives which I analyzed via hand-coding. Their testimonies reveal that misunderstandings of school social work are highly dependent on the organizational context of a school – further, the school social workers interviewed described a variety of strategies for preventing or mitigating misunderstanding, such as politely correcting the offending party, passing out handbooks at the start of the school year, or disavowing their job description entirely. This study concludes with a series of policy recommendations designed to increase the awareness and understanding of school social work among school staff.
AD  - University of Chicago
AU  - Culbert, Nate
DA  - 2022-04
DO  - 10.6082/uchicago.5810
DO  - doi
ED  - Chad Broughton
ED  - Kailey White
ED  - Karlyn Gorski
ID  - 5810
L1  - https://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/5810/files/Culbert%2C%20Nate%20-%20Experts%20in%20the%20Room.pdf
L2  - https://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/5810/files/Culbert%2C%20Nate%20-%20Experts%20in%20the%20Room.pdf
L4  - https://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/5810/files/Culbert%2C%20Nate%20-%20Experts%20in%20the%20Room.pdf
LA  - eng
LK  - https://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/5810/files/Culbert%2C%20Nate%20-%20Experts%20in%20the%20Room.pdf
N2  - The American public school system is facing a severe shortage of school social workers, such that the country employs only one of these professionals for every two elementary and middle schools. Because school social workers are less common on school grounds than faculty, administrators, or even counselors, educational institutions often lack organizational knowledge of their roles and responsibilities, making school social workers particularly prone to being misunderstood and overworked. This investigation draws upon organizational sociology theories and interview data to assess not only the degree to which school social workers are misunderstood throughout the school day, but also whether and how these individuals revise their colleagues’ inaccurate impressions of school social work. Nine school social workers from around the Chicago area and one education researcher participated in semi-structured interviews, lending perspectives which I analyzed via hand-coding. Their testimonies reveal that misunderstandings of school social work are highly dependent on the organizational context of a school – further, the school social workers interviewed described a variety of strategies for preventing or mitigating misunderstanding, such as politely correcting the offending party, passing out handbooks at the start of the school year, or disavowing their job description entirely. This study concludes with a series of policy recommendations designed to increase the awareness and understanding of school social work among school staff.
PB  - University of Chicago
PY  - 2022-04
T1  - Experts in the Room: Role Conflict and Ambiguity in School Social Work around Chicago
TI  - Experts in the Room: Role Conflict and Ambiguity in School Social Work around Chicago
UR  - https://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/5810/files/Culbert%2C%20Nate%20-%20Experts%20in%20the%20Room.pdf
Y1  - 2022-04
ER  -