By Gavin Mackintosh
An ambitious £6.5 government scheme to place social workers in all schools to spot signs of the effects of domestic violence on pupils is unworkable, and facing challenges before it has began.
Placing social workers in every school on a permanent basis will be very costly and they will have to need to have the required skill to produce results in a number of cases.
The idea could work in some schools, but will need to be sampled on a smaller scale and reviewed in the precise context of addressing the effects of domestic violence.
A pilot scheme involving placing social workers in schools was experimented in 2019, but wasn’t specifically for addressing domestic violence.
The scheme is being considered after evidence that domestic violence increased during the lockdown period.
However, the scheme is already showing its weaknesses after a close examination by The Eye Of Media which is causing its master minders to review their grand plan.
Instituting social workers in schools will almost definitely have to be on a permanent basis, since domestic violence has no end date. Domestic violence are different in nature, and not all pupils are willing to make their family issues known to the authorities of their school.
There is also no evidence to suggest that the benefits would match or outweigh the costs. Neither is there any evidence that the placements of social workers in schools will substantially address the problem of domestic violence. The initiative is still positive if executed with a perfect plan.
Psychological
Children who live in environments where there is regular domestic violence suffer unarguable psychological effects which often sets them back academically.
Frustrated parents who are either the aggressors or victims of domestic violence often take it out on their children in many ways.
Children who feel bullied at home also tend to play out this feeling of domination on their vulnerable peers in school
Establishing social workers in schools is useful, but does not address how they would solve the problem.
The pilot project operated in 2019 placed social workers in schools in three local authorities is to form the basis of improving inter-agency working and collaborative relationships with children, young people and families.
What Works for Children’s Social Care (formerly the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care), in association with its research partners at Children’s Social Care Research and Development Centre (CASCADE), Cardiff University, launches a pilot scheme to show the benefit of placing social workers in schools on inter-agency working between social workers and school staff, and on building relationships with children, young people and families.
Its benefit is to be used to place social workers in UK schools to help spot the signs of those pupils who have endured an environment of domestic violence during the pandemic in the UK.
As much as the relationship between social workers and school staff is seen as a useful starting point for helping pupils who may have lived through an atmosphere of domestic violence during the lockdown, there needs to be evidence that spending such amount of money is likely to lead to positive outcomes.
Visibility of social workers at assemblies, in the playground, and dropping-off and collecting time is believed to be a positive way of helping build familiarity with parents. A head teacher once commented that : “Having Social workers in schools, particularly [name] who is so good at greeting the children and their families on the yard, [will do] a great deal to prevent the image of social workers as ‘child snatchers’”
However, beyond being familiar with parents and striking a good bond, social workers will have a job to do if they are to address domestic violence at home by being present in school.
Social workers would need to first identify pupils who are suffering domestic violence and then have a workable plan to address the problem and help the children.
Such a plan would need to outlined first, in a clear manner that logically states how it would work.
Social workers can rotate shifts in schools, but unless they are tackling real issues and delivering observable outcomes, it would be a waste of money.