School Social Work Unit

School Social Work focuses on the student in the learning environment in order to facilitate successful learning outcomes through the relief of distress and the removal of barriers and inequities. The Student Unit allocates social work students to primary schools in the Geelong Bellarine Network. Students operate independently but collaboratively within an educational team, under the task management of principals or their nominees, and the professional supervision of a school social worker from the Geelong Bellarine Network. The placement provides a generalist social work experience, where students have the opportunity to work with individuals and groups, special projects or research according to the needs of the school. School social work is ideally placed to work with children, young people and their families.

During the field placement Individual and group supervision provide theoretical and practice perspectives on social work in general, and the field of school social work in particular. This placement provides students with knowledge about working with children as the focus of intervention at the interface of their learning, school, family, peer and other environments. Specific work shopping in counselling and group work with children is provided. Students also learn how to work with families, teachers and the organisation of the school to support and bring about change for children.

The goals of the Student Unit are as follows:

• To fulfil our professional responsibility to provide Social Work field education
• To give students the opportunity to learn about School Social Work as a possible future field of practice
• To provide future social workers with the understanding and skills that will allow them to work appropriately with schools towards child and/or family-based practice
• To enhance schools’ student welfare services through providing social work students with valuable and meaningful caseloads and other social work tasks.

Chris Barrett
BA, DipT, BSW, MSW
Student Unit Coordinator

Social Work students from Deakin University
(from left): Frances Baum, Claire Thompson, Jill Merritt, Sarah Murray and Andrew Bistak.