Abstract:
This study explores the untapped potential of integrating the school social
work practice as an innovative practice in education while school social work
has been reputable effectively globally, still it remains underdeveloped in Sri
Lanka. Even though there are support mechanisms including school
counseling, resource distribution, and child protection procedures, fail to
comprehensively address the needs of children with a lack of government
involvement. The objective of this study to explore how school social work
can be utilized as an innovative practice to address the well-being of school
children and existing support mechanisms in the Sri Lankan education system.
This qualitative study involved fourteen participants representing the different
stakeholders including parents, teachers, counselors, education officers, and
generic social workers in the Gampola education zone, selected through
purposive sampling and thematic analysis used to analyze data. The study
revealed several types of problems faced by school children including
educational, social, economic, emotional, physical, and mental health
problems which are interrelated but not addressed from a holistic view due to
the limitations of innovations and training, lack of funding, lack of awareness
among stakeholders of the highlights the significant gap between actual needs
of the system and the service provision where the innovative practice of school
social work can be applied using the direct and indirect methods of social
work at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels using the promotive, preventive,
rehabilitative, and curative initiatives using the multi-disciplinary approach
with the skills of advocacy, policy analysis, cultural competency, reflective
practice and collaborative skills by using ecological practice rather than the
traditional interventions. This study recommends a contextualized school
social work practice model for uplifting children's holistic well-being,
emphasizing the significance of integrating school social work initiatives as
an innovation to the education system in Sri Lanka.
