(WITHDRAWN) School Social Work Practice in Child Development and Well-Being in Shanghai, China

Background and Purpose: School social work has been introduced and promoted in Shanghai since 2002. Despite around 18 years of development in Shanghai, the role of school social workers is still not clear, the effects of school social work practice are not well-evaluated and thus do not gain enough visibility, and some stakeholders even doubt the necessity of school social workers entering schools. In this context, this research is designed to examine the role and practice of school social workers in Shanghai from the perspective of child development and well-being. Two main research questions are: What do school social workers do to promote child development and well-being? How do school social workers perceive their role and responsibilities?

Methods:Three cases, including a vocational school, a migrant-sponsored school, and a local public school, are analyzed to overview current role of school social workers and school social work practice in child development and well-being in Shanghai. The collected materials include semi-structured interviews with school leaders, school social workers, and NGO leaders, and documents and reports of school social work practice at these schools. The interviews are transcribed verbatim. The documents, reports, and interviews are coded and analyzed thematically using NVivo.

Results:This research provides a critical examination of multidimensional role of school social workers and their experiences, needs, and challenges in the practice. School social workers in Shanghai can be categorized into three types, including (1) school social workers who provide stationing service at schools (“zhuxiao shegong”), (2) school social workers who provide service across different schools in their community (“lianxiao shegong”), but their major role is to provide service for young people aged 16-25 in their community, and (3) school social workers who conduct one-off, short-term, or long-term projects at schools. The types of practices mainly include case work, group work, community work, lectures, school activities, and projects, and most practices are lectures, school activities, and projects. Children in different school types are confronted with different problems, and thus the focus of school social work practice varies across different school types. School social workers have different understandings of their role and face role discrepancy between what they actually do and what they should do. The school social work practice in Shanghai still has some limitations, including low coverage among schools in Shanghai, limited types of services, and lack of connection among different stakeholders.

Conclusions and Implications:The development of school social work in Shanghai is still at the initial stage and faces various barriers. Further changes are required to make clear school social workers’ role and responsibilities and improve school social work practice, such as specialization and professionalization of school social workers, diversified services to meet different needs, and cooperation among schools, non-governmental organizations, communities, and governmental authorities. This research provides empirical evidence to promote school social work practice in child development and well-being in Shanghai.