#12 School Social Worker W/Spanish Language Skills
By David Lasuertmer
Average Salary: $55,809
Job Outlook: Good (11% growth rate within the next decade)
The professional mission of school social worker is to help parents with their family concerns, students with their personal issues, and teachers with their instruction. The school social worker helps by listening closely to students and adults who may have experienced very troubling circumstances at home or in school. The work of the school social worker also includes policy and program development. The school social worker is professionally prepared to understand and respond to the many problems which people may have. These problems are typically related to life experiences that were or are emotionally very hurtful events. Intensely-felt guilt, shame, embarrassment, frustration, or anger can lead anyone to intensely-felt emotions of insecurity, fearfulness, depression, helplessness, hopelessness, or even futurelessness. These feelings and emotional states within school children can be expressed in a variety of ways that interfere with learning and cause inappropriate behavior in school. Such children may appear to be very active, highly distracted or impulsive.
Students rebuild their self-worth, self-control, and self-confidence by speaking with the school social worker. With unique clinical expertise, the school social worker provides the type of counseling that helps students feel trust, hope, and empathy while learning coping skills. Such counseling will yield students who have deeper awareness of their own feelings and those of other’s to feel emotionally secure and safe at school. It is common for the school social worker arriving at the office, to find a teacher or parent waiting to consult without an appointment. Appointments have a way of expanding beyond the limited time scheduled which requires the school social worker to decide if and when to schedule a follow-up appointment. At departmental or faculty meetings, the school social worker reaffirms the advocacy role to improve the school’s responsiveness to parent, student and teacher needs. The school social worker must be able to speak persuasively to gain the staff’s and administration’s support.The role of the school social worker is also to establish a working relationship between school and family. This, at times, requires conflict resolutions skills and the ability to promote open communication among student, parent and educator.
This article originally appeared on https://www.bestmswprograms.com/