A Day in the Life of a School Social Worker

What’s a day in the life of a school social worker like? This video takes us intimately into the lives of two school social workers, one working in a suburban area and the other in a city.

The video’s documentary style allows you to witness minute-by-minute interactions with students, teachers, and other staff, and to see how school social workers are involved in every level of systems: micro, mezzo and macro. Through touching interviews with high school students whose lives have been impacted by their school social worker, you’ll be able to see just how crucial this role is. Teachers and other staff talk about how relieving and impactful it is to have the school social worker when a behavior or concern becomes too large to manage in a classroom—and how the school social worker assists them in supporting the student.

In the midst of all of this, the school social workers continue to reassess whether the service and systems that are in place are the best they could be, as well as how to make them better.

School social workers have four distinct but overlapping roles: Consultation, direct practice, assessment and program development. While school staff see different parts of a student—the teacher sees the academic side, the school nurse sees medical issues, the recess supervisor see how children interact with peers, etc.—the school social worker focuses on the whole child.

The video’s documentary style allows you to witness minute-by-minute interactions with students, teachers, and other staff. See how the school social worker is involved in every level of systems: micro, mezzo and macro. Through touching interviews with high school students whose lives have been impacted by their school social worker, you’ll be able to see just how crucial this role is. Teachers and other staff talk about how relieving and impactful it is to have the school social worker when a behavior or concern becomes too large to manage in a classroom, and describe exactly how social workers assist them in supporting kids.

In the midst of these various interactions, school social workers are continuously assessing whether the service and systems that are in place are the best they could be, as well as how to make them better.