학교 내 교육복지전문가 안전 위협 경험에 대한 조직적 차원의 대처 연구

Abstract

This study is aimed to establish a safe working environment for educational welfare specialists who play a crucial role in building a secure educational welfare safety network through the connection of homes, schools, and the local community. Within each school, there is one educational welfare specialist assigned, reflecting the unique nature of the school as a secondary field rather than a social welfare site. Therefore, it is necessary to consider different characteristics in terms of employment status and deployment personnel compared to school administrators or teachers. To overcome conflicts and marginalization that may arise from such structural differences, this study comprehensively explored the safety threats experienced by educational welfare specialists within schools and examined the post-incident response processes within the organization. Based on this, structural causes of the safety threats during incidents were identified, and organizational coping strategies were developed to address them. For the purpose of this study, in-depth interviews were carried out with eight educational welfare specialists (community educational specialists) with more than five years of experience working in schools located in Seoul, South Korea, who have experienced safety threats. Qualitative case research methodology was utilized to achieve a profound understanding of their experiences. The interview data were analyzed through within-case analysis and cross-case analysis methods. According to the within-case analysis, the educational welfare specialists experienced various safety threats from students, parents, as well as the school‘s management system and relevant personnel. However, they had experience with proactive organizational-level post-incident measures. Through the cross-case analysis, 17 sub-categories and 4 categories were identified. The 4 categories include “Experiencing various safety threats within the educational welfare system,” “Challenging reality where organizational coping mechanism for safety cannot be expected,” “Facing obstacles despite personal efforts to find solutions,” and “Reality of persistently striving since giving up is not an option.” Based on the findings, practical and political alternatives at the organizational level were suggested for future development of safety measures for educational welfare specialists within schools.