Educating Children in Our Care

Kathryn Ann Levine,Dawn Sutherland,Melanie Janzen

doi:10.18060/23696

Abstract

In Canada, there is increasing recognition that poor educational outcomes of children and adolescents involved with the child welfare system represent an emerging crisis for youth, their families, and the broader society. Interprofessional education and collaboration between educators and social workers may facilitate better outcomes for children in care. Although interprofessional education (IPE) and interprofessional collaboration (IPC) are well established in the allied health fields, there is not an equivalent acceptance within the applied social sciences, specifically in education and child welfare contexts. This may partially be attributed to the “siloed” nature of these professions, which limits both capacity and opportunities for professionals to understand each other’s mandates, roles, and policies. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of a graduate elective course for social workers and educators that was geared toward educational outcomes of children in care. Thirty-eight students from both disciplines participated in a summer institute. Although participants valued the content and process of the course, it is unclear whether these types of initiatives facilitate enhanced IPC. Findings do however suggest that IPE initiatives targeted toward a specific population may have more positive outcomes, compared to general IPC.

Highlights

A comprehensive understanding of educational experiences of children in care must account for the critical ways in which historical factors influence present outcomes
interprofessional collaboration (IPC) is a framework through which educators and social workers could enact their collective responsibility to children in care
There was recognition that “Educators can learn more about family dynamics that influence adaptive coping strategies and social workers can see how children are coping at school - are they feeling safe enough to be learning?” In particular, the group projects that brought participants together were evaluated positively

Summary

Introduction

A comprehensive understanding of educational experiences of children in care must account for the critical ways in which historical factors influence present outcomes. In Manitoba, both social work and education share a problematic history with respect to children and families involved with the child welfare system. They are but two examples of how structural inequities embedded in social institutions, governmental discourses, policies, and services marginalize many groups, based on particular social group categories including First Nations status (Blackstock, 2011). For many Indigenous families, the disruptions that occurred through the forced removal of children from families and communities, and the use of educational systems in the form of residential schools as the primary vehicles of oppression continue to recreate inequities. IPC is a framework through which educators and social workers could enact their collective responsibility to children in care

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