Voices from the frontline: practicing school social work in Greece during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper draws on interviews with seventeen school social workers in the Attica and Thessaloniki Regions regarding the challenges that they have faced and their responses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings reveal a significant increase in the demands related to behavioural, mental and financial issues faced by students and their families; the inadequacy of means and sources of help, as well as the further deterioration of their working conditions. The limited readiness of school social workers for practicing social work with alternative methods of communication is also discussed. It is argued that in the light of the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic the wider dialogue in the social work profession and academia about the development and use of communication technology should be enhanced. Additionally, it is argued that this period may present an opportunity for school social workers to rethink their models of intervention towards those which draw from the critical tradition of social work and rights-based social work. These models may prove to be more effective in dealing with the complexity and length of the problems that the pandemic has created for professionals and their clients alike, leading to the further development of school social work in Greece.