importance of work education in school

Why school kids need more exposure to the world of work

Policy Analyst, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University

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This Mitchell Institute policy report was produced with funding support from Cisco.

Victoria University provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

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All students need to experience the world of work, particularly work of the future, long before they leave school, according to a new report out today.

The latest Mitchell Institute report, Connecting the worlds of learning and work , says collaborating with industry and the community is vital to better prepare children and young people for future work and life. And governments need to play a leading role to ensure this happens.

Read more: Partnering with scientists boosts school students' and teachers' confidence in science

Jobs in the digital age, and the skills and capabilities required to do them are transforming at an unprecedented rate .

Schools alone cannot be expected to foster the complex combinations of STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths), digital and transferable skills , like collaboration, problem solving and communication, that young people will need in their future careers. That’s in addition to core skills like literacy and numeracy.

Bringing together the classroom and the workplace has broad public benefits , but can be challenging to do in practice .

Read more: Mining young minds: the challenges of private interests and education

Why is this important?

Exposure to the world of work provides opportunities for students to build connections with professionals outside their usual family networks, and to learn by “doing” in real world contexts.

This offers some valuable benefits – enriching school learning, building students’ employability, and helping them develop the capabilities (such as problem solving, collaboration, and resilience) that we know are valued in work and life .

Read more: Lack of workers with 'soft skills' demands a shift in teaching

Some students already have access to valuable experiences like industry mentoring and entrepreneurship programs at school, but this isn’t the case for all students .

With young people spending longer in formal education, many might not connect with the world of work until their 20s.

For these students, once they complete their education, the “ new work reality ” is the average transition time from education to full-time work is now up to five years, compared to one year in 1986.

Traditionally, practical industry-focussed learning was anchored in vocational education and training, but participation rates in vocational pathways are declining.

Read more: Vocational education and training sector is still missing out on government funding: report

Shaping career choices

Young people’s pathways are formed early – with career aspirations often following traditional gender stereotypes, and tending to reflect students’ interest and achievement in traditional school subjects. A lack of interest in STEM subjects at age 10 is unlikely to change by age 14 .

Varied opportunities to engage with the world of work , through career talks, mentoring, and excursions to job sites can be valuable from primary school through to secondary school, particularly for students at risk of disengagement.

Early exposure is critical to ensure that students can make informed decisions about future career pathways.

Read more: Careers education must be for all, not just those going to university

Haven’t we heard this before?

There have been attempts to put school-industry partnerships on the national agenda over the past decade, but they still haven’t reached every school.

As the recent Gonski 2.0 Review found:

“While many models of school-community engagement exist in Australia, school-community engagement to improve student learning is not common practice and implementation can be ad hoc.”

We haven’t yet found a way to bring the workplace and the classroom together in an effective way.

What’s stopping this?

We need to address some systemic barriers to enable partnerships with industry to flourish in all schools:

Partnerships take time and resources for schools to initiate and manage – yet things that can be widely measured, like NAPLAN and ATAR , tend to be prioritised

We know teachers are central to making partnerships work – but many don’t have the time, or the training to know how to engage effectively with industry

There are many structural and administrative blockers that add layers of complexity for schools and industry partners. These include child safety requirements, occupational health and safety, and procurement policies for new equipment that are different in each state and territory.

Policymakers must design systems that make partnerships easier and ensure they are effective and available in all schools across Australia.

Here’s what governments can do

1. Track school-industry partnerships to ensure equity and help planning

Governments need to track where partnerships are happening, what they involve, how effective they are, and who is missing out. This information can inform government reforms that ensure resources are allocated equitably across the education system, and assist schools and industry to plan effective partnerships.

2. Support teachers by giving them time and resoources

Partnerships need time and resources. We need to give teachers time to engage in partnerships and provide them with professional learning and support to more easily facilitate effective partnerships. This may include using intermediaries, which come in many forms, such as industry peak bodies , government agencies and not-for-profit organisations .

3. Address barriers to make it easier for all to take part

For partnerships to be successful everywhere, governments need to address the structural barriers (regulatory and governance issues), information barriers (finding partners to connect with and understanding how to meet both school and industry needs), and equity barriers (ensuring the schools that benefit the most are connected to suitable industry partners).

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Work Education: Meaning, Importance, Skills, Objectives

Pallavi Pradeep Purbey ,

Mar 4, 2024

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Work education provides students with exposure to social and economic activities inside and outside the classroom. It helps them understand and build skills related to work education which will help them uplift themselves and be independent.

Work Education: Meaning, Importance, Skills, Objectives

Work Education comprises activities consisting of services, foods, and community development in various areas of human needs such as health and hygiene, food, clothing, recreation, and social service in accordance with the mental abilities and manual skills of children at various stages of education.

Work education results in services valuable to the community, besides the gratification of self-fulfillment. It focuses on building manual characters. The main objective of work education is to ensure a greater sense of worldly knowledge and develop respect for workers among the students.

Table of Contents

What is Work Education?

Why work education, objectives of work education, importance of work education, advantages of work education, list of activities in work education.

Work education is the nature of knowledge that provides an identical significance to the community and social services by creating consciousness for the wellbeing of the people and society. An essential concept of work education is that it has a manual spirit. Therefore, work education plays an emphasis on learning while working in any field.

Below are some features of Work Education.

Work education provides both knowledge and skills through understandable and graded programs and helps people enter into a world of work.
It acts as a different curricular area for offering children opportunities for participating in social and economic activities inside and outside the classroom.
The prolific manual work situations are drawn from health and hygiene, food, shelter, clothing, recreation, and community service.
The skills to be developed in this field should comprise knowledge, understanding, practical skills, and values throughout need-based life activities.
Pre-vocational education should get a prominent place at work education to let students choose various activities according to their interests.

Also Read: 10 Problem Solving Courses You Must Enrol Into Right Now

Work Experience has been named as Work Education and thus makes it a fundamental part of education. It develops;

Personality.
Positive work values.
Constructive habits.

Moreover, work education conveys crucial knowledge related to career and develops proper work skills which can help the children to become productive in meeting their day to day activities.

Work Education helps students develop skills like work values, productivity, and self-reliance. In addition, work education allows students to identify their natural interests and aptitudes in selecting suitable courses of study.

Also Read: What is a Junior College? Here's What to Know

Work education has specific objectives, which are very important to give the right direction to people and the community. It acts as a vital part of the learning process resulting in goods or services considered valuable to the community. Work education focuses on teaching various socially desirable values such as;

Below is the list of objectives of work education.

Identify the needs of every individual and their family and community concerning food, health, and hygiene to understand the working environment.
Familiarize oneself with productive activities in the community in various sectors. It helps in gathering information about various activities in society.
Know the sources of raw materials and understand the use of tools and equipment to produce goods and services by workers. It helps in gathering essential information.
Develop skills for the assortment, procurement, arrangement, and utilization of tools and materials for different forms of productive work. It also helps in incorporating new skills.
Develop self-esteem and confidence through accomplishment in productive work and services.
Develop a deeper opinion for the environment and wisdom of belonging, responsibility, and commitment to society. It helps in developing a sense of belongingness within people.
Develop reverence for manual work and regard for manual workers in the community to give them the utmost respect.
Develop work habits such as punctuality, honesty, discipline, efficiency, and dedication to duty.
Develop self-esteem and self-assurance through achievements in productive works and services in various fields.
Develop a deeper apprehension for the environment and a sense of belongingness, responsibility, and commitment to society to ensure the community's welfare.
Develop alertness of socio-economic problems of the society to ensure people about the changes if made.

Also Read: Buddhist Education System in India: Meaning, Objectives, Subjects

Work education is regarded as very important, meaningful, and the ongoing manual work is organized as a vital part of teaching-learning procedures that are functional to society and the satisfaction of doing work. It is essential for all education segments, i.e., primary, secondary, higher secondary, and higher education. Work education can be granted through a well-developed, channeled, and structured program.

Work education is an integral part of education as,

It helps to bridge the gap between manual workers and white-collar workers in society.
Work education gives respect to all types of workers in all sectors, and also creates social awareness for the welfare of society.
It builds coordination in hand actions and brain activities.
Work education promotes socially useful physical labor by inheriting educational activities in various fields.
It acts as a necessary and significant factor in learning different activities and the processes to pursue a particular objective.
Work education is discernible in the form of valuable services and productive work for the community.
It is associated as a necessary factor with all the aspects of knowledge in a multi-level education system.
Work education is based on the principle of learning by doing and practicing.

Also Read: Importance of Adult Education

Work education aids in various factors to the students and the people who are looking to work in varied areas. Students gain a plethora of knowledge about almost every field, and strategies are built on understanding and practicing such education. In addition, students are involved in activities that help them understand the concept of work education.

Below is the list of advantages of work education.

Work education links classroom learning to the real world and makes students practice various activities.
Work education gives opportunities to perform skills in real-world scenarios beyond theoretical learning.
Work education helps students develop soft skills for the better manifestation of gifts.
Work education gives students a chance to watch professionals in action entitled to work in various activities.
It helps students associate with potential employers to broaden their network. And it leads to increased student enrollment with varied skills.
Motivates students to understand and comprehend working areas.
Work education provides opportunities for individualized instruction to perform skill-based activities. And it gets the community involved by providing an array of exciting work.
Work education builds a pool of skilled workers to make the empire rise.
Teaches soft skills that help in maintaining patience while working.
Work education lowers recruitment costs for employers as there are people who would be highly skilled in a limited number of activities.

Also Read: What is Quality Education? Meaning and Importance

Work education includes activities of services, foods, and community development. It focused on health and hygiene sectors, food, clothing, recreation, and social service in harmony with children's mental abilities and manual skills related to work education. Below is the list of activities any person can enroll themselves in.

Computer Education
Drawing and Painting
Work Experience
Western Music
Vocal Music
Knitting and Stitching
Gadgets learning
Western Dance
Creative Thinking
General Assembly
Sports and Games
English Lab
Smart Class
Classical Dance
Instrumental Music

Work education encourages children to know the needs of themselves, their families, and society. The aim is to build students' personalities to have a successful life by having moral values in their pocket of energy.

Also Read: Top 10 Benefits of Environmental Education 2024

Who gave the concept of work education?

What is called work education?

What is the history of work education?

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Why We Must Connect Education and the Future of Work

A lack of alignment among K–12, higher education, and the world of work threatens to compromise our resilience and success as a country. Education leaders at the Corporation argue that we must redesign our educational systems to reach a broader set of students

Fundamental goals for American public education are to ensure that each student is prepared to be an active participant in a robust democracy and to be successful in the global economy. This requires coordinated efforts among government, philanthropy, the business community, and the education sector. However, as our nation’s economic and labor market opportunities evolve, the lack of alignment among K–12, higher education, and the world of work is further exposed and compromises our resilience and success. Our institutions are working to meet the opportunities and demands of the future of work in relative isolation. We must encourage systematic connections that reach across the educational, political, and economic domains to holistically prepare students for life, work, and citizenship. This demands a redesign of educational and employment options for all students. We must ask tough questions about what contributions are needed from each sphere today to prepare the workforce of tomorrow.

Today’s high school students are arriving at college underprepared: 40 percent fail to graduate from four-year institutions, and 68 percent fail to graduate from two-year institutions. [1] Yet the future of work will require higher — not lower — college graduation rates. Already, our economy has 16 million recession-and automation-resistant middle-income jobs that require some postsecondary credential, as well as 35 million jobs that require a bachelor’s degree or higher. [2] Nearly half of American employers say they are struggling to fill positions — the highest number in more than a decade — citing dearths of applicants, experience, and both technical and soft skills as their biggest challenges. [3]

As our nation’s economic and labor market opportunities evolve, this lack of alignment among K–12, higher education, and the world of work will become further exposed and will compromise our resilience and success as a country. At present, students without access to higher education already experience less mobility and lower lifetime salaries. [4] Looking forward, if K–12 and higher education do not redesign their approaches to reach a broader set of students, we might experience even greater labor shortages and income disparities. If we want to alleviate these issues and prepare students for the careers of the future, it is imperative that we close the chasm between K–12 and higher education.

Those attempting to reform the education system are familiar with the ways in which it is fragmented. Many have experienced the unintended consequences that come from working in isolation and proceeding with untested assumptions, especially during efforts to scale innovations or foster long-term sustainability. We believe the solution is to work more integratively: to resist the temptation to tackle siloed, singular components and instead collaborate on large-scale transformations designed around a unified vision.

Looking forward, if K–12 and higher education do not redesign their approaches to reach a broader set of students, we might experience even greater labor shortages and income disparities.

That vision, when considering American public education, is to prepare each student for active participation in a robust democracy and success in an advanced global economy. Accomplishing this demands an approach that reaches across educational, political, and economic domains to seamlessly prepare students for life, work, and citizenship. It demands the redesign of educational and career pathways to allow for cross-pollination among all sectors, from business to government to philanthropy — and it demands asking tough questions about what each sphere must contribute today to prepare the workforce of tomorrow.

Higher education can play a unique role because it has the ability to reach in several directions: toward both K–12 schools and educators, and businesses and future employers. Since it is often under the control of the state, higher education can also reach across to the governor, mayor, and other decision- and policymakers. As such, higher education can do more than effect change within a single institution; instead, it can help to enact networks and policies across an entire city or state. In short, to prepare students to become citizens of the world — who also have economic opportunities in the future workplace — stakeholders must abandon their traditional silos and work together to achieve coherence.

The Case for Coherence

Linear, laser-focused strategies are appropriate when consequences are predictable, contexts are similar, and results are easily measured and few in number. But in the world of education, where contexts are diverse, the level of transformation needed is enormous, and the number of stakeholders is high, linear approaches to change do not work. They accomplish superficial, rather than meaningful, improvements and can lead to missteps and frustration.

To create longer-term solutions at scale, we must accept that education is a complex social system, and design strategies for change around that fundamental fact. If our goal is to move toward 21st-century teaching and learning that better prepares young people for the dynamic world of work, traditional top-down, isolated, programmatic approaches will not succeed. Rather, to effect broad change, we must be thoughtful, flexible, and inclusive, and we must consider myriad factors, including the vantage points and resources of all stakeholders.

Three Design Principles for Coherence

In one attempt to catalyze this shift, Carnegie Corporation of New York launched the Integration Design Consortium in 2017. The corporation extended grants to five organizations to design and implement two-year projects aimed at reducing fragmentation in education and advancing equity. During our collaboration with these initiatives — each focused on different disciplines, such as human-centered design, systems thinking, and change management — we saw several themes emerge again and again. Irrespective of the project or context, these principles seemed to be influential in making progress toward coherence. For those striving for educational change, we believe these three principles can serve as a foundation upon which to design innovative solutions, and a lens through which to envision ways of thinking and working differently.

Cultivating a Shared Purpose Rather than assuming that everyone engaged in educational improvement has similar priorities, deliberate attempts must be made to develop a shared understanding of what students need most during their journeys through the system. The work of defining this purpose cannot be done in an isolated manner; instead, a collective vision should be cocreated by various stakeholders, then anchored by thoughtful implementation planning. Developing a cohesive vision has multiple benefits, including increasing broad buy-in and helping individuals understand how their actions can lead to change at scale.

One promising initiative that exemplifies this approach is the Cowen Institute at Tulane University, which shares its purpose of advancing youth success with a multitude of stakeholders in its home city of New Orleans. In addition to disseminating salient research and implementing several direct service programs, the Cowen Institute develops and leads citywide collaboratives focused on promoting access to and persistence in college and careers. These include the New Orleans College Persistence Collaborative and the College and Career Counseling Collaborative, bringing together counselors and practitioners from high schools and community-based organizations across New Orleans under the common goal of increasing students’ access to and persistence in college and careers.

Rather than assuming that everyone engaged in educational improvement has similar priorities, deliberate attempts must be made to develop a shared understanding of what students need most during their journeys through the system.

By engaging in a shared review and understanding of data centered on the needs of all students, these communities of learning play an important role in cultivating a shared sense of purpose across a diversity of organizations and institutions. At the same time, they provide members with professional development, the opportunity to share best practices, and a means of engaging in collective problem-solving centered on improving college and career success for New Orleans youth.

Cocreating Inclusive Environments This principle, which has its roots in user-centered design, encourages the consideration of various points of view when developing policies, prioritizing input from those who will be directly affected by the outcome. It also urges individuals to assess their own beliefs before creating policies that reverberate through the entire system, and advocates the shifting of power structures so that those most affected have the opportunity to share their perspectives and play a role in the decision-making process. It is only by identifying the actors in the system, understanding their perspectives, and using their input that we can create inclusive and effective programs.

Transforming Postsecondary Education in Mathematics (TPSE Math) is one example of a movement to create an inclusive postsecondary environment. It focuses on a discipline that has traditionally been a barrier to student success: math.

In one study of 57 community colleges across several states, 59 percent of students were assigned to remedial math courses upon enrollment, and, of those, only 20 percent completed a college-level math course within three years. [5] Through TPSE Math, leading mathematicians have convened stakeholders across the country to change mathematics education at community colleges, four-year colleges, and research universities so that it better meets the needs of a diverse student body and their diverse future careers.

For example, TPSE has provided significant support in the national movement to develop multiple mathematics pathways for students. The goal is for every student to have the opportunity to take a rigorous entry-level mathematics course relevant to his or her field of study and future career and to significantly reduce the time for underprepared students to complete their first college-level math course. This results in more inclusive math departments and courses that focus on success for all students, not only those who will go on to be math majors or to remain in academia.

TPSE has also promoted cross-sector engagement by facilitating conversations about effective and innovative practices — including the connections between college mathematics and the world of work — and then sharing those learnings across institutions. These math departments are supporting a rich set of interdisciplinary academic experiences and pathways designed to prepare students with the mathematical knowledge and skills needed for engagement in society and the workforce.

Building Capacity That Is Responsive to Change To create infrastructure and processes that will be effective over the long term, it is crucial to acknowledge and accept the dynamic nature of the education system. This means prioritizing relationships and trust, and viewing a project’s initial implementation as the first of multiple iterations and trials, each of which considers the potential impact on different stakeholders. This is crucial because achieving broader coherence across the education system can seem daunting, so it is more manageable to identify a specific gap or disconnect to address, such as the transition from college to career.

Focusing on particular barriers and trying out solutions before prescribing them at scale acknowledges the dynamism of the sector and the complexities of coherence, while making meaningful progress on issues that matter.

The University Innovation Alliance (UIA), for instance, takes an agile, human-centered approach to increasing the number and diversity of college graduates in the United States. Since its founding in 2014, this national coalition of 11 public research universities has produced 29.6 percent more low-income bachelor’s degree graduates per year, amounting to nearly 13,000 graduates annually. The UIA estimates that the total will reach 100,000 by the 2022–2023 academic year. [6] *

True to the nature of the research institutions leading the work, the UIA accomplishes this through experimentation and iteration. One area of focus for the network has been ensuring student success beyond graduation through redesigning college-to-career supports to better ensure students find gainful employment upon graduation. The project uses design thinking, with its rapid prototyping of ideas and short feedback cycles, in service of reimagining career services to better support low-income students, first-generation students, and students of color.

The process of innovation starts with understanding the perspective of students and the current practices on campuses; providing career services professionals with the capacity, time, and connections they need to generate new campus solutions; and engaging employers and other stakeholders in the redesign. This approach is consistent with the vision of the UIA, that “by piloting new interventions, sharing insights about their relative cost and effectiveness, and scaling those interventions that are successful [,] . . . [its] collaborative work will catalyze systemic changes in the entire higher education sector. [7]

An Integrative Pathway to the Future

Strides in educational coherence are being made on a regional level, too. Tennessee and Colorado, for example, have adopted holistic cradle-to-career solutions that intentionally plan for the duration of their residents’ lifetimes, and the Central Ohio Compact has mobilized K–12, higher education, community-based organizations, and local industry with the goal of helping 65 percent of local adults earn a postsecondary credential by 2025. [8] Each of these initiatives exemplifies the design principles described earlier, by considering the experiences of key actors and employing a multistakeholder approach that includes policymakers — factors crucial to enacting change on a systemic level.

In most of the country, education, employment, and economic reform remain isolated in both policy and practice. If we continue down this path, limiting ourselves to what is possible within each of our silos, our mutual interests will soon be consumed by our differences.

Though these projects are promising, they are not enough. In most of the country, education, employment, and economic reform remain isolated in both policy and practice. If we continue down this path, limiting ourselves to what is possible within each of our silos, our mutual interests will soon be consumed by our differences. For the revolutionary changes that the future demands, we must move beyond this fragmented way of thinking and working, and accept that history’s boundaries no longer apply. We must take a coherent approach to connecting education and the future of work, harnessing integrative design principles to foster progress, flexibility, and inclusivity. To improve today and prepare for the future, we must build on these ideas together. We must embrace a user-centered approach that is designed around our ultimate goal: empowering and preparing our nation’s youth for fulfilling, engaged lives and productive careers, now and for decades to come.

[1] National Center for Education Statistics, “Undergraduate Retention and Graduation Rates,” May 2019, https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_ctr.asp .

[2] Anthony P. Carnevale, Jeff Strohl, Neil Ridley, and Artem Gulish, “Three Educational Pathways to Good Jobs,” Georgetown University, 2018, https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/3pathways/ , 10.

[3] Manpower Group, “Solving the Talent Shortage: Build, Buy, Borrow and Bridge,” 2018, https://go.manpowergroup.com/talent-shortage-2018#thereport , 5–7.

[4] Jennifer Ma, Matea Penda, and Meredith Welch, “Education Pays 2016: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society,” College Board, 2016, https://trends.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/education-pays-2016-full-report.pdf , 3–4.

[5] T. Bailey, D. W. Jeong, and S. W. Cho, “Referral, Enrollment, and Completion in Developmental Education Sequences in Community Colleges, Economics of Education Review 29, no. 2 (2010): 255–70.

[6] The University Innovation Alliance, “Our Results,” http://www.theuia.org/#about .

[7] The University Innovation Alliance, “Vision and Prospectus,” http://www.theuia.org/sites/default/files/UIA-Vision-Prospectus.pdf .

[8] Central Ohio Compact, “Central Ohio’s Most Critical Challenge,” http://centralohiocompact.org/what-is-the-compact/our-challenge/ .

Excerpted from The Great Skills Gap: Optimizing Talent for the Future of Work (Stanford Business Books, 2021), edited by Jason Wingard, Dean Emeritus and Professor of Human Capital Management at Columbia University School of Professional Studies. Reprinted with permission.

*Note: Since the publication of the book, UIA reports an increase of annual degrees to low-income students by 46 percent since launch. Overall annual bachelor's degrees have increased 30 percent, and annual bachelor's degrees to students of color have increased 85 percent. They have exceeded 100,000 degrees.

LaVerne Srinivasan is vice president of Carnegie Corporation of New York’s National Program and program director of Education, Farhad Asghar is the Education program officer of the Pathways to Postsecondary Success portfolio, and Elise Henson is a former program analyst at the Corporation.

TOP: (Credit: SolStock/Getty Images)

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Why we should expose school kids to the world of work

Chemistry students James Wood, Brandon Lee, and Patrick Ngo (L-R) watch Christopher Lai place a glass container into a holder as they prepare to make the compound found in an anti-parasitic medicine used to treat malaria, called Daraprim, at Sydney Grammar School in Sydney, Australia December 2, 2016. REUTERS/David Gray

To keep up with changing industries, school age students need real life exposure. Image: REUTERS/David Gray

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Stay up to date:, entrepreneurship.

All students need to experience the world of work, particularly work of the future, long before they leave school, according to a new report out today.

Jobs in the digital age, and the skills and capabilities required to do them are transforming at an unprecedented rate .

Bringing together the classroom and the workplace has broad public benefits , but can be challenging to do in practice .

Why is this important?

Exposure to the world of work provides opportunities for students to build connections with professionals outside their usual family networks, and to learn by “doing” in real world contexts.

Students picked by design thinking, coding and interview skills with this school-industry partnership.

Some students already have access to valuable experiences like industry mentoring and entrepreneurship programs at school, but this isn’t the case for all students .

With young people spending longer in formal education, many might not connect with the world of work until their 20s.

Traditionally, practical industry-focussed learning was anchored in vocational education and training, but participation rates in vocational pathways are declining.

Shaping career choices

Early exposure is critical to ensure that students can make informed decisions about future career pathways.

Haven’t we heard this before?

There have been attempts to put school-industry partnerships on the national agenda over the past decade, but they still haven’t reached every school.

As the recent Gonski 2.0 Review found:

“While many models of school-community engagement exist in Australia, school-community engagement to improve student learning is not common practice and implementation can be ad hoc.”

We haven’t yet found a way to bring the workplace and the classroom together in an effective way.

What’s stopping this?

We need to address some systemic barriers to enable partnerships with industry to flourish in all schools:

Partnerships take time and resources for schools to initiate and manage – yet things that can be widely measured, like NAPLAN and ATAR , tend to be prioritised

We know teachers are central to making partnerships work – but many don’t have the time, or the training to know how to engage effectively with industry

Have you read?

Education systems can stifle creative thought. here’s how to do things differently, children's books need more female villains. here's why, higher education needs dusting off for the 21st century.

Policymakers must design systems that make partnerships easier and ensure they are effective and available in all schools across Australia.

Here’s what governments can do

1. Track school-industry partnerships to ensure equity and help planning

2. Support teachers by giving them time and resoources

3. Address barriers to make it easier for all to take part

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The key to better education and career decisions? Work experience—in high school

Every student should have a work-based learning experience before they leave high school.

Whether a short-term project or a years-long internship, such real-world experiences are critical to helping students navigate from education to career. Students get an invaluable opportunity to explore their own career interests, experiment with—and possibly eliminate—potential careers before investing thousands of dollars or hours in education and training, and build a better understanding of the way they like to work. Taken together, that helps them more deliberately navigate a postsecondary path to success.

My own experience, which included a high school internship and deep connections with mentors, undoubtedly helped me choose a postsecondary education and career path that was right for me. At conferences and meetings when people ask, “Who is actually doing a job they went to college for?,” I am one of the few people who can raise their hand. I attribute that to the many opportunities I had in high school and college to try different career possibilities through work-based learning.

Still, research shows that there’s a gap between interest in and awareness and completion of these opportunities. A recent study by American Student Assistance found that while 79% of high school students would be interested in a work-based learning experience, only 34% were aware of any opportunities for students their age—and just 2% of students had completed an internship during high school . Moreover, there has been a steady decline in teens’ participation in the workforce over time—from 57.9% in 1979 to 35% between 2010 and 2018.

To reverse this trend, high school students must have equitable access to robust, high-quality work-based learning programs. That starts with regional and state leadership, and—as outlined in a new guide from ASA —there are four critical practices that stakeholders should keep in mind:

Equal access for students regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, income level, disability status, or academic path.
Outreach and awareness building among young people
Incentives for employers to participate,
And dedicated funding .

To provide greater access in Ohio, for instance, the state has changed labor regulations to make work-based learning for younger students possible and to reduce barriers to employer participation. Ohio’s minor labor laws explicitly exempt students participating in a career-technical or STEM program approved by the Ohio department of education, or in any eligible classes through the state’s dual enrollment program, including a state-recognized pre-apprenticeship program.

Increasing awareness among students is also critical. Many states have adopted a “work-based learning coordinator” model and tasked those coordinators with communicating among stakeholders about work-based learning programs and opportunities. This approach to communications, though, relies heavily on the capacity and networks of a single person, rather than leveraging the collective capacity and networks of stakeholders statewide.

To draw on those wider networks, some states also have built websites to help match young people with work-based learning opportunities . Rhode Island’s Work-Based Learning Navigator , for example, allows employers to post available work-based learning opportunities and educators to search and track those opportunities across the state and request resources based on their needs.

To encourage businesses to participate in work-based learning opportunities, some states provide incentives to offset employer costs. New Jersey’s Career Accelerator Internship Program provides participating employers with up to 50% of wages paid to new interns , up to $3,000 per student.

In terms of funding, districts and organizations often have difficulty sustaining work-based learning if there isn’t a dedicated funding source that makes the program a priority. To address this challenge, some states have inserted a line item in the state budget or created dedicated funding streams solely or primarily for creating and expanding work-based learning opportunities.

In Washington , for example, the 2019 Workforce Education Investment Act authorized $25 million in dedicated state funding to operate initiatives that support and scale work-based learning and other career-connected learning opportunities, as well as $11 million in capital and transportation funding to support these initiatives. Similarly, Massachusetts has a dedicated line-item in the annual state budget to fund high school internships and recently supported the launch of the Work-based Learning Alliance to scale accessibility to virtual work-based learning experiences.

We need to see more state and regional innovation of this kind. Doing so will ensure that more young people have the opportunity to experiment with careers—long before they have to commit to college, an apprenticeship, or another postsecondary path. Early experience means better decisions.

Julie Lammers, is senior vice president of advocacy and corporate social responsibility at American Student Assistance, which recently put out a comprehensive work-based learning guide, “ High School Work-based Learning: Best Practices Designed to Improve Career Readiness Outcomes for Today’s Youth .”

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by Cheryl C. Cox, EducationNC September 8, 2020

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Fall. That time of year when students begin their return to classrooms throughout the country.

For many students, the excitement of knowing that their graduation year is near is a complex emotion. Happiness, excitement, nervousness, and angst pull at the body and mind in diverse ways. A new beginning for the future lies just around the corner that can be both exciting and uncertain. Excitement for the next steps that life is bringing as well as feelings of hope, but also feelings of uncertainty for what that vision might really look like or how one goes about achieving that dream or goal.

Walk back in time with me a moment and reflect on your high school years.

Do you recall those years? Reflect on all the questions from parents, friends, relatives, teachers, counselors, youth leaders, and peers. Everyone wanted you to give them answers about your future, and they expected you to know immediately what your future would look like. You are a 17- or 18-year-old in high school, and it appears everyone thinks you are ready for adulthood.

They seem to think you should be ready to go out into this big old world and fly… and fly soon … like in just a few short months. Almost daily you are being asked, “What are your plans for your future? What will you do after graduation? What do you want to do for a living? Where are you going to school? How will you pay for your college or training?”

If you were like many of us, you were screaming in your mind, “WAIT! Stop. … Is there an Adulting 101 class I missed? I just want to enjoy high school! When do I apply for college? How do I really know what I want to do with my life? When is graduation? I don’t know what I want to do! I am going to college … but I don’t know about my career! I have no idea about career goals and my life ‘road map!’ I am just trying to ‘map out’ of high school.”

Sound familiar? For many students, these questions have existed for generations of time. Thankfully, over 900,000 North Carolina Career and Technical Education (CTE) students have many choices to help them explore the vast array of careers and help them decide firsthand if that career is a good choice for them.

CTE students start in middle school exploring and discovering career interests and inventories so that by the high school years, a more defined and concrete pathway can be built. This well-defined “road map” or “GPS” allows students to zoom in on the needed education and industry prerequisites, allowing for a successful, lucrative, and purposeful career.

The end result is years of schooling, time, and money not wasted on a career that is not aligned to one’s talents and abilities or a job that one does not enjoy or like.

How does CTE help students know what career is best for them? How does CTE help eliminate time and monetary resources from being wasted? The secret is in exploration, preparation, discovery, and work-based learning.

For many CTE students, the excitement is experienced in new ways, new concepts, and new environments. Classrooms today have a very different feel than in past years. Learning takes place in industry settings, giving students firsthand glimpses of what a career looks and feels like in a specific career pathway.

Internships and apprenticeships help students see firsthand the importance of preparation and education by doing and being a part of an industry – not just reading about it in a textbook. Work-based learning is a major focus for students, bringing enthusiasm, excitement, and a real-life view of the world of work. The work-based learning experiences offered in North Carolina schools through CTE programs connect learning to the textbook while helping students understand the “why” of what they have learned over the past 13 years.

My internship in high school was probably the most beneficial class to my career. I built relationships that led to recommendations for school and other jobs after that. It allowed me to get my foot in the door and know if I really wanted to pursue the career or not, while giving me real world experience as well. – Hannah Grubba, high school intern in Wake County Public School System. Currently works as a restaurant/pastry chef at the North Carolina Museum of Art .

Interning as a high school student was the most impactful use of a term I had. In addition to teaching me technical small business skills (inventory, management, networking, customer obsession, small business finances), interning at “Table of Contents” also sparked in me a great period of creativity and entrepreneurship and provided me a mentor for life. Transitioning into college was easier, and I was able to apply supply chain classroom topics to my time as an intern for small business in order to facilitate learning. – Shane Slider, high school intern in Wake County Public School System. Currently works at Amazon.

Take full advantage of the internship opportunity that is offered of you and earned. Having an internship in high school is very impressive to any potential employer. It will also give you an idea of what to expect at any future job opportunities. Besides the internship, having the fundamentals of business down will help you with the more demanding coursework of any collegiate course. Blake Hooks, high school intern at Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. Currently works as a senior supply chain consultant at Sunrise Technologies.

Connecting the pieces of the puzzle is essential for students’ success and growth. There is no career that cannot be experienced or shadowed if given the chance and opportunity. Sometimes that career pathway is a hobby or an interest that is channeled into a livelihood and successful career.

Because of our business and industry partnerships, students are given opportunities never before experienced or made possible. Employers play an integral and important role in building a strong workforce pipeline. Educators, employers, and students can benefit greatly from these partnerships.

Businesses can help develop a student work force that is motivated and well-prepared by offering work-based learning opportunities. They can participate by serving on advisory boards and committees, participating in career fairs, being guest speakers, providing internships, offering job shadowing experiences, mentoring, conducting mock interviews, giving worksite tours, and being on local work-based learning boards. Each of these unique opportunities enhance and provide needed guidance and support for work-based learning experiences for North Carolina students.

Work-based learning strategies help students connect what they are learning in the classroom with the world of work and helps prepare tomorrow’s leaders today!

Career development and promoting work-based learning has been the passion and focus of Mrs. Cox’s educational career for the past 25 years.

Mrs. Cox has vast knowledge of cooperate as well as educational settings. Having begun her early career as an educational software and hardware vendor she quickly saw the need to connect with teachers and students to help them navigate the many technological advancements forthcoming. The pull to be front and center with students to help them meet these challenges led her straight into the classroom. Mrs. Cox has served in both the K-12 and postsecondary environments. Her former roles as a classroom teacher, adjunct professor, Career Development & Special Populations Coordinator, School-to-Career and Academy Director helped lead her to her present position as the Work-based Learning Consultant for the NC Department of Public Instruction in Career and Technical Education.

Mrs. Cox offers practical experiences and knowledge for multiple audiences and stakeholders. The knowledge for career development and fostering joint partnerships is evident in her daily life and work. Her insightful enthusiasm for bringing together all stake holders; businesses, educators, parents and students to help promote Career and Technical Education is her passion and her life goal. Her dream of promoting and increasing student opportunities via apprenticeships and internships is being seen throughout North Carolina by the large percentage of students participating and enrolling in work-based learning.

Her dream and goal to help all students be career ready in NC is heard loud and clear from the mountains to the shores of our great state.

North Carolina saw a surge in apprenticeships this year. Here’s why.

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The Importance of Work-based Education for the Future

Giving compass' take:.

Writing for The 74, Tiffany Barfield explores how work-based learning can help advance career and education pipelines for students.
How does COVID disruption to schooling impact progress in career readiness?
Learn about inequity in work-based learning.

What is Giving Compass?

We connect donors to learning resources and ways to support community-led solutions. Learn more about us .

Two years of disrupted learning due to the pandemic have widened longstanding educational disparities that placed youth of color and those from underserved communities at a disadvantage when entering the workforce. Now, we have an unprecedented investment in the nation’s infrastructure that presents the possibility for numerous lucrative new jobs, particularly for young people. But without in-school preparation to develop workplace skills and knowledge, recent graduates will miss employment opportunities created by the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Bridging gaps in education and career development through work-based learning can both set students up to thrive in the workforce of the future and repair our nation’s decrepit infrastructure. These types of programs can give young people real-world experience while in high school, hone students’ academic, technical and employability skills and, by pairing preparation with opportunity, enable graduates to meet the new demands the infrastructure bill will create.

Unfortunately, our education system is not providing students with the skills and experience they need to succeed, particularly in the fields of science, technology engineering and math. Industries reliant on STEM faced a workforce shortage even before the pandemic, and as many as 2 million of an estimated 3.5 million manufacturing jobs may go vacant by 2025 because of the difficulty in finding people with the required skills. At the same time as the infrastructure package increases the need for workers with the capabilities to improve roads, bridges, railways and broadband access, COVID-19 learning loss has put students interested in pursuing STEM careers potentially six to 12 months behind in their education. Students of color are at increased risk of falling behind, with the pandemic widening pre-existing racial disparities in core subjects like math and science that are needed for success in high-paying jobs in these fields.

Fixing the school-to-career pipeline will become the driver of economic recovery. Schools must have the support to prepare learners for opportunities in indispensable high-wage, high-skill occupations that have proven resilient during economic upheavals. Work-based learning brings industry experts to the classroom and students to the workplace. These robust experiences incorporate academic achievement — credits toward a high school diploma or college — and professional training such as paid work experience and internships that help ensure students have pathways for long-term career success.

Read the full article about work-based learning by Tiffany Barfield at The 74. Read the full article

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For Students, the Importance of Doing Work That Matters

Please try again

By Will Richardson

We're halfway to school when my 14-year-old son remembers a homework assignment he forgot to do for biology class.

"Something big?" I ask, fearing the worst. "Nah," he says with a shrug. "Just a handout and some questions. It doesn't matter."

It's happened before, many times, in fact, that "it doesn't matter" response when it comes to work both of my kids are doing in school. This morning when he said it, I started trying to remember any work that they'd done this year that actually did matter in the world, work that seemed to have a purpose outside the classroom. Unfortunately, not much came to mind.

That's an especially frustrating reality for me because in my travels to schools around the world I see lots of examples of "work that matters"; high school kids in Philadelphia designing solar panels for hospitals in the African bush; middle school kids in San Diego writing books about their local ecosystems and selling them in local stores; primary school kids designing a new classroom wing being built at their school outside of Melbourne, Australia. And more.

"Work that matters" has significance beyond classroom walls; it's work that is created for an authentic audience who might enjoy it or benefit from it even in a small way. It's work that isn't simply passed to the teacher for a grade, or shared with peers for review. It's work that potentially makes a difference in the world.

And while we’ve always been able to do "work that matters" in our classrooms, our growing access to the Web and the tools and technologies of the modern world can certainly amplify the potentials for audience and for real world application of whatever it is our students are doing. Suddenly, our students have a potential audience of 2.5 billion people who could become readers or collaborators, and they've got all sorts of tools and apps in their backpacks that they can use to create really beautiful, meaningful work in ways that most of their teachers couldn't imagine doing when they were in school. I would argue, in fact, that the growing access to knowledge, information, people, and tools that our students are getting demands a shift in how we think about the work they do in school, one that moves them away from traditional, institutionally organized "assignments" and toward more student-organized projects that are centered on the intersection of their interests and the subject or standard at hand.

That argument becomes even more compelling when you look at the work some kids are doing on their own, outside of school, around their own interests and passions. Like 16-year-old Sean Fay Wolfe, whose 422-page book Quest for Justice (a novel set in Minecraft) currently ranks in the top 1 percent in sales of books sold on Amazon. Or like 12-year-old " Super Awesome Sylvia " Todd, who designed and helped to create a water color replicator that now sells in kit form for $295 . Or 15-year-old Jack Andraka , who used his after school time to work in a Johns Hopkins laboratory to invent a cancer test that obliterated the current gold standard.

Are these kids outliers? Sure. But they are also examples of what is now possible for every child and, I would add, each one of us as well. And those examples and the thousands more like them should compel us to rethink what's possible in our classrooms if we begin to open up to the potentials. Instead of passing paper, digital or otherwise, back and forth between students and teacher, what if we allowed students to do real work for real audiences that can read and interact far beyond the limits of the school walls, schedule, and curriculum? What if we let our students do work that they actually cared about and wanted to create, not for a grade but because of its potential contribution to and effect on the world?

No question, this kind of work is harder to manage and to assess; there is very little if any "work that matters" that happens when students sit to take state assessments. Even though this type of work might tell us much more about what a student has learned and can do with that learning than any traditional test, it's not as efficient or quantifiable or rankable.

Still, we can start small, can't we? What if we took 10% of what we're currently doing and handed it over to our students, asking them to meet the standard or the outcome we've set for them in a way that they care about and that had a purpose beyond the classroom? What if we created opportunities for them to educate, entertain, inspire, or connect with people from all over the globe who might be sincerely influenced by the work they’re doing? And what if we asked them to assess their own work in ways that matter to them, ways that inform them what worked, what didn’t work, and how they might do it differently down the road?

Schools and classrooms should support a deep culture of “doing work that matters,” where the adults in the building serve as models for the type of creating and learning we might expect from kids. And there should be a clear vision that everyone understands and works toward, one like the vision at Mount Vernon Presbyterian School in Atlanta which states: “We are a school of inquiry, innovation, and impact.” Impact, as in the work that students do carries more weight than just a grade.

The reality of this moment is that every one of our students can create and share and connect in ways that didn’t exist even a decade ago. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like a decade from now. But I know this: if our students look at the work we’re asking them to do today and say “It doesn’t matter,” we’re missing a huge opportunity to help them become the learners they now need to be.

Will Richardson will be the opening keynote for the July 28-30 EdTechTeacher Summit in Chicago.

Education Is the Key to Better Jobs

Subscribe to the economic studies bulletin, michael greenstone , michael greenstone nonresident senior fellow - economic studies , the hamilton project adam looney , and adam looney nonresident senior fellow - economic studies michael greenstone and adam looney, the hamilton project mgaalthp michael greenstone and adam looney, the hamilton project.

September 17, 2012

Few issues are more critical than putting Americans back to work. With the economy adding private-sector jobs for the last 30 consecutive months and the unemployment rate continuing to tick down, another concern has begun to dominate the discussion. Is it enough to find a job, or should we be more focused on the quality of that job? For those Americans who have been displaced in the workforce, what are their prospects of finding comparable employment in the 21st century, post-recession economy? After all, having a job—any job—does not guarantee a wage that will support a family. How, then, can we foster an economy that produces quality, high-paying jobs?

There may be a range of perspectives on the best way to move our economy forward, but one element essential to any answer is education. It may seem intuitive that more educated people earn more, yet the extent to which this is true is striking. A picture is often worth a thousand words, and the graph below illustrates this point.

The horizontal axis measures income while the vertical axis breaks up the income level by education level. As we move to the right toward higher incomes, we see that college graduates make up a bigger and bigger chunk of those earners. A few numbers help to underscore this. Those with only a high school diploma accounted for 39 percent of those who made between $20,000 and $30,000, but just 8 percent of those earning more than $100,000. In contrast, college graduates only accounted for 18 percent of the $20,000-to-$30,000 group and 75 percent of people earning more than $100,000, despite the population of these two educational demographic groups being roughly equal.

The message is clear—more education opens the gateway to better, higher-paying jobs. To put this into perspective, consider this:

An individual with only a high school diploma is twice as likely to make under $40,000 per year than someone with a college degree.
In contrast, an individual with a college degree is nearly nine times more likely to make over $100,000 than someone with only a high school diploma and 13 times more likely to make more than $200,000 per year.

On September 27th, The Hamilton Project will host an event focusing on the value of education, and opportunities to promote attainment and achievement in our K-12 system. We will release a series of economic facts about K-12 education in addition to three new discussion papers by outside authors— “Staying in School: A Proposal to Raise High School Graduation Rates,” “Learning from the Successes and Failures of Charter Schools,” and “Harnessing Technology to Improve K-12 Education.” Focusing on the new papers, three panels of distinguished experts will explore the value of stricter and better-enforced attendance laws, in coordination with other programs, to increase the high school graduation rate; the use of new evidence to demonstrate how targeted charter school methods could be successfully applied in public schools; and a new approach to evaluating education technologies to help speed the development of valuable new products.

The new Hamilton Project papers will be available on September 27th at 9:00 AM ET. For more information or to register for the event, click here .

Michael Greenstone is the director of The Hamilton Project and Adam Looney is its policy director. For more about the Project, visit www.hamiltonproject.org .

Economic Studies

The Hamilton Project

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March 7, 2024

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January 5, 2024

The turning point: Why we must transform education now

Global warming. Accelerated digital revolution. Growing inequalities. Democratic backsliding. Loss of biodiversity. Devastating pandemics. And the list goes on. These are just some of the most pressing challenges that we are facing today in our interconnected world.

The diagnosis is clear: Our current global education system is failing to address these alarming challenges and provide quality learning for everyone throughout life. We know that education today is not fulfilling its promise to help us shape peaceful, just, and sustainable societies. These findings were detailed in UNESCO’s Futures of Education Report in November 2021 which called for a new social contract for education.

That is why it has never been more crucial to reimagine the way we learn, what we learn and how we learn. The turning point is now. It’s time to transform education. How do we make that happen?

Here’s what you need to know.

Why do we need to transform education?

The current state of the world calls for a major transformation in education to repair past injustices and enhance our capacity to act together for a more sustainable and just future. We must ensure the right to lifelong learning by providing all learners - of all ages in all contexts - the knowledge and skills they need to realize their full potential and live with dignity. Education can no longer be limited to a single period of one’s lifetime. Everyone, starting with the most marginalized and disadvantaged in our societies, must be entitled to learning opportunities throughout life both for employment and personal agency. A new social contract for education must unite us around collective endeavours and provide the knowledge and innovation needed to shape a better world anchored in social, economic, and environmental justice.

What are the key areas that need to be transformed?

Inclusive, equitable, safe and healthy schools

Education is in crisis. High rates of poverty, exclusion and gender inequality continue to hold millions back from learning. Moreover, COVID-19 further exposed the inequities in education access and quality, and violence, armed conflict, disasters and reversal of women’s rights have increased insecurity. Inclusive, transformative education must ensure that all learners have unhindered access to and participation in education, that they are safe and healthy, free from violence and discrimination, and are supported with comprehensive care services within school settings. Transforming education requires a significant increase in investment in quality education, a strong foundation in comprehensive early childhood development and education, and must be underpinned by strong political commitment, sound planning, and a robust evidence base.

Learning and skills for life, work and sustainable development

There is a crisis in foundational learning, of literacy and numeracy skills among young learners. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, learning poverty has increased by a third in low- and middle-income countries, with an estimated 70% of 10-year-olds unable to understand a simple written text. Children with disabilities are 42% less likely to have foundational reading and numeracy skills compared to their peers. More than 771 million people still lack basic literacy skills, two-thirds of whom are women. Transforming education means empowering learners with knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to be resilient, adaptable and prepared for the uncertain future while contributing to human and planetary well-being and sustainable development. To do so, there must be emphasis on foundational learning for basic literacy and numeracy; education for sustainable development, which encompasses environmental and climate change education; and skills for employment and entrepreneurship.

Teachers, teaching and the teaching profession

Teachers are essential for achieving learning outcomes, and for achieving SDG 4 and the transformation of education. But teachers and education personnel are confronted by four major challenges: Teacher shortages; lack of professional development opportunities; low status and working conditions; and lack of capacity to develop teacher leadership, autonomy and innovation. Accelerating progress toward SDG 4 and transforming education require that there is an adequate number of teachers to meet learners’ needs, and all education personnel are trained, motivated, and supported. This can only be possible when education is adequately funded, and policies recognize and support the teaching profession, to improve their status and working conditions.

Digital learning and transformation

The COVID-19 crisis drove unprecedented innovations in remote learning through harnessing digital technologies. At the same time, the digital divide excluded many from learning, with nearly one-third of school-age children (463 million) without access to distance learning. These inequities in access meant some groups, such as young women and girls, were left out of learning opportunities. Digital transformation requires harnessing technology as part of larger systemic efforts to transform education, making it more inclusive, equitable, effective, relevant, and sustainable. Investments and action in digital learning should be guided by the three core principles: Center the most marginalized; Free, high-quality digital education content; and Pedagogical innovation and change.

Financing of education

While global education spending has grown overall, it has been thwarted by high population growth, the surmounting costs of managing education during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the diversion of aid to other emergencies, leaving a massive global education financial gap amounting to US$ 148 billion annually. In this context, the first step toward transformation is to urge funders to redirect resources back to education to close the funding gap. Following that, countries must have significantly increased and sustainable financing for achieving SDG 4 and that these resources must be equitably and effectively allocated and monitored. Addressing the gaps in education financing requires policy actions in three key areas: Mobilizing more resources, especially domestic; increasing efficiency and equity of allocations and expenditures; and improving education financing data. Finally, determining which areas needs to be financed, and how, will be informed by recommendations from each of the other four action tracks .

What is the Transforming Education Summit?

UNESCO is hosting the Transforming Education Pre-Summit on 28-30 June 2022, a meeting of over 140 Ministers of Education, as well as policy and business leaders and youth activists, who are coming together to build a roadmap to transform education globally. This meeting is a precursor to the Transforming Education Summit to be held on 19 September 2022 at the UN General Assembly in New York. This high-level summit is convened by the UN Secretary General to radically change our approach to education systems. Focusing on 5 key areas of transformation, the meeting seeks to mobilize political ambition, action, solutions and solidarity to transform education: to take stock of efforts to recover pandemic-related learning losses; to reimagine education systems for the world of today and tomorrow; and to revitalize national and global efforts to achieve SDG-4.

More on the Transforming Education Summit
More on the Pre-Summit

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Our Mission

For Effective Schools, Teamwork Is Not Optional

The greatest resource that teachers have is other teachers. But sadly, teamwork and collaboration are not commonly found in schools. Having taught for 20 years myself, I know how it works.

Teachers have very challenging and stressful jobs, and part of what contributes to their level of challenge and stress is a teacher's tendency to isolate him- or herself. How many teachers close their door and feel like they are all alone in fighting their overwhelming battle against ignorance and apathy and paperwork and standardized testing?

Isolation Is Not Effective

I remember my first year as a high school literature teacher. I began by adopting those exact habits of preparing alone and working in isolation. I was a lonely superhero who went home exhausted each day without the encouragement or support of my more experienced peers. I was right next to people who had answers and ideas that could have benefitted me, but I was too proud to ask for them.

It was only by the grace and generosity of a couple of seasoned teachers from my department that I was able to appreciate what I had been missing. They reached out to offer unsolicited assistance, build a relationship, and share a few encouraging stories with me. I had assumed that I could be more effective when planning and working alone, but I eventually found that, when working with people, efficient is rarely truly effective . It took a long time for me to realize that I could accomplish more and be far more effective and energized if I was willing to share ideas, ask for help, and lean on others.

That experience of connecting with other teachers and sharing ideas throughout the year had a tremendous impact on me as a young teacher. Over the years, it is what led me to share with and reach out to others who I felt might need encouragement or ideas. I realized that teachers have too much of a history of closing doors and doing things their own way -- and that the isolated nature of teaching made it even more important that teachers have the time and incentive to collaborate.

The truth is that no industry succeeds in isolation or secrecy.

Building Meaningful Connections

Being a professional doesn't mean that you have the opportunity to work alone. In fact, professionals in most every other industry are required to work together to improve performance. Whether they're airline pilots, psychiatrists, or salesmen, successful professionals lean on and share ideas with others in their field.

There are two main types of isolation that teachers experience:

Egg-crate isolation: This is what I call the kind of isolation that is due to the physical layout of school buildings. Egg-crate isolation is the result of physical separateness, where teachers have little contact with others and feel as if they have no support system. To alleviate this feeling, instead of being tucked neatly away in separate rooms all the time, school administrations should give teachers the time and opportunity to talk and plan together, and to share laughter, encouragement, and ideas.
Avalanche isolation: This kind of isolation is the result of teachers feeling overwhelmed by their daily responsibilities of serving lunch duty, grading papers, making copies, attending meetings, learning new strategies, contacting parents, and the thousand other things on their to-do list. The best way to assuage this form of isolation is to focus on getting rid of egg-crate isolation.

The surest way to reduce workplace stress is to help your people build meaningful connections and feel like a valuable part of something larger than themselves. Building that kind of culture requires administrations setting aside time and emphasizing the importance of teacher teamwork instead of simply suggesting that it occur on its own.

Perhaps you could suggest a mandate that your staff spend just 30 minutes every week where one teacher can share a creative lesson plan, or where every teacher has to share his or her most challenging issue. These conversations open doors for sharing encouragement and insights while establishing the empathy that drives all great organizations.

If your school staff needs to share a few laughs, a day of teacher team building can be a powerful catalyst to boost morale, improve interactions, and establish a culture of collaboration. Teamwork is not optional for effective schools.

Effective administrations ensure that teachers can work together to plan, share ideas, and support each other. Once educators experience the benefits of collaboration, they will appreciate the camaraderie and creativity it provides.

Why we must value and promote work experience

As a school that has long had a focus on the importance of work experience, it was dispiriting - although perhaps not surprising - to see a report on Tes this week that 50 per cent of state school students are missing out on opportunities to gain meaningful experience in the workplace .

After all, with school budgets under increasing pressure, it is more difficult for schools to allocate time and resources to sourcing work experience opportunities, often relying on informal networks and parents to support sources with securing access to the workplace.

Yet, exposure to working professionals, industry partnerships and volunteering, alongside traditional work experience, are all vital ways to ensure students from all backgrounds have their eyes opened to new career ideas and networking connections that can open up future opportunities.

One way we have tried to do this in our school is with our Gropius Lectures series, where we invited professionals, many of whom are parents of students, from different sectors to attend the college to deliver a talk on their job role and career pathway and answer student questions.

This helps give our students valuable insight into prospective careers they might not know exist. Previous speakers include a haematologist, software engineer, lawyer and CEOs. College alumni are also invited to give talks to our students about their career pathways.

Power of local partnerships

The power of partnerships is another key way to boost work experience opportunities, and we draw on both industry and community interest companies to ensure our students have access to meaningful experiences in the workplace.

In our sixth form , for example, students benefit from our long-standing partnerships with Addenbrooke’s Hospital and Royal Papworth Hospital, which enables them to apply their knowledge in a practical environment.

Proactively asking your students about their interests and aspirations during one-to-one meetings, tutor time and surveys will enable you to focus your efforts on developing a programme of experiences that meets their needs where possible.

Dedicated careers staff

At the college, we have a full-time careers lead, who is an experienced and non-teaching member of staff. Not only does she have a lot of connections that we can utilise, but she can dedicate more time to engaging with stakeholders in the area to effectively develop partnerships than our teachers.

However, we do leverage our teachers’ industry expertise and relationships to establish partnerships with local companies.

We also make sure all our sixth-form students benefit from work experience, while our Year 10 students can choose between formal work experience or volunteering through the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

Working with local organisation Form the Future has enabled us to extend the range of opportunities available to our students outside of their parents and connect them to the world of work.

More than 100 of our main college students now volunteer regularly in the local community through our partnerships with schools, nursing homes and other community organisations.

Student volunteering

As an International Baccalaureate World School, we also ensure all students undertake service learning as a mandatory component of learning and we have seen huge benefits as a result.

Not only do they develop important life skills such as communication, teamwork and leadership, but we see tremendous increases in self-confidence, too.

While volunteering is not work experience, it does provide an extended opportunity for students to develop the same skills that work experience offers. Through careful timetabling, we can offer all of our students access to volunteer opportunities, many of which align with their studies or career pathways.

Some of our environmental systems and societies students have volunteered with a local conservation project, while students with teaching aspirations can volunteer in one of the local schools in our trust.

Through our teachers’ connections with schools across the world, we have also been able to offer our students volunteering opportunities for teaching at schools in India and Peru.

Ultimately, leveraging your local network of organisations and charities, embedding work and volunteering opportunities into the timetable, and collaborating with parents means schools can ensure that students enjoy the advantages of work experience, regardless of their background.

This can only stand them in good stead for their future lives.

Victoria Hearn is principal at Impington Village College near Cambridge

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Teacher numbers: subject by subject change over 15 years

Getting Into College , Tips for Online Students , Tips for Students , Why Go to College

Top 10 Reasons Why Is Education Important

Updated: February 1, 2024

Published: April 15, 2020

Top-10-Reasons-Why-Is-Education-Important

Most of us have grown up being taught the importance of education. But why is education important? Through your frustrating school years, you may have thought that it was a waste of time, or was just something that you needed to do in order to get a job. Truth be told, however, education goes so much beyond just getting a job and making your parents happy. In fact, it’s one of the most powerful tools out there.

What Is Education?

Education means studying in order to obtain a deeper knowledge and understanding of a variety of subjects to be applied to daily life. Education is not limited to just knowledge from books, but can also be obtained through practical experiences outside of the classroom.

Top 10 Reasons: Why Is Education Important?

There are many different understandings and definitions of what education is, but one thing can be universally agreed upon, which is the importance of education — and here’s why.

1. Provides Stability

Education provides stability in life, and it’s something that no one can ever take away from you. By being well-educated and holding a college degree , you increase your chances for better career opportunities and open up new doors for yourself.

2. Provides Financial Security

On top of stability, education also provides financial security, especially in today’s society. A good education tends to lead to a higher paying job, as well as provide you with the skills needed to get there. Educated and well-informed individuals also know how to use money-saving tactics. They are more likely to use coupon websites like EMUCoupon while shopping online to save their hard-earned money.

3. Needed For Equality

In order for the entire world to really become equal, it needs to start with education. If everyone was provided with the same opportunities to education , then there would be less gaps between social classes. Everyone would be able to have an equal chance at higher paying jobs — not just those that are already well-off.

4. Allows For Self-Dependency

The importance of education is evident when it comes to being self-dependent. If we are we educated, then it’s something that belongs to us, and only us, allowing us to rely on no one else other than ourselves. It can allow you to not only be financially independent, but also to make your own choices.

5. Make Your Dreams Come True

If you can dream it, you can achieve it. An education is the most powerful weapon you can possibly have, and with it, you can make all of your dreams come true. There are of course certain exceptions, depending on what you’re aiming for, but generally an education will take you as far as you’re willing to go.

6. A Safer World

Education is something that’s not only needed on a personal level, but also on a global level, as it’s something that keeps our world safe and makes it a more peaceful place. Education tends to teach people the difference between right and wrong, and can help people stay out of risky situations.

7. Confidence

Being self-confident is a major part of being successful in life. And what better way to gain that confidence than with an education? Your level of education is often considered a way to prove your knowledge, and it can give you the confidence to express your opinions and speak your mind.

8. A Part Of Society

In today’s society, having an education is considered a vital part of being accepted by those around you. Having an education is believed to make you a useful part of society, and can make you feel like a contributing member as well.

9. Economic Growth On A National Level

An educated society is crucial for economic growth. We need people to continue to learn and research in order to constantly stay innovative. Countries with higher literacy rates also tend to be in better economic situations. With a more educated population, more employment opportunities are opened.

10. Can Protect You

Education can protect you more than you know, not only on a financial level, but it can help prevent you from being taken advantage of by knowing how to read and write, such as knowing not to sign any bogus documents.

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

Education is important for children.

Children are the future of our world, making education crucial for them. Their knowledge is what’s going to keep our world alive and flourishing.

At Childhood

During the childhood development stages, the importance of education is stronger than ever. It’s a time for children to learn social and mental skills that will be crucial for their growth and success in the future. Education at childhood also offers a chance for self-discovery and to learn about their unique interests.

The importance of education in our lives goes far beyond what we can read in a textbook. Education also provides childhood with knowledge such as how to produce artwork and make music. Education allows us to analyze what’s in front of us, and even learn from our mistakes.

Goal Building

By learning from a young age, children are given the chance to start building goals for themselves. Education means having the logic to set your mind to something and achieve it.

Importance Of Education In Society

For a modern society, education is of utmost importance. There are so many influences coming from all directions, and education can help us decipher what we should take as true, and what we should take with a grain of salt. Education can mold people into functional members of society with the right kinds of values.

Productivity

Education is needed for a productive society. Our population only continues to increase, and in turn, so do our needs. We need a strong and efficient workforce of educated people to provide us with the services we need for everyday life.

Why Is Education Important For a Nation?

The importance of education is seen in every aspect of life, and is especially crucial for the growth of a nation.

The Impact Education Has On The World

With education, people can become better citizens, knowing right from wrong, allowing for a better society where laws are followed. An educated nation knows about the importance of voting, doing so with the knowledge not blindly, but also having an understanding of what their party truly stands for. Education can also help people get jobs, which is what a nation thrives on.

Inspiring Quotes On What Education Truly Is

Why is education important, and what is it exactly? While every person has a different understanding of its true meaning, here are some of the most inspiring quotes by some legendary people.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” — Nelson Mandela
“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” — Malcolm X
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” — Benjamin Franklin
“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” — John Dewey

What Are Some Other Reasons Why Education Is Important?

There are endless reasons why education is so important, especially since it also has endless connotations and meanings.

Mind And Body

Our mind and bodies are connected more than we know. With a powerful, well-educated mind, so too are our bodies.

We can not only know how to best take care of ourselves, but we can feel confident and good about ourselves, which will likely have a positive effect on our physical well-being . Education has even been proven to add years to our life . To be exact, each additional year of education was found to add as much as 1.7 years to our lives at the age of 35.

Personal Growth

The importance of education even extends itself to our personal growth. By constantly educating ourselves, asking questions and wanting to know more, we can move forward and achieve things we never imagined before.

Get To Know Yourself

Education can allow us to get to know ourselves better than ever. We can learn things about ourselves, whether it be through books, courses, or even consulting with a professional.

Photo by Burst from Pexels

Worldwide value.

Education is the best way to ensure a positive world value and view. Without a proper education, how else do we know what’s considered appropriate and how to behave?

While world peace may unfortunately seem like a far-fetched concept, with education we can get closer to this goal than we know. Education can teach us about our place in this world, and about our responsibility to humanity.

Teaches Values

Values are taught through education! Education exists far beyond the classroom or an exam. It’s taught at home, through what our parents and peers show us, and although not necessarily written down somewhere, such a teaching method is still a large aspect of what education entails.

Sharpens Your Thinking

Education is needed to think sharply and clearly!

Makes You Informed

Education makes you informed about the world around you, what’s going on and what kind of people are around you. Education can help you be more self-aware about your strengths and weaknesses, showing you were to shift your focus.

Logical Reasoning

When in an argument, if you aren’t well educated and don’t have your facts straight, then you aren’t likely to win. If you get upset about something, then being educated can also help you logically work through the situation and make sense of it, understanding all aspects.

Stay Focused

Education can help you stay focused and on track in the right direction by knowing what the right path is for you.

Allows For Innovation And Creativity

When it comes to being creative, in any way, shape, or form, the mind can only really reach its full potential if it’s been fed with the knowledge it needs to think outside the box.

Develop Life Skills

Education is the foundation of basic life skills and street smarts. While education might sound like a fancy technical term, it’s really everything we learn in life about how to best conduct ourselves from day to day.

Education can be the most freeing and empowering thing in the entire world!

Live Life To The Fullest

Truly living life to the fullest means being well-educated and holding a vast amount of knowledge about the world around us. It also means we continue to learn every day in all kinds of forms, whether it be from the people around us, newspapers, experiences, research, or traditional classes.

Breaks Barriers

Education breaks barriers between people, and allows people from across the globe to be empowered.

University of the People, a tuition-free , online university, is one powerful example of how education is being revolutionized – they offer students of all socio-economic backgrounds an equal chance at education.

Once upon a time, such a thing wouldn’t have been possible, but today such places like UoPeople have proven that these barriers truly can be broken through to receive higher education.

You Become Your Highest You

Education can allow you to become the best, fullest version of yourself, learning about what interests you, what you’re good at, becoming self-aware and conscious about the world around you. It can help you establish your place in this world, and feel complete.

Education In The Modern World

Education today is more important than ever before, and has reached new heights with new understandings of what it truly entails. Ask yourself “Why is education important?” and it will surely not be the same as anyone else’s answer.

While in modern society, holding a college degree is considered to be highly beneficial for a successful career and to be socially accepted, it is not the only means of education. Education is all around us in everything that we do, so use it wisely!

Designing for Equity Equity Work: Too Much Talk, Too Little Action

Jal Mehta (he, him, his) Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Co-Director, Deeper Learning Dozen

Together, educators are doing the reimagining and reinvention work necessary to make true educational equity possible. Student-centered learning advances equity when it values social and emotional growth alongside academic achievement, takes a cultural lens on strengths and competencies, and equips students with the power and skills to address injustice in their schools and communities.

To get to equity in education, we need a better balance between talk and action. And we have a real opportunity to start taking action now.

Schools are awash in equity work. It seems that every time you turn around there is another school or university that has appointed a DEI officer, is running a workshop or book club around anti-racism, or is adopting a DEI mission statement.

This is heartening. 400 years after the original sin of slavery, the bill is final coming due. Compared to the reform movement of the late 90s and 00s—where the goal was narrowly construed as equalizing test scores—the current conversation is much more wide-ranging, considering the ways in which racism is embedded in assumptions, mindsets, structures, and practices. Also heartening is the increasing examination of who is in the room, with the goal of broadening who has the power to make critical decisions.

So, what’s the problem? The problem is that the balance between talk and action is way off. White people can only unpack their privilege so many times. People of color can only listen to White people share their gradual awakenings to issues of racism and privilege so many times. This is a necessary first step, and I’m sure there are many places where it is still needs to happen. But for the rest of us, if we don’t get moving, energy will dissipate and backlash will begin.

There is no shortage of supply of equity approaches that would integrate thought and action; what is missing is the demand for such approaches, and the willingness to follow-through on the difficult action steps.

I have been part of this problem. I was running a convening for superintendents, and we did a variety of the usual equity exercises. Our time together culminated with superintendents writing an “equity statement” where they professed the ways in which they personally, and their districts as a whole, would commit to equity. There may have been some value to this—it forced them to publicly take a stand and committed us as a group as folks who were supporting equity. But this is the first step, and almost a pre-step. These were people who had a lot of power. They had the ability to detrack their schools, or shift resources to higher poverty students, or in many other ways take concrete actions that would create more equitable opportunities for students. Why so much energy on unpacking their thinking and creating “equity statements” rather than thinking through specifically what sorts of actions might actually create more equity?

I think this problem stems in part from a flawed theory of change. Very broadly, much of the equity work over the past few years, particularly those of the “White fragility” and “White privilege” variety, seems to stem from the view that a) changes in beliefs lead to changes in actions; and b) for dominant groups, understanding one’s complicity in creating racial inequality will provoke shame which will lead to changed actions. Once we unearth these theories, it is perhaps not surprising that the literature on anti-bias trainings suggests that they are on the whole mostly ineffective . In school reform more generally, we have learned that changing beliefs frequently does not lead to changes in actions , and that shaming people is not a good method for provoking sustained energy for improvement.

A better theory would recognize that change comes when actions and beliefs move in a reinforcing cycle. In this view, changes in actions lead to changes in belief, which stimulates demand for further change. Consider a young White high school teacher who is struggling with a group of adolescent students of color. She begins the year trying to replicate her own high school English classes but is unprepared for the variety of reading levels of her students. Some of her students have trouble reading the texts and disengage from the class. She tries to connect with the students by drawing on popular culture or engaging in what one of my students called “faux hood talk” which only undermines her credibility further. As her students become increasingly resistant to her teaching, she gets angrier with them, demanding more behavioral compliance and becoming more directive in her teaching. As she seeks to further control them, they resist more, and the cycle spirals downward. While she began the year full of naïve White hope, she begins to wonder whether it is the students and their families that are to blame for their lack of engagement.

How could this cycle be broken? If she went to a workshop on White privilege or how to be an antiracist, she might be reminded that she has certain advantages as a White woman that her students do not have. She might hear something about students’ “funds of knowledge” or how she should be a “culturally responsive teacher.” But none of this seems likely to get her out of the hole she has dug, and, as she continues to struggle with her students, it seems likely that her lived experience will perpetuate a deficit narrative about her students.

Now imagine that she is part of a more action-oriented PLC. She shares with some experienced teachers some of the struggles she is having with her students. A wise teacher suggests she start with just one student who she is having trouble reaching. She has a real conversation with that student, who appreciates that the teacher is making a real effort to get to know him. She asks her PLC what they have tried with struggling students, and several suggests texts, at different levels, that have tended to resonate with similar students. She offers some of these to her focal student, and she is surprised to discover that they have a mutual interest in science fiction. She asks him to do some writing in a science fiction genre and finds him much more engaged and interested in her feedback. Feeling renewed and having experienced some success, she comes to the next PLC meeting ready to learn more.

As Michael Fullan puts it, while the debate rages about whether actions precede beliefs or beliefs follow from actions, what is clear is that they have to reinforce one another in a virtuous cycle if real change is going to take place. Privileged people do have to do a lot of learning, over a long period of time, if they are going to understand the systems that perpetuate inequality and the ways they can be dismantled. Teachers like the one above do need to learn much more about their students, cultures which are not their own, and how to teach across lines of difference. People do need to look within as well as without. So it’s not that talk, reflection, reading, and learning are unimportant; to the contrary they are critical. But this learning will be much more constructive, and much more likely to be sustained, if it is interwoven with actions that lead to change. At the moment, the balance is off: too much of our current equity work is heavy on talk and short on action. We need to complete the cycle.

Making this shift would have a number of positive benefits. For White folks who are disillusioned with DEI work, it would show them the concrete benefits of doing it. For people of color, it would give them a reason to continue to show up; watching White people going on racial awareness journeys was painful in 2015 and is downright insufferable today. And for everyone, it creates opportunities to do deeper and deeper work—the early rounds will focus on the low hanging fruit, but as efforts continue, they can gradually get at the roots of our underlying problems.

There is no shortage of equity work that takes this perspective. Zaretta Hammond suggests using just the process described above, working with a focal student to prove to yourself that you can change the circumstances for that child, which in turn creates efficacy for broader change. The National Equity Project is constantly urging people to have a bias toward action; their process includes “safe to fail” experiments that allow people to make some initial changes without putting their whole organizations at risk. equityXdesign and Caroline Hill’s work revises the design process to illuminate issues of power and status and include more voices from the margins, but retains the emphasis on learning by doing. And these are just four examples. There is no shortage of supply of equity approaches that would integrate thought and action; what is missing is the demand for such approaches, and the willingness to follow-through on the difficult action steps.

Now why is that? The most obvious answer is that it takes real courage to move from talk to action. Holding workshops, forming book clubs, running professional development, and collecting data from surveys and focus groups are safe ways to do equity work. They create the appearance of action, but they almost never create substantial change in and of themselves, and worse, they can foster a false illusion of progress.

Conversely, actually doing something about equity—redistributing resources to the neediest students, hiring more people of color to be teachers and mentors for kids, detracking and unleveling students, changing curricula to be more culturally inclusive, and, most of all, distributing power more broadly—can come with significant costs. Doing any of these things will occasion pushback from those who are benefitting from existing arrangements.

At the same time, there are also significant benefits. No risk, no reward. It feels good to make progress with groups of students who have historically not succeeded. And education is not always a zero sum game—finding ways to make students feel included, to feel like they belong, to build communities that are inclusive and draw on the strengths of their various members—are approaches that will be beneficial for all students.

So, the next time you attend or organize a DEI event, ask the following questions:

What are the action steps that follow from our discussion?
Can we co-design with students, families, and community members to actually do something different as opposed to simply raising awareness or consciousness?
What can we try, even on a small scale, to see whether our hunches about what might make a difference are right?

And, at the next meeting, ask:

What did we learn from what we tried?
If we didn’t actually do anything, why was that, and what are we going to do next time?

If, after two meetings, there has been no action, don’t go to a third one. Organize your own meeting, find some people who are actually interested in making a difference, and get cracking.

The Black Lives Matter movement has arguably been the most potent force in education (and other facets of society) over the past five years. More than the federal Department of Education, teacher evaluation, or any other initiative, it has swept across schools and districts, creating new conversations and opportunities for new commitments. In a highly decentralized system, like American education, it is often social movements that can have the most power for change, because they can manifest everywhere, in different contexts and in different ways.

And, for that reason, it is critical that we don’t squander this opportunity. Among the least committed, the moment is already passing; nice White parents who were reading How to Be an Antiracist in June were forming exclusive pods by August. But for those who are more committed to significant change, there is a real opportunity—we are in the midst of a broad racial awakening in which people from dominant groups are starting to see the inequities that have always been visible to people of color. But patience is short, institutional inertia is strong, and energy can dissipate quickly. If we don’t translate these conversations into action, we will have missed a huge chance to finally make our education system a more equitable one.

Photo at top by Allison Shelley for American Education: Images of Teachers and Students in Action: Educators from UCLA Community School discuss dual-language instruction with their colleagues.

Jal Mehta (he, him, his)

Professor of education, harvard graduate school of education,, co-director, deeper learning dozen.

Jal Mehta is professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and co-director of the Deeper Learning Dozen, a network of districts across North America committed to equitable systems change for deep and powerful learning. He is the co-author, with Sarah Fine, of In Search of Deeper Learning: The Quest to Remake the American High School (Harvard University Press, 2019).

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March 25, 2024

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Characteristics and Outcomes of School Social Work Services: A Scoping Review of Published Evidence 2000–June 2022

1 Steve Hicks School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin, 1925 San Jacinto Blvd 3.112, Austin, TX 78712 USA

Estilla Lightfoot

2 School of Social Work, Western New Mexico University, Silver City, NM USA

Ruth Berkowitz

3 School of Social Work, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

Samantha Guz

4 Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL USA

Cynthia Franklin

Diana m. dinitto.

School social workers are integral to the school mental health workforce and the leading social service providers in educational settings. In recent decades, school social work practice has been largely influenced by the multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) approach, ecological systems views, and the promotion of evidence-based practice. However, none of the existing school social work reviews have examined the latest characteristics and outcomes of school social work services. This scoping review analyzed and synthesized the focuses and functions of school social workers and the state-of-the-art social and mental/behavioral health services they provide. Findings showed that in the past two decades, school social workers in different parts of the world shared a common understanding of practice models and interests. Most school social work interventions and services targeted high-needs students to improve their social, mental/behavioral health, and academic outcomes, followed by primary and secondary prevention activities to promote school climate, school culture, teacher, student, and parent interactions, and parents’ wellbeing. The synthesis also supports the multiple roles of school social workers and their collaborative, cross-systems approach to serving students, families, and staff in education settings. Implications and directions for future school social work research are discussed.

Introduction

This scoping review examines the literature on school social work services provided to address children, youth, and families’ mental/behavioral health and social service-related needs to help students thrive in educational contexts. School social work is a specialty of the social work profession that is growing rapidly worldwide (Huxtable, 2022 ). They are prominent mental/behavioral health professionals that play a crucial role in supporting students’ well-being and meeting their learning needs. Although the operational modes of school social work services vary, for instance, operating within an interdisciplinary team as part of the school service system, or through non-governmental agencies or collaboration between welfare agencies and the school system (Andersson et al., 2002 ; Chiu & Wong, 2002 ; Beck, 2017 ), the roles and activities of school social work are alike across different parts of the world (Allen-Meares et al., 2013 ; International Network for School Social Work, 2016, as cited in Huxtable, 2022 ). School social workers are known for their functions to evaluate students’ needs and provide interventions across the ecological systems to remove students’ learning barriers and promote healthy sociopsychological outcomes in the USA and internationally (Huxtable, 2022 ). In the past two decades, school social work literature placed great emphasis on evidence-based practice (Huxtable, 2013; 2016, as cited in Huxtable, 2022 ); however, more research is still needed in the continuous development of the school social work practice model and areas such as interventions, training, licensure, and interprofessional collaboration (Huxtable, 2022 ).

The school social work practice in the USA has great influence both domestically and overseas. Several core journals in the field (e.g., the International Journal of School Social Work, Children & Schools ) and numerous textbooks have been translated into different languages originated in the USA (Huxtable, 2022 ). In the USA, school social workers have been providing mental health-oriented services under the nationwide endorsement of multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) (Avant & Lindsey, 2015 ; Barrett et al., 2020 ). In the past two decades, efforts at developing a school social work practice model recommended that school social workers have a master’s degree, embrace MTSS and use evidence-based practices (EBP) (Frey et al., 2012 ). Similar licensure requirements have been reported in other parts of the world (International Network for School Social Work, 2016, as cited in Huxtable, 2022 ), but the current state of research on MTSS and EBP applications in other countries is limited (Huxtable, 2022 ). Furthermore, although previous literature indicated more school social workers applied EBP to primary prevention, including trauma-informed care, social–emotional learning, and restorative justice programs in school mental health services (Crutchfield et al., 2020 ; Elswick et al., 2019 ; Gherardi, 2017 ), little research has been done to review and analyzed the legitimacy of the existing school social work practice model and its influence in the changing context of school social work services. The changing conditions and demands of social work services in schools require an update on the functions of school social workers and the efficacy of their state-of-the-art practices.

Previous Reviews on School Social Work Practice and Outcomes

Over the past twenty years, a few reviews of school social work services have been conducted. They include outcome reviews, systematic reviews, and one meta-analysis on interventions, but none have examined studies from a perspective that looks inclusively and comprehensively at evaluations of school social work services. Early and Vonk ( 2001 ), for example, reviewed and critiqued 21 controlled (e.g., randomized controlled trial [RCT] and quasi-experimental) outcome studies of school social work practice from a risk and resilience perspective and found that the interventions are overall effective in helping children and youth gain problem-solving skills and improve peer relations and intrapersonal functioning. However, the quality of the included studies was mixed, demographic information on students who received the intervention, such as race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and special education enrollment were missing, and the practices were less relevant to the guidelines in the school social work practice model (National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2012 ). Later, Franklin et al. ( 2009 ) updated previous reviews by using meta-analytic techniques to synthesize the results of interventions delivered by social workers within schools. They found that these interventions had small to medium treatment effects for internalizing and externalizing problems but showed mixed results in academic or school-related outcomes. Franklin et al. ( 2009 ) approached the empirical evidence from an intervention lens and did not focus on the traits and characteristics of school social workers and their broad roles in implementing interventions; additionally, demographic information, symptoms, and conditions of those who received school social work services were lacking. Allen-Meares et al. ( 2013 ) built on Franklin and colleagues’ ( 2009 ) meta-analysis on school social work practice outcomes across nations by conducting a systematic review with a particular interest in identifying tier 1 and tier 2 (i.e., universal prevention and targeted early intervention) practices. School social workers reported services in a variety of areas (e.g., sexual health, aggression, school attendance, self-esteem, depression), and half of the included interventions were tier 1 (Allen-Meares et al., 2013 ). Although effect sizes were calculated (ranging from 0.01–2.75), the outcomes of the interventions were not articulated nor comparable across the 18 included studies due to the heterogeneity of metrics.

Therefore, previous reviews of school social work practice and its effectiveness addressed some aspects of these interventions and their outcomes but did not examine school social workers’ characteristics (e.g., school social workers’ credentials) or related functions (e.g., interdisciplinary collaboration with teachers and other support personnel, such as school counselors and psychologists). Further, various details of the psychosocial interventions (e.g., service type, program fidelity, target population, practice modality), and demographics, conditions, or symptoms of those who received the interventions provided by school social workers were under-researched from previous reviews. An updated review of the literature that includes these missing features and examines the influence of current school social work practice is needed.

Guiding Framework for the Scoping Review

The multi-tiered systems of support model allows school social workers to maximize their time and resources to support students’ needs accordingly by following a consecutive order of prevention. MTSS generally consists of three tiers of increasing levels of preventive and responsive behavioral and academic support that operate under the overarching principles of capacity-building, evidence-based practices, and data-driven decision-making (Kelly et al., 2010a ). Tier 1 interventions consist of whole-school/classroom initiatives (NASW, 2012 ), including universal positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) (Clonan et al., 2007 ) and restorative justice practices (Lustick et al., 2020 ). Tier 2 consists of targeted small-group interventions meant to support students at risk of academic or behavioral difficulties who do not respond to Tier 1 interventions (National Association of Social Workers, 2012 ). Finally, tier 3 interventions are intensive individual interventions, including special education services, meant to support students who do not benefit sufficiently from Tier 1 or Tier 2 interventions.

The current school social work practice model in the USA (NASW, 2012 ) consists of three main aspects: (1) delivering evidence-based practices to address behavioral and mental health concerns; (2) fostering a positive school culture and climate that promotes excellence in learning and teaching; (3) enhancing the availability of resources to students within both the school and the local community. Similar expectations from job descriptions have been reported in other countries around the world (Huxtable, 2022 ).

Moreover, school social workers are specifically trained to practice using the ecological systems framework, which aims to connect different tiers of services from a person-in-environment perspective and to activate supports and bridge gaps between systems (Huxtable, 2022 ; Keller & Grumbach, 2022 ; SSWAA, n.d.). This means that school social workers approach problem-solving through systemic interactions, which allows them to provide timely interventions and activate resources at the individual, classroom, schoolwide, home, and community levels as needs demand.

Hence, the present scoping review explores and analyzes essential characteristics of school social workers and their practices that have been missed in previous reviews under a guiding framework that consists of the school social work practice model, MTSS, and an ecological systems perspective.

This scoping review built upon previous reviews and analyzed the current school social work practices while taking into account the characteristics of school social workers, different types of services they deliver, as well as the target populations they serve in schools. Seven overarching questions guided this review: (1) What are the study characteristics of the school social work outcome studies (e.g., countries of origin, journal information, quality, research design, fidelity control) in the past two decades? (2) What are the characteristics (e.g., demographics, conditions, symptoms) of those who received school social work interventions or services? (3) What are the overall measurements (e.g., reduction in depression, anxiety, or posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD], improvement in parent–child relationships, or school climate) reported in these studies? (4) What types of interventions and services were provided? (5) Who are the social work practitioners (i.e., collaborators/credential/licensure) delivering social work services in schools? (6) Does the use of school social work services support the promotion of preventive care within the MTSS? (7) What are the main outcomes of the diverse school social work interventions and services?

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first scoping review to examine these aspects of school social work practices under the guidance of the existing school social work practice model, MTSS, and an ecological systems perspective.

The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) extension guidelines for completing a scoping review (Tricco et al., 2018 ) were followed for planning, conducting, and reporting the results of this review. The PRISMA scoping review checklist includes 20 essential items and two optional items. Together with the 20 essential items, the optional two items related to critical appraisal of included sources of evidence were also followed to assure transparency, replication, and comprehensive reporting for scoping reviews.

Search Strategy

The studies included in this review were published between 2000 and June 2022. These studies describe the content, design, target population, target concerns, delivery methods, and outcomes of services, practices, and interventions conducted or co-led by school social workers. This time frame was selected since it coincides with the completion of the early review of characteristics of school social work outcomes studies (Early & Vonk, 2001 ); furthermore, scientific approaches and evidence-based practice were written in the education law for school-based services since the early 2000s in the USA, which greatly impacted school social work practice (Wilde, 2004 ), and was reflected in the trend of peer-reviewed research in school practice journals (Huxtable, 2022 ).

Following consultation with an academic librarian, the authors systematically searched relevant articles in seven academic databases (APA PsycINFO, Education Source, ERIC, Academic Search Complete, SocINDEX, CINAHL Plus, and MEDLINE) between January 2000 and June 2022. These databases were selected due to the relevance of the outcomes and the broad range of relevant disciplines they cover. When built-in search filters were available, the search included only peer-reviewed journal articles or dissertations written in English and published between 2000 and 2022. The search terms were adapted from previous review studies with a similar purpose (Franklin et al., 2009 ). The rationale for adapting the search terms from a previous meta-analysis (Franklin et al., 2009 ) was to collect outcomes studies and if feasible (pending on the quality of the outcome data and enough effect sizes available) to do a meta-analysis of outcomes. Each database was searched using the search terms: (“school social work*”) AND (“effective*” OR “outcome*” OR “evaluat*” OR “measure*”). The first author did the initial search and also manually searched reference lists of relevant articles to identify additional publications. All references of included studies were combined and deduplicated for screening after completion of the manual search.

Eligibility Criteria

The same inclusion and exclusion criteria were used at all stages of the review process. Studies were included if they: (1) were original research studies, (2) were published in peer-reviewed scientific journals or were dissertations, (3) were published between 2000 and 2022, (4) described school social work services or identified school social workers as the practitioners, and (5) reported at least one outcome measure of the efficacy or effectiveness of social work services. Studies could be conducted in any country and were included for full-text review if they were published in English. The authors excluded: (1) qualitative studies, (2) method or conceptual papers, (3) interventions/services not led by school social workers, and (4) research papers that focused only on sample demographics (not on outcomes). Qualitative studies were excluded because though they often capture themes or ideas, experiences, and opinions, they rely on non-numeric data and do not quantify the outcomes of interventions, which is the focus of the present review. If some conditions of qualification were uncertain based on the review of the full text, verification emails were sent to the first author of the paper to confirm. Studies of school social workers as the sample population and those with non-accessible content were also excluded. If two or more articles (e.g., dissertation and journal articles) were identified with the same population and research aim, only the most recent journal publication was selected to avoid duplication. The protocol of the present scoping review can be retrieved from the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/4y6xp/?view_only=9a6b6b4ff0b84af09da1125e7de875fb .

A total of 1,619 records were initially identified. After removing duplicates, 834 remained. The first and the fourth author conducted title and abstract screening independently on Rayyan, an online platform for systematic reviews (Ouzzani et al., 2016 ). Another 760 records were removed from the title and abstract screening because they did not focus on school social work practice, were theory papers, or did not include any measures or outcomes, leaving 68 full-text articles to be screened for eligibility. Of these, 16 articles were selected for data analysis. An updated search conducted in June 2022 identified two additional studies. The combined searches resulted in a total of 18 articles that met the inclusion criteria. The first and the fourth author convened bi-weekly meetings to resolve disagreements on decisions. Reasons and number for exclusion at full-text review were reported in the reasons for exclusion in the PRISMA chart. The PRISMA literature search results are presented in Fig. 1 .

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PRISMA Literature Search Record

Data Extraction

A data extraction template was created to aid in the review process. The information collected from each reference consists of three parts: publication information, program features, and practice characteristics and outcomes. Five references were randomly selected to pilot-test the template, and revisions were made accordingly. To assess the quality of the publication and determine the audiences these studies reached, information on the publications was gathered. The publication information included author names, publication year, country/region, publication type, journal name, impact factor, and the number of articles included. The journal information and impact factors came from the Journal Citation Reports generated by Clarivate Analytics Web of Science (n.d.). An impact factor rating is a proxy for the relative influence of a journal in academia and is computed by dividing the number of citations for all articles by the total number of articles published in the two previous years (Garfield, 2006 ). Publication information is presented in Table Table1. 1 . Program name, targeted population, sample size, demographics, targeted issues, treatment characteristics, MTSS level, and main findings (i.e., outcomes) are included in Table Table2. 2 . Finally, intervention features consisting of study aim and design, manualization, practitioners’ credential, fidelity control, type of intervention, quality assessment, and outcome measurement are presented in Table Table3. 3 . Tables Tables2 2 and and3 3 are published as open access for review and downloaded in the Texas Data Repository (Ding, 2023 ).

Journals Reviewed, Impact Factor, and Number of Articles Selected for Review

* The definition of impact factor (IF) is from Journal Citation Reports produced by Clarivate Analytics. IF is calculated based on a two-year period by dividing the number of citations in the JCR year by the total number of articles published in the two previous years

General Information on the Included School Social Work Practices

Note. Bx behavior, ed education, yo years old, yr = year. tx treatment, w with, T treatment group, C control group, INT intervention, CON control, FRPL Free/Reduced prices lunch, IEP Individualized education program, CBT cognitive behavior therapy, BST Behavior skill training, HADS-A Hospital anxiety and depression scale

Characteristics of the Included Research Studies

Note. NR Not reported, NA Not applicable, h hours, tx treatment, wk week, SSW School social work, IOA Interobserver agreement, SS single subject, AB baseline and intervention, SBC Student behavior checklist, GPA Grade point average, SRAS-C-R School refusal assessment scale-children-revised, SRAS-P-R School refusal assessment scale-parent-revised, CD-RISC Connor-davidson resilience scale, FAD-GFS McMaster family assessment device general functioning scale, PSS Perceived stress scale, PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder, PC-PTSD Primary care post-traumatic stress disorder screen, RYDM Resilience youth development module, CHKS The California healthy kids survey, CPSS Child PTSD symptom scale, CDI Children depression inventory, TRF Teacher report form, BRIC Behavior rating index for children, HPC Problem checklist, BERS The behavioral and emotional rating scale, SSRS The social skills rating system. SSP The school success profile, BDI Beck depression inventory. DAS Dysfunctional attitudes scale, PGIS-II Personal growth initiative scale II, GHQ-12 Chinese general health questionnaire-12, Q-LES-Q-18 Abbreviated quality of life enjoyment and satisfaction questionnaire, PSI Parenting stress index- parent domain, PSOC Parenting sense of competence scale- efficacy subscale

The 18 extracted records were coded based on the data extraction sheet. The first and the fourth authors acted as the first and the second coder for the review. An inter-rater reliability of 98.29% was reached after the two coders independently completed the coding process.

Quality Assessment

The quality of the eligible studies (e.g., methodological rigor, intervention consistency) was assessed using the Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies (Evans et al., 2015 ). Specifically, each included study was assessed for selection bias, study design, confounders, blinding, data collection method, dropouts or withdrawals, intervention integrity, and analyses. The first and fourth authors rated each category independently, aggregated ratings, and came to a consensus to assign an overall quality rating of strong, moderate, or weak for each of the 18 studies.

Data Analysis

Due to the heterogeneity of the interventions, study purposes, methods, and measurements of the selected studies, and the lack of outcome data to calculate effect sizes, a meta-analysis was not feasible. Hence, the authors emphasized the scoping nature of this review, data were narratively synthesized, and descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentage, mode, minimum, maximum, and range) were reported. Characteristics of included studies include topics, settings, participants, practice information (e.g., type of services, practitioner credential, MTSS modality, and other characteristics), and program efficacy. Within each reported category of interest, consistency and differences regarding the selected studies were synthesized. Unique features and reasons for some particular results were explained using analysis evidence according to the characteristics of the study.

Overall Description of Included Studies

Of the 18 included studies, 16 were reported in articles that appeared in 11 different peer-reviewed journals, and two were dissertations (Magnano, 2009 ; Phillips, 2004 ). Information on each of the 11 journals was hand-searched to insure thoroughness. Of the 11 journals, seven were in the field of social work, with one journal covering social work as it relates to public health; one was a school psychology journal; one a medical journal covering pediatric psychiatry; and one journal focused on child, adolescent, and family psychology. The most frequently appearing journal was Children & Schools , a quarterly journal covering direct social work services for children (Oxford University Press, 2022 ). An impact factor (IF) was identified for six of the 11 journals. Of the six journals with an IF rating, four were social work journals. The IF of journals in which the included studies were published ranged from 1.128 to 12.113 (Clarivate Analytics, n.d.). Of the 18 studies, 5 studies (28%) were rated as methodologically strong, 8 studies were rated as moderate (44%), and 5 studies were rated as weak (28%).

The studies were conducted in five different geographical areas of the world. One study was conducted in the Middle East (5.56%), one in north Africa (5.56%), one in Eastern Europe (5.56%), two in East Asia (11.11%), and the rest (13 studies) in the USA (72.22%).

Research Design and Fidelity Control

Concerning research design, most included studies used a pre-posttest design without a comparison group ( n = 10, 61.11%), one used a single case baseline intervention design (5.56%), six (33.33%) used a quasi-experimental design, and one (5.56%) used an experimental design. For the control or comparison group, the experimental design study and four of the six quasi-experimental design studies used a waitlist or no treatment control/comparison group; one quasi-experimental design study offered delayed treatment, and one quasi-experimental design study offered treatment as usual. Nine studies (50%) reported that training was provided to the practitioners prior to the study to preserve fidelity of the intervention, four studies (22.22%) reported offering both training and ongoing supervision to the practitioners, and one study (5.56%) reported providing supervision only.

Study Sample Characteristics

Across the 18 included studies, the total number of participants was 1,194. In three studies, the participant group (sample) was no more than ten, while in nine studies, the intervention group was more than 40. Overall, there was a balance in terms of students’ sex, with boys comprising an average of 55.51% of the total participants in all studies. There were slightly more studies of middle school or high school students ( n = 8) than pre-K or elementary school students ( n = 5). Across the eight studies that reported students’ race or ethnicity, 13.33% of the students were Black, 18.41% were White, 54.60% were Latinx, 12.38% were Asian, and 1.27% were categorized as “other.” Although the studies reviewed were not restricted to the USA, the large number of Latinx participants from two studies (Acuna et al., 2018 ; Kataoka et al., 2003 ) might have skewed the overall proportions of the race/ethnicity composition of the study samples. As an indicator of socioeconomic status, eight studies reported information on free/reduced-price lunches (FRPL). The percentage of students who received interventions that qualified for FRPL varied from 53.3 to 87.9%. Five studies reported the percentage of students enrolled in an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or special education, ranging from 15.4% to 100%.

Variation in School Social Work Services

The services carried out or co-led by school social workers varied greatly. They included services focused on students’ mental health/behavioral health; academic performance; school environment; student development and functioning in school, classroom, and home settings; and parenting. More specifically, these interventions targeted students’ depression and anxiety (Kataoka et al., 2003 ; Phillips, 2004 ; Wong et al., 2018a ), social, emotional, and behavioral skills development (Acuna et al., 2018 ;Chupp & Boes, 2012 ; Ervin et al., 2018 ; Magnano, 2009 ; Newsome, 2005 ; Thompson & Webber, 2010 ), school refusal and truancy (Elsherbiny et al., 2017 ; Newsome et al., 2008 ; Young et al., 2020 ), trauma/PTSD prevention, community violence, and students’ resilience (Al-Rasheed et al., 2021 ;Ijadi-Maghsoodi et al., 2017 ; Kataoka et al., 2003 ; Wong et al., 2018a ), homework completion and grade-point average improvement (Chupp & Boes, 2012 ; Magnano, 2009 ; Newsomoe, 2005 ), parental stress (Fein et al., 2021 ; Wong et al., 2018b ), family functioning (Fein et al., 2021 ), and parenting competence and resilience (Wong et al., 2018b ). All of the studies were school-based (100%), and the most common setting for providing school social work services was public schools.

Diverse Interventions to Promote Psychosocial Outcomes

Services can be grouped into six categories: evidence-based programs or curriculums (EBP), general school social work services, case management, short-term psychosocial interventions, long-term psychosocial intervention, and pilot program. Seven studies (38.89%) were EBPs, and four (57.14%) of the seven EPBs were fully manualized (Acuna et al., 2018 ; Al-Rasheed et al., 2021 ; Fein et al., 2021 ; Thompson & Webber, 2010 ). Two EBPs (28.57%) were partially manualized (Ijadi-Maghsoodi et al., 2017 ; Kelly & Bluestone-Miller, 2009 ), one did not report on manualization (Chupp & Boes, 2012 ), and one is a pilot study trying to build the program’s evidence base (Young et al., 2020 ). The second-largest category was short-term psychosocial interventions reported in six (33.33%) of the studies; they included cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT), and social/emotional skills training. One study reported on a long-term psychosocial intervention (Elsherbiny et al., 2017 ), and one was a case management program (Magnano, 2009 ). Two studies included general school social work services (e.g., one-on-one interventions with children and youth, group counseling, phone calls, official and informal conversations with teachers and parents, check-ins with students at school, and collaboration with outside agencies) (Newsome et al., 2008 ; Sadzaglishvili et al., 2020 ).

Program Population

Of the 18 interventions, seven (38.89%) involved students only (Al-Rasheed et al., 2021 ;Chupp & Boes, 2012 ; Ervin et al., 2018 ; Newsome, 2005 ; Phillips, 2004 ; Wong et al., 2018a ; Young et al., 2020 ). One program (5.56%) worked with parent–child dyads (Acuna et al., 2018 ), and two (11.11%) worked directly with students’ parents (Fein et al., 2021 ; Wong et al., 2018b ). Four interventions (22.22%) involved students, parents, and teachers (Elsherbiny et al., 2017 ; Kataoka et al., 2003 ; Magnano, 2009 ), two (11.11%) were with students and their teachers (Kelly & Bluestone-Miller, 2009 ; Thompson & Webber, 2010 ), and two (11.11%) were more wholistically targeted at students, parents, and their families as service units (Newsome et al., 2008 ; Sadzaglishvili et al., 2020 ).

Practitioners and Credentials

School social workers often collaborate with school counselors, psychologists, and schoolteachers in their daily practice. As for the titles and credentials of those providing the interventions, twelve interventions were conducted solely by school social workers (Acuna et al., 2018 ; Fein et al., 2021 ; Ijadi-Maghsoodi et al., 2017 ; Kataoka et al., 2003 ; Kelly & Bluestone-Miller, 2009 ; Magnano, 2009 ; Newsome, 2005 ; Newsome et al., 2008 ; Phillips et al., 2004 ; Sadzaglishvili et al., 2020 ; Wong et al., 2018a , 2018b ). Four social service programs were co-led by school social workers, school counselors and school psychologists (Al-Rasheed et al., 2021 ; Chupp & Boes, 2012 ; Elsherbiny et al., 2017 ; Young et al., 2020 ). School social workers and schoolteachers collaborated in two interventions (Ervin et al., 2018 ; Thompson & Webber, 2010 ).

The most common credential of school social workers in the included studies was master’s-level licensed school social worker/trainee, which accounted for 62.50% of the studies (Acuna et al., 2018 ; Fein et al., 2021 ; Kataoka et al., 2003 ; Newsome, 2005 ; Phillips, 2004 ). Two studies did not specify level of education but noted that the practitioners’ credential was licensed school social worker (Ijadi-Maghsoodi et al., 2017 ; Wong et al., 2018a ). One intervention was conducted by both master’s and bachelor’s level social work trainees; however, the first author confirmed that they were all registered school social workers with the Hong Kong Social Work Registration Board (Wong et al., 2018b ).

Services by Tier

The predominant level of school social work services was tier 2 interventions (55.56%), with 10 interventions or services offered by school social workers falling into this category (Acuna et al., 2018 ; Elsherbiny et al., 2017 ; Ervin et al., 2018 ; Fein et al., 2021 ; Kataoka et al., 2003 ; Newsome, 2005 ; Phillips, 2004 ; Thompson & Webber, 2010 ; Wong et al., 2018a , 2018b ). The second largest category was tier 1 interventions, with five studies (27.78%) falling into this category (Al-Rasheed et al., 2021 ;Chupp & Boes, 2012 ; Ijadi-Maghsoodi et al., 2017 ; Kelly & Bluestone-Miller, 2009 ; Sadzaglishvili et al., 2020 ). Only three (16.67%) were tier 3 services (Magnano, 2009 ; Newsome et al., 2008 ; Young et al., 2020 ).

Intervention Modality and Duration under MTSS

Most services ( n = 15, 83.33%) were small-group based or classroom-wide interventions (Al-Rasheed et al., 2021 ; Chupp & Boes, 2012 ; Elsherbiny et al., 2017 ; Ervin et al., 2018 ; Fein et al., 2021 ; Ijadi-Maghsoodi et al., 2017 ; Kataoka et al., 2003 ; Kelly & Bluestone-Miller, 2009 ; Newsome, 2005 ; Phillips, 2004 ; Sadzaglishvili et al., 2020 ; Thompson & Webber, 2010 ; Wong et al., 2018a , 2018b ). One tier 2 intervention was carried out in both individual and group format (Acuna et al., 2018 ). Of the three tier 3 intervention studies, one reported using case management to serve individual students (Magnano, 2009 ), and two included both individual intervention, group counseling, and case management (Newsom et al., 2008 ; Young et al., 2020 ).

Intervention length and frequency varied substantially across studies. Services were designed to last from 6 weeks to more than 13 months. There were as short as a 5- to 10-min student–school social worker conferences (Thompson & Webber, 2010 ), or as long as a three-hour cognitive behavioral group therapy session (Wong et al., 2018b ).

Social Behavioral and Academic Outcomes

Most of the interventions focused on improving students’ social, behavioral, and academic outcomes, including child behavior correction/reinforcement, social–emotional learning (SEL), school attendance, grades, and learning attitudes. Ervin and colleagues ( 2018 ) implemented a short-term psychosocial intervention to reduce students’ disruptive behaviors, and Magnano ( 2009 ) used intensive case management to manage students’ antisocial and aggressive behaviors. Both interventions were found to be effective, i.e., there were statistically significant improvements at the end of treatment, with Ervin et al. ( 2018 ) reporting a large effect size using Cohen’s d. The SEL programs were designed to foster students’ resilience, promote self-esteem, respect, empathy, and social support, and teach negotiation, conflict resolution, anger management, and goal setting at a whole-school or whole-class level (Al-Rasheed et al., 2021 ; Chupp & Boes, 2012 ; Ijadi-Maghsooodi et al., 2017 ; Newsome, 2005 ). Students in all SEL interventions showed significant improvement at the end of treatment, and one study reported medium to small effect sizes (Cohen’s d) for problem-solving and overall internal assets, such as empathy, self-efficacy, problem-solving, and self-awareness (Ijadi-Maghsooodi et al., 2017 ).

Four studies measured the intervention’s impact on students’ academic performance. Magnano and colleagues ( 2009 ) reported that at the completion of the school social work case management intervention, academic skills were improved among both the intervention group students and the cross-over (control) group students who received the intervention at a later time. One study specifically addressed students’ school refusal behaviors and attitudes and found improvement in the treatment group at posttest and six-month follow-up (Elsherbiny et al., 2017 ). Two studies that addressed students’ absenteeism and truancy exhibited efficacy. School social work services significantly reduced risk factors related to truant behaviors (Newsome et al., 2008 ), and attendance increased post-program participation and was maintained after one, two, and three months (Young et al., 2020 ).

Students’ Psychological Distress

The studies that addressed students’ mental health focused on psychological distress, especially adolescents’ depression and anxiety. In three studies, school social workers conducted short-term psychosocial interventions, all using group-based CBT (Kataoka et al., 2003 ; Phillips, 2004 ; Wong et al., 2018a ). Kataoka and colleagues ( 2003 ) reported that bilingual, bicultural school social workers delivered group CBT in Spanish to help immigrant students cope with depressive symptoms due to violence exposure. Similarly, Wong and colleagues ( 2018a ) delivered group CBT in Chinese schools using their native language to address teenagers’ anxiety disorders. In the Kataoka et al. ( 2003 ) study, all student participants were reported to have made improvements at the end of the intervention, although there was no statistically significant difference between the intervention group and waitlisted comparison group. Phillips ( 2004 ) reported an eta-squared of 0.148 for cognitive-behavioral social skills training, indicating a small treatment effect. One study used a resilience classroom curriculum to relieve trauma exposure and observed lower odds of positive PTSD scores at posttest, but the change was not statistically significant (Ijadi-Maghsoodi et al., 2017 ).

School Climate and School Culture

Regarding school social workers’ interest in school climate and school culture, Kelly and Bluestone-Miller ( 2009 ) and Sadzaglishvili and colleagues ( 2020 ) specifically focused on creating a positive learning environment and promoting healthy school culture and class climate. Kelly and Bluestone-Miller ( 2009 ) used Working on What Works (WOWW), a program grounded in the SFBT approach to intervene in a natural classroom setting to build respectful learning. Students were allowed to choose how to respond to expectations regarding their classroom performance (e.g., students list the concrete small goals to work upon in order to create a better learning environment), and teachers were coached to facilitate, ask the right questions, and provide encouragement and appropriate timely feedback. Sadzaglishvili and colleagues ( 2020 ) used intensive school social work services (e.g., case management, task-centered practice, advocacy, etc.) to support students’ learning, whole-person development, and improve school culture. At the end of the services, both studies reported a more positive school and class climate that benefited students’ behaviors and performance at school.

Teacher, Parent, and Student Interaction

Four studies addressed interactions among teachers, parents, and students to achieve desired outcomes. For instance, two studies provided a mesosystem intervention (e.g., a parent’s meeting with the teacher at the public school the child attended, which encompasses both the home and school settings). Acuna and colleagues ( 2018 ) provided a school-based parent–child interaction intervention to improve children’s behaviors at school and home, boost attendance, and improve academic outcomes. Similarly, Thompson and Webber ( 2010 ) intervened in the teacher–student relationship to realign students’ and teachers’ perceptions of school and classroom norms and improve students’ behaviors. Additionally, two interventions targeted the exosystem (e.g., positive environmental change to improve students’ stability, in order to promote school behaviors and academic performance). Kelly and Bluestone-Miller ( 2009 ) modeled solution-focused approaches as a philosophy undergirding classroom interactions between teachers and students. The positive learning environment further improved students’ class performance. Magnano and colleagues ( 2009 ) used a case management model by linking parents, teachers, and outside school resources to increase students’ support and achieve improvements in academic skills and children’s externalizing behaviors.

Parents’ Wellbeing

Most school counselors or school psychologists focus solely on serving students, while school social workers may also serve students’ parents. Two studies reported working directly and only with parents to improve parents’ psychological outcomes (Fein et al., 2021 ; Wong et al., 2018b ). Fein and colleagues ( 2021 ) reported a school-based trauma-informed resilience curriculum specifically adapted for school social workers to deliver to racial/ethnic minority urban parents of children attending public schools. At curriculum completion, parents’ overall resilience improved, but significance was attained in only one resilience item (“I am able to adapt when changes occur”) with a small effect size using Cohen’s d. Wong et al. ( 2018b ) studied school-based culturally attuned group-based CBT for parents of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); significantly greater improvements in the CBT parent group were found in distress symptoms, quality of life, parenting stress, competence, and dysfunctional beliefs post-intervention and at three-month follow-up .

This scoping review examined school social work practice by systematically analyzing the services school social workers delivered based on 18 outcome studies published between 2000 and 2022. The programs, interventions, or services studied were conducted by school social workers in five different countries/regions. These studies captured the essence of school social workers’ roles in mental health/behavioral health and social services in education settings provided to children, youth, families, and schoolteachers, and the evidence on practice outcomes/efficacy was presented.

Although using EBP, promoting a healthy school climate and culture, and maximizing community resources are important aspects of the existing school social work practice model in the USA (NASW, 2012 ), this review revealed and validated that school social workers in other countries used similar practices and shared a common understanding of what benefits the students, families, and the schools they serve (Huxtable, 2022 ). The findings also support the broad roles of school social workers and the collaborative ways they provide social and mental health services in schools. The review discussed school social workers’ functions in (1) helping children, youth, families, and teachers address mental health and behavioral health problems, (2) improving social–emotional learning, (3) promoting a positive learning environment, and (4) maximizing students’ and families’ access to school and community resources. Furthermore, although previous researchers argued that the lack of clarity about school social worker’s roles contributed to confusion and underutilization of school social work services (Altshuler & Webb, 2009 ; Kelly et al., 2010a ), this study revealed that in the past two decades, school social workers are fulfilling their roles as mental/behavioral health providers and case managers, guided by a multi-tiered, ecological systems approach. For example, in more than 80% of the studies, the services provided were preventive group work at tier 1 or 2 levels and operated from a systems perspective. Additionally, the findings suggest that while school social workers often provide services at the individual level, they frequently work across systems and intervene at meso- and exo-systems levels to attain positive improvements for individual students and families.

Evidence-based School Social Work Practice and MTSS

The present review supported school social workers’ use of evidence-based programs and valid psychosocial interventions such as CBT, SFBT, and social–emotional learning to foster a positive learning environment and meet students’ needs. Most of the included EBPs (85.71%) were either fully or partially manualized, and findings from the current review added evidence to sustain the common elements of general school social work practice, such as doing case management, one-on-one individual and group counseling, collaborations with teachers, parents, and community agencies. One pilot study examined the effectiveness of a school social worker-developed program (Young et al., 2020 ), which provided a helpful example for future research practice collaboration to build evidence base for school social work practice. However, although school social workers often work with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) student populations facing multiple risk factors, demographic information on race/ethnicity, special education enrollment, and socioeconomic status were missing in many included studies, which obstructed examination of the degree of match between the target population’s needs and evidence-based services or interventions provided.

Previous school social work national surveys conducted in the USA (Kelly et al., 2010a , 2015 ) found a discrepancy between the actual and ideal time expense on tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 school social work activities. Even though school social workers would like to spend most of their time on primary prevention, they actually spent twice their time on secondary and tertiary prevention than on primary prevention (Kelly et al., 2010a ). However, the present review found that most interventions or evidence-based programs conducted by school social workers were tier 1 and tier 2, especially tier 2 targeted interventions delivered in a group modality. This discrepancy could be due to the focus of this review’s limited services to those provided by professionals with a school social worker title/credential both in the USA and internationally, and tier 2 and 3 activities were grouped together as one category called secondary and tertiary prevention in the school social work survey (Kelly et al., 2010a ). Our review highlights that tier 2 preventive interventions are a significant offering in school social worker-led, school-based mental health practice. Unlike tier 1 interventions that are designed to promote protective factors and prevent potential threats for all students, or intensive tier 3 interventions that demand tremendous amounts of time and energy from practitioners and often involve community agencies (Eber et al., 2002 ), tier 2 interventions are targeted to groups of students exhibiting certain risk factors and are more feasible and flexible in addressing their academic and behavioral needs. Moreover, considering the discrepancy between the high demand for services on campuses and the limited number of school social workers, using group-based tier 2 interventions that have been rigorously examined can potentially relieve practitioners’ caseload burdens while targeting students’ needs more effectively and efficiently.

School Social Work Credential

Recent research on school social workers’ practice choices showed that school social workers who endorsed primary prevention in MTSS and ecologically informed practice are more likely to have a graduate degree, be regulated by certification standards, and have less than ten years of work experience (Thompson et al., 2019 ). Globally, although data are limited, having a bachelor's or master’s degree to practice school social work has been reported in countries in North America, Europe, and the Middle East (Huxtable, 2022 ). Even though all practitioners in the present review held the title of “school social worker,” and the majority had a master’s degree, we suggest future research to evaluate school social work practitioners’ credentials by reporting their education, certificate/licensure status, and years of work experience in the education system, as these factors may be essential in understanding school social workers’ functioning.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

School social workers are an integral part of the school mental health workforce in education settings and often work in interdisciplinary teams that include schoolteachers, administrators, school counselors, and school psychologists (Huxtable, 2022 ). This scoping review found that one-third of interventions school social workers conducted were either co-led or delivered in collaboration with school counselors, school psychologists, or schoolteachers. Future research examining characteristics and outcomes of school social work practice should consider school social workers’ efforts in grounding themselves in ecological systems by working on interdisciplinary teams to address parent–child interactions, realign teacher–student classroom perceptions, or student–teacher–classroom culture to improve students’ mental health and promote better school performance.

Study Limitations and Directions for Future Research

A scoping review is a valuable method for exploring a field that has not yet been extensively reviewed or is heterogeneous. Thus, a scoping review was chosen as the research method to examine school social work practice outcomes for this study. Although scoping reviews are generally considered rigorous, transparent, and replicable, the present study has several limitations. First, only published dissertations and journal articles published between 2000 and 2022 that were included in the seven aforementioned databases were reviewed. Government reports and other gray literature excluded from the present review might generate more results requiring critical evaluation and discussion. Second, although school social work practice is ecological system-centered, all studies analyzed in the present scoping review were school-based programs. The search terms did not include possible alternative settings. More extensive searches might identify additional results by specifying home or community settings. Third, this paper focused on the outcomes and efficacy of the most current school social work practices so that qualitative studies or studies that focus on practitioners’ demographics were excluded even though they might provide additional information on the characteristics of social workers. Last, evidence to support school social work interventions was based primarily on pre-posttest designs without the use of a control group, and some of the identified evidence-based programs or brief psychosocial interventions lacked sufficient information on participants’ characteristics (e.g., demographics, changes in means in outcomes), which are important in calculating practice effect sizes and potential moderators for meta-analysis to examine school social workers’ roles and effectiveness in carrying out these interventions.

The present scoping review found significant variation in school social work services in the US and other countries where school social work services have been studied. Social workers are a significant part of the mental health and social services workforce. Using schools as a natural hub, school social workers offer primary preventive groups or early interventions to students, parents, and staff. Their interests include but are not restricted to social behavioral and academic outcomes; psychological distress; school climate and culture; teacher, parent, and student interactions; and parental wellbeing. Future school mental health researchers who are interested in the role of school social work services in helping children, youth, and families should consider the changing education landscape and the response to intervention after the COVID-19 pandemic/endemic (Capp et al., 2021 ; Kelly et al., 2021 ; Watson et al., 2022 ). Researchers are also encouraged to collaborate with school social work practitioners to identify early mental health risk factors, recognize appropriate tier 2 EBPs, or pilot-test well-designed programs to increase students’ success.

Declarations

We have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

References marked with an asterisk indicate studies included in the scoping review.

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Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Why Do School Reforms Occur Again and Again?

School Reform and Restructuring
Standards-Based Reform

School reforms unfold less like an auto engine piston pumping up and down within a cylinder and more like a large weather front of uncertain origin moving across a region. Reforms, like weather fronts varying by seasons but similar across years, go through phases that become familiar if observers note historical patterns and, in our speeded-up, multi-tasking culture, record what occurs. And most important, school reforms, like weather fronts, recur.

As a historian of schooling, I have noted phases of school reform in the U.S. over the past century that policymakers and practitioners have experienced. While I offer these stages in sequential order, keep in mind that the pace of each phase varies according to the nature of the proposed reform, when it occurs, how much reform talk permeates popular and professional media, which political coalitions push the reforms, and, of crucial importance, widespread acceptance of the reforms by those charged to implement them.

Keep in mind, however, that pandemics, wars, political upheavals, and social movements disrupt the sequence. Moreover, there are over 13,000 school districts in the nation (California has about 1,000). Finally, unlike France, Italy, Spain, China, and Russia, there is no national ministry of education that funds these districts or issues mandates for educators to follow. The point is that in such a decentralized system of schooling, these phases do not mechanically unfold in step-wise progression across the country. Rather they occur in the quasi-random fashion akin to a children’s game of tag.

Given these cautions, here is what I have observed about the origin and spread of school reforms that recur time and again over the past century.

* Social, political, economic, and demographic changes create situations that opinion-elites define as problems . By the 1890s through World War II, the U.S.’s economy grew dramatically and demands for skilled (not unskilled workers) grew. Employers wanted high school graduates who were literate and had skills that could be applied to surging new industries. Or consider that in the the 1970s, Japanese and German products seized large sectors of domestic markets requiring American industry and businesses to restructure their operations to compete internationally.

After World War II, waves of immigrants from Europe, Asia, and Latin America have made the U.S. a culturally diverse nation. The Immigration and Nationality Act (1965) shifted policy from a quota system on different nationalities favoring western Europe to a focus on reuniting families and welcoming skilled immigrants. By the 2020 census, the U.S. had become no longer a largely white nation but a multi-racial democracy.

* Policymakers, academics, and opinion-makers such as corporate officials, civic leaders, and foundation presidents talk to one another and the media about these problems . Over time, these demographic and socio-economic changes fueled political opinion elites to find ways that American institutions might politically remedy these emerging problems. National commissions issue reports and a consensus–what David Tyack and I have called “policy talk”–begins to grow about what the real problems are and which solutions are politically feasible.

Here is where elites frame the problem and very often point to improving schools as a solution (e.g., The Nation at Risk , 1983). This process historically is what David Labaree has called “ educationalizing ” national problems (e.g., childhood obesity, racial segregation, poverty).

* Groups and individuals (elite entrepreneurs, political officials, foundation leaders, special interest groups, community organizations, unions, etc.) develop policy proposals and school programs to solve the problem (e.g.,common curriculum standards, more tests and accountability regulations) . Through various mechanisms (e.g., state and federal legislation, district school board decisions, foundation-funded programs), groups and individuals such as corporate leaders, philanthropists, governors, and mayors come to be known as school reformers. State and local school officials, spurred often by media attention, push particular policies that become known as “reforms” (e.g., new reading and math programs, charter schools, small high schools, 1:1 laptops).

* Some of these policies get adopted. Laws (e.g., the federal No Child Left Behind Act), district school board decisions (e.g., four-day school week, performance pay and anti-obesity programs), foundation-funded projects (e.g., technology integration across academic subjects) become the new wallpaper of reform. Superintendents, principals, and teachers attempt to incorporate these new policies, programs and innovations into routine practice in districts, schools, and classrooms.

* Growing criticism of educators’ seemingly slow, halfhearted efforts or resistance to put reforms into practice appears. Unexpected outcomes occur (e.g., testing and accountability rules produce narrowed curriculum and teaching to the test; funding for new programs lags and budgets shrink). Reform promoters’ enthusiasm gives way to disappointment, annoyance, and even anger toward educators (e.g., uptick in overt hostility to teachers and their unions, higher turnover among superintendents and principals). Schools and teachers come under attack.

* And then different social, political, economic, and demographic changes create situations that opinion-elites define as problems…. And it is here that another cycle begins.

For readers over the age of 50 who have worked in schools for at least two decades or observed them as students and later as parents may find these phases familiar. If they do, they may also note that these cycles have within them certain commonalities:

*Policy elites mobilize individuals and groups to take action by framing problems, picking solutions, and getting policies adopted;

*Putting policy into practice is utterly dependent upon superintendents, principals, and teachers who played little to no role in framing problems or selecting solutions;

*Most policies, particularly those targeting changes in how teachers teach, are implemented partially and occasionally produce unanticipated consequences in classrooms.

In my opinion, we remain within another cycle of standards-based reforms dating back to A Nation at Risk report (1983). Since then a cascade of reform-driven policies slowly rolled out in familiar phases over the nation’s public schools including a Common Core curriculum, expanded parental choice of schools through charter schools, increased testing and accountability protocols. Even after the Covid-19 school closures, the slow growth of remote instruction has become another tool in maintaining standards-based reforms of the past four decades.

Perhaps readers may see these phases of school reform and commonalities differently. Let me know, if you do.

This blog post has been shared by permission from the author. Readers wishing to comment on the content are encouraged to do so via the link to the original post. Find the original post here:

The views expressed by the blogger are not necessarily those of NEPC.

Larry Cuban

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An elementary school in Kansas is combating bad behavior — by putting kids to work

Suzanne Perez

A pilot program in elementary schools gives kids meaningful work as a way to handle post-pandemic behavior problems.

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Schoolteachers across the country say they are still struggling with post-pandemic behavior problems in classrooms. The spike in tantrums, outbursts and fidgeting coincides with a national mental health crisis. Suzanne Perez of the Kansas News Service shows us how one elementary school that state is responding to bad behavior by putting kids to work.

SUZANNE PEREZ, BYLINE: Twice a week at Woodman Elementary School in Wichita, a third-grader named Reagan reports for duty with school counselor Shauna Barnes.

SHAUNA BARNES: So you're spraying each one of the tiny plants.

PEREZ: Reagan is the school's official plant waterer. Armed with a kid-sized spray bottle, she checks each plant on the windowsill of the teacher's lounge and gives it a quick drink. Barnes offers direction.

BARNES: See how much water they need?

REAGAN: This one's kind of wet, so I'll give it a little bit.

PEREZ: It may not look like much, but experiences like this can be life-changing for some children. Woodman is experimenting with a program called Meaningful Work. Counselors take kids who regularly misbehave in class and pair them with a mentor, then offer them something constructive to do on a regular schedule - a simple task like feeding fish or making copies. School psychologist Jaime Johnston says the concept is pretty simple.

JAIME JOHNSTON: Students were acting out to get attention with people they like. We have a fun group of supporting adults, and the students enjoyed hanging out with us. But we need them to display appropriate behaviors and stay in class.

PEREZ: Assigning jobs to students is not necessarily new. Elementary school teachers often post job charts denoting things like line leaders or trash collectors, but those are in class and supervised by the regular teacher. With Meaningful Work, students are matched with adults outside the classroom, including counselors, psychologists and social workers. Jessica Sprick is an education consultant with Safe & Civil Schools, an Oregon-based company that promotes the Meaningful Work program. She says, when children get attention for negative behavior, their behavior gets worse. Giving them a job and positive feedback can turn that around.

JESSICA SPRICK: If you can start getting some of that groundwork in place to make the kid feel that you're noticed, that you're wanted - that, when you're not here, there's a piece of our school that isn't as good as when you are - then we can get the kid coming to school, and then the academics improve, and then the behavior improves, right? So it really can be the starting place for whole-scale change.

PEREZ: The program isn't just for kids who misbehave. At Woodman Elementary, some students are selected because they get fidgety and need regular movement breaks. Others have anxiety and need to practice interacting with peers and adults. Jovany, a third-grader, is nonverbal and communicates with a handheld device that can be programmed to say certain phrases. Twice a week, Jovany fills a wagon with fresh fruits or vegetables from the cafeteria and delivers them to classrooms as part of the school's healthy snack program.

JOVANY: (Through handheld device) Here's your vegetables.

UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: Thank you.

JOVANY: (Through handheld device) You're welcome.

UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: Can everybody say thank you?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: Thank you, Jovany. Bye-bye.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Bye.

PEREZ: Sprick recalls one teacher who assigned a student to be the school's official door unlocker. The child made rounds with the custodian every morning to check locks and welcome staff inside. He took the job so seriously he didn't want to take a sick day.

SPRICK: The mom actually called and said, you know, can you tell my son that the doors will be unlocked if he doesn't come to school? 'Cause he's got 103 fever and he's trying to tell me he needs to come.

PEREZ: School leaders say behavior problems have decreased since they launched the jobs program last fall, and attendance is up. They plan to expand the program next year.

For NPR News, I'm Suzanne Perez in Wichita.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE AUDIBLES SONG, "NOT THE SAME")

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

The importance of purpose at work

How finding meaning can change the way we feel about our careers, from three women who know

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Does the job you do matter to you? It's a big question, but the past few years have prompted many of us to reflect on our professional output and whether it has meaning. Purpose-driven work that aligns with our values makes us feel energised and inspired; we know it when we feel it.

There are, of course, a variety of ways to satisfy a yearning for deeper meaning. Sharing your skills and inspiring the next generation as a teacher in further education , for example, can be incredibly fulfilling. If you've been working in industry throughout your career, you are likely to have plenty of those skills and real-world experience to pass on – and they're more valuable than you realise.

Embracing the pivot

One woman who has found purpose through this exact career pivot is Sophie Ellen Lachowycz. She was working as a fashion and portrait photographer when she was asked to run some workshops at West Suffolk College, where she now runs the two-year Fashion, Media and Promotion diploma course. Her award-winning photography has been featured in luxury magazines and exhibited internationally, but she says teaching in further education (any post-16 education that isn't a degree) has offered another level of enrichment.

After the workshops whet her appetite for further education teaching , she decided to pursue it more seriously. As it's not always necessary to have teaching qualifications before you start, she was able to train while lecturing part-time and still working as a photographer. “I don’t see teaching and my photography as two separate entities; they coincide and mutually benefit one another,” she says. “I teach practical techniques and methods to my students, which I use myself outside of the college, so it ensures I keep honing my skills while also helping me to experiment with new practices.

“Teaching in further education very flexible – the holidays give me plenty of time to do my professional work while I also have that regular income, so when I have fluctuations in photography commissions (common in creative fields), I have my bases covered.” Plus, for Lachowycz, it's something she finds hugely rewarding. “For many students, it might be the first opportunity they've had to really focus on a subject they’re personally interested in. It’s gratifying to help them produce work they’re proud of and explore what sort of career they might want in the future.”

Passing on your skills

Regardless of the field or business, finding work that matches our core values is a good place to start when it comes to finding professional purpose. For entrepreneur Jo Malone OBE, running her own business has enabled her to instil her personal values of creativity, entrepreneurship, resilience, honesty, and integrity.

.css-lt453j{font-family:NewParisTextBook,NewParisTextBook-roboto,NewParisTextBook-local,Georgia,Times,Serif;font-size:1.75rem;line-height:1.2;margin:0rem;padding-left:5rem;padding-right:5rem;}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-lt453j{padding-left:2.5rem;padding-right:2.5rem;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-lt453j{font-size:2.5rem;line-height:1.2;}}.css-lt453j b,.css-lt453j strong{font-family:inherit;font-weight:bold;}.css-lt453j em,.css-lt453j i{font-style:italic;font-family:NewParisTextItalic,NewParisTextItalic-roboto,NewParisTextItalic-local,Georgia,Times,Serif;} “Work towards your dreams every day, then your life will become what you always dreamed of”

“From being a young girl working in a flower shop, to becoming a perfumer and shopkeeper, I've always tried to find purpose in what I'm doing, no matter what stage in life I've been at,” she says.

Malone now finds meaning in passing on her skills and experience to the next generation. “The way we give back is by sharing our story,” she says. “Also, helping to train and give other people opportunities and to allow them to experience an entrepreneurial experience from top to bottom.”

There is a wide range of further education courses where you can share your own story, from photography and law to healthcare, engineering and tech, so there is likely to be a course where your industry skills and experience would be invaluable, whatever your current profession.

Hidden assets: The skills and experience you've gathered over the course of your career are more valuable than you think. Identifying and sharing them in further education could be the key to unlocking that sense of fulfilment, giving you the opportunity to change lives without changing career.

Inspired to find your own sense of purpose? Cremer advises taking the time to find out what makes you feel enthusiastic and engaged. “I often suggest diarising a date, maybe months away, on which you will make a decision about your future. That way you can park the big ‘why does nothing feel right?’ conversations in your head for a while and relax into discovering new things. Careers are very rarely all good or all bad.”

Find out more about how you could use your skills to change lives without the need to change your career at Teach in Further Education

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Empowering through education: insights from industry leaders.

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Close up portrait of smiling young businesswoman standing near gray wall with colorful business ... [+] sketch drawn on it

Entrepreneurship is not just about building successful businesses; it's also about empowering others through knowledge sharing and education. Through their insights and educational initiatives, successful entrepreneurs, Alli Webb, Chef Bae, Kara Goldin, and Emilie Hoyt offer invaluable guidance for aspiring entrepreneurs while fostering a culture of learning and growth.

Alli Webb: Transforming Beauty Standards and Empowering Entrepreneurs

As the founder of Drybar, Alli Webb disrupted the beauty industry by creating a space solely dedicated to blowouts, empowering both customers and aspiring entrepreneurs. In addition to her business success, Webb is committed to educating budding entrepreneurs through:

The Messy Truth : an honest glimpse behind the curtain of one woman’s entrepreneurial journey. It’s incredibly vulnerable and disarming. The Messy Truth will inspire anyone in the process building a business, emphasizing the importance of customer-centric approaches and brand authenticity.
Social Media: Webb provides accessible resources and tips for aspiring entrepreneurs by giving them an authentic look into what it’s like to be involved with multiple businesses. She’s the co-founder of The Drybar, Squeeze, Becket & Quill and proudly serves as an advisor and investor for many brands.

Brooke "Chef Bae" Baevsky: Breaking the Stigma Surrounding Dietary-Friendly Cuisine & Health Food Culture

As seen on Food Network and America's Test Kitchen, Brooke "Chef Bae" Baevsky , is an LA-based celebrity private chef & a TV food show host. With a following of over 700k+ "Food Baes," she breaks the traditional allergy-friendly food stigma by teaching about delicious, health-forward & viral recipes through:

Social Media: Chef Bae captures the attention of millions with her award-winning recipes full of innovative ingredient swaps, unique flavor combinations & “food for all”.
Giving Back: In college, she founded a non-profit cooking program for inner-city children & families. Upon moving to New York City, she partnered with the Henry Street Settlement to lead an after-school Healthy Kids Cooking program. These classes teach the foundation, importance, and skill set for creating and maintaining a healthy, balanced diet on a limited budget. On the West Coast, Chef Bae recently announced a partnership with Common Threads, to expand her non-profit Healthy Choices & Healthy Eats initiative with inner-city families in Greater Los Angeles.

Best High-Yield Savings Accounts Of 2024

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Kara Goldin: Empowering Health Conscious Consumers and Entrepreneurs

As the founder of Hint, Kara Goldin is not only revolutionizing the beverage industry but also empowering consumers to make informed and healthy choices. Goldin's dedication to education is demonstrated through:

Educational Campaigns: Goldin leverages Hint's platform to educate consumers about the importance of hydration and the harmful effects of sweetened drinks, advocating for healthier beverage options.
Entrepreneurial Mentorship: Through mentorship programs and speaking engagements, Goldin shares her entrepreneurial journey and offers guidance to aspiring business leaders, emphasizing the principles of resilience, innovation, and customer-centricity.

Emilie Hoyt: Nurturing Wellness and Sustainable Business Practices with LATHER

Emilie Hoyt, the founder of LATHER , has built a successful business centered around wellness and sustainability. In addition to her entrepreneurial endeavors, Hoyt is dedicated to educating consumers and supporting entrepreneurs through:

Product Education: Hoyt prioritizes transparency and educates consumers about the benefits of natural ingredients and sustainable practices in skincare through LATHER's product offerings.
LATHER Lends a Hand Events: In-store parties where attendees are invited to shop for a cause. Groups are also encouraged to use retail locations to host meetings and networking events. In the past 3 years LATHER has raised more than $60,000 for charities.

The entrepreneurial journeys of Alli Webb, Chef Bae, Kara Goldin, and Emilie Hoyt exemplify the transformative power of education and knowledge sharing in empowering individuals and communities. By leveraging their success to educate and inspire others, these entrepreneurs are not only shaping the future of their industries but also fostering a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation. Through their educational initiatives, they empower aspiring entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams, redefine industry norms, and make a positive impact on the world.

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How can we prevent gun violence in Arizona schools?

Students display a variety of observable behaviors as they escalate toward violence or planning violence, according to the U.S. Secret Service's National Threat Assessment Center.

Learning to identify those behaviors and how to intervene appropriately are key to preventing violence, one report says.

Here are some key findings from the threat assessment center's 2021 analysis:

Targeted school violence is preventable when communities identify warning signs and intervene.
Warning signs include a marked decline in performance, increased absenteeism, withdrawal or isolation, sudden or dramatic changes in behavior or appearance, drug or alcohol use or erratic, depressive, and other emotional or mental health symptoms.
Students displaying an interest in violent or hate-filled topics should elicit immediate assessment and intervention.
Schools should seek to intervene with students before their behavior warrants legal or criminal consequences.
Students planning an attack at school typically have a grievance with classmates.
Students are best positioned to identity and report concerning behavior displayed by classmates .
Families recognizing concerning behavior are critical to prevention. 
School resource officers (SROs/police officers on campus) play an important role in prevention. 
Removing students from school does not eliminate the risk they might pose to themselves or others. 
Many student plotters have access to weapons, including unimpeded access to firearms.

The full story: Arizona's K-12 schools and police face flood of gun threats, lockdowns, guns

What can officials do to make the process easier?

The Secret Service emphasizes the importance of reporting worrisome behavior to school officials or law enforcement. Its guidance:

Parents, school officials and law enforcement officers should work to make reporting easy, safe, accessible and encouraged in school culture.
Encourage bystanders to report concerns.
Follow up and be transparent about the actions taken in response to the report.
Create a positive climate where reporting concerns is valued and encouraged.

Arizona's history of school shootings

The Center for Homeland Defense and Security established a database to track K-12 school shootings . According to the database, Arizona has had 19 shootings on school campuses from 1970 until June 2022.

Ten occurred in Maricopa County, five in Pima County, two in Cochise County, one in Yavapai County and one in Mohave County.

Four of the shootings were accidental and four were escalations of disputes. Other circumstances include hostage situations and death by suicide. None of the shootings met the threshold for a fatal mass shooting attack or rampage attack.

Half of the shooters were current or former students.

School shootings by Arizona students

In March 1971, a 13-year-old boy shot and injured a teen girl with a .22-caliber revolver at Roskruge Junior High School in Tucson.
In February 1987, a 17-year-old boy went on a shooting spree at the Orme School in Mayer. He wounded two teachers and the admissions director with a shotgun before he was killed by police.
In September 1989, a 15-year-old student died after an accidental gunshot outside a classroom at Dysart High School in El Mirage. A group of students were examining a .25-caliber automatic pistol went it fired.
In May 2015, a student died by suicide with a handgun at Corona del Sol High School in Tempe.
In February 2016, two students at Independence High School in Glendale died in a murder-suicide by handgun. Both students were 15-year-old girls.
In January 2018, a 14-year-old boy died by suicide with a family firearm at Coronado Elementary School in Sierra Vista.
In November 2021, a 16-year-old student was shot by a 15-year-old classmate in a school bathroom at Cesar Chavez High School in Phoenix during a dispute.
In March 2022, a 14-year-old student accidentally shot his 15-year-old classmate on a school bus in Kingman.

Have you been impacted by gun violence or gun policy? Reach breaking news editor and reporter L. M. Boyd at [email protected]. Follow her on X at @lillianmboyd1.

Yana Kunichoff is a former education reporter at The Republic.

Free mental health resources are available to anyone in Arizona. A statewide mental health crisis line is available at 844-534-HOPE (4673). Another resource for 24/7 help is to dial 988, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline .

Teen Lifeline is for kids to call and get free, confidential and anonymous help from trained peers at 602-248-8336 (TEEN) or 800-248-8336 (TEEN) outside of Maricopa County.

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COMMENTS

Why school kids need more exposure to the world of work
Exposure to the world of work provides opportunities for students to build connections with professionals outside their usual family networks, and to learn by "doing" in real world contexts ...
Work Education: Meaning, Importance, Skills, Objectives
Importance of Work Education. Work education is regarded as very important, meaningful, and the ongoing manual work is organized as a vital part of teaching-learning procedures that are functional to society and the satisfaction of doing work. It is essential for all education segments, i.e., primary, secondary, higher secondary, and higher ...
PDF Preparing 21st Century Citizens: The Role of Work-Based Learning in
study. In a work-based learning program, classroom instruction is linked to workplace skills through placements outside of the school that allow students to experience first-hand what adults do in jobs. August 2013 About This Brief Schools engaged in Linked Learning offer work-based education programs that blend real-world problems with the
Why We Must Connect Education and the Future of Work
Higher education can play a unique role because it has the ability to reach in several directions: toward both K-12 schools and educators, and businesses and future employers. Since it is often under the control of the state, higher education can also reach across to the governor, mayor, and other decision- and policymakers.
Why we should expose school kids to the world of work
Exposure to the world of work provides opportunities for students to build connections with professionals outside their usual family networks, and to learn by "doing" in real world contexts. Students picked by design thinking, coding and interview skills with this school-industry partnership. This offers some valuable benefits - enriching ...
The key to better education and career decisions? Work ...
Work experience—in high school. Fewer and fewer teens hold jobs—but having early work experience is crucial for making good decisions about education and career. State and regional leaders need to step up with work-based learning programs that fill the gap, writes Julie Lammers of ASA. Every student should have a work-based learning ...
The benefits of work-based learning
Work-based learning is a major focus for students, bringing enthusiasm, excitement, and a real-life view of the world of work. The work-based learning experiences offered in North Carolina schools through CTE programs connect learning to the textbook while helping students understand the "why" of what they have learned over the past 13 years.
What we know about Career and Technical Education in high school
Center for Economic Security and Opportunity. Career and technical education (CTE) has traditionally played an important role in U.S. secondary schools. The first federal law providing funding for ...
The Importance of Work-based Education for the Future
But without in-school preparation to develop workplace skills and knowledge, recent graduates will miss employment opportunities created by the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Bridging gaps in education and career development through work-based learning can both set students up to thrive in the workforce of the future and ...
For Students, the Importance of Doing Work That Matters
And more. The growing access to knowledge, information, people, and tools that our students are getting demands a shift in how we think about the work they do in school. "Work that matters" has significance beyond classroom walls; it's work that is created for an authentic audience who might enjoy it or benefit from it even in a small way. It's ...
Education Is the Key to Better Jobs
The message is clear—more education opens the gateway to better, higher-paying jobs. To put this into perspective, consider this: An individual with only a high school diploma is twice as likely ...
The turning point: Why we must transform education now
Transforming education requires a significant increase in investment in quality education, a strong foundation in comprehensive early childhood development and education, and must be underpinned by strong political commitment, sound planning, and a robust evidence base. Learning and skills for life, work and sustainable development.
For Effective Schools, Teamwork Is Not Optional
If your school staff needs to share a few laughs, a day of teacher team building can be a powerful catalyst to boost morale, improve interactions, and establish a culture of collaboration. Teamwork is not optional for effective schools. Effective administrations ensure that teachers can work together to plan, share ideas, and support each other ...
PDF Work Education in Schools
The National Curriculum Frame Work for School Education (2000) has also emphasized concept and philosophy of Work Education and it stressed that the activities pertaining to work education should be so organized as to realize the objectives of Work Education such as inculcation among learners of respect for manual work, values for self-
The Role of Education in the World of Work: Fostering Learning
The Role of Educat ion in the World of Work: Fosteri ng Lear ning O rgani sations. 1. Int roduct ion. The pro le of the worker, as we perceive it today, is apparently meant for change, with ...
Improving teaching, teamwork, and school organization: Collaboration
School team members working on the same grade level have more work-related relationships than other team members (Moolenaar et al., 2014; Spillane, Kim, & Frank, 2012) and share resources on learning and teaching (Downey, 2018), and if their network is dense, they are important in enacting deep-level reforms (Daly et al., 2010).
A principal explains the value of work experience for students
As a school that has long had a focus on the importance of work experience, it was dispiriting - although perhaps not surprising - to see a report on Tes this week that 50 per cent of state school students are missing out on opportunities to gain meaningful experience in the workplace.. After all, with school budgets under increasing pressure, it is more difficult for schools to allocate time ...
Why Is Education Important: All The Reasons To Stay In School
6. A Safer World. Education is something that's not only needed on a personal level, but also on a global level, as it's something that keeps our world safe and makes it a more peaceful place. Education tends to teach people the difference between right and wrong, and can help people stay out of risky situations. 7.
PDF Promoting Mental Health and Well-Being in Schools: An Action Guide for
Schools play an important role in promoting the behavioral and mental health and well-being of students through education, prevention, and early intervention efforts. 8-10 • Schools have the potential to establish safe and supportive environments that connect students to caring adults and encourage positive peer relationships.
Four Benefits of Teamwork for Student Development & Success
2. Improves self-confidence. Teamwork teaches students that their voices are respected and valued. Knowing that she will be heard helps build a student's self-confidence, while encouraging further participation in group activities. This becomes a self-sustaining cycle: participation in team activities teaches students how to be better ...
SCHOOL MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP: TEAMWORK IN SCHOOLS
Yahya Don*. Arumugam Raman**. Abstract. Team work is involving more than one person in a process to achieve a goal. An aspect. that should be emphasized in the strategic management of a school ...
Equity Work in Schools: Importance of Equality in Education
Schools are awash in equity work. It seems that every time you turn around there is another school or university that has appointed a DEI officer, is running a workshop or book club around anti-racism, or is adopting a DEI mission statement. This is heartening. 400 years after the original sin of slavery, the bill is final coming due.
Characteristics and Outcomes of School Social Work Services: A Scoping
School social workers are an integral part of the school mental health workforce in education settings and often work in interdisciplinary teams that include schoolteachers, administrators, school counselors, and school psychologists (Huxtable, 2022). This scoping review found that one-third of interventions school social workers conducted were ...
Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Why Do School
School reforms unfold less like an auto engine piston pumping up and down within a cylinder and more like a large weather front of uncertain origin moving across a region. Reforms, like weather fronts varying by seasons but similar across years, go through phases that become familiar if observers note historical patterns and, in our speeded-up, multi-tasking culture, record what occurs. And ...
An elementary school in Kansas is combating bad behavior
Jessica Sprick is an education consultant with Safe & Civil Schools, an Oregon-based company that promotes the Meaningful Work program. She says, when children get attention for negative behavior ...
The importance of finding purpose at work
There are, of course, a variety of ways to satisfy a yearning for deeper meaning. Sharing your skills and inspiring the next generation as a teacher in further education, for example, can be ...
No. 1 for 30 years
At the forefront of all this work is the college's commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. In 2016, the college began offering professional education to help schools, colleges and other organizations achieve more equitable and inclusive cultures.
Empowering Through Education: Insights From Industry Leaders
Educational Campaigns: Goldin leverages Hint's platform to educate consumers about the importance of hydration and the harmful effects of sweetened drinks, advocating for healthier beverage options.
What can be done to prevent gun incidents in Arizona schools?
The full story:Arizona's K-12 schools and police face flood of gun threats, lockdowns, guns What can officials do to make the process easier? The Secret Service emphasizes the importance of ...

Why school kids need more exposure to the world of work

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Top 10 Reasons Why Is Education Important

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Top 10 Reasons: Why Is Education Important?

1. Provides Stability

2. Provides Financial Security

3. Needed For Equality

4. Allows For Self-Dependency

5. Make Your Dreams Come True

6. A Safer World

7. Confidence

8. A Part Of Society

9. Economic Growth On A National Level

10. Can Protect You

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