Hassan Sharif conducts research into social work in schools

Much of the research on schools naturally focuses on subject knowledge, while social aspects can easily be overlooked. Hassan Sharif, PhD in Sociology of Education and Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor at the Department of Education, believes this makes the project “School Social Work – Preventive Social Work and Early Intervention with Pupils in Primary and Lower Secondary Schools” particularly interesting and important.

“Children’s own voices are often overlooked when studying the everyday lives of children and young people. This is particularly true of research into children at risk of deviant behaviour, such as substance abuse and crime. The project therefore also includes interviews of children to make sure their own experiences are not neglected,” he says.

The project, led by Hassan Sharif, focuses on the work of social workers in primary schools in socio-economically disadvantaged areas of Uppsala, with an emphasis on methodological development and experiences from both a child’s perspective and a professional perspective. The project is part of a larger research programme funded by Forte in which researchers are working in collaboration with Uppsala Municipality to establish long-term knowledge and methodology development models for social services’ preventive and early interventions for children and young people.

“So far, two colleagues and I have conducted interviews with officials, school leaders, social workers and teachers, and have shadowed a social worker at the school. We will begin conducting interviews with children in the autumn,” says Hassan Sharif.

A bridge between the different parties

Social services field workers perform part of their duties at the schools in question. They also visit places where children and young people spend their free time in order to get a comprehensive picture of their everyday lives. This enables them to act as a bridge between the family, school, leisure activities, social services, the police and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Services (BUP).

“Their work serves to fill the voids. It’s interesting. The field workers are often very knowledgeable about the school and the community,” says Hassan Sharif.

The aim of the study is to investigate the impact of school social work. Hassan Sharif emphasises that preventive social work can make a huge difference in preventing young people from turning to crime and other deviant behaviour.

“It is notoriously difficult to measure the effects of social work, but we still want to gain an understanding of the methods used to prevent and detect deviant behaviour,” he says.

This collaboration can simplify bureaucratic processes between different bodies and authorities. For example, consent is required for social services to disclose confidential information to the school, or vice versa – something that a social worker trusted by a child and their family can facilitate.

“This preventative school social work has brought schools and social services closer together. It helps to make social services seem less intimidating,” says Hassan Sharif.

A lot depends on the individual social worker

The interviews reveal that there are also challenges with school social work in Uppsala’s schools. Some feel that the scope of their role is somewhat unclear, with the social worker’s duties sometimes overlapping those of other professional roles, such as school counsellors. The outcomes of these interventions also tend to depend on the individual social worker’s ability to build good relationships.

“It becomes quite person-dependent. In addition, the field workers are often relatively young and newly qualified social workers. Many come from areas similar to the ones they work in, which can be an advantage but sometimes makes it harder to maintain professional distance,” says Hassan Sharif, who nevertheless emphasises that those interviewed in the study are generally very positive about the initiative to have social workers in schools.

“Since they are not involved in the grading process and have no pedagogical responsibility, they can get completely different insight into young people’s everyday lives than teachers do.”

Driven by a desire to create a better world

Hassan Sharif has been a university lecturer for 25 years, but previously worked as a social worker himself. He comes from a family of social workers – his father and siblings all chose that career path – and has always been interested in issues related to inequality, vulnerability and discrimination.

“This interest stems from a combination of my own experiences of migrating to Sweden, working with children and young people in socially vulnerable situations, my own research on newly arrived immigrants, and teaching on teacher training and social work programmes,” says Hassan Sharif, who describes a desire to make the world a little better in areas that are important to children and young people.

“It might sound a bit cliché, but it’s a powerful motivating factor.”

In addition to his research on school social work, Hassan Sharif is also leading a project on everyday racism in upper secondary schools. He feels privileged to be a researcher.

“Imagine being paid to think, read and write! The more you read, the more you realise just how much more there is to discover,” he says.

Sigrid Asker