Marissa Jordaan
Head of Support, Maranatha Christian School, South Africa
Overview of role
My main focus is to ensure the learners in our school, together with their families are cared for and supported in a holistic manner. Intervention services include therapeutic intervention for learners, psycho-social educational groups for learners, workshops for parents and staff, support and guidance for parents and staff, planning and coordination of awareness and other whole-school programs (e.g. anti-bully campaigns), and doing referrals for specialized or child protection intervention services.
Daily tasks
A day at school consists of a number of different activities throughout the day, depending on the need that arises at any given moment. It may involve seeing learners for individual sessions, talking to teachers to advise them on handling a specific learner during class time, getting called to the office or a classroom to assist in calming down an emotional child, joining a staff meeting, communicating with a parent, sitting in a disciplinary hearing or following up on a referral made to an organization in the community.
Motivation
Schools are micro communities in which vast and various psycho-social needs are present. Without the necessary intervention, learners’ optimal overall development and functioning is hampered. I take special interest in child development and empowering others. The school setting, in being a micro community, lends vast and various opportunities for prevention, care and support. I believe prevention is better that cure, and if we have to ‘cure’, we need to do it through collaborative efforts and not in isolation.
Training/Education
I have a bachelor’s degree in social work, but I rely heavily on ongoing supervision, support and training in matters pertaining to social work interventions in the school context.
Qualifications or skills to succeed in role
It is important to maintain a professional and ethical position due to the sensitivity intrinsic in dealing with learners’ and teachers’ psycho-social well-being. I think it is important to be able to network, listen and learn from teachers and learners, and have excellent skills in case management risk assessment. It is also important to be able to empower, train and inform others in how psycho-social support can help overcome the ever-changing societal barriers to learning. Being flexible and adaptable is a very necessary trait, together with being respectful, yet assertive.
Most rewarding aspect of job
The single most rewarding aspect is to see teachers empowered and thriving in their role as caregivers to the learners entering their classrooms. It is also rewarding to see learners overcome psycho-social barriers to learning and thriving due to collaborative efforts (that may involve therapy, support from teachers and encouragement from parents).
Most challenging aspect of job
It is challenging to sometimes be unable to assist some learners fully due to a lack of commitment from their parents or from other professionals outside the school whose intervention is needed. Sometimes there are several crisis situations happening all at once that all need urgent attention.
Importance of social service workers in schools
Having social service workers in schools is important in any location because children are the most vulnerable population of any community. There are psycho-social challenges in every community, including mine.
