The Establishment of School Social Work in Austria – From a Project to a Regular Offer

• Main Authors: Arno Heimgartner, Stephan Sting
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Ljubljana 2013-06-01
• Series: Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal
• Subjects: School social work; Austria; Social pedagogy; Evaluation
• Online Access: https://ojs.cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/article/view/242

The contribution introduces the present situation and the basic challenges of school social work in Austria. Starting with the perception of a developing “knowledge society” (Höhne, 2004), school is seen as a life place at which social subjects and problems occur and are made manifest. The analyses are based in particular on empirical studies by the University of Klagenfurt (Sting & Leitner, 2011) and the University of Graz (Gspurning, Heimgartner, Pieber, & Sing, 2011), which were carried out in school social work facilities of Carinthia and Styria, but they also include Austrian-wide research projects. A methodical view is presented along the main target groups “pupils”, “teachers” and “parents”, and the basic orientations are discussed. The thematic analysis characterises school social work as a multi-thematic service (e.g., conflicts,  love, problems at school, problems of the family) that needs to oppose the reduction to single problem areas such as drug abuse or violence. The structural analyses render visible the meaning of spatial conditions, personnel competence and the social-spatial network. Finally, the possibilities of a lasting implementation of empirical research in school social work are discussed.