الملخص الإنجليزي
This study aims to investigate the reality of social workers' performance of their roles as they practice their profession in schools. It seeks to identify the actual practice of their professional roles and the obstacles that may limit their abilities to perform their roles and to find out solutions and proposals that will contribute to addressing these obstacles.
The study is based on a multi-method or mixed methodology. It is a research method that combines quantitative and qualitative approaches. Applying this method facilitates the understanding of the phenomenon under study in an integrated and practical manner. The study instruments included a questionnaire and interviews. The study relied on interviews and questionnaires as collecting data methods. The participants included a sample of social workers in the schools of Muscat Governorate (Grade 5-12): supervisors of social guidance in the Directorate of Education in the same governorate.
The study has come up with several results, the most important of which is the disparity in the practice of social workers and their professional roles; i.e. while their role as counselors, clinicians and advocates has been relatively strong and apparent their roles in professional development and commitment and as developers was relatively less powerful. The study also revealed that there are a number of obstacles that may hinder the effective implementation of the professional roles. These obstacles are related to the theoretical and practical preparation of social workers; to the school and working conditions, to the supervision of social workers working in schools, and to the personality of social workers.
The study concluded with a number of proposed solutions that could improve the performance of school field social workers in their professional roles. The proposal, which is addressed to the Ministry of Education, include: (a) the revision of the job description card of social workers, (b) the allocation of appropriate number of social workers per each school, (c) the inclusion of the form of supervision of social workers in the item of the application of professional roles, (d) increasing the number of training workshops and courses, e) designing training manuals and training packages to identify roles and ways of performing them. The proposals for academic preparation focused on reorganizing the theoretical training to combine modernity. innovation and aligning it with the Omani environment and its latest developments.
