Teaching about the social services in school – evaluating a social innovation aimed at increasing the accessibility of social services for children and youth
Description: This project focus on the implementation sustainability and learning processes within a practice-based and user-originated social innovation, intended to enhance children’s rights to information about and (thereby) access to the social services as an integral part of society’s support and protection system. The social innovation under study consists of a teacher’s guide, co-created by teachers, social workers and young people as a tool for teaching students about the social services. The access to information on issues such as abuse and neglect as well as on available help and services addressing these issues constitutes important aspects of guaranteeing children their rights to protection and support. Thus, children’s knowledge and perceptions of the social services can be considered an important part of preventive social work. On both a national and international level there has been an increasing awareness of school as an important arena for such preventive social work. Despite this, the scientific knowledge on children’s perceptions of and help-seeking behavior towards social services is scarce, as well as knowledge on cooperative strategies for school and social work in strengthening young people’s help-seeking abilities. The aim of this project is to explore and evaluate both implementation process and implementation sustainability regarding the social innovation under study. Furthermore, it aims to deepen our knowledge on children’s perceptions of and reflections on social services and social problems. The project will follow the interactive design of a learning evaluation, including both qualitative and quantitative data. The project is expected to contribute to knowledge about children’s perceptions of and help-seeking attitudes in relation to social services as well as knowledge about aspects facilitating the long-term management of new models and practices involving different professional organizations (in this case school and social services).
Amount: SEK 1,500,000
Funding type: grant
Funder scheme: Unclassified
Start date: 2018-12-01
End date: 2021-11-30
Investigator: Ylva Spånberger Weitz
Institution: Stockholm University
Funded outputs count: 2
Funder award ID: 2018-01354
OpenAlex ID: G5296123796