School Social Work: Enhancing Learners in Zimbabwe to Reach their Full Potential

Learners in Zimbabwe face numerous problems such as poverty, child abuse, child labour, teenage pregnancy, sexual harassment, bullying, learning problems and low self-esteem among others that usually hinder them from achieving their full potential in their studies. On this note, it is here contended that school social work is part of an inter-professional approach to understanding and providing help for learners who are unable to use their learning capacities to the full extent, including those who require special services to enable them to make full use of their educational opportunities (Sossou and Daniels, 2002). Although school teachers may try to address these problems, they are sometimes not well equipped with the skills and knowledge on how to deal with the problems effectively. Furthermore, the teachers usually have very huge classes and do not have adequate time to work with learners facing predicaments in their school work. The overall aim of school social work is to provide social work services to learners, parents, and teachers who experience problems within the context of the learning setting in order to prevent and overcome barriers which inhibit students from reaching their full potential. The paper presents a discussion on school social work as a source of support and help to prevent learning problems by intervening with at-risk learners in Zimbabwean schools.