Smith ScholarWorks Theses, Dissertations, and Projects 2010 Practice wisdom : an exploration of school social workers experience with social and emotional learning curricula : a project based upon an independent investigation Gordon David Gross Smith College Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.smith.edu/theses Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Gross, Gordon David, "Practice wisdom : an exploration of school social workers experience with social and emotional learning curricula : a project based upon an independent investigation" (2010). Masters Thesis, Smith College, Northampton, MA. https://scholarworks.smith.edu/theses/476 This Masters Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in Theses, Dissertations, and Projects by an authorized administrator of Smith ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Gordon David Gross Practice Wisdom: An exploration of school social workers experience with social and emotional learning curricula ABSTRACT Of all of the professions that exist in a school setting, social workers are trained specifically in the three main theoretical tenets of social and emotional learning programs: systems theory, cognitive behavioral theory and psychoanalytic theory. Yet there is little in the literature about what the role of social work should be as a stakeholder in implementing a SEL curriculum. This qualitative research was designed to investigate what could be learned from the practice wisdom of school social workers in elementary schools that have adopted a SEL curriculum about their experiences and the roles they have adopted. This study employed a sample of convenience recruited utilizing a snowball sampling strategy. Major findings were that most social workers in this sample were both consultant/trainers around the system-wide implementation of SEL in schools and spent some time in the classroom delivering the program, either as a co-teacher or alone.