Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 School Mental Health https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-018-9298-8 ORIGINAL PAPER Leadership and School Social Work in the USA: A Qualitative Assessment Susan E. Elswick 1  · Matthew J. Cuellar 2  · Susan E. Mason 2 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract School social workers provide unique insight into the biopsychosocial factors that infuence students and overall well-being. Social work training in the person-in-environment perspective ofers a unique understanding of issues within the school environment, making them ideal professionals to lead holistic, interdisciplinary response options and programs that help foster positive school climates and student success. However, current research suggests there is little information about what school social work practice actually looks like in the schools and how this practice is consistent with leadership roles and tasks. The purpose of this study is to examine school social work leadership in today’s schools. A sample of school social work practitioners across the USA (N = 375) provided a response to the question: “In what ways do you provide leadership within your school setting?” An inductive, thematic study was conducted to determine the aspects of leadership in which school social workers engage in most. Using coding procedures, three salient themes of leadership emerged: (1) increasing training and services; (2) focusing on school–community partnerships; and (3) advocating for policy and school structural changes that afect school safety. Findings from this study build upon past research and suggest that eforts to prepare and improve current leadership skills for school social workers are warranted. Implications for student education and social work programs are discussed, and recommendations for future research are provided. Keywords Leadership · School social work · Qualitative analysis Introduction and Literature Review School social work is a very versatile feld of practice, one in which many practitioners across the nation provide very diferent levels of intervention and support. As an exam- ple, within the school social work literature, variations in school-based mental health practices are seen (Constable, 2009; Monkman, 2009). This phenomenon of lack of clar- ity and defned roles and responsibilities for school social work is due to the multifaceted nature of school social work practice, and the inevitable historic ebb and fow of services delivered based on societal needs (Sherman, 2016). Social workers take on the tasks of direct practitioner, advocate, trainer, and policy driver, all while keeping a direct focus on an ecological perspective and framework of service delivery (Constable, 2009). Due to the complex nature of the feld of school social work practice, many school social workers feel unsup- ported and misunderstood by the larger educational frame- works (Bye, Shepard, Partridge, & Alvarez 2009; Tham & Lynch, 2017; Richard & Villarreal-Sosa, 2014). This lack of understanding and support for the feld are part of the reason why school social workers are typically not viewed as leaders within the larger social work education constructs. To illustrate this lack of acknowledgment, a search of the literature produced 50 recent articles on school social work, with only three (Elswick et al., 2018; Frey, Lingo & Nelson, 2008; Goldkind, 2011) having leadership in the title and focus, which found that the majority of states do not have consistent guidelines concerning school social work leader- ship. Moreover, this research suggests that current governing bodies are not consistent or uniform in how leadership in school social work is defned. * Matthew J. Cuellar matthew.cuellar@yu.edu 1 Department of Social Work, University of Memphis, 234 McCord Hall, Memphis, TN 38152, USA 2 Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Yeshiva University, Belfer Hall #909B, 2495 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10033, USA