Rol del profesional de trabajo social en la implementación de la política pública de los programas establecidos para lograr la retención del estudiante en el Departamento de Educación de Puerto Rico

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to identify the role of the social worker in the implementation of the public policy of the established programs to achieve student retention, especially in their work with the indicators of high risk students stipulated in the Carta Circular Núm: 16-2013-2014 Política Pública para establecer el Procedimiento a seguir en la Implementación de las Normas de Retención Escolar en el Departamento de Educación, and that seek to prevent school dropouts.

On the other hand, we were interested in making the analysis of the implementation of public policy that supports the academic and social success of the student in light of the development of the debate among those who understand that the social worker has disassociated himself from his primary functions, while others defend that the social worker continues faithful to his original mission (Billups, 2002). We were interested in analyzing the consequences that may have on the implementation of public policies when the School Social Worker intervenes in the development of these public policies.

This research has four objectives aimed at generating knowledge about: the way in which the Social Worker implements public policy that supports the success of a student, the valuation indexes that social workers identify as important in their work, the characteristics and skills of a social worker that makes a difference in the success of a student and the elements that public policy should have in order to support the academic and social success of the student. The questions that guided the investigation were drawn according to the objectives.

For this research, we used as reference the critical theory according to Pierre Bordieu. The author presents in his theory the power of the educational system to reproduce not only the economic and social structure, but also the culture (Bourdieu, 2014).

The purpose of this research was to identify the role of the social worker in the implementation of the public policy of the established programs to achieve student retention, especially in their work with the indicators of high risk students stipulated in the Carta Circular Núm: 16-2013-2014 Política Pública para establecer el Procedimiento a seguir en la Implementación de las Normas de Retención Escolar en el Departamento de Educación, and that seek to prevent school dropouts.

On the other hand, we were interested in making the analysis of the implementation of public policy that supports the academic and social success of the student in light of the development of the debate among those who understand that the social worker has disassociated himself from his primary functions, while others defend that the social worker continues faithful to his original mission (Billups, 2002). We were interested in analyzing the consequences that may have on the implementation of public policies when the School Social Worker intervenes in the development of these public policies.

This research has four objectives aimed at generating knowledge about: the way in which the Social Worker implements public policy that supports the success of a student, the valuation indexes that social workers identify as important in their work, the characteristics and skills of a social worker that makes a difference in the success of a student and the elements that public policy should have in order to support the academic and social success of the student. The questions that guided the investigation were drawn according to the objectives.

For this research, we used as reference the critical theory according to Pierre Bordieu. The author presents in his theory the power of the educational system to reproduce not only the economic and social structure, but also the culture (Bourdieu, 2014).