THEORY PART

INTRODUCTION: Group is a very natural response of humans as they love interacting with others. They come together in groups to achieve a number of needs which can only be met through collective efforts. Human groups as such constitute an important social unit in all societies. Social functioning competence depends on new in their social environment. The importance of group experience and to point out that it was by group experience that the individual becomes socialized. Socialization results in social learning it seems to be most influenced by small groups such as family, friends, peer groups in school, play groups, occupational and neighbourhood groups and so on .

DEFENITION: Major Murphy(1959) social group work as enhancement of persons social functioning through purposeful group experience. Trecker The group workers enables various types of groups to function in such a way that both group interaction and programme activities contribute to the growth of individual and the achievement of desirable social goals GROUP WORK PRACTICE IN EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS: Group work practice in the educational settings, schools and colleges provide significant inputs in developing human capital in the society. Many a time neither the parents nor the teachers are aware of the fact that the child is facing stress in school. Even if they do, they are not proficient in dealing with the problem. The organizational dynamics of school also makes an impact on the social and academic adjustment of children and adolescents. In schools such policies and rules for conduct and manner of rule enforcement, numbers of teachers, their training and educational status, etc. all of this can be potential sources of stress. Pressure from teachers and parents for

achieving high standards of academic performance and social behavior, are the most common sources of stress. The stress, faced by children if left unattended, may lead to the children mental health problems and drop outs. Guidance and support is an effective way of dealing with stress and group in an ideal medium to provide both. Ensuring educational inputs to children outside the formal school setting also poses a serious challenge in all developing societies. The group work offers a useful opportunity in addressing many of these things. OBJECTIVES OF GROUP WORK IN EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS: In the group work practice in educational settings the worker has to make certain objectives which are accepted by the children. The group objective should be broad enough to cover these individual differences of needs. Some of the common needs of children are; recreation, caring, championship, security, etc. in addition, support in case of emotional trauma from family violence and lack of family, is also a major need area. The objective of group work with children in the educational setting will however depend on the kind of children the worker is working with. The main thing is to be identified to works with group of children. The worker has to remember is to have definite objectives, identify them carefully, share them with the group, and keep them flexible. To develop life skills. To provide help in dealing with problems of social functioning. To provide an experience of functioning in groups. To provide recreational services to children.

EFFECTIVENESS OF GROUP WORKS IN EDUCATIONAL SETTING: Group work is an effective intervention modality for children and teens for many of the same reasons they are effective with adults, plus some additional reasons that are specific to childrens' levels of cognitive, emotional, behavior, and social development. Some of these reasons include the following: 1. Groups enable children to form bonds with peers in a structured environment that enables them to discuss feelings and ideas openly, with reduced risk of inappropriate negative interactions (e.g., teasing, ridicule) and discussion of individual differences that often hinder relationships among them in unstructured interactions. 2. Groups enable to children to understand that their concerns are not unique to them and that there is not "something wrong with them." Group discussions may

assist children in discussing and coming appreciate that others share their problems, fears, worries, and the like. 3. Through the use of developmentally appropriate structured activities, children and adolescents are often able to articulate personal feelings and interpersonal feedback to their peers that they would have difficulty verbalizing to adults. Often, young people accept more readily constructive feedback from peers than from adults. 4. As is the case with adult group work, groups with children enable counselors to reach more young persons more quickly and, in mental health contexts, at lower cost to families relative to individual counseling. In schools, group work enables counselors to serve ore children in an environment usually characterized by high student to counselor ratios and limited time to actually engage in counseling with students. Advantages of group work in educational setting: 1) You learn to work with other students and it prepares you for the "real world", where you will be working in a division or a department under a leader. 2) Group work, if done properly, can bring about quicker results where students can specialize at what they do best and work to reach a certain goal. One person is not burdened with a large task. 3) Promotes team spirit Disadvantages of group work in educational setting: 1) Difficulties in coordination and communication (especially with large groups). 2) Some students may not perform their tasks efficiently. 3) The group is evaluated as a whole, so there are those who do absolutely nothing and free-ride offs the work of a few students.

PRACTICAL PART

NAME OF THE INSTITUTION: SHAVA SADAN MAT.HR.SEC. SCHOOL Harrington road, chetpet Chennai. NAME OF THE SOCIAL WORKER: Mr. SHIVA KARTHIKEYAN

SOCIAL WORKERS INPUT ON GROUP WORK PRACTICE IN EDUCATIONAL SETTING: In educational institutions social workers play the roles of counselor. Educational institutions varied as schools, colleges, training institutions etc.. School consists of children from different age groups, different psycho social and of varied economic status group. Each individual face different problems either in terms of studies, family situation, relationship problem with peer groups etc. or interms of biological changes, difficulties in coping with those changes. Children in school live as a group, learn as a group and play as a group. Peer group is the essential component which shapes the individual behavior. The counselor in school may not have his relationship with all the students in the school and he is not able to identify their problems individually. Therefore the class teachers observes the behaviours of their students and refer them to the counselor when children show behaviour problem and poor performance in their studies. In case of serious problems counselors have interaction with their parents, regarding the issue. Having group work session with children is not always common in school. Group work session with children is not always easy to handle them is very difficult.

Mostly group work session would consist of activities which make children interesting but at the same time the activities would be in such a manner in accomplishing the objective of group. The main problem that group worker face during the group work session is lack of participation from the members in the group. To overcome this problem group worker will conduct some activity like games , storytelling etc.

Some of the questions that were asked to the social worker: q.no 1: What do you think is the importance of conducting group work session in schools? Children in school live as a group, learn as a group and play as a group. There are lots of problems faced by children in schools . Group work practice really helps to overcome those problems ex.peer group relationship , family compulsion.etc. q.no.2: How will you conduct group work session with children? My group work session mostly will be of activity oriented to make the group work interesting and the activities will help also in accomplishing the goal of the group. The activities would be some games, storytelling etc

q.no.3: what are all the problems that you face while conducting group work session with children in schools and how you handle it? The most important problem is to make all the children participate in the group activities. To make them participate have to conduct activities which they are interested. q.no.4: what are all the effects of group activities among individuals in the group? The group work practice helps the individual in the group to bring out his strengths and talents which helps in success of the group.

SOCIAL GROUP WORK ASSIGNMENT

SOCIAL GROUP WORK PRACTICE IN EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS

SUBMITTED BY: GROUP 5 TSHERING LEPCHA RAJESH VIMALAN MARY INFANTA 10- PSW-04 10-PSW-12 10-PSW-28 10-PSW-35

MUTHU RAMALINGAM 10-PSW-41

SUBMITTED TO: PROF.MARY JESSY DEPT.OF SOCIAL WORK LOYOLA COLLEGE CHENNAI-34