School absenteeism is a significant problem faced by a substantial number of schools. The local authorities appoint a school welfare officer to ensure that every child attends the school and receives a proper education. The professional life of a school welfare officer is dedicated to identifying children having low attendance, understanding their problems, and coming up with possible solutions, making the children get the most out of their education.
School Welfare Officer- Job Description
School Welfare Officer is known by many names- Education Welfare Officer, Student Welfare Officer, etc. A School Welfare Officer is employed by the local council, usually at a single school or multiple schools simultaneously, to ensure that young children receive the best education.
The sole duty of an education welfare officer is to identify the children whose education is being affected due to poor attendance. This poor attendance can be a result of various factors like- poor family environment, health problems, peer pressure, etc.
A school welfare officer’s typical day at work involves:
- Meeting professionals.
- Making visits to student’s homes.
- Trying to address their problems through an encouraging approach.
If this approach doesn’t work, the welfare officer has complete authority to approach the magistrates’ court to take legal action to make the child return to school. Let us explore the salary and duties of a School Welfare Officer in detail.
Salary of a School Welfare Officer
The salary of a school welfare officer depends on the following factors-
- Candidate’s qualifications and Academic Training
- Work experience or time spent on the job
- Location of employment
- Whether the candidate completed full-time national service
Based on the factors mentioned above, the starting salary of a school welfare officer ranges from approximately $ 2,000 to $ 5,000. On average, School Welfare Officers make about $4,692 per month. The top earners in this job role earn about $8,666 per month. In addition to monthly salary, a school welfare officer is entitled to the following benefits-
- A school welfare officer enjoys time off during all school holidays, only if their services are not required during the period.
- Medical and dental services at subsidized costs.
- A medical leave of 14 days without hospitalization. In case of hospitalization, a medical rest of 60 days will be sanctioned.
- The school welfare officer can apply for ten days of urgent leave for private purposes. However, this is subject to the approval of the higher authorities.
Working hours of the Job
The School Welfare Officer job is just like any other 9 to 5 job on a typical day. However, if you identify that a child is missing out on school constantly, you will have to visit the child’s house to know the reason behind their absence. This is followed by regular or occasional home visits, which may occur outside the fixed working hours.
Academic requirements and training for the Job
The entry requirements of the job vary from place to place. However, most local authorities demand a good qualifying degree or qualifications in relevant subjects like social and human sciences and social work. The job requires 2 to 3 A levels, or an equivalent for a degree.
Apart from this, you can become a School Welfare Officer by working as a teacher and carrying out social work. For this, you will need the experience of working with young people, 1 or 2 A levels or equivalents. However, the teaching experience will only get you into an assistant school welfare officer’s role, from where you can progress to a higher position with your experience and hard work.
Volunteering experience with young people will give you the expertise to apply for this job. You can even take up a university course and get into the position upon its successful completion. Overall, the local authorities usually look for people who have a background in social work, teaching, and experience in working with children and youth.
Training
If you get selected for the post based on your academic qualifications, you will receive training as part of your induction by your employer. During this period, you will be placed under the supervision of a senior colleague.
However, if you apply for the post based on your volunteering experience, you may be encouraged to study part-time to gain a degree or equivalent qualification for the role.
Skills and knowledge required for the Job
The role of the School Welfare Officer demands the following skills and knowledge that you will be tested on after passing your background checks.
- A School Welfare Officer should tackle the issues about peer pressure, bullying, psychological problems, etc. This requires strong counseling skills like active listening and a non-judgemental approach.
- Should possess knowledge of psychology.
- Needs to exhibit and ability to teach and design courses.
- Should show sensitivity and understanding towards students’ problems.
- Should possess good communication skills and knowledge of the English language.
- Should have knowledge of using desktop and laptop.
- Should exhibit the ability to stay calm even in stressful situations.
- Should be able to work well with others and act as a team player if necessary.
- As the position requires frequent home visits, having a driving license and knowing how to drive will help make the visits easy.
Duties of a School Welfare Officer
A School Welfare Officer deals with issues that stop children from going to school. They take the necessary steps to ensure that every child receives education, be it at school or home. The School Welfare Officer keeps track of every student’s attendance and identifies children missing out on school regularly. He then visits the child’s house to link the absenteeism to the underlying problem and comes up with a solution before it hinders their learning. The day-to-day duties of a School Welfare Officer are as follows-
- Keeping close contact with the school staff to track students’ attendance.
- Visiting houses of students who are missing out on school regularly and arranging for alternative education for them.
- Holding in-person meetings with parents and students either at the school or at the homes.
- Assessing the problems faced by pupils and coming up with possible solutions by working closely with them.
- Ensuring that the family receives their benefits like free meals, transportation to school, etc.
- Conducting regular assessments of students.
- Catering to the needs of students with special educational needs and preparing reports about the same.
- Supporting the students who return to school after a long gap.
- Taking legal actions through the magistrates’ courts if necessary.
- Ensuring that the pupils receive education both at home and at school.
- Ensuring that the attendance of students is computerized regularly and keeping track of it to analyze the patterns of attendance.
- Keeping in touch with the parents to keep them informed of any recent developments.
- Handling sensitive issues and information related to pupils’ lives.
- Adhering to the set deadlines and sharing the information with third parties like teachers, educational psychologists, probation officers, etc.
- Presenting the school with strategies to increase pupil turn-over.
Common problems that affect a child’s attendance
There are a number of reasons why a student is missing out on school regularly. A school welfare officer’s intervention is necessary to understand and tackle the issue. Here’s a list of common yet serious problems that require intervention from the school welfare officer.
- Parents taking their children on an extended vacation during school time- Children missing out on school just to vacation with their parents is a major reason for school absenteeism. While missing out on school requires authorization, most parents go ahead with taking their children on vacation without even informing the authorities. To tackle this issue, fines have been imposed. But this proves ineffective, and people call for more stringent laws to punish parents resorting to this behavior.
- Ill-health of students- It is common for kids to fall ill frequently. However, some children have serious health problems, which makes them miss school more often. Under these circumstances, the School Welfare Officer makes arrangements for the student to receive education at their home.
- Poor health of one of the student’s family members- Having a sick parent or sibling creates a need for the child to skip school and care for them. Also, having a sick parent will leave the child with no one to take them to school and bring them back. In this scenario, the school welfare officer makes sure that the family receives some benefits like free meals, free transportation of the child, etc.
- Financial Problems- Financial problems force the parents to discontinue their child’s education as they may not be able to afford school fees. When a school welfare officer comes across this problem, he visits the child’s family and informs them about the subsidies and benefits they can afford to ease some of their financial stress.
- Bullying- Bullying is a significant reason for children to skip school. It causes low self-esteem, leading to poor academic performance. If the child shows resistance in going to school, parents should have a conversation with the child and take the issue to the school welfare officer. The school welfare officer will arrange for counseling and support for the child.
Different methods and benefits are employed to assist parents to send their kids to school more frequently. The School Welfare Officer drafts some strategies and programs to keep the students motivated to return to school every day.
Conclusion
School Welfare Officer as a profession entirely revolves around understanding students’ behavior and reaching out to students facing trouble in being regular to school. The job demands good communication skills and highly organized people.
