The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social work education and practice in the Netherlands

Abstract

During the first half of 2020, the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus had a huge global impact. The physical health of many was (often severely) threatened and affected, resulting in numerous deaths. Furthermore, all aspects of human coexistence came under pressure, such as economic activities and material living conditions, psychological well-being and social contacts, human rights and democratic decision-making, international political relations and global solidarity. As in other parts of the world, COVID-19 kept the Netherlands in its grip.In this article we would like to address the following questions:-What impact did pandemic and policy have on Dutch social work education and how was this experienced by students?-What was the impact of pandemic and policy on social work practices and what were its challenges for social professionals?-What does this all mean for the future of social work education, since it has to take the present concerns of students into account as well as prepare them for social work practice in the near future? ARTICLE HISTORY

COVID-19 Fear, Resilience, Social Support, Anxiety, and Suicide among College Students in Spain

“…Thus, the demand for a greater number of social workers within socio-educational care and guidance counseling teams is justified. Moreover, the support mechanisms for college students during COVID-19 must be implemented under a biopsychosocial model to maintain their resilience and wellbeing, minimizing the effects of the pandemic [67,90].…”

Complexities in Student Placements Under COVID-19 Moral and Practical Considerations

“…In tandem with the above work placement changes encountered, the academic environment also changed rapidly, both for students and staff. Traditional classroom-based teaching moved largely to online delivery, comprising a mixture of synchronous and asynchronous learning, delivered via a variety of learning platforms (Jonge et al, 2020). At the University of Worcester, the virtual learning environment strived to recreate and replace class delivery.…”

Australian and New Zealand social workers adjusting to the COVID-19 pandemic

“…For example, Dominelli (2020) in a UK context and Gergerich et al (2020) in a US context note that many workers are working remotely during the pandemic and that this is impacting service delivery. Researchers across a range of countries including the UK ( Cook and Zschomler, 2020 ; Dominelli, 2020 ), Canada ( Archer-Kuhn et al , 2020 ), Malaysia ( Azman et al , 2020 ), Netherlands ( De Jonge et al , 2020 ), Vietnam ( Dinh and Nguyen, 2020 ), Spain ( López Peláez et al, 2020 ), Poland ( Necel and Zaręba, 2020 ), Greece ( Papouli et al , 2020 ), Lebanon ( Badran, 2020 ), Italy ( Fargion et al , 2020 ) and China ( Yuan et al , 2020 ) note also that workers are using remote technologies to work with clients.…”

“…Within this significantly changed environment where many social workers were working remotely, relying on the use of technological means of communication and with often inadequate resources, the capacity to assist vulnerable community members was significantly reduced. For example, international researchers suggest that attempts to undertake home visits online reduces the capacity to assess the safety and wellbeing of clients ( Cook and Zschomler, 2020 ; De Jonge et al , 2020 ; Hartel, 2020 ; International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), 2020 ) and this can lead to poor decision making. This was supported by our participants, who noted in qualitative comments that the number of home visits and face-to-face consultations were reduced; that some services had temporarily ceased and that groups such as those who are homeless and/or who have no access to phones were out of contact with services.…”

“…Like their international counterparts who note the factors associated with remote service delivery (see e.g. Cook and Zschomler, 2020 ; De Jonge et al , 2020 ; International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), 2020 ), the most common responses from our participants related to the need for workers to work remotely from home and the impacts this has had on service delivery; the reduction in home visits; restrictions on, or the loss of, face-to-face meetings with clients; the closing of some services; the deleterious impacts on client/worker relationships; a decline in the number of clients as a result of people giving up trying to access services; the refocusing of some services to essential contacts only and services being viewed as inaccessible by clients. Some workers noted particular circumstances where clients and families were critically impacted in cases where they had no access to, or unreliable, Internet services (including those who were homeless); delayed family court hearings and the lengthening of waiting time for court sessions; the difficulties associated with visiting children who are in care and problems relating to needing documents signed.…”