Bokang Nephtali Lipholo

School violence is a global public health issue that has an impact on the well-being of children and teachers and their overall psychosocial experiences. It also affects the children’s academic performance and prospects. To address school violence, member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have developed the Care and Support for Teaching and Learning (CSTL) policy framework, which emphasizes the need for comprehensive approaches at both the school and community levels. Therefore, this current scoping review study aimed to understand the interventions and strategies employed to address school violence in the SADC region. The literature search, conducted on Web of Science, ProQuest, Academic Search Ultimate, Medline Ultimate, PubMed, and PsycINFO, led to the inclusion of 17 articles reporting interventions and strategies used in different schools across the SADC region. The findings were categorised under two themes with subthemes: i) interventions (teacher training on violence management, curriculum-aligned interventions, community-based and peer-driven interventions), ii) strategies (school and teacher-initiated approaches, school policies and codes of conduct, and physical surveillance and security measures). These different interventions and strategies were found to contribute to safer school environments and were aligned with the outlined CSTL approaches. While these interventions and strategies were found to be effective, there exist issues with teachers using corporal or physical punishment to discipline learners, therefore signifying the need for better approaches. The study calls for further research to be conducted on approaches addressing school violence and advocates for the CSTL policy framework to be used as a practice roadmap for schools in the SADC region. Keywords: School Violence, Strategies, Interventions, SADC

Although telehealth use in social work practice is not a new concept, its adoption has significantly increased in recent years due to growth in technology use and the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there exist gaps in understanding how social workers are using and experiencing telehealth in their practice. This scoping review synthesizes literature on the use of telehealth in social work practice. Guided by Arksey and O’Malley, we will search for literature on five databases: Web of Science, PUBMED, SCOPUS, PsycINFO, and CINAHL. Using Rayyan screening software, two independent reviewers will screen articles at the title, abstract, and full-text levels. Key characteristics and key themes of the selected articles that meet the inclusion criteria will be charted on a Microsoft Excel sheet. Qualitative thematic analysis will be used to analyze the themes. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) will be used to report the scoping review processes. The review will contribute to the broader understanding of telehealth in social work practice and inform the development of best practices and current gaps in research on telehealth in social work practice. The results will be disseminated to researchers, schools of social work, and practitioners through manuscript publications and relevant conferences.

Climate change has a disproportionate effect on people who are socially and economically excluded and live in degraded environments. Children’s current and future well-being are the hardest hit. However, children need not necessarily be passive victims: They have agency to engage meaningfully and contribute sustainable solutions. This research draws on a qualitative study with five children who were purposefully selected to share their views on poverty and environmental risks through photo-voicing and one-on-one interviews. The aim was to draw lessons from children’s experiences of poverty and environmental risks to inform ecological social work and citizenship. The data were analysed according to themes. The findings indicate that children understand the multidimensional nature of poverty and its interrelatedness with environmental risks. Furthermore, they have an environmentally oriented attitude towards being responsible citizens for themselves and the community. They proposed strategies to engage in action that can contribute to sustainable development. The study concludes that children’s participation can and should play a significant role in informing ecological social work. Furthermore, developing ecological citizenship is fundamental for social work to contribute to a new eco-social world with a sustainable approach to the environment and justice for all.

School violence is a prevalent phenomenon across Southern African Development Community (SADC), affecting children’s psychosocial and mental well-being. As part of SADC’s educational goals, access to quality education is a priority and is beneficial for the region’s economic growth and development. This goal cannot be achieved without addressing school violence at its roots. Using Arksey and O’Malley’s five-step framework, this scoping review explored evidence of contextual factors that contribute to school violence in the region. Twenty-four articles were included, and six themes were identified: home contextual factors, parental factors, community risk factors, school contextual factors, sociability factors, and demographic and individual characteristics. The findings suggest that factors contributing to school violence were from the learners’ immediate environments, including exposure to violence at home and poor parental methods, interactions with teachers and lack of appropriate disciplinary methods and processes, disruptive ideas related to masculinity, lack of understanding and intolerance to demographic and individual differences, and exposure to violence, drugs, and alcohol at the community level. To address this phenomenon, a comprehensive approach is needed, which includes developing clear school policies, teacher training on managing disruptive behaviours and professionalism, mapping incidents of school violence, and interventions involving collaboration between schools, parents, and school social workers to curb school violence.

Access to quality education, as per the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) vision is essential for improving the overall economic growth and development of the region. However, this vision is severely hindered by school violence, a pervasive contextual issue across multiple SADC countries. Guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s five-step framework, this proposed scoping review sought to explore the contextual factors that contribute to school violence and examine intervention strategies that have been used to mitigate school violence. Six databases will be used to search for empirical articles, including ProQuest, PubMed, Web of Science, Academic Search Ultimate, PsycINFO and MEDLINE Ultimate. Screening at the abstract, title and full-text level will be conducted by all authors, with further articles being searched on the research list of the final included full-text publications. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) will be used to report on the scoping review processes. It is hoped that this scoping review will contribute to the overall understanding of the contextual factors that contribute to school violence in the context of SADC and the intervention strategies used to curb this phenomenon. The scoping review will also identify gaps in knowledge in literature and gaps in the current intervention practices, as well as influence future research on school violence in the SADC region. Keywords: School Violence, Southern African Development Community, Contextual Factors, Intervention.

The province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa, is no stranger to adversities. Between 2020 and 2022, KZN faced overlapping disasters, including the COVID-19 pandemic, episodes of looting and catastrophic floods. These disasters had multifaceted consequences for low-income communities. During the disasters, social work academics/practitioners provided psycho-social support to communities while working with a community engagement research centre, the MA’AT Institute, located at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). Adopting an autoethnographic methodology, we provide insights into the experiences of working in low-income communities during disasters. Based on these reflections, we suggest that social workers should often adopt a culturally sensitive approach to disaster response, poverty alleviation and the protection of human rights. We further highlight the complexities of community engagement in disaster-stricken areas when attempting to meet specific goals of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as no poverty, zero hunger and climate action. We call for adopting an Afrocentric and culturally responsive approach to strengthen the resilience of low-income communities in the face of disaster-related adversity.