Call for abstracts

2025-05-28
Journal of Comparative Social Work Special Issue:

 

Call for abstracts - Topic: "Well-being in schools & School Social Work"

 

Guest editors contact information:

  • Dr. Kathrin Beck (Catholic University of Applied Sciences Munich), kathrin.beck@ksh-m.de
  • Dr. Riitta Vornanen (University of Eastern Finland), riitta.h.vornanen@uef.fi
  • University Lecturer Dr. Leena Leinonen (University of Eastern Finland), leena.leinonen@uef.fi

 

Aim and Scope of the Special Issue

The world is an uncertain place, especially for vulnerable groups such as children and young people. A survey conducted by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) (2016, p. 4) identified climate change, inequalities in countries, environmental degradation, violent extremism and political instability as global risks that are highly likely to affect children’s well-being. Furthermore, incidents on a global scale, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may exacerbate already existing problematic situations (Schmitt, 2020). According to UNICEF (2024), estimates suggest that ‘around 11.2 million (13 percent) of children and young people aged 19 and younger in the EU suffer from a mental health condition’, such as depression and anxiety. Hence, there is a need to support children and young people’s well-being.

School social work is practised in at least 53 countries (Huxtable, 2018), thus being part of children’s daily lives around the world. It fulfils a broad range of tasks that go beyond tackling school-related issues and supporting children in reaching their full academic potential. Hence, social work in schools can make a difference when it comes to the promotion of a child’s well-being and protection from harm. Schools are the appropriate place, if not ‘one of the most practical arenas’, to support a child’s development and to reach parents in time (Allen-Meares, 2008, p. 3; see also Crosson-Tower, 2003).

They are viewed as ‘excellent places’ in terms of enabling the support of a child’s health and welfare (Välimaa, Kannas, Lahtinen, Peltonen, Tynjälä & Villberg, 2008, p. 97); hence, professionals can use the organisation of school to reach all children to support their well-being.

For this special issue, we invite original scholarly contributions that address any of the following possible themes. We appreciate theoretically informed qualitative, quantitative or mixed-method studies or conceptual analyses. Interdisciplinary or cross-disciplinary studies or contributions that consider differences between countries are also appreciated.

Possible themes

  • Establishing well-being in schools (e.g. strategies to develop a positive school climate)
  • Well-being at school in the digital age (e.g. social media’s impact on children’s self-esteem, body image and well-being)
  • Creating safe schools (e.g. preventing different forms of violence such as conflicts, bullying and gender-based violence)
  • Providing services for individual children and groups of children (e.g., promotion of social competences and self-esteem)
  • Innovative strategies for promoting children’s well-being (e.g., offering services out of school and using nature to develop well-being)
  • Supporting children and young people affected by behavioural and neuropsychiatric challenges
  • Supporting children and young people in transitions (e.g., from kindergarten to primary school or primary school to secondary school)
  • Collaboration between social workers, psychologists, educators, school nurses and doctors
  • School well-being theories
  • Current challenges children and young people have to face, including conflicts, crises and wars
  • Lessons from the Global South and North and international comparisons

 

Submission and time frames

We ask you to submit abstracts of 300 words including the proposed title, authors with contact information and content.  Please submit abstracts to alyssa.m.kvalvaag@nord.no by the 1st of November, 2025

The abstract or proposal acceptance does not guarantee final acceptance for publication; the review process determines the outcome. You will hear back on the outcome of the review of the abstracts by the middle of December 2025.

Authors of the accepted abstracts are expected to submit the full manuscripts to the journal by the 1st of June 2026, following the following guidance: https://journals.uis.no/index.php/JCSW/about/submissions

A critical perspective should be employed throughout the manuscript and manuscripts should neither have appeared in nor be under consideration by other journals/outlets

 

References:

Allen-Meares, P., Washington, R. O., & Welsh, B. L. (2000). Social work services in schools. 3rd edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon

Crosson-Tower, C. (2003). The role of educators in preventing and responding to child abuse and neglect. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families Children’s Bureau.

Huxtable, M. (2018). A global needs assessment for school social work. Electronic Newsletter December 2018. Retrieved from: https:// aab82939-3e7b-497d-8f30-a85373757e29.flesusr.com/ ugd/426a18_167ea4c234be4588b7bf941e678cbb97.pdf

Schmitt, C. (2020). COVID-19: Soziale Arbeit auf der Suche nach ihrem Auftrag im Katastrophenfall [COVID-19: Social work in search for its role in the event of a disaster]. Sozial Extra, pp. 1–5.

UNICEF (2016). Looking to the future. Risks and opportunities for children. Retrieved from: https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Lookingto-Future-Risks-and-Opportunities-forChildren.pdf

UNICEF (2024). POLICY BRIEF 2: Child and adolescent mental health—The state of children in the European Union 2024. Retrieved from: https://www.escap.eu/uploads/Policy/child-and-adolescentmental-health-policy-brief.pdf (16.10.2024)

Välimaa, R., Kannas, L., Lahtinen, E., Peltonen, H., Tynjälä, J., & Villberg, J. (2008). Innovative health education curriculum and other investments for promoting mental health and social cohesion among children and young people. In Social cohesion for mental well-being among adolescents (pp. 91–103). Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe