Unit 7: Social Work: Clientele, Settings, Tools, and Processes

Lesson 7.2
Settings in Social Work
Contents
Introduction 1

Learning Objective 2

Explore 2

Discover 4
Different Settings in Social Work 4
Government 4
Private Sector 5
Civil Society 6
School 6
Community 7

Wrap-Up 9

Try This! 10

Challenge Yourself 11

Reflect on This 13

Photo Credit 14

Bibliography 14
Unit 7: Social Work: Clientele, Settings, Tools, and Processes

Lesson 7.2

Settings in Social Work

Introduction
Social work is a profession that promotes social development, change, empowerment, and
solidarity. Its goals are to meet people’s basic needs and improve their well-being. Social
workers also aim to provide appropriate services and resources to all regardless of status.
They perform these responsibilities in different settings. Some work in the government
while others work in nongovernment organizations. In this lesson, you will learn how social
workers perform their work in different settings.

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Unit 7: Social Work: Clientele, Settings, Tools, and Processes

Learning Objective DepEd Learning Competency

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to
In this lesson, you should be able to identify the settings in which social workers are
describe the settings where social workers found (HUMSS_DIASS 12-lg-26).

perform their responsibilities, which

include the government, the private
sector, the civil society, the school, and the
community.

Explore
Social Work Settings 15 minutes

Instruction

Describe how social workers carry out their responsibilities in the following settings.

1. Government
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2. School

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Unit 7: Social Work: Clientele, Settings, Tools, and Processes

3. Community

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Guide Questions
1. In which settings are social workers usually found?
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2. In what other settings are social workers needed?

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3. Do you think a social worker’s responsibilities depend on the setting where he or she
functions? Why or why not?
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Unit 7: Social Work: Clientele, Settings, Tools, and Processes

Discover

Social workers help people fulfill their needs and

Word to Remember
access services that are crucial for their welfare.
These needs include livelihood, clean housing, safe
social justice – the
homes, education, and health. The settings in which
balanced distribution of
social workers carry out these goals include the
rights, privileges, wealth,
government, the private sector, the civil society, the
and opportunities
school, and the community. In each of these settings,
social workers try to improve people’s lives by
performing various roles and responsibilities.

How do social workers perform their responsibilities in a

specific setting?

Different Settings in Social Work

Social workers do their jobs in various settings. These settings include the government, the
private sector, the civil society, the school, and the community.

Government
In the Philippines, social workers play a vital role in the government. They volunteer and
work for different government agencies, particularly the Department of Social Work and
Development (DSWD), which has a mandate to offer social services and poverty reduction
programs for the poor, the vulnerable, and other marginalized sectors in the society. One
such program is the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, commonly known as 4Ps, which
grants additional allowances and cash grants to the poorest of the poor to improve their
health, nutrition, and education.

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Unit 7: Social Work: Clientele, Settings, Tools, and Processes

Social workers’ roles in the government include the following:

a. taking care of children in foster homes
b. taking care of the sick in community-based clinics or public hospitals
c. serving as school counselors or advisers in public schools
d. caring for the aged in nursing homes
e. counseling inmates in local correctional facilities
f. working in agencies that serve retired military veterans or active military personnel

Private Sector

Fig. 1. Social work also involves human resourcing.

The private sector also requires the services of social workers. One such service is
occupational social work, which involves programs and interventions in workplaces.
Occupational social workers try to meet the needs of employees in an organization to
improve their well-being. They assist employees with their personal or work-related
problems that affect their performance and health.

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Unit 7: Social Work: Clientele, Settings, Tools, and Processes

Other responsibilities of social workers in the private sector are the following:
a. serving as community relations officers who promote their organization through
media, events, programs, and activities
b. helping negotiate workers’ wages, company or organization benefits, and working
hours and conditions

Civil Society
In civil society, social workers serve as advocates of human rights and social justice. Their
work involves collaborating with marginalized and disadvantaged groups to encourage them
to voice out and lobby for their concerns. Together with these groups, social workers reach
out to government agencies, officials, or institutions that have the resources to respond. For
example, a social worker can convince lawmakers to pass laws that address the maternal
health of urban poor women.

Some issues that social workers can advocate include the following:
a. quality and accessible education
b. child rights and safety
c. lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights
d. labor force rights
e. environmental preservation

School
In a school setting, the social worker provides information and skills through seminars and
workshops with various stakeholders such as teachers, parents, and students.

Other things that a social worker does in a school setting are the following:
a. conducting training and workshops for the staff, teachers, and students
b. assessing students’ concerns such as physical and emotional functioning, peer
issues, and barriers to academic performances
c. managing and supervising the school staff
d. making suggestions regarding the policies of the school
e. conducting home visits

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Unit 7: Social Work: Clientele, Settings, Tools, and Processes

f. advocating student services

g. resolving ethical issues

Fig. 2. Social workers look after students’ welfare and their best interest.

Community
Social workers also have roles in developing and empowering communities, may they be in
a rural or an urban setting. Each community setting has its own needs and challenges. For
example, rural communities are often located far away from social services. The role of
social workers in these settings is to bring these services closer to the community.
Moreover, remote rural communities do not have access to multiple services. Social workers
often have to take on various roles in order to provide these services. They can serve as
educators, case managers, and community organizers (Lohman 2011 in Introduction to
Social Work at Ferris State University, n.d.).

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Unit 7: Social Work: Clientele, Settings, Tools, and Processes

Fig. 3. Social workers play multiple roles to meet the needs of the community.

Meanwhile, the availability of social services in an urban setting affords social workers the
opportunity to focus on fewer roles. In urban social work, the provision of services to people
who are experiencing poverty is more apparent. They focus on helping the economically
disadvantaged meet their physical and mental health needs by tapping on available
resources.

Check Your Progress

What setting might require social workers to serve in multiple
roles?
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Unit 7: Social Work: Clientele, Settings, Tools, and Processes

Wrap-Up
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● Social workers perform their responsibilities of working for disadvantaged
individuals, groups, and communities in various settings.
● These settings include the government, the private sector, the civil society, the
community, and the school.

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Unit 7: Social Work: Clientele, Settings, Tools, and Processes

Try This!
A. Fill in the Blanks. For each item, fill in the blank by choosing the correct word or words
in the box below. Write your answer on the space provided before each number.

advocates basic needs DSWD school setting occupational

______________ 1. Social workers are ___________ of social justice.

______________ 2. The job of social workers in civil society involves ensuring the delivery
of a community’s _________.

______________ 3. __________ social workers try to meet the needs of each employee and
worker in organizations.

______________ 4. _________ is a government agency responsible for the delivery of basic

social services.

______________ 5. One basic work of a social worker in a __________ is to conduct

seminars and workshops for staff, teachers, and students.

B. Identification. Identify the social work setting described in each item below.

______________ 1. working as a foster parent in a government-run institution for

abandoned and orphaned children

______________ 2. organizing a self-care workshop for students

______________ 3. implementing a sanitation and hygiene program in an urban poor

barangay

______________ 4. writing a letter to a lawmaker to propose a policy that will

address violence against children

______________ 5. taking care of the elderly in nursing homes

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Unit 7: Social Work: Clientele, Settings, Tools, and Processes

Challenge Yourself
Essay. Read the following questions carefully. Write your answers in the spaces provided
below.

1. Is it possible for a social worker to work in several settings? Why or why not?
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2. Why is social work considered a form of public service?

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Unit 7: Social Work: Clientele, Settings, Tools, and Processes

Suggested Rubric for Grading

The rubric below is a suggested one. Your teacher may modify it based on your needs.
Consult your teacher for the final rubric.

Performance Levels

1 2 3 Suggested
Criteria Score
Beginning Proficient Advanced Weight
Proficiency Proficiency

Content The answers are not The answers are The answers are
comprehensive, and somewhat comprehensive, and
they lack an comprehensive, and they include a
×3
explanation of the they include an thorough
argument. explanation of the explanation of the
argument. argument.

Structure The responses lack The responses are The responses are
organization and somewhat organized; organized and
structure. there is evidence of clearly written; there
×2
planning before is evidence of
writing. planning before
writing.

Grammar and The responses have a The responses have The responses are
lot of mechanical and few mechanical and free of mechanical
Mechanics ×1
grammatical errors. grammatical errors. and grammatical
errors.

Total Possible Score 18

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Unit 7: Social Work: Clientele, Settings, Tools, and Processes

Reflect on This
Write an essay about the title of a book of quotes about social work. Write your answer on
the space provided.

“Social Work Is a Work of Heart.”

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Unit 7: Social Work: Clientele, Settings, Tools, and Processes

Photo Credit
Social Work Students' Accreditation Visit 3.26.13 by Southern Arkansas University is licensed
under CC BY 2.0 via Flickr.

Bibliography

Bottomley, Jane, Cartney, Patricia, and Steven Pryjmachuk. Studying For Your Social Work
Degree: Critical Study Skills. St Albans: Critical Publishing, 2018.

Department of Social Work. “Chapter 5: Social Work Practice Settings.” Introduction to Social
Work at Ferris State University. Last modified August 28, 2017.
https://ferrisintroductiontosocialwork.pressbooks.com/chapter/chapter-5-social-wor
k-practice-settings/.

Hepworth, Dean H., Rooney, Ronald H., Rooney, Glend Dewberry, Strom-Gottfield, Kim, and
Jo Ann Larsen. Direct Social Work Practice: Theory and Skills. Boston: Cengage Learning,
2017.

McKay, Dawn Rosenberg. “Social Worker Job Description: Salaries, Skills, & More.” The
Balance Careers. Last modified December 2, 2020.
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/social-worker-526067.

Sampa, Elias, M. Discipline and Ideas in the Applied Social Sciences. Quezon City: REX
Bookstore, 2017.

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