Running head: Teacher support group

Teacher Support Group: Sandel Elementary School

Joseph A. Cerniglia
University of South Carolina

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Teacher Support Group: Sandel Elementary School
Analysis of the Practice Model
The reciprocal, or interactional, model of social work practice with groups is especially
relevant to the purpose and goals of a mutual-aid support group designed as an intervention with
public school teachers. This model involves three main functions: The first is to help members
identify the strengths they bring to the group (harnessing strengths). The second is to help them
use those strengths to build a community conducive to mutual aid (group building). The third is
to teach them to engage in mutual aid (teaching purposeful use of self) (Steinberg, 2004, p. 22).
To apply this to a teacher support group, the facilitator would draw upon the individual
teachers strengths. Teachers with many years of experience or unique experience in difficult
environments could bring the strengths of that experience. Newer teachers, conversely, might
offer insight into emerging theoretical perspectives and an outsider point-of-view. The facilitator
would also draw upon the sense of community; highlighting common struggles and a sense of
shared purpose. Teachers have a unique appreciation of the importance of purposeful use of
self and it would be imperative that the facilitator redirect that towards engaging in mutual aid.
Assessment
Member group functioning can be best assessed, in terms of a teacher support group,
through member observations of the self and of other members. This would take place as
confidential and anonymous questionnaires toward the beginning of the group (pre-test), every 9
weeks (formative assessment), and at the end of the year (post-test). Likely questions for this
assessment would include a self-anchored rating scale (Toseland & Rivas, 2012, p. 239) and
observational ratings about other members functioning to contribute to whole group cohesion

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measurement. This will also contribute to evaluation and scientific inquiry to be discussed in
later sections.
Operating from a place of empowerment, the facilitator would allow members to
determine those areas of knowledge, specific skills, and relevant values that are most appropriate
to gain from the mutual-aid group and form assessment models based on this input. This
formative-style assessment would allow for the most specificity and flexibility. Rather than an
imposition of a social work or societal perspective on the benefits of this mutual-aid group,
teachers would be given the opportunity, for once, to determine their own standards of
accomplishment and functioning.
Intervention
The interactional, mutual-aid model approaches intervention utilizing ecological systems
theory and its emphasis on growth and development of group members, members ability to offer
mutual-aid and modifying the overall social environment (Toseland & Rivas, 2012, p. 52).
Although the teachers, in this case, are the target of the interventions, this will have a
reverberating effect on the students, administration, and overall school climate. Drago-Severson
(2012) argues that through improvements in school climates, which focus on adult collaboration,
student improvement and growth enhancement also take place and take place persistently.
The interventions of this model would allow teachers to demonstrate and convey best
practices for working with students in a variety of situations. Another intervention strategy would
be the venting of frustrations and the easing of stresses by means of facilitated empathetic
understanding and bonding through shared stressful experiences. This intervention model would
actually incorporate all of Toselands and Rivas treatment group typologies: support, education,
growth, therapy, socialization, and self-help (2012, p. 21).

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Evaluation
In order for the evaluation of efficacy to take place, determinations about the goals of the
group need to be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-limited and, most
importantly, generated by the group members. Furthermore, the facilitators role in directing the
flow of the group meetings over several sessions is vitally important. Effectiveness of the
interventions will be measured based on changes to the baseline data gathered during the pre-test
and formative assessment phases, culminating in the post-test evaluative results. As previously
discussed, the efficacy evaluations will take place in the form of a self-reporting questionnaire.
In addition, it is relevant to maintain reliability and validity as described by Toseland & Rivas
(2012, p. 441) as analyzing the same phenomenon in the same way each time the measure is
used, and that it measures what it purports to measure. This standard of evaluation will be
accommodated by establishing a baseline pre-test that is reflective of the group-generated goals
and is consistent throughout the formative assessment and post-test phases. Finally, the
evaluation must reflect those changes directly attributable to group intervention and exclusive of
external, corollary factors.
Evidence-Base
The mutual-aid model has a significant evidence base that demonstrates its broad
efficacy. Vattano (1972), one of the parents of the mutual-aid model, demands clients be seen as
coworkers. This call is for an empowerment of clients consistent with the Code of Ethics of the
National Association of Social Workers (1999). Teachers represent a group familiar with a social
change model and are uniquely attuned to this function. Directing the change towards each other
as teachers and to the overall school environment fits within Vattanos (1972) power to the
people approach and identifies teachers as perfectly suited to a mutual-aid relationship.

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In fact, empirical analysis determined that such groups have a robustness that will be
useful to social workers in service delivery, administrative, and policy positions and [These]
groups often are stable, proactive sources of support and help (Wituk, Shepherd, Slavich,
Warren, & Meissen, 2000, p. 163). Further evidence displays their relevance as one of many
tools available for social workers as explained by one survey in which ninety-five percent of
social worker respondents referred clients because they could benefit from an opportunity to
help others with similar concerns (Toseland & Hacker, 1985, p. 236).
Application to Diverse Populations
One benefit of mutual-aid groups is their diversity in terms of organizational structures,
group membership, and methods of helping group members (Wituk, Shepherd, Slavich, Warren,
& Meissen, 2000, p. 163). The application of a support group model can apply to nearly any
group with the professional and effective facilitation by a professional social worker. It is the
modification of this model to fit the needs of teachers that best expresses its adaptability to suit a
wider variety of population groups.
There are, however, some shortcomings in terms of applicability. One study found that
group membership tended to be underrepresentative of minorities with an average 8.8% ethnic
minority membership (Wituk, Shepherd, Slavich, Warren, & Meissen, 2000, p. 160). This could
be mitigated by developing cultural sensitivity insofar as the facilitator becom[ing] familiar
with the backgrounds of [the] client group, gain[ing] knowledge about [the] particular cultural
communit[y],[and] acknowledg[ing] the effect of societal attitudes on members (Toseland &
Rivas, 2012, p. 138).

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Contribution to Scientific Inquiry
The model of a teacher support group is one that could contribute to the scientific
evidence base and could be replicated in other school environments outside of Sandel
Elementary School. To best apply this model to other environments, the facilitator will also serve
as a scientific inquirer, utilizing the knowledge gained from the experiences with this particular
group to conduct research practice. The facilitator will take the evaluations of this group and
generate research evidence based on the efficacy findings. This practice experience, in the form
of qualitative and quantitative evaluation data, will contribute to scientific inquiry and expand
upon a research question of, Is a social worker facilitated teacher support group model an
effective intervention for teachers of children in a public school environment? and if so, What
measurable effects are generated from such an intervention? The most important contribution is
the effect this intervention has on the schoolchildren who represent a secondary intervention
target. The measurement of these effects within this individual group will provide a strong basis
for further research on a broader scale.
Conclusion
The reciprocal model has a strong evidence base and clearly broad and diverse
applicability. Applying this model to a teacher population group, especially one where teachers
face dramatic hardships in working with socioeconomically deprived students at great risk for
underachievement. The benefits of a support group for individuals in a helping profession allows
for a system of support which has been demonstrated to improve the quality of care offered by
said professionals (Drago-Severson, 2012) and provides a secondary ripple effect, from an
ecosystems perspective (Toseland & Rivas, 2012), on the population served by these prospective
group members and on the overall environment itself. The utilization of a mutual-aid model

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represents implementation of an empowerment intervention and conforms to the guidelines
established by the NASW Code of Ethics (1999) which guides social work practice. This model
represents a grassroots approach to intervention which further honors Vattanos (1972) seminal
and time-tested theoretical perspective. Finally, this model allows for contribution to the social
work knowledge base in a measurably reliable and valid method.

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References
Drago-Severson, E. (2012, March). New opportunities for principal leadership: Shaping climates
for enhanced teacher development. Teachers College Record, 114(3), 1-44.
National Association of Social Workers. (1999). Code of ethics of the National Association of
Social Workers. Washington, DC: NASW Press.
Steinberg, D. (2004). The mutual-aid approach to working with groups: Helping people help
each other. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
Toseland, R. W., & Rivas, R. F. (2012). An introduction to group work practice. Boston: Pearson.
Toseland, R., & Hacker, L. (1985, May-June). Social Workers' Use of Self-Help Groups as a
Resource for Clients. Social Work, 232-237.
Vattano, A. (1972, July). Power to the people: Self-help groups. Social Work, 7-15.
Wituk, S., Shepherd, M., Slavich, S., Warren, M., & Meissen, G. (2000, March). A topography of
self-help groups: An empirical analysis. Social Work, 45(2), 157-165.