ABSTRACT of Thesis by
Meilak Ryan John

Severe behavioural problems manifested by students in the school setting is one of the dominant problematic issues in our educational system. I believe that school social work, combined with the teaching of better thinking, would not only help the students to face current difficulties but would prepare them to face their future through the acquisition of skills in making choices, solving problems and taking initiatives. In this dissertation, I present an implementation and evaluation of a social work intervention programme with young teenage students with behavioural problems using action research.

I worked with a group of students individually while gathering qualitative data. Action research was essential because it involved social work intervention disciplined by inquiry, a personal attempt at understanding while engaged in a process of ongoing improvement and reflection and evaluation of my actions.

This research demonstrates that the use of Edward de Bono’s CoRT1 (Cognitive Research Trust) thinking tools helped me in my practice as a social worker and helped the students during the entire social work process. The data gathered shows that social work intervention, combined with the teaching of the de Bono thinking skills, helped the students make significant improvements on various levels.

Effective thinking needs to be giving more importance when assessing the needs of students with behavioural problems. In this study, giving such students an active role, through social work intervention and through thinking empowerment proved to be an ideal way to inject confidence, self-esteem and hope to students that were considered by everyone as doomed to failure.

Finally I suggest a longitudinal study covering a wider spectrum of social work intervention boundaries and including parents and teachers. This would assess the long-term and broader effects of such a school social work intervention programme on students with behavioural problems.

Keywords:- Social Work