Social Constructionist Paradigms

In relation to health and social care, social constructionism plays a huge role in health and social care. Firstly, the term ‘health’ is a concept which is determined by an individuals lifestyle, age, culture and so on. Health is a social construct. Different social and cultural perceptions and interpretations of health had resulted in this term being developed into a social construct. The way that health is defined can be down to an individual's perception or attitude.

To establish rigour in this qualitative study, a field test will be conducted to identify appropriate guiding questions for the method of choice for the school-approved topic by sending the questions to 3 – 5 experts within the field of foster care and qualitative research. Date for this study will be collected during the interviews using a recording device and field notes. After each interview, the recording will be scribed verbatim to ensure accuracy. Participates will be contacted after interviews have been scribed to ensure their experiences have been capture

The social construction theory is based on the reality that the society has created that may seem obvious to a person who agrees to it. In other words, our life experiences and interaction towards others is the way we create our reality through social interaction. This means that we were not born with this sense of knowledge, but was taught through social interaction and our life experiences (Orem 2001a, 7). Social construction is based on the categories of difference which are race, gender, and social class (Ore, 2011a: 8).

‘Employing a qualitative methodology, underpinned by a constructivist world view, has provided the means to generate rich, deep and contextualised understandings of the research issue, and an appreciation of the socially constructed and experienced realities of the participants.’ (Highfield 2012)

The motivation of security, happiness, and a support system can urge youth in foster care to prosper academically and socially. In a podcast by ERLC, Dr. Sharon Ford declares that youth in foster care know 2 things in life, “wait and change”. They “wait” for the known to happen, to meet the “social worker”, to see “the judge”, to “re enter school” and to “relocate”. However she shares that they know “change”, in “life”, in “school, “in neighborhoods” and “in hope”. Being that Dr. Ford lived in foster care, her words of wisdom show

The connection between immigration policy and social construction is very motivating and worthwhile because social construction has an influence on immigration policy and the numerous factors in social construction also play a part in forming immigration policies. Immigration is the process of permanently entering a country. Social construction is the most common question that is debated is “what makes a person American or who gets to be called an America” (lecture). Immigration is the process of permanently entering a country. During the 18th and 19th century, America wanted to attract skilled immigrant workers so entrance to the United States was very encouraged.

Social construction has been around since the beginning of time. It is the idea that a persons understanding of how society works is socially constructed. For example, the notion that women should wear makeup or that men should be interested in sex are both social constructs. Social construction is integral in society as it influences how people judge others and view the world. Social construction heavily affects gender and sex. These affects can be negative as they create prejudices and assumptions about different genders and sexualities. One can see this through how women receive more judgment than men or how men are expected to be dominant in society. Social construction perpetuates negative assumptions and judgments towards sex and gender issues.

In the research study, the authors examine the relationship of youth that is transitioning from out of home care with educational outcomes and access to higher education. The population this focuses is youth care leavers in Australia which is known in America as foster care, and the information on the experience or needs of the population that enrolled in a post-secondary educational institution is very low. Youths that are transferring from out-of-home care are disadvantaged and face many difficulties when it comes to education, employment, housing, and other developmental responsibilities of living independently. The current study focuses on a critical review of literature pertaining to a group of pre-care, in-care transition from care,

conduct a qualitative exploratory study comprising of focus groups with key participants who shape the lives of foster youth (the child welfare agency, schools, and caregivers in the home) to discuss and explore higher education attainment of students in foster care. Furthermore, the research of Shea et al adds to the discussion of trauma created by navigating the foster care system and the other influencing systems, and the lack of collaboration between these systems. This research reveals issues faced by these external factors which ultimately negatively affect foster youth’s preparedness for higher education. These issues include systemic issues amongst the child welfare agency in which liaisons identify the agency’s lack of commitment to addressing educational issues, professional staff in education institutions not accurately identifying youths academic and emotional problems or even devoted to advocating for youth, and caregivers not actively pursuing support and services for youth (Shea et al. 2010). The researchers found a consensus between the studied groups which stress “…lack of collaboration and coordination among the home, the school, and the CW agency and the existing deficiencies and obstacles that hinder more positive education outcomes for foster children and youths” (Shea et al., 253). Whereas Colvin et al. in 2010 simply identifies the suggestion that internal and external factors

The macrosystem is describing the cultural world along with ethnicity and the economic status. (Hutchison, 2016) Considering how I had a very wide range of diverse friends it helped me to develop and grow within my macrosystem. In my opinion, I feel that my macrosystem really needed to have a diverse background seeing as how when in the social work field, I will be working with all types of people, from different religious views and cultural background. I also feel the social constructionist perspective can go along with this system as well. According to Hutchison, social constructionist perspective helps see human understanding as the product and the driving force of social interaction. (Hutchison, 2016) During my junior leading up to my graduation

Crime is a socially created existence that contains deficiencies of any equitable principles that demarcate into existence rather than being revealed. Social construction means that humans have recognized a phenomenon; characterized and labeling it to some interpretive statute that transcribes the differentiations and likenesses contained by the objects or people while classified. Many categorization patterns are not subjective; otherwise, attempting to make sense of classification would be impossible. Categories have analytical and significant denotations and are utilized to execute the order on the variety of social experiences. Gender, race, and class construct the experiences of all individuals. These facts are extensively acknowledged and ordinarily understood.

The Australian government is one of the key stakeholders and/or policy actors in the making of educational policies for children in care and foster carers. Children in care are usually considered as being in the care of the state, where their safety and welfare are protected by the government (Townsend, 2012). The NSW Government plan pointed out a shared approach to child wellbeing stating that each preschool and school aged children and youth has their personal education plan within 30 days of entering OOHC, and the plan will be inspected and reviewed annually by the Department of Education and the specific case worker (NSW Department of Education, 2017). The 30 days education plan demonstrates the current intervention to provide youth with adequate education in response to OOHC placement. Current policy acknowledges the need for foster parents/caretakers to work interdependently with social services (Townsend, 2012). It is important for policymakers to understand and empathies with the struggles and needs of children in care because evidently they face the brunt of the situation.

In this next section I will explain and give examples in contemporary literature of the Policy Feedback Theory and Social Construction Theory being applied in the U.S. political system. In “ Reconstituting the Submerged State: The Challenges of Social Policy Reform in the Obama Era”, Mettler applies the concept of the “submerged state” to explain the challenges President Barack Obama endured when trying to enact his social welfare policy agenda. The focuses of his social policies were tax expenditures, emphasis on higher education, and a reform on healthcare. Mettler defines a submerged state as, “ a conglomeration of existing federal policies that incentivize and subsidize the activities engaged in by private actors or individuals.” (803)

Children and young people who live with foster parents or in residential care manage by the local authority may find life difficult

Social constructivism’s origins are largely attributed to Lev Vygotsky (1978). Vygotsky believed that social constructivism is the idea that learning occurs when people are socially active; in other words, learning is created through our interaction with others. In a constructivist style classroom, the focus shifts from the teacher teaching the students to the students teaching each other and having more control over what they learn by asking questions and coming up with their own conclusion on things (2016). This style of teaching can be very successful when the teacher provides enough scaffolding. In a typical classroom, you have a teacher standing in the front of the room lecturing to students while they sit and take notes on the information being given so they can spit it back up for a test they will have at the end of the unit. In the constructivist style classroom, the students are pushed to be more active and engaged in their learning process (Education Theory). The teacher creates an environment where students are urged to speak up and share what they think and have the class run more on a student run process. The teacher’s role in this style is not to sit and lecture information but rather engage students actively to find this information on their own and discover it so that it creates more meaning and provides a better understanding. The main goal in this type of learning environment is problem solving. This style of teaching promotes self-guidance and can even