Integrating ecological, systems, person-in-environment, and strengths perspectives in school social work: The IES-PESB framework

Abstract

Students’ experiences of emotional and social problems in school are influenced not only by individual traits but also by relationships, institutions, communities, and macrosocial conditions. As such, school social work practice requires a unified conceptualisation of professional reasoning that links children lived experiences to the multiple contexts and systems that shape them. Though ecological, systems, Person-in-Environment (PIE), and strengths-based frameworks each inform school social work, their relative roles are seldom clearly specified within a singular formulation-to-action process. The present conceptual paper outlines the Integrated Ecological–Systems–Person- in-Environment–Strengths-Based (IES-PESB) Framework, an integrative architecture for professional reasoning designed to guide school social work practice. Locating ecological contexts, tracing systems, assessing person–environment transactions and student agency, and mobilising strengths are identified as discrete but related functions of ecological, systems, PIE, and strengths-based perspectives, respectively. These functions are operationalised through six iterative steps: Locate, Trace, Assess, Mobilise, Intervene, and Reassess. Existing practice approaches such as consultation, case management, family involvement, advocacy, solution-focused practice, and Multi- Tiered Systems of Support are conceptualised as intervention techniques that may be employed consistent with formulation. The paper generates theoretical propositions for future testing and posits that the primary contribution of the IES-PESB framework is its explicit linkage of ecological, systems, transactional, and strengths-based reasoning to intervention matching and iterative feedback. This framework may provide a helpful conceptual underpinning to organised school social work practice, especially within under-resourced schools.