Towards inclusive social work: Putting an ecological approach into practice
Jeroen Knevel, Jean Pierre Wilken, Alice Schippers
Support for an ecological approach appears to predominate in models geared towards inclusive policies and practices. As such, ecological approaches are in keeping with the social model of disability and a relational understanding of (intellectual) disability. For this study, the ecological model put forward by Simplican et al. (2015) served as a framework in two research projects carried out in the Netherlands between 2016-2021. In both projects adults with intellectual disabilities, social workers and educators participated in workshops and focus group meetings. Based on data from these projects the model was evaluated for its practical value to social work. This led to four propositions rendering the ecological model more dynamic: adding a focus to change agency and change processes, refining levels of facilitating and impeding variables, adding a focus to participation and influence, and incorporating an intersectionality lens. The ecological model provides good guidance for policies and practice, however, it does more justice to changing and complex practices if we conceive of it in terms of four core dynamics.
Keywords
Social work, social inclusion, ecological approach, dynamics, intellectual disability.
