Integrated Working with Children and Young People

Supporting Development from Birth to Nineteen

Nadia Edmond, Mark Price, Nadia Edmond, Mark Price

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780857027825, 9780857027818
• eBook ISBN: 9781446289952
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Education General
• Index: Social Sciences

This interdisciplinary core textbook looks at learning and development from birth to 19 years providing, an accessible introduction to the common areas of study across the many roles supporting learning and development in the young people?s workforce. There is coverage of common themes and issues, and theory is closely integrated with practice throughout.

Chapters cover:

- physical development

- cognitive development

- social and emotional development

- professionalism

- leadership

- quality and effectiveness

- working with families

- safeguarding and promoting well-being

- transitions

- equality and inclusion

Reflection points, workplace activities and professional development planners are all included and these challenge readers and students to critically engage with theory in their own practice. The book focuses on the key areas of knowledge that all those working with children are required to study, and places them firmly in the context of working together to support children and young people.

Nadia Edmond is Assistant Head of School (Teaching and Learning/CPD), at the University of Brighton. Mark Price is Principal Lecturer and Foundation and Honours Degree Programme Leader Working with Children and Young People at the University of Brighton.

Section 1

Professionalism in the Children and Young People’s Workforce

1

Children and Young People’s Services in Context

Mark Price and Nadia Edmond

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Chapter Overview

This chapter examines the concept of policy and discusses how national social and educational policy impacts on the shape and direction of the work done with children and young people, with a particular focus on recent years. The chapter aims to provide an overview of current policy and its impact on service provision as well as providing an introduction to the understanding and critiquing of policy discourse. Overall themes and trends, such as the move towards targeted and integrated services, are also considered.

By reading and engaging with the activities in this chapter, you will:

• become aware of the range of policies and service development initiatives which have shaped children and young people’s services in recent years;

• develop your understanding on how these policies and service developments reflect values, priorities and thinking about children and young people;

• reflect on possible future developments in children and young people’s services, especially related to learning and development, and the likely impact on delivery of provision.

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What is policy?

Policy is a plan or course of action defined by a government, political party, or organisation, intended to influence and determine decisions and actions. Policy refers to organisational or governmental statements of vision and intent which seek to provide a direction, framework and impetus for practice. Policy may be:

• aspirational – presenting a statement of intent or planned direction; these are often presented as ‘green papers’ (a preliminary report of government proposals to stimulate discussion). Green papers may be followed by ‘white papers’ (an authoritative report or guide that seeks to solve a problem and which serves as a prelude to legislation);

• strategic – setting out a series of planned actions, including (possibly) funding commitments, e.g. Aiming High for Young People (DCSF, 2007);

• legislative – law enshrined in an Act of Parliament, e.g. Education Reform Act, 1988.

The policies which governments use for education, health, welfare and social care to direct the practice and provision of a range of institutions and social arrangements, have come together to form what is termed ‘the welfare state’. In thinking about how policy directs our practice, a good starting point would be the emergence of the welfare state during war-time Britain in the 1940s, the key architect of which was the economist William Beveridge. The Beveridge Report (1942) identified ‘five evils’ it wished to address in British society – squalor, ignorance, want, idleness and disease – and the creation of the welfare state was a contribution to building a fairer, more equitable society in Britain in the post-war years.

Much social policy and welfare provision continues to aim to address the impacts of social inequality. This is not just because of moral arguments related to the principle of social justice but because, increasingly, social inequality is recognised as being associated with, if not the cause of, social problems. Wilkinson and Pickett (2009), for example, have shown that societies which are more unequal (in terms of income and wealth distribution) tend to have not just more poverty, but less social mobility and poorer educational attainment, amongst other social ills. However, whilst welfare provision is often targeted at the poor to provide a ‘safety net’, it does not necessarily make society more ‘equal’. For example, the recent Hills report (National Equality Panel, 2010) showed that income inequality in the UK declined steadily from the 1930s to the mid-1970s but since then has increased, and is now back to levels comparable to the 1930s. There also continues to be systematic differences in educational attainment across social groups.

The main inequalities in society (relevant to those working with children and young people) identified by a number of analysts (e.g. Cole, 2006) relate to gender, ‘race’ and ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and social class. The recent Equality Act (2010) brings many of these together under a single overarching legislative framework for businesses and public services. The associated Equality Duty came into effect in 2011 replacing the three previous duties on race, disability and gender, now extended to include sexual orientation, religion or belief, and gender reassignment.

Policy does not just exist at a national, governmental level. International policy-makers, such as UNICEF, can be seen to directly influence our work with children and young people, through the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (1989). The UNCRC, via 54 articles and two optional protocols, sets out a global framework to protect the fundamental rights of all children and young people to survival; to develop to their full potential; to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation; and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life. At the time of writing, every country in the world has ratified or acceded to this legally binding Convention, with the exception of Somalia and the United States of America.

The UNCRC influences work with children and young people in Britain. For example, Article 12 states ‘When adults are making decisions that affect children, children have the right to say what they think should happen and have their opinions taken into account’. This article supports and reinforces practices relating to children and young people’s voice and participation, from school councils and the UK Youth Parliament, through to representation on policy formation and staff appointment processes and related procedures now followed by many employers.

Why is policy important?

Think for a moment about the working policies and practices we have taken for granted in recent years – the National Curriculum, Sure Start, Every Child Matters, etc. These have become embedded in education, learning and development provision, but they too will change and be replaced by newer policy initiatives, for example, academies and free schools, ‘the Big Society’, all of which will have a direct impact on practice.

Individual nurseries, schools, play organisations and youth services will have their own policies which relate to an individual organisation’s own vision, priorities and services and/or reflect or interpret broader government policy. For example, the Equality Act (2010) places a duty on public bodies to eliminate discrimination on the grounds of race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, and gender reassignment. An individual school or local authority will then have its own policies relating directly to its localised responses to this duty.

Understanding policy is helped by having some understanding of its historical development, and some key points of policy affecting children and young people over the last 30 years are outlined in the chronology below.

A chronology of policy relating to children and young people 1981–2011

Conservative government: 1979–1997

Prime Ministers: Margaret Thatcher (1979–1990); John Major (1990–1997)

1981 The 1981 Education Act sets the first duty of LEAs to educate disabled children in mainstream schools, taking account of parents’ wishes and establishing three conditions that were to be met before it could happen. These conditions are: that the disabled child can be educated in the ordinary school; that other children’s education will not be adversely affected; and that there is an efficient use of resources.

The Act comes into force in April 1983 and one of the direct consequences of this legislation is the increasing use of teaching assistants and learning support assistants to support the learning of children with special educational needs in mainstream schools.

1988 The Education Reform Act 1988 restates the functions of LEAs in respect of Further and Higher Education. It introduces the National Curriculum, intended to be in operation in all schools by September 1992. Four age-related Key Stages are defined, incorporating all pupils of a particular age at the beginning of each academic year. Citizenship is designated as one of a set of five ‘cross-curricular themes’. Parents have the right to vote a school out of local authority control. The Act provides for greater delegation of budgets to newly constituted governing bodies for FE colleges that from 1989 become corporate bodies.

The Youth Training Guarantee is introduced. It decrees that no sixteen/seventeen-year-old is to be without education, employment or training.

1989 The 1989 Children Act gives every child the right to protection from abuse and exploitation and the right to inquiries to safeguard their welfare. Its central tenet is that children are usually best looked after within their family. The Act comes into force in England and Wales in 1991 and (with some differences) in Northern Ireland in 1996.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) spells out the basic human rights that children everywhere should have: the right to survival; to develop to the fullest; to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation; and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life. The four core principles of the Convention are: non-discrimination; devotion to the best interests of the child; the right to life, survival and development; and respect for the views of the child. The Convention protects children’s rights by setting standards in health care, education, and legal, civil and social services.

1991 The Parents’ Charter gives parents the right to information about the school and its performance (updated in 1994). This leads to the introduction of school league tables in 1992 with the stated aim to give parents the consumer information they need to create a free market in school choice. Staff guidance on working together under the Children Act require Area Child Protection Committees and Child Protection Panels (ACPCs) to conduct an investigation to establish whether child protection procedures were followed when child abuse is suspected or confirmed to be the cause of a child’s death.

The UK ratifies the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), accepting responsibility for the obligations in it.

1992 Concern about variable local inspection regimes leads government to introduce a national scheme of inspec...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• About the Editors and Contributors
• Preface
• Introduction
• Section 1 Professionalism in the Children and Young People’s Workforce
• Section 2 Supporting Children and Young People’s Development
• Section 3 Effective Communication and Engagement
• Conclusion
• Index