Working with Children, Young People and Families

A course book for Foundation Degrees

Billie Oliver, Bob Pitt, Billie Oliver, Bob Pitt

• Publisher: Learning Matters
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780857254214
• eBook ISBN: 9780857254221
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This book is essential reading for anyone studying and working in the new integrated children?s services. The Children?s Workforce Development Strategy sets out the basic skills and knowledge needed by people whose work brings them into regular contact with children, young people and their families. Built around this Common Core of Skills and Knowledge and packed with case studies and reflective exercises, this book helps students and practitioners understand the theory behind these issues and develop strategies for embedding them within their own practice.

1 AN INTRODUCTION TO INTEGRATED WORKING AND THE CHILDREN’S WORKFORCE

Billie Oliver and Bob Pitt

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COMMON CORE OF SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE FOR THE CHILDREN’S WORKFORCE

• The Common Core describes the skills and knowledge that everyone who works with children and young people is expected to have.
• The six areas of expertise in the Common Core offer a single framework to underpin multi-agency and integrated working, professional standards, training and qualifications across the children and young people’s workforce.
• The Common Core reflects a set of common values for practitioners that promote equality, respect diversity and challenge stereotypes. It helps to improve life chances for all children and young people, including those who have disabilities and those who are most vulnerable.
• The six areas of expertise in the Common Core work as a whole – so it will be important for individuals and organisations to consider the Common Core in the round.

(CWDC, 2010a)

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CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

By the end of this chapter you should have an understanding of:

• key developments in policy and legislation that have led to the emergence of the children’s workforce;
• key terminology associated with this policy agenda;
• theories and approaches underpinning integrated practice;
• guidance on how to make effective use of this book;
• useful resources to improve knowledge and practice.

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Introduction

The aim of this chapter is to set out the framework for the rest of the book. Firstly the chapter will offer a discussion of the Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Children’s Workforce and an overview of the variety of initiatives that have led to the Children’s Workforce Reform Strategy and to the need for this book. Secondly, the chapter will explain the structure and thinking behind the way that each chapter has been constructed and suggest ways in which you might use the book to develop your knowledge and understanding.

The book is separated into nine chapters. The government has set out the basic skills and knowledge needed by people whose work brings them into regular contact with children, young people and their families (CWDC, 2010a). The book is built around this Common Core. It aims to help students and practitioners understand the theory behind these issues and to develop strategies for embedding them within their own practice.

Each chapter will focus on a different element of the Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Children’s Workforce (CWDC, 2010a). As you will note when you read each chapter, there is frequently considerable overlap and connection between these different elements. By breaking them down into separate chapters we offer a starting point to begin to engage with some quite complex ideas. Each chapter will also offer you a range of activities and further resources to help you move beyond this starting point and begin to engage with the complexity and with the elements in the round (CWDC, 2010a).

This is a practical book. Written by a team of experienced practitioners and educators from a range of professional backgrounds, it is built around case studies and activities that will help you to deepen your understanding and skills. However, it is not possible to explore every facet of the lives of children and young people within the scope of this book. This book is an introductory text for those wanting to enter the world of work with children and young people and for those who, with some experience of work already, desire to strengthen their theoretical understanding of practice in order to move forward in their career.

Policy and legislation

In 2003 an inquiry was led by Lord Laming into what could be learned from the tragic death of a little girl called Victoria Climbié, who had been killed by those who were meant to take care of her. That inquiry resulted in a series of recommendations that led to the publication of a key government document: Every Child Matters (DfES, 2003).

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ACTIVITY 1.1

There have been further tragic cases, since 2003, where children have died at the hands of those who were supposed to care for them. Some of these cases have received media publicity and have led to changes in practice (for example: Peter Connelly, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, and Khyra Ishaq).

See if you can find out about any of these. What was learned from these cases? What recommendations for changing practice were made?

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Laming concluded that children’s needs were being neglected or overlooked through a lack of joined-up working, poor systems for information sharing and too great a reliance on professional and agency boundaries. As a result, Every Child Matters was characterised by calls for the creation of new services and new working practices that emphasise the integration of services that deal with children and young people. These new practices included multi-agency working and partnerships between the voluntary, community and statutory sectors; common assessments; information sharing; and joint training. The strategic aim behind this policy agenda was that those working with children and young people should be enabled to work across professional boundaries and to understand how their role fits in with the work of others.

The Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Children’s Workforce

As a result of Every Child Matters, the government proposed a radical workforce reform strategy that aimed to overhaul the organisational and professional structures affecting all those working with children and young people. The Children’s Workforce Reform Strategy (DfES, 2005a) set out the six areas of the Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Children’s Workforce that outlines the basic skills and knowledge needed by people whose work brings them into regular contact with children, young people and their families – including volunteers. The six areas of expertise in the Common Core offer a single framework to underpin multi-agency and integrated working, professional standards, training and qualifications across the children and young people’s workforce.

The Common Core was refreshed in 2010 and it is the updated version that is referred to throughout this book (CWDC, 2010a).

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The six areas of the Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Children’s Workforce are:

1. effective communication and engagement with children, young people and families;
2. child and young person development;
3. safeguarding children and promoting welfare of children;
4. supporting transitions;
5. multi-agency and integrated working;
6. information sharing.

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Building Brighter Futures: Next Steps for the Children’s Workforce (DCSF, 2008a) further committed government to ensuring that services are integrated and personalised through a ten-year workforce reform strategy. These commitments were affirmed in the government’s 2020 Children and Young People’s Workforce Strategy (DCSF, 2008b) published in December 2008. In 2009, The Children’s Plan Two Years On (DCSF, 2009a) summarised progress that had been made and set some further objectives for the continuing development of a highly skilled and professional workforce across all our services for children and young people and for improved partnerships within and between schools and children’s services.

One of the aims of the Workforce Reform Strategy was to develop an Integrated Qualifications Framework (IQF) that would include a set of approved qualifications allowing progression, continuing professional development and mobility across the children and young people’s workforce. For a qualification to be included in the IQF it would need to have been nationally accredited and to reflect the Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the children and young people’s workforce. The vision was that the qualifications would have credibility with employers and be understood and accepted across the whole of the children and young people’s workforce. It was hoped that, in time, the IQF would become a valuable resource, enabling employers, careers advisers and individual practitioners to map out career progression across the workforce and showing how qualifications link to one another.

Progress with launching the IQF was, however, delayed by the general election in May 2010 and the subsequent change of government. In November 2009, the Young People’s Workforce Reform Programme was launched with the aim of developing a skilled and confident workforce to deliver the best possible outcomes for young people. This programme also included a common platform of skills and competences and the development of a common foundation degree. The Skills Development Framework (SDF) was launched in September 2010 (CWDC, 2010b). The SDF aims to support employers across the workforce to cultivate integrated working skills within their organisations. It focuses on the shared skills that underpin integrated working practice and that complement the professional and specialist skills that workers already have (see ‘Useful resources’ at the end of this chapter for a link to download a copy of these documents).

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ACTIVITY 1.2

In November 2010 it was announced that the government would no longer fund workforce development activity through the CWDC as a separate organisation. Instead, ongoing key functions would be integrated into the Department for Education (DfE).

Visit the DfE website (www.education.gov.uk) to see if there have been any further developments with integrated working since this book was written.

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The children’s workforce

The children’s and young people’s workforce is broad and diverse. It includes paid staff and volunteers who work with children and young people. Many practitioners combine work with young people with a specialism such as sport, health or the arts.

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ACTIVITY 1.3

Pick a ro...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• About the author
• List of abbreviations and acronyms
• 1. An introduction to integrated working and the children’s workforce
• 2. Constructions of childhood, youth and families
• 3. The developing child and young person
• 4. Safeguarding children and young people
• 5. Participatory communication
• 6. Supporting transitions
• 7. Multi-agency working
• 8. Living and working in a diverse world
• 9. The children’s workforce: new roles and career opportunities
• References
• Index