## Developing A Model Of Cpd For A Children'S Integrated Workforce

Dr Sharif Haider,  Glynis Marsh, Amy Ward and Jenny Simpson,, 

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## Southampton City Council Background

●There are a range of centrally driven agendas aimed at encouraging or 
requiring Local Authorities to organise services so that they place the 
needs of the child first, through the provision of early help, in a way which is more integrated across agencies (DfE, 2015; DfE/DH, 2015). 
●There has also been a number of reviews seeking to articulate the 
skills, abilities and standards within the workforce, particularly registered social work practitioners (HCPC, 2011; TCSW, 2011; Narey, 2014; Croisdale-Appelby, 2014). 
●At Southampton City Council the organisational shift has been initiated 
by the "Transformation Agenda" introduced in 2012. 
●High turnover of staff

## Background

●865 (total number of staff within Children's Services)  177 (qualified 
social workers, of that 77 posts are filled) and 59 (non-registered social 
care staff)
●Qualified social workers and non-registered social care staff situated in 
a number of teams that include:
- Multi-agency Safeguarding Hubs (MASH) - Early Help 5-19 Education - Protection and Court Team (PaCT) - Youth Offending - Looked After Children 
- Adoption
- Fostering 

## Research Aims

●To contribute to the knowledge and understanding of how Southampton 
City Council can respond to central government policy direction of 
development and delivery of social care services via an integrated children's services model.
●To work in conjunction with Southampton City Council to develop a 
CPD model that begins with qualified social workers and non-registered social care staff and then broadens to the other members of the 
workforce within the Children's Integrated Service.  The purpose of the 
model being to map career pathways and their associated training and 
development.
●To develop a CPD model that will enable Southampton City Council to 
equip their staff to meet their statutory duties and enhance performance 
through its focus on development, staff support and retention. 

## Research Question

What models of CPD would provide Southampton City Council with a framework to support and develop their workforce within this context?

## Journey To Create Cpd Models Findings (Young People)

"S
ocial workers s hould have 
"Yeah, it helps to the s kills and knowledge to unders tand the pers on in lis ten to what young people 
 
s ay and unders tand their lives
." 
general, and then you can know how to help and calm them down and s tuff like that" 


"S
ocial workers s hould be able 
"S
ocial workers


to put together plans that work s hould unders tand why parents can't for children and young people and their family"  

Young people 
were in agreement 
with the skills and 
knowledge 
statements for 
social workers 

care for their 
children and work 
with other 
profes
      s
       ionals
               to 

"…people were pos
                ting 

help. " 

anonymous
         comments and it was
          jus
            t abus
                  e after abus
   e" 

"S
 ocial workers
            s
             hould have the s
    kills
         and knowledge to 

unders
     tand why young people get angry, and they s
                    hould know what to do."   

## Social Workers Needed To Have Patience Building Relationships With Young People How New Mobile Technology Impacts Upon Young People'S Lives

"I mean they've got a new app now that's call Yik Yak and you can, it's pretty much like Mean Girls
" 

Social workers should 
understand a 
situation from the 
young person's 
perspective 

"Them not being 
part of the plan, as
                 

in like not being 
involved like 
verbally" 

"Patronis
        ing, or they try 

and belittle you and they 
don't unders
            tand, it jus
                       t 

makes
     me even more angry It takes
              time for 

young people to accept 
the changes
            contained 

## Within A Care Plan

"J
us t give them the option and the choice to voice their opinion rather than immediately s hutting them off " 

## Findings (Adults)

 
"If you haven't got a good relations hip then 
"Once you've got that bond between them it builds that trus t and you can't build on it." 
then it helps the family unit and the children." 



"I think the mos t important ones
, and I think everybody's
 

Parent and carers 
were in agreement 
with the skills and 
knowledge 
statements for 
social workers 

identified, is relations
        hips
            , 

"…it's
      always
            like they've 

communication, 
the abus
       e, neglect 

and the decis
            ion 

got to go back to their 
bos
   s
    …" 

making." 

"The decis ion that's
 
being made could have a huge impact on the family life…" 

## Social Worker Turnover Is Detrimental To The Individual Child'S Welfare And Support. Social Workers Return To Their Team Mangers For Decisions

"Yeah, becaus e you think the manager makes a decis ion.  
The manager has n't s een you, does n't know you." 
 

Two-way 
communication is key 
to supporting parents 
and carers 

"I have now recently jus
                       t got after three years
                     their 

s
ocial worker's
           mobile 

number, after three years of keep as
         king them." 

"…my s
     ocial worker's
                

really good becaus
                 e if I 

"They come in abs
                olutely 

can't get her on the 
phone I'll email her and 
s
he'll email me back and 

enthus
     ias
       tic about s
                tarting and 

that's
      great." 

within about s
             ix months
                        they've, 

they've gone due to s
                    tres
                       s
                        ." 

"My daughter don't like none of them now 
becaus
      e s
        he thinks
                 s
                  he can't, s
                           he tries
                                   to talk 

to one and then s
                ix months
                          later he's
                                   

moved s
      o s
        he's
            got another one." 

## Findings Main Barriers To Access Cpd Cpd 'Wish List' A Comparison Of What Is Working And What Workers Wish In Relation To Their Cpd.

| What is working              | Wish list                |
|------------------------------|--------------------------|
| Mean                         | Frequency of respondents |
| Questioning                  | 3.87                     |
| Critical discussion of cases | 3.74                     |
| Reflective learning          | 3.67                     |
| Supervision                  | 3.64                     |
| Appraisal                    | 3.42                     |
| Attended workshops           | 3.41                     |
| Attended Conferences         | 3.38                     |
| Observing                    | 3.38                     |
| Meetings                     | 3.36                     |
| Role modelling               | 3.31                     |
| Involved with project        | 3.26                     |
| Induction                    | 3.2                      |
| Analysing mistakes           | 3.19                     |
| Teams' study day             | 3.12                     |
| Critical incident analysis   | 3.09                     |

## Devising The Cpd Model Principles Informing The Design Of The Cpd

•
inclusive of knowledge, skills and values hopefully leading to a 
change in behaviour thereby making the model applicable across all professions and avoiding professional silos 
•
flexible and fluid in that it can take into account national policy developments, legislative changes, as well as local changes in the form of Serious Case Reviews or re-organisation;
•
enables the creation of individual Learning Development Plans 
which then feed into a Team training plan and ultimately a panorganisational Learning and Development Plan;

## Devising The Cpd Model Principles Informing The Design Of The Cpd

•
the organisation's existing supervision and appraisal processes 
would be used;
•
builds on the commonalities in terms of knowledge, skills and values in relation to working with children and families;
•
is a key component and a catalyst for creating a learning culture across the organisation

## Benefits Of The Model

Flexibility and adaptability to local and national initiatives Creating a benchmark for Southampton City Council to measure the learning 
needs of its workforce and plan accordingly
Building on an established framework of supervision and appraisal Enabling the commissioning of training and development to be much more targeted
Amalgamating individual team members' learning needs analysis thereby 
highlighting team priorities and challenges

## Benefits Of The Model

Promoting the skills base of existing employees in relation to mentoring, shadowing 
and coaching
Making use of information from across the organisation e.g. complaints, service 
user feedback, commissioning strategic plans and serious case reviews to inform the training and development programme for all staff
Less prescribed and non-discriminating for those members of staff that do not have 
a professional qualification

## References

Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2006) 'Using thematic analysis in psychology'  Qualitative Research in 
Psychology, 3:2, 77-101

## Children'S Development Workforce Council (2010) Common Core Of Skills And Knowledge Department Of Education (2014) Skills And Knowledge Statement For Children And Families Dreyfus, H.L. And Dreyfus, S.E. (1986) Mind Over Machine: The Power Of Human Intuition And Expertise In The Era Of The Computer

Greig, A.; Taylor, J. and Mackay, T. (2007) 'Doing research with children', Sage, London Kitzinger, J. (1995) 'Qualitative Research: Introducing focus groups' British Medical Journal; 311: 299 Tuckett, A.G. (2005) 'Applying thematic analysis theory to practice: A researcher's experience', 
Contemporary Nurse, 19:1-2, 75-87
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