Chapter 4 – Training, development and supervision for inter-agency working |
Size: |
UPDATE:
The Department for Education has published the 2013 edition of the Working Together guidance. You can access our web-enabled version via the 'contents' tab at the top of this website.
Click here to continue reading the archived 2010 guidance.
Contents
Planning, organisation, delivery and evaluation
Effective support and supervision
Table 1: Suggested training for different target groups
Introduction and definitions |
|
| 4.1 | This chapter provides guidance for employers, LSCBs and Children’s Trust Boards and their constituent members on the training and development of staff and volunteers necessary for them to effectively safeguard and promote the welfare of children. This includes being able to recognise when a child may require protection, taking account of their age and ability and knowing what to do in response to concerns about the safety and welfare of a child. Practitioners and managers must also be able to work effectively with others, both within their own agency and across organisational boundaries and this can be achieved by a combination of single-agency and inter-agency training. |
| 4.2 | Particular terms are used to describe different types and aspects of training and development. Training for inter- and multi-agency work means training and education that equips people to work effectively with those from other agencies to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. This training typically takes place in two ways: |
|
|
| 4.3 | Research for the Department of Children, Schools and Families and the Department of Health (Carpenter et al (2009) The Organisation, Outcomes and Costs of Inter-agency Training to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. London: Department for Children, Schools and Families) has shown that inter-agency training is highly effective in helping professionals understand their respective roles and responsibilities, the procedures of each agency involved in safeguarding children and in developing a shared understanding of assessment and decision-making practices. Further, the opportunity to learn together is greatly valued; participants report increased confidence in working with colleagues from other agencies and greater mutual respect. |
|
|
| 4.4 | The purpose of training for inter-agency work at both strategic and operational levels is to achieve better outcomes for children and young people by fostering: |
|
|
|
|
| 4.5 | Employers are responsible for ensuring that their staff are competent and confident in carrying out their responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting children’s and young people’s welfare. |
| 4.6 | It is the responsibility of employers to recognise that in order for staff to fulfil their duties in line with Working Together, they will have different training needs which are dependent on their degree of contact with children and young people and/or with adults who are parents or carers, their level of responsibility and independence of decision-making. A number of competency frameworks have been published by professional bodies to assist employers in identifying training needs (for example, Safeguarding Children and Young People: Roles and Competences for Health Care Staff (2006); Roles, Skills, Knowledge and competencies for Safeguarding Children in the Sports Sector (2007)). |
| 4.7 | Employers should ensure that all those in contact or working with children and young people and/or with adults who are parents or carers have a mandatory induction, which includes familiarisation with their child protection responsibilities and the policies and procedures to be followed if they have concerns about a child’s safety or welfare. The Children’s Workforce Development Council provides induction guidance and supporting materials. Induction should be completed within the first six months of employment and before individuals take part in interagency training. Regular refresher training should also be provided at least every three years. |
| 4.8 | Employers should ensure that their employees who work or have contact with children are appropriately trained in child development and in how to recognise and act on potential signs of child abuse and neglect. Training should also include associated vulnerability and risk factors and resilience and protective factors, identifying potential violent behaviour and assessing the capacity of a parent or carer to meet a child’s needs, taking into account their own needs/circumstances/ history/illness/addiction. Increasingly, professional bodies are requiring their members to demonstrate relevant education and training as part of revalidation. |
| 4.9 | Employers should ensure that appropriately qualified staff undertaking specialist roles in both children’s and adults’ services receive the necessary specialist training. For those experienced social workers undertaking key management and supervisory roles in duty or intake teams this should include training on managing referrals where there are concerns about the safety and welfare of a child or children. |
| 4.10 | Employers also have a responsibility to identify adequate resources and support for inter-agency training by: |
|
|
| 4.11 | In advance of the roll out of a clear national standard for the support social workers should expect from their employers, the Social Work Task Force has developed an initial framework to help employers and practitioners to assess the ‘health’ of their organisation on a range of issues affecting workload. This is published in their final report (See Building a safe, confident future: the final report of the Social Work Task Force and the Government response). It is recommended that all employers of social workers make use of this tool to assess and improve the support they provide to frontline staff in managing their workload. |
| 4.12 | Employers have a responsibility to ensure that all staff, including administrative staff, are given opportunities to attend local courses in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, or ensure that safeguarding training is provided within the team. As employers, GPs have an important role to play in ensuring staff whom they employ are trained and should ensure that practice nurses, practice managers, receptionists and any other staff whom they employ are given the opportunity to attend local courses in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children |
|
|
| 4.13 | Through their work on the local Children and Young People’s Plan (CYPP), Children’s Trust Boards are responsible for ensuring that workforce strategies are developed in their local area. This includes making sure that training opportunities to meet priority needs identified by the LSCBs are available, and that all staff who work or have contact with children are appropriately trained in child development, recognise potential signs of abuse and neglect and know how to respond if they have concerns about a child’s welfare. |
| 4.14 | Children’s Trust Boards should ensure that systems are in place to deliver both single-agency and inter-agency training on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. They should consider, in discussion with the LSCB, which bodies should commission or deliver single and inter-agency training. |
|
|
| 4.15 | The LSCB is responsible for developing local policies for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, in relation to the training of people who work with children or in services affecting the safety and welfare of children (see paragraphs 3.18–3.20). This includes training in relation to the child death review processes and Serious Case Reviews. |
| 4.16 | LSCBs should contribute to, and work within, the framework of the local workforce strategy. They may decide to identify training needs and priorities and feed this information into the local workforce strategy to inform the planning and commissioning of training. LSCBs will want to review and evaluate the provision and availability of single and inter-agency training and to check that the training is reaching all relevant staff within organisations. |
| 4.17 | As set out in 3.45, regulations make clear that there is flexibility for a local area to decide that an LSCB should have an extended role in addition to its core functions. Those must, of course, still be related to its objectives. The LSCB and Children’s Trust Board may wish to make arrangements in their local area for the LSCB to manage the delivery of the inter-agency safeguarding training – research (Carpenter et al (2009) The Organisation, Outcomes and Costs of Inter-Agency Training to Safeguard and Promote the Welfare of Children. London: Department for Children, Schools and Families) indicates that where this currently happens the resulting training is highly effective. |
| 4.18 | If a LSCB provides such services there must be an agreed protocol in place between the Boards to enable the LSCB to be treated in the same way as other partners making a contribution to delivering the CYPP. Specifically the Children’s Trust Board would need to be able to call the LSCB to account for the extent to which it acted in accordance with the CYPP. |
| 4.19 | The LSCB should ensure that all staff who work or have contact with children are appropriately trained to understand normal child development and to recognise and act on potential signs of abuse and neglect. |
| 4.20 | LSCBs should review and evaluate the quality, scope and effectiveness of single and inter-agency training to ensure it is meeting local needs and should report on this annually to the Children’s Trust Board. LSCBs should include in their annual report an assessment of their progress in ensuring that all staff who work with or have contact with children are appropriately trained. |
| 4.21 | Where LSCBs have the responsibility for delivering or commissioning training, they should ensure adequate funding arrangements are in place to meet the priority needs identified and to achieve appropriate reach and scope of the training to meet the LSCB’s strategic objectives. |
| 4.22 | LSCBs should ensure that they are appropriately staffed and have sufficient capacity to take forward any training and development work they carry out. This includes having the necessary administrative support and having adequate resources both to contribute to the planning and delivery or commissioning of training and its evaluation. Research (Carpenter et al (2009) The Organisation, Outcomes and Costs of Inter-Agency Training to Safeguard and Promote the Welfare of Children. London: Department for Children, Schools and Families) suggests over-reliance on a single inter-agency training co‑ordinator makes LSCB training programmes vulnerable. |
| 4.23 | Induction and training for LSCB members, including lay members, independent chairs and any employees of the LSCB should be provided to support them to fulfil their responsibilities effectively. |
|
|
| 4.24 | This section provides further guidance for employers, LSCBs, Children’s Trust Boards and their constituent partners on the content, audiences and values of training for working together to safeguard and protect children and to promote their welfare. |
|
|
| 4.25 | All training should place the child at the centre and promote the importance of understanding the child’s daily life experiences, ascertaining their wishes and feelings, listening to the child and never losing sight of his or her needs. |
| 4.26 | All training should create an ethos that values working collaboratively with others (valuing different roles, knowledge and skills), respects diversity (including culture, race, religion and disability), promotes equality and encourages the participation of children and families in the safeguarding processes. |
|
|
| 4.27 | Given that safeguarding children is everybody’s responsibility, audiences for training are vast and diverse. This includes the whole of the children and young people’s workforce and those working with adults who are parents or carers (for example, adult psychiatrists and probation staff). It includes paid staff and volunteers working in the statutory, voluntary, community and independent sectors. |
| 4.28 | The Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Children’s Workforce sets out six areas of expertise that everyone working with children, young people and families – including those who work as volunteers – should be able to demonstrate. These are: |
|
|
| 4.29 | While it may not be practical for everyone to participate in inter-agency training, working together is an essential feature of all training in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Single-agency training, and training provided in professional settings, should always equip staff for working with, communicating and sharing information with others. All safeguarding training should be consistent with The Common Core of Skills and Knowledge. |
| 4.30 | Table 1 at the end of this chapter groups audiences together based on their degree of contact with children and/or parents/carers and their levels of responsibility, in order to assist with the identification of training and development needs. The groups are as follows: |
|
|
| 4.31 | Training should be available at a number of levels to address the learning needs of these staff. The table at the end of the chapter outlines responsibilities and suggests possible methods of delivery. Decisions should be made locally about how the levels are most appropriately delivered, as part of the planning of training. |
| 4.32 | Whilst the detailed content of training at each level of the framework should be specified locally, programmes should usually include the following: |
|
|
| 4.33 | Where national guidance and competence frameworks have been developed by professional bodies, these should be reflected in the content. The content should also reflect the principles, values and processes set out in this guidance on work with children and families. Steps should be taken to ensure the relevance of the content and delivery methods to different groups from the statutory, voluntary and independent sectors who will have different professional needs. The content of training programmes should be regularly reviewed and updated in the light of changing policy and legislation, research, learning from SCRs, child death reviews and practice experience, and should always reinforce the centrality of the child’s daily life experience. |
| 4.34 | All healthcare staff involved in working with children should attend training in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and have regular updates as part of continuing professional development. Advice regarding the competencies required of staff can be found in the intercollegiate document Safeguarding Children and Young People: Roles and competencies for Health Care Staff. |
| 4.35 | The National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) has responsibility for the development of special training for child abuse investigation officers. In addition to this, Child Exploitation and On-Line Protection Centre (CEOP) provides a range of specialist courses to both police officers and colleagues in the wider child protection and safeguarding community. These have been developed through the CEOP Academy to support those working to protect children and students have the opportunity to attend individual courses or study for a Postgraduate Certificate in Behavioural Forensic Psychology. |
| 4.36 | It is important to ensure that training involves and is available to all people who work with children and young people. Some agencies involved in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children may not be formally part of the local Children’s Trust Board. LSCBs should ensure that the needs of all staff are included when setting up training arrangements. |
|
|
| 4.37 | Training on safeguarding children and young people should be embedded within a wider framework of commitment to inter and multi-agency working at strategic and operational levels underpinned by shared goals, planning processes and values. It is most likely to be effective if it is delivered within a framework that includes: |
|
|
| 4.38 | All training to support inter- and multi-agency work should: |
|
|
| 4.39 | Research (Carpenter et al (2009) The Organisation, Outcomes and Costs of Inter-Agency Training to Safeguard and Promote the Welfare of Children. London: Department for Children, Schools and Families.) has shown that effective training on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is most likely to be achieved if there is a member of the Board with lead responsibility for training, a training sub-group for which this Board member is responsible, and a designated and suitably skilled training co-ordinator to manage the training and development work of the LSCB. |
| 4.40 | To be effective, a training sub-group should include people with sufficient knowledge of training needs and processes to enable them to make informed contributions to the development and evaluation of a training strategy. |
| 4.41 | Many areas maintain an inter-agency training panel (also known as training pool) of suitably skilled and experienced practitioners and managers from LSCB member agencies, who work together to design, deliver and evaluate inter-agency training. The effectiveness of this approach relies on having a skilled person to co-ordinate and develop the panel, and on the allocation of time to enable panel members to undertake this work. |
| 4.42 | In some areas, training may be delivered more efficiently and effectively if there is collaboration across local areas, especially where police or health boundaries embrace more than one local authority area. |
|
|
| 4.43 | The LSCB, or the training sub-group acting on its behalf, has a responsibility to ensure that both single and inter-agency training is delivered to a consistently high standard, and that a process exists for evaluating the effectiveness of training. |
| 4.44 | Monitoring arrangements should be in place to ensure that: |
|
|
| 4.45 | The LSCB should agree an evaluation strategy and determine the appropriate level at which evaluation of training courses should take place. The focus of the evaluation should be on the extent to which training is contributing to improving the knowledge and skills of the workforce with regard to working together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Evaluation should include the following: |
|
|
| 4.46 | The LSCB should ensure that outcomes from an evaluation of training courses or programmes inform the planning of future training. In its annual report to the Children’s Trust Board a review of the quality, scope, reach and effectiveness of both single and inter-agency training should be provided. |
| 4.47 | The Government has developed and disseminated a range of multi-disciplinary training resources. These include materials on child development (The Developing World of the Child (2006)), assessing children in need (The Child’s World. Second Edition (2009, 2010)) what to do if you are concerned that a child is being abused or neglected (Safeguarding Children – a shared responsibility (2007)) and fabricated or induced illness (Incredibly Caring (2008)) which help to support the provision of good quality training. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published guidance on When to suspect child maltreatment. Guidance on Investigating Child Abuse and Safeguarding Children was published by the Association of Chief Police Officers and the National Policing Improvement Agency in 2009. In addition the Department for Children, Schools and Families publishes national overviews of SCRs and LSCBs publish executive summaries of individual SCRs, all of which should be used to inform the content of training. |
|
|
| 4.48 | Working to ensure children are protected from harm requires sound professional
judgements to be made. It is demanding work that can be distressing and stressful.
All of those involved should have access to advice and support from, for example, peers, managers, named and designated professionals. Those providing supervision
should be trained in supervision skills and have an up to date knowledge of the
legislation, policy and research relevant to safeguarding and promoting the welfare
of children. Supervision can be defined as: |
| ‘’an accountable process which supports assures and develops the knowledge,
skills and values of an individual, group or team. The purpose is to improve the
quality of their work to achieve agreed outcomes.’’ Providing Effective Supervision (Skills for Care and CWDC 2007, page 5) |
|
| 4.49 | The key functions of supervision are: |
|
|
| 4.50 | For many practitioners involved in day-to-day work with children and families, effective supervision is important to promote good standards of practice and to supporting individual staff members. The arrangements for organising how supervision is delivered will vary from agency to agency but there are some key essential elements. It should: |
|
|
| 4.51 | Good quality supervision can help to: |
|
|
| 4.52 | Supervision should enable both supervisor and supervisee to reflect on, scrutinise and evaluate the work carried out, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the practitioner and providing coaching development and pastoral support. Supervisors should be available to practitioners as an important source of advice and expertise and may be required to endorse judgements at certain key points in time. Supervisors should also record key decisions within the child’s case records. |
| 4.53 | Supervision will be both educative and supportive and facilitate the supervisee to explore their feelings about the work and the family. Effective safeguarding supervision needs to be regular and provide continuity, so that the relationship between supervisor and supervisee develops. Each session should include agreeing the agenda, reviewing actions from previous supervision, listening, exploring and reflecting, agreeing actions and reviewing the supervision process itself. |
| 4.54 | It is particularly important that social workers have appropriate supervision. The recent report Building a safe, confident future: the final report of the Social Work Task Force emphasised that supervision is a critical aspect of the support that employers should provide to social workers. It identified three specific functions of the supervision which must be in place to support effective practice: line management; professional (or case) supervision; and continuing professional development. |
| 4.55 | In line with the Task Force’s recommendations, a national standard for supervision will be developed for social workers, as part of the comprehensive reform programme which the Government has committed to taking forward with the profession and employers. Whilst this is developed, it is strongly recommended that employers comply with existing guidance on the features of good supervision for social workers, for example Providing Effective Supervision (Skills for Care/CWDC 2007). |
|
|
| (Safeguarding Children and Young People: Roles and Competencies for Health Care Staff, Intercollegiate Document (forthcoming)) | |
|
|
