Be Inspired! Shirley Ayres Consulting

What I believe to be one of the most exciting developments for social care has just been announced. The creation of a National Skills Academy for Social Care is a massive step forward in developing the skills of nearly 1.4 million social care workers. Finally there will be a “one stop shop” to enable employers, staff and service users to access information about learning and development opportunities.

There is, however, one confusing element that will need to be clarified – how will the social care academy link with the plethora of initiatives underway in children’s services? These include the Remodelling Social Work Practice pilots, the Newly Qualified Social Worker schemes and the development of Leadership and Management programmes for the children’s workforce. One answer may be found in the new Social Work Development Partnership Board a collaborative approach between the Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) and Skills for Care (SfC) which aims to improve social work practice.

The numerous questions I am asked about training in the care sector highlight the current confusion about accessing relevant and timely information. For the first time there will be a national scheme to identify and quality assure trainers to support the drive to improve the delivery of teaching and learning, inside and outside the workplace. You will no longer have to wonder which, out of a confusing number of organisations, you should approach to help meet your training needs.

The Academy will provide exemplar programmes for the skills required across the whole workforce in the private, voluntary and public sectors. It will champion innovative solutions to the ways in which training and learning can be delivered and assessed. It will be the information and reference source for individuals and care providers to disseminate good practice in learning, training and education wherever it is fo

Developments will include:

Two new commissioning programmes at national level, available regionally, to ensure that employers are able to contribute to and respond to community and individual needs effectively and efficiently:

A new national scheme to encourage quality in training provision through an accreditation scheme for associations and providers of training.

A new programme of encouragement and support for employers who wish to have their in-house training accredited to national standards.

Signposting the funding available for training and for staff and leadership development.

The Skills Academy will be established as an independent, not for profit organisation on March 30 2009.

Some facts about the social care workforce

Adult social care supports those with a physical or learning disability, people with mental health problems, and older people.

70% of social care staff work in the independent sector (private or voluntary).

Care is provided by more than 35,000 different employers

Most establishments employ less than 10 people

1.5 million people currently work in adult social care including home care workers, care home staff, social workers.

Demographic changes including an ageing population will require a significant increase in the social care workforce. It is projected to group to 2.5 million by 2020.

83% of the social care workforce is female (rising to 90% in direct care)

The majority have limited qualifications

What will the Skills Academy offer?

The Skills Academy is exploring a membership model which will confer a range of benefits, including:

access to a repository of information on funding opportunities and routes for training and development

access to information about accredited training providers and accredited trainers

access to e-learning networks

access to regional learning networks

discounts for kite-marking and quality assurance services

a membership kite-mark for corporate branding

the opportunity to take part in piloting and other developments of programmes and services

the opportunity to influence the direction of the Skills Academy through the membership group.

The Skills Academy for Social Care – Why Now?

To hear the views of the steering group you can watch the introductory video

For more information about the Social Work Development Partnership

Tags: accreditation, commissioning programmes, exemplar programmes, kite marking, national skills academy for social care, one stop shop, quality assuring training providers, scie, skills for care, training in the care sector

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 The remodelling social work delivery project was established by the Children’s Workforce Development Council www.cwdcouncil.org.uk earlier this year. There are 11 pilot sites across England involved in the project and there are a number of different delivery options being explored. The Department for Children, Schools and Families wished to encourage innovation through the active engagement of the private and not for profit sectors in establishing new approaches to working with the most vulnerable children and their families.

The CWDC project runs until March 2011 with 11 local authorities from across the country developing a number of different delivery options. Each pilot will explore ways for social workers to look at new ways of organizing their working practices,  organize their staff teams more effectively; and look at how they can provide more ‘front line’ contact with children and young people.

Click here www.cwdcouncil.org.uk/social-work/remodelling for more information about the pilot projects

Interestingly a number of local authorities have decided to proceed with exploring this option outside of the pilot scheme.

The remodelling social work project forms one element of a broader programme of work supported by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and CWDC. This programme of work has been designed to improve the outcomes and experiences of children and young people in contact with social care and particularly with social workers. The overall programme will address three priority areas of quality of initial training, skills and qualifications; workforce capacity and remodelling; and recruitment and retention.

Social work models being developed in the delivery pilots

A number of developments and themes are being explored in the CWDC pilot projects.

Structures

o Creating a single entry point for children and families to receive integrated services across a broad range of needs.

o Improving the interface between children’s centres and social work services, forging closer links between universal and statutory services to ensure early intervention

o Addressing the difficulties in delivering children’s social care within a large rural community,

o Making more effective use of IT and mobile technology

o Developing models of multi-disciplinary working, by locating social workers in multi-disciplinary teams working with children in need.

o Physically locating social workers in schools, health centres, children’s centres

o Closer working between social workers and residential child care workers

o Creating practices which allow social workers to spend more time in direct contact with the children themselves and bringing a “whole” team approach to all work.

Models of Intervention

o Improving the speed and quality of assessment and decision-making about placing young people into care, avoiding placement in care where possible. If remaining in care is appropriate, ensuring that effective planning is in place to promote permanency and placement stability.

o Using social work models of practice such as BHLP and solution-focused interventions. (Interestingly CBT is not mentioned).

o Expanding the use of Family Group Conferences with children already in care.

o Multi-agency family support panels to consider children’s needs through the Common Assessment Framework and implement coordinated plans to meet those needs. Working across services through Youth Inclusion Support Panels,

Recruitment and Retention

o Reviewing and improving recruitment and induction practices. (This could be linked with the Newly Qualified Social  Workers pilots)

Creating social work consultant roles, which will have a responsibility for supporting social workers undertaking court proceedings, (especially those in their first year of practice or undertaking court proceedings for the first time).

o Developing new career pathways for practitioners

o Training in brief therapy social work interventions

o Improving skills and knowledge in assessment and risk management

Perceptions of Social Work

o Improving the communities understanding of the role of social workers

o improving both the visibility of social care, and access to it by the public,

Is this the start of a new era for social work? This is a very exciting development and we will keep you updated .

Tags: a different role for social workers, cwdc, recruitment and retention, remodelling social work project, social work practice

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