Brigid Daniel slides: SCOPT Annual Conference 2012

1. Keeping an Eye on the Child
Key Capabilities and students as leaders
in multidisciplinary contexts
Brigid Daniel
Professor of Social, University of Stirling
With thanks to Helen Whincup, Margaret Bruce,
Stuart Eno, Judy Kerr and Rona Woodward

2. Leadership
 An increasingly multi-disciplinary context raises many
questions about who is exercising leadership for whom
and in what direction.
 Social work students look for leadership from the HEI,
practice educators, peers on the course and
practitioners and managers in placement settings.
 Social work students can also exercise leadership by
bringing new ideas and up to date evidence and theory
to practice settings.

3. Modelling
 Key Capabilities originally developed in relation to
working across all specialisms in social work.
 By following the spirit of KCs students can model the
need to maintain an eye on the child not only across
social work, but across disciplines and agencies.
 Students can thus model a service – user centred
approach.
 Work with adults who have children is enhanced in all
settings if it incorporates attention to and respect for
their role and identity as parents.

4. Leadership influenced byKCs
 The KCs model what is expected by GIRFEC policy
(soon to be legislation) and the revised Getting
Our Priorities Right (imminent).
 A number of other initiatives have been influenced
and informed by the KCs.

6. NHS Education for Scotland (2011) Core
Competency Framework for the
Protection of Children. Edinburgh: NES
 Level 1 The practitioner will recognise and report
situations where there might be a need for protection
 Level 2 The practitioner will contribute to protection
children at risk
 Level 3 The practitioner will implement aspects of a
protection plan and review the effectiveness of this
 Level 4 The practitioner will develop and lead on the
implementation of an overall protection plan.

7. Common Core of Skills, Knowledge &
Understanding and Values for the
“Children’s Workforce” In Scotland
‘The people who work with children, young people and
their families every day, who build up strong
relationships and promote children’s rights, are key to
ensuring we achieve this vision...’
‘The Common Core describes the skills, knowledge and
understanding, and values that everyone should have
if they work with children, young people and their
families, whether they are paid or unpaid.’

8.  Essential Characteristics of those who work
with children, young people and families in
Scotland:
A. Relationships with children, young people
and families
B. Relationships between workers
 Non-discrimination
 Best interests of the child
 Right to life, survival & development
 Respect the views of the child
 14 common values

9. Future settings
 Students will graduate into a practice world where
personalisation and self-directed services will be key
drivers within the context of integrated services.
 Concepts are contested, but the underlying concepts
are congruent with the social work values PEs have
been promoting for as long as social work has been in
existence.
 The agenda has been somewhat taken from social
work. Our students can help us to wrest it back and
shape future personalised services that are
underpinned by social work values.

10. From ‘multi-disciplinary’ to
Integrated’
 The terms are often not well-defined -
‘terminological quagmire’ (Lloyd et al. al):
 ‘coordination’,
 ‘collaboration’,
 ‘multi-disciplinary’
 ‘inter-disciplinary’
 The term ‘transdisciplinary’ working has emerged
to describe joint working, in partnership with
people who use services (Sloper 2004).

11. Integration
 Integration tends to be seen as one end of a spectrum
that has autonomy at the other.
 Need to distinguish integrated services from
integrated care .
 Integration can be at ‘macro’ or strategic, ‘meso’ or
service; and ‘micro’ or individual user levels;
 it can also be vertical or horizontal.
 IRISS suggest that the ‘emphasis should be on service
integration rather than on organisational integration’
(IRISS, 2012; Petch, 2011; Reed et al., 2005)

12. Implications for education and
training?
‘...there is a range of ways in which education and
training can develop to support this structural and
cultural shift in care.’
 4 key concepts for multi-professional working:
1. Client-led service
2. Core competencies
3. Shared responsibility
4. Professional identity
Hubbard, G, and Smith, J, 2012, Education and training for health and
social care multi-professional working and service integration,
University of Stirling, Stirling.

13. ‘Stakeholders cited child protection as an example of
professionals moving away from being task oriented
and only focusing on the tasks that their particular
profession fulfil (e.g. teaching, nursing, social work or
policing) to taking collective responsibility for
protecting the child.’

14. Joint placements?

15. Options for education and training
 Continuity of multi professional education
 Joint teaching and learning
 A common undergraduate teaching
programme
 Joint placements
 Leadership courses
 Case studies and joint care plans
 Basic architecture

16. The Key Capabilities
Effective Communication
Knowledge and Understanding
Professional Confidence and
Competence
Values and Ethical Practice

17. The term ‘child care and protection’ is
used to refer to a broad spectrum of
activities including the prevention of
harm, the promotion of the welfare of
vulnerable children and the provision of
therapeutic support following abuse or
neglect rather than the investigative
interviewing process.

18.  Ethical
 Meaningful
 Outcomes for service user, student and
organisation
 Creative links within and between teams
Practice learning opportunities

19. Early concerns
 Flexibility is good, but has downside
especially as different HEIs address KCs
differently.
 The focus on children could overshadow
other specialist areas.
 Creativity can be good, but there are also
dangers of a more tokenistic response.
IRISS (2008)

20. Problems
 Belief that evidencing KCs means doing children and
families work.
 ‘Bolting on’ a piece of work from a c&f setting just to
meet the requirement.
 Tick box approach.
 Assumption that is only applies to young children.
 Assumption that it only applies to a narrow, forensic
definition of ‘child protection’.
 Missed opportunities in other settings.
 Is it out of step with increasing moves towards ‘people’
/ ‘public’ protection structures?

21. Danger of fuelling risk aversion
 ‘Risk society’ increasingly preoccupied with anxiety
about all manner of risks and with risk prediction and
regulation (Beck, 1992; Giddens, 1999)
 Social work activity is inextricably associated with
many perceived social risks such as substance misuse,
anti-social behaviour and child abuse.
 Escalating anxiety about risk has been tracked by
escalating social work activity to predict, manage and
contain risk.

22.  The concept of risk has moved from a neutral term,
describing the likelihood of an event occurring, to a
negative concept focusing exclusively on the likelihood
of something ‘bad’ happening Munro (2007)
 The proliferation of risk assessment frameworks aimed
at preventing ‘bad’ things happening has appeared to
be an unstoppable tide,
‘The big problem for society (and consequently for
professionals) is establishing a realistic expectation of
professionals’ ability to predict the future and manage
risk of harm to children and young people.’
(Munro, 2011; p. 18).

23. Risk-taking – adult services
 ‘Risk-enablement’ is promoted, and is described as
being concerned:
‘ …with managing these risks effectively and finding a
balance between the need to protect vulnerable people
and promoting the rights of the individual. Individuals
will be allowed to take informed risks if they
understand their responsibilities and the implications
of their choices ‘
(in-Control website).

24.  Student in a prison setting noticed the range of
different approaches and strategies different men
took in relation to their children:
 ‘working away’ from home
 phone and letter contact but discouraging visits
 encouraging visits and contact.
 Student identified the differences and assessed the
implications for prisoner and children at the time
and on release.
Examples of evidencing KCs

25.  Student in a criminal justice team, working with a man
about to be released from custody home to partner and
children.
 History of offending, domestic violence, substance
misuse and concerns about attachment of children to
both parents.
 Good communication amongst prison social workers,
LA social workers (C&F and CJ), health visitor and
substance misuse worker – all providing their own
expertise, keeping a focus on needs and safety of the
children .
 KCs used to explore ethical dilemmas in supervising
the service user , avoiding stigma of offending history
and monitoring wellbeing and safety of the children.

26.  Student in a drug and alcohol setting using Cycle of
Change with a lone parent – considered also the
implications for parenting capacity and for the child of
the intervention.
 Student working with older people being re-settled at
home after illness – assessed the potential impact on
grandchildren of the increased caring responsibilities
their mothers had assumed.
 Day care setting for people with dementia – student
reviewed the child protection policy in context of more
outreach and community based activity.

27.  Day care setting – student working with people with
dementia produced a leaflet for children about
dementia. Useful information to aid discussion with
families of people with dementia.
 Another worked with a social care officer to deliver an
awareness raising session on dementia to a local P7
class – many already had experience of dementia in
family / community.

28. Students as leaders
 Students demonstrate leadership for all disciplines in
how they approach the issue of children in all settings:
 students are good at asking questions e.g. ‘does this
person have any children?’
 students are good at curiosity e.g. ‘I wonder what
the impact might be upon children – in the
community, in the school, in the family etc...’
 students read the literature e.g. lifespan work that
helps explain the impact of the past upon the
present; ecological work that looks at inter-
connectedness.