Learning in Health and Social Care最新文献

Mentoring is a feature of most professional education programmes, although its purpose may vary. In some cases, a mentor performs solely a supporting role, while in others it may include assessment of practice competence. The aim of this study was to explore and prioritize the needs of midwifery mentors and investigate any relationship between these and duration of experience and/or level of qualification. A two-stage cross-sectional correlational study of 82 mentors was carried out in a maternity unit in the southwest of England. Content, univariate and bivariate analysis of the data were performed. The focus group identified 15 needs which formed the basis of the subsequent questionnaire. Overall ranking showed that ‘guidance’ and ‘frequent shifts’ were important to all mentors. Of least importance were ‘choice in allocation’ and ‘involvement in selection’. Statistically significant findings emerged relating to mentors’ academic level of qualification, background of direct entry or Registered Nurse, length of experience and place of work. The programme followed by the students also had an impact. Some of the conclusions were that mentors need more overt recognition of their role, breaks between students and consideration of their area of work and the type of student allocated. Tutors need to offer increased availability, support, guidance and feedback. Students should have frequent shifts rostered with their mentor and be encouraged to provide feedback. A ‘mentor pyramid of needs’ was developed which could be used by educators and managers to audit and prioritize mentor support. The findings of the study are of particular relevance in the context of recent regulatory body standards.

This article describes a large national research project that followed a range of multi-agency teams, within newly formed Children's Services in England, as they began to change and develop as a result of national and local policy changes. As the title suggests, the focus of the research was to observe the learning that was taking place and to offer approaches to facilitate the group learning. The approach is novel in that it employed a specific theoretical approach to the work; namely, the use of cultural–historical activity theory (CHAT), to analyse what was happening in the research sites and to structure and facilitate the intervention workshops. The findings reflect what was happening within teams, at individual, group and systemic levels. They also add to the body of knowledge that is accumulating in the application of activity theoretical approaches to work-place learning. Some of the findings are expanded to offer suggestions for similar teams to consider as they make transitions within ever-changing, expanding Children's Services. These include recommendations for professionals regarding the child and the wider context, aspects of professional role and focus of work, developing new tools, reconsidering existing rules, and examining values and pedagogic approaches in the work-place.

The Every Child Matters change agenda is leading to the creation of new services and new working practices across the children and young people's sectors. These new configurations are leading to the development of new roles that do not necessarily fit with existing, traditional professional qualifications. This paper outlines the response of one university to this policy agenda. The experience of inter-disciplinary collaboration and interprofessional curriculum development has mirrored many of the challenges facing colleagues in practice settings. In reflecting on these challenges, this study highlights some of the key issues facing higher education providers in developing an appropriate educational response. The study identifies the need for collaborative and strategic partnership between higher education and practice colleagues in order to prepare a future workforce. It further identifies the desirability of a champion with the capacity and determination to keep the agenda from getting lost within all the other uni-disciplinary agendas that operate within universities.

We are very pleased to introduce this special edition of the journal with its focus on interprofessional learning for practice in integrated children's services. We also believe that this journal is the first to dedicate a themed edition to what is emerging as a very significant workforce issue in the UK. Indeed, in the recent literature review of the ‘pedagogy of interprofessional education’ (Payler et al. 2008), the ‘integrated’ children's services agenda was not discussed. As Sharland & Taylor (2007) noted in their systematic review of interprofessional education (IPE) that includes social work, learning for interprofessional practice with children was barely addressed.

The plan for this themed edition grew out of the Integrated Children's Services in Higher Education project (ICS-HE) launched in 2007, led by the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Social Policy and Social Work in association with the Subject Centres for Education, Health Sciences and Practice, Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine and Psychology, and in collaboration with the Children's Workforce Development Council and the Children's Workforce Network. The project team, in collaboration with a Stakeholder Reference Group, coordinated a national conference in November 2007, attended by over 200 delegates, which showcased a range of initiatives at all levels of higher education. We invited conference presenters to submit conference papers to this themed edition and the following are the outcome of this process, having been reviewed using established journal processes.

Imogen Taylor and colleagues from the University of Sussex set the scene and map key aspects of the far reaching policy agenda, developed in response to Every Child Matters (DfES 2003). The authors suggest that Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) must play a significant role in responding to the policy process given the large proportion of graduates who will join the Children's Workforce. Activity theory is used to explore findings from the Knowledge Review of the higher education response to integrated children's services, including a research review and a practice survey of responses by higher education.

Jane Leadbetter's paper then sets the practice scene for ‘learning in and for interagency working’. Leadbetter and colleagues developed ‘cultural–historical activity theory’ to analyse activities on the range of research sites: a Youth Offending Team, a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Team, a Looked-After Children's team, a multiagency generic team and a team that had formed around and with staff of an extended school. This paper adds to knowledge about activity theory approaches to work-place learning, clearly attracting interest as a theory that can help inform discussion of the complexity of interprofessional work. It also reflects on key findings about learning and multiagency working, one of which endorses the importance of taking ‘a pedagogic stance

The Children, Young People and Families module was developed at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK in 2004. The module is jointly taught to community health and social work students with the active involvement of a Barnardo's Young People's Group. This module was developed in direct response to the challenges of the UK Every Child Matters policy agenda highlighting the importance of partnership and participation as the bedrock of effective practice in integrated children's services. For the writers, a commitment to the value base of social work means that it is not enough to lecture about child-centred practice, children's rights and the importance of participation, without modelling these principles in our practice as educators. This article outlines key aspects of the module and its delivery, including the authors’ learning from partnership work with the Young People's Group. The work is evaluated drawing on student feedback and findings from an evaluation exercise carried out with the young people.

Realizing the vision for integrated children's services will rely on effective collaboration and joined-up working across professional boundaries. One way of achieving this is to open up professional practice to the scrutiny of other professional groups in order that shared understanding can be developed. This brief article describes how we use story telling to model critical reflection and to invite students to reflect on their own constructions of their own and other professional groups. The story telling takes place during one timetabled session as part of a planned interprofessional learning module for students of nursing and social work. The authors, a lecturer in social work and a lecturer in children's nursing, had, by chance, been co-located in the same office. Working together led to many conversations and a realization of how we would often use the same words to make sense of our practice with children and families, but sometimes mean different things. The idea for the story-telling session was developed from these conversations.

The story, ‘Telling tales’ (see box 1), focuses on the real-life reflections of a children's nurse who worked with a young boy. He had been admitted to hospital and separated from his mother for a period of 1 week. The story is told to the students using the original words of the nurse. In this study, we describe the background to the initiative, how we use the story and what happens when we do. We contend that story telling is a powerful technique for opening up professional practice to the scrutiny of other professional groups. It also provides an effective vehicle to invite the students to critically challenge what they hold dear, just in case they are wrong.

Across Britain, universities and employers are being encouraged to form partnerships for the development and delivery of workforce development programmes. In the social care sector, discussion about workforce development programmes usually focuses on large employers such as local authorities and children's trusts, overlooking the charities that comprise a significant sector of the workforce.

This paper explores an alternative dispersed model of workforce development that encourages voluntary & community sector children's agencies to share learning and development among volunteers, employees and employers within a learning network created by two children's charities (National Council for Voluntary Child Care Organizations and Barnardo's) and a university (the UK's Open University). This learning network – the Children's Workforce Learning Network (CWLN) – operates through communities of practice, distance learning courses and e-learning.

Employer and student feedback suggests that a learning network developed through a partnership between children's charities and a university can be effective, particularly in meeting the needs of ‘hard to reach’ learners who are not well served by existing provision. However, it also appears that e-learning may not yet be a solution to the barriers to learning often faced by isolated, part-time and volunteer workers.

Nationally, the promotion of interprofessional learning (IPL) at all levels is a key UK Government strategy aimed at improving communication, collaborative working and enhancing quality care for all service users. The development of interagency working through the provision of services for pre-school children and their families within children's centres provides an ideal environment to promote interprofessional learning for pre-registration health and social care students. A partnership project was established to develop new interprofessional practice learning placements for students completing social work and child branch nursing courses within two health and social care communities in a midland county and city in England.

Following information on the aims and objectives of the project, children's centres opted in to participate. The Common Learning Programme North East Model for IPL was adopted as a template for managing the variability in numbers and timings for student placements. Workshops were provided to prepare IPL facilitators; students attended workshops and completed an IPL workbook as part of their learning experience. A total of 14 children's centres participated over the 2 years of the project. An action research framework was used to underpin the collection of evaluation data through questionnaires, telephone interviews and focus groups. All stakeholders were involved in workshop events to action plan for improvements following feedback from evaluations.

All participating centres remained positive and encouraged other centres to participate. Problem areas highlighted and dealt with included the logistics involved in timing student placements; development and use of the IPL workbook; and ensuring enough IPL facilitators. A key factor contributing to the success of Creating Interprofessional Learning Capacity in Children's Centres has been effective partnership working with stakeholders from the higher education institutions, local authorities and the National Health Service. The benefits of IPL in providing students with an opportunity to develop into effective collaborative practitioners was recognised by those involved and resulted in a high level of commitment over the 2 years. Challenges remain and sustainability will always be an issue but gaining the ongoing commitment of all stakeholders within the children's centres themselves has been a key factor in the success of the project.

In the UK, there is rapid and far-reaching policy change designed to provide integrated services to children, young people and their families, linking education, social care, health, youth and community, criminal justice and other professions. Higher education institutions must play a significant role in this process given the large proportion of its graduates who will join the Children's Workforce. In 2007, a University of Sussex team was commissioned by the Higher Education Academy Subject Centres for Social Policy and Social Work; Education; Health Sciences and Practice; Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Science; and Psychology, in collaboration with the Children's Workforce Development Council and the Children's Workforce Network to undertake a Knowledge Review of integrated children's services in higher education. In this paper, the authors explore the policy context for integrated children's services and its interaction with the educational and workforce agenda. They set out the process of the Knowledge Review and examine its findings thematically, drawing on activity theory. They suggest that to advance the integrated children's services agenda in higher education, four crucial issues need to be addressed: stakeholders need to provide a clear-cut business case for investment; universities and regulators must address disciplinary and associated cultural barriers to change at all levels; funders must invest in supporting pilot initiatives and their evaluation; and finally, academics need to find ways to engage and sustain children, young people and their families in the development process.