Developing key capabilities in child care and protection

Abstract

Over the last 20 years, research has questioned how well equipped newly qualified social workers are in relation to child care and protection. Recent inquiries have highlighted that some social workers have not recognised their responsibilities towards children and young people when they encounter them in the course of their duties. In England, Lord Laming's (2009) report The Protection of Children in England, following the death of Peter Connelly in Haringey, recommended a specialist child protection route as part of the social work degree and re-opened the debate about the benefits of specialism versus genericism. In Scotland, when faced with similar challenges, Key Capabilities in Child Care and Protection were introduced to ensure that all social workers at the point of qualifying can evidence their knowledge and skills in relation to child care and protection. This paper describes their development. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.KEY WORDS: key capabilities; child care and protection; qualifying social work programmes; social work education K ey Capabilities in Child Care and Protection (Scottish Executive, 2006a) are a set of requirements which are now embedded in generic qualifying social work programmes in Scotland. Grouped under the four headings of effective communication, knowledge and understanding, professional confidence and competence, and values and ethical practice, Key Capabilities set out the knowledge and skills social workers should learn and develop throughout the course of their training programmes. They run through both campus-based teaching and practice learning opportunities and are assessed at key points in the programmes.Within each of the four headings, there are a range of specific requirements for the student to evidence, which will develop his/ her skills incrementally over the four-year period in the undergraduate programme and over two years within postgraduate routes. We have referred to some examples of these throughout this paper to illustrate this approach.

The Voice of the Child in Child Protection: Whose Voice?

“…In 2007, Luckock, Lefevre and Tanner researched teaching and assessment of social work students with regard to their communication skills with children and young people, noting that there is no guarantee that social work students will have been taught about or assessed in communication skills with children and young people [17]. In Scotland similar findings of an audit of qualifying social work programmes led to the development of a set of Key Capabilities in Child Care and Protection, which have effective communication as one of the four overarching areas of the framework [18]. Vis, Holtan and Thomas cite research by Vis who identified a feeling of insecurity in workers about communicating with children [9].…”

Child Protection and Mental Health

“…This is no longer possible' (Bruce 'These authors highlight the paucity of research in this area' 'CMHT staff could benefit from further training about their professional responsibilities in relation to children' and Whincup, 2012, p. 201). Bruce and Whincup's (2012) paper describes the process of developing the Key Capabilities alongside universities providing social work degrees in Scotland and some of the key themes that emerged from the work. Cognisant of the need for the Key Capabilities not to be detrimental to other service user groups, the paper refers to examples of potential difficulties at the interface between adult mental health and children's services.…”