ICSEI 2009

3P Network Symposium

Developing services for children, young people and families: Building locality capacity for integrated working

Presenters:
Anton Florek. Virtual Staff College, UK.(Chair)
Gerard van den Hoven. APS, Netherlands.
Boudewijn A.M. van Velzen. APS, Netherlands
Coleen Jackson. Chichester University, UK  

This symposium will aim to provide the opportunity for policy makers, politicians, administrators and practitioners to share current challenges facing leaders and managers of locality services for children and young people. In particular, the symposium presentations from a variety of countries will describe individual initiatives which are aimed at increasing the organisational capacity of the “local authority” to challenge and support schools, create new and innovative local partnerships and, through these, seek to provide an integrated approach to service delivery for children young people and families.

The presentations from England and Wales will, collectively, describe a number of national and local initiatives aimed at increasing capacity at strategic and operational level through the professional development of leaders and managers of services for children, young people and families. 

Supporting existing leaders through peer coaching, peer mentoring, action learning sets, a Leadership Academy, Management Summer Schools and job shadowing schemes are examples of possible solutions to building individual and collective capacity within locality arrangements. These will be considered in detail during the symposium as examples of how cross agency reflective practice can become the vehicle for changing mindsets, culture and practice.

The presentation from the Netherlands will inform participants about the National policy “Tailor made education for each and every child in The Netherlands” and will focus especially on the preparatory pilots at local and regional level. What can we learn from pilots focused on Restructuring the provisions and arrangements (are we going to make the structures meet the criteria of the new regulations and by doing so refine the selection mechanisms in the system) and the pilots focused on Reform (are we going to focus on a mind shift among teachers, principals, school boards, inspectorate, parents, etc). The challenges at school level, community level and regional level will be presented from two perspectives: The necessity for schools to mobilize experts to prepare schools and teachers to offer support & care to students with special needs and the need to create alliances and cooperatives in the region with institutions in other sectors (e.g. health, welfare, housing, police, business). Moreover: will teaching meet individual learning needs.

Through the case studies and an interactive presentation style it is hoped to engage participants in discussion and comparative dialogue in order for them to consider the implications of the developments outlined during the two symposium sessions for their own organisational and professional practice, and to reflect on the possible future needs of professionals working in similar positions in their own countries.