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Issue 1: February 2009

News in brief

Integrated Working Conferences
A trio of successful integrated working conferences were held across the country in December 2008. The events, in Leeds, London and Birmingham, were open to all members of the workforce, ranging from directors of children's services to third sector workers, with the aim of increasing knowledge of available integrated working tools and guidance.

This is the third year the conferences have taken place, and highlights of the day included case studies bought to life by a group of young actors, as well as an interactive panel answering questions from the floor.

Those who attended were also given the opportunity to feedback their views on the progress of integrated working, and the support available to implement it.
The presentations from the events are now available to download here. 

A full conference report will be available early in 2009.

Joining forces
CWDC has launched a new publication featuring a series of integrated working case studies funded by our Occupational Group Fund (OGF) scheme.

Copies of Joining Forces  will be sent to all those organisations who have received OGF funding, as well as a selection of partner agencies, such as Children England. 

The document is also available to download from our website.

Progress towards Integrated Working 2007-2008
The second annual evaluation of progress towards implementing integrated working is now available. The self-assessment evaluation shows a real move from piloting integrated working towards systematic implementation across local areas.  89% of strategic leads reported substantial or tremendous progress in implementing integrated working in the 12 months leading up to June 2008.

The full report, a regional and local breakdown of results and sub-sector reports are available to download here.

Making it happen: The Children’s Plan and you
What does a 21st Century school look like? How can we work better together for children and families? How do we make a reality of the Every Child Matters vision? What difference would a school report card make?

Join the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) at one of their regional events, to have your say about how we realise the Children's Plan ambition of making England the best place in the world for children to grow up.

At these events you and others who work closely with children and young people will help DCSF to think about how they should re-shape our education system, to ensure it prepares every young person to make a success of their life. DCSF want your views on how, in the 21st Century, they should go further by responding to the full range of needs of children and young people; becoming more outward-facing and acting as a resource for families and the wider community.

Please register here.
 

Welcome

Welcome to issue 1 of CWDC News for 2009. I hope the year so far has been a success for you and your workforce and that it continues to be prosper. 

At CWDC we have one goal: "to create a world-class workforce for children, young people and families". 

In order to help achieve this, we are rolling out a range of support for social workers which includes a three year pilot programme to provide essential support for social workers in their first year of employment. I am delighted to say that this year, we have just over 1000 Newly Qualified Social Workers across the country who are taking part in this programme, and the feedback so far has been very positive. I am very grateful for the support you have given this programme.

Over the last few months we have been working on our business plan for next year and have continued our involvement with children and young people in the development of the plan. Our ‘Get Involved – Consultation Events’ which took place in October and November 2008, consisted of three one-day events for children and young people in Manchester, Birmingham and London. The key message was ‘making sure children and young people stay safe’ and here are just a few comments our young visitors had to say:

“Glad to see children and young people with a disability being considered”

“Thank you I had an ace day, it was nice to be called a young person rather than a kid !”

“You should definitely do more conferences/consultations like this because although we’ve developed ideas which will help you, we do not represent every youth”

Finally, the date of CWDC’s annual general meeting is Tuesday 2 July - this is the same day as the first regional conference which will be highlighting the 2020 Children and Young People Workforce Strategy, if you wish to join us then our website will have more details very soon.

As ever, we are always keen to hear from your views on the work we’re doing so please get in touch.


Jane Haywood
CWDC Chief Executive

CWDC welcomes vision for children and young people's workforce

CWDC welcomes the Government's 2020 Children and Young People's Workforce Strategy.

The Strategy covers all parts of the children's workforce as well as recognising the need for further integration.

Find out more.

Early Years Professional Status (EYPS) - ball pool road show

CWDC took its recruitment campaign for EYPS out on the road in late 2008, with a series of live recruitment events at shopping centres across the country, to bring to life the magic of interacting with children, and to grab shopper’s attention providing a hook to talk about EYPS.

Find out more.

Help us create a databank for stakeholder views

CWDC is appealing for help to create two separate databanks that will record what parents and carers and children and young people think about the workforce.

Both databases will create an information bank of existing research to avoid duplication of work. The resources will also help to identify gaps in consultations with these key stakeholders, as well as shape future children's workforce research and policy development.

Find out more.

World Social Work Day 2009

17 March 2009 is World Social Work Day 2009. A day of major events is being planned to recognise and celebrate the essential contribution of social work, identify the international context of social work practice and explore the varied and evolving role of social work in a changing world.

Find out more.

Children's Workforce Network (CWN) functional map

On behalf of the Children’s Workforce Network (CWN), the Integrated Qualifications Framework (IQF) team have recently completed a project to develop a functional map for the children and young people’s workforce.

The functional map defines the shared, high-level functions which are applicable to all the children’s workforce sectors.

It shows the activities that are carried out by people when they work with children and young people and is based on the Common Core. 

Find out more.

Children England / CWDC Conference - 10 March 2009, Leeds

In Partnership with CWDC, Children England are pleased to present their third annual free conference which will explore the current and major issues in workforce development today.

The theme of the conference ‘What research tells us about Workforce Development’ will address areas such as:

  • What is working?
  • Are we meeting the challenges of the 21st century?
  • How can we develop our workforce to improve outcomes for children, young people and their families?

Find out more.

Parents demand more male childcare workers

Parents in England are calling for more males to work in early years settings - and single mothers are leading the charge to ensure their children have contact with men in caring roles.

According to research conducted by CWDC, 55 per cent of parents say they want a male childcare worker for their nursery-aged children, with two thirds (66 per cent) of lone parent mothers saying they would like a man involved in the care and development of their young children.

Find out more.

Developing the Childcare Workforce 2009

CWDC is delighted that Jane Haywood Chief Executive is chairing the 2009 'Developing the Childcare Workforce' conference, taking place on Tuesday 31 March in London.

In its fifth year, this policy review conference, supported by CWDC and National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), brings together senior practitioners, politicians and commentators to discuss the future of the early years and childcare workforce.

Find out more.