Social Pedagogy in Residential Care: A Case Study of Curriculum Design for a Programme of Continuous Professional Development

Author(s):

Cristina Devecchi(submitting)Wendy Bannerman(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

05. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

05 SES 12, Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-05

09:00-10:30

Room:

B017 Anfiteatro

Chair:

Lia Blaton

Contribution

In 2012 an evaluation of the care approach of an English local authority children’s home in the East Midlands was completed (Bannerman, 2012a). The evaluation, prompted by the children’s home manager, suggested that change is required, as advocated by Clough et al (2006 in Smith, 2009), to develop leadership, agreement of objectives across the staff team and a culture which is focussed on the care of the young people. The case study then is concerned with the design of a curriculum for a programme of continuous professional development for residential care workers. Social pedagogy is the theoretical framework on which the learning and development for managers and residential care workers is to be based to enhance the quality of care. The evidence of success of a social pedagogic approach in residential care is demonstrated by outcomes in Denmark and Germany and the findings of the pilot conducted by Cameron et al (2011) as well as wider literature, present persuasive arguments.

Berridge et al (2010:4) concede that residential care has become ‘a second-best option’ with little recognition that it can be the best option for some young people; Colton and Roberts (2006:135) go further, stating that residential care is perceived ‘as a placement of last resort’, a sentiment echoed by others (Houston, 2010; Smith, 2005). The Children’s Homes National Minimum Standards issued under s.23 Care Standards Act 2000 and underpinned by regulations, provide that existing care staff in England are required to have attained a level 3 qualification in a related field and staff employed after April 2011 must hold a Children and Young People’s Workforce Diploma which is at level 3, up to 65 credits (Standard 18.5). Managers of children’s homes must attain a level 4 minimum (DfE, 2012) and staff can progress to a level 5 Diploma to develop leadership skills. Davidson (2010) criticised the minimal qualifications required of residential care workers considering the complexity and challenges of the environment.

The experience of designing a programme of continuous professional development at higher education level to meet the specific needs of the children’s home and to create a sustainable model is explored in this paper. Curriculum in higher education has, according to Barnett and Coate (2005), become more about developing skills and delivering on employability rather than a vehicle to enable critical thinking and self-actualisation. When developing a vocationally based course in higher education there is the additional issue that work based learning can be viewed as inferior to purely academic programmes.

Therefore, the challenge presented was to create a continuous professional development programme to raise the professional status of residential care and address the specific needs of the children’s home to enhance the care experience of the young people, whilst promoting the academic rigour of practice based learning and designing a programme for wider utilisation. The case study questions therefore were:

What is the process of developing CPD in a work based learning context?
Building on the foundations of the evaluation, what do managers, staff and academics including the researcher agree the content of the programme should be?
How can the bespoke CPD programme be marketable, feasible and transferable to other similar contexts and settings for sustainability?

Method

The research paradigm was an interpretive approach (Cohen et al, 2011) because the study was interested in the experiences of those involved in the study appreciating their perhaps different perspectives and valuing them. The case study evolved in response to the needs of the institutions and individuals involved. This naturalistic approach is a method where research is allowed to develop without the limitations of a predetermined structure and where qualitative data is sought to build a shared understanding of the needs and capabilities of those involved (Patton, 1986). The case study was intended to scaffold the CPD programme pilot but also establish a model with potential for wider application. Saxe and Fine (1981) warn that social experiments which are conducted in isolation, namely without a comparison, are likely to yield inconclusive results. However, the nature of a case study is that it is focussed on an individual or group. The dilemma is that the CPD programme, whilst tailored for residential child care in a specific setting, must be a marketable and viable product. This case study requires the active participation rather than passive observation of key stakeholders namely the managers, residential care workers and young people and to a great extent the academics; intervention is usually associated with empirical studies however in this context it relates to the co-creation of knowledge (Langemeyer and Nissen, 2011). A pair interview (Newby, 2010) was held between the researcher, registered manager and deputy manager. This purposive sampling was required here to gain insight from those who are in a position of authority in the setting and who are championing a change in practice (Cohen et al, 2011). This follows on from the semi-structured interviews which were conducted with each manager for the evaluation (Bannerman, 2012a). A focus group was held with staff and managers to discuss and develop a shared understanding of the content of the CPD programme on social pedagogy. From a political context the discussion will be about the variance in attitude and understanding about the CPD programme. In practical terms, the focus group was used to refine the content of the programme pooled in the pair interview with managers. Semi-structured interviews with academics were conducted to understand whether and how the content of the CPD programme could be adapted, delivered and assessed to meet the practical and academic requirements, and to establish the resource implications of both preparation and implementation.

Expected Outcomes

Not enough is known about the market beyond the pilot cohort, numbers or market segments; the cost and price per learner for the pilot and future cohorts are unconfirmed; the time that learners will be expected to spend on study out of work time or their own is as yet undefined. The case study has created a virtual cross-discipline academic team however, to integrate the curriculum, the team members need to meet together, forming another learning community within the project and sharing responsibility for activities for learners such as critical reflection. Having created a level 4 programme, it should be explored whether the work based learning model could be applied at higher levels. Leadership in residential care is integral to the success of the care provided to the young people (Colton and Roberts, 2007; Davidson, 2010; Hicks et al, 2009) and strong management to justify raising standards above the minimum requirements is essential (Houston, 2010.) A priority is to re-engage the young people in the next stage of the process to ensure that social pedagogy remains the vision and the programme does become a mechanical, process driven system but that systemic change can be achieved.

References

Boud and Soloman, N. (eds.) Work based learning: a new higher education? Buckingham: Open University Press Cameron, C., Petrie, P., Wigfall, V., Kleipoedszuz, S. and Jasper, A. (2011) Final report of the social pedagogy pilot: development and implementation London: Thomas Coram Research Unit Cameron, R.J. (S.) and Maginn, C. (2009) Achieving positive outcomes for children in care. London: Sage Cohen, L., Manion, L. and Morrison, K. (2011) Research methods in education 7th ed. London: Routledge Colton, M. and Roberts, S. (2007) Factors that contribute to high turnover among residential child care staff. Child and Family Social Work. 12 133-142 Cousee, F., Bradt, L., Roose, R. and Bouverne-De Bie, M. (2010) The emerging social pedagogical paradigm in UK child and youth care: deus ex machina or walking the beaten path? British Journal of Social Work 40, 789-805 Davidson, J.C. (2010) Residential care for children and young people: priority areas for change. Child Abuse Review. 19 405-422 DfE (2012) Report of the expert group on the quality of children’s homes. [online] Available from: http://www.education.gov.uk/a00224323/quality-child-homes-report Accessed 20.01.2013 Gharabaghi, K., and Grosleg, R. (2010) A social pedagogy approach to residential care: balancing education and placement in the development of an innovative child welfare residential program in Ontario, Canada. Child Welfare. 89 (2) 97-115 Hicks, L., Gibbs, I., Weatherly, H. and Byford, S. (2009) Management, leadership and resources in children’s homes: what influences outcomes in residential child-care settings? British Journal of Social Work. 39 828-845 Houston, S. (2010) Building resilience in a children’s home: results from an action research project. Child and Family Social Work. 15 357-368 Langemeyer and Nissen (2011) Activity theory.In: Somekh, B. and Lewin, C. (ed.s) Theory and methods in social research. 2nd ed. London: Sage pp 182-189 Murray, R., Caulier-Grice, J. and Mulgan, G. (2010) The open book of social innovation. s.l. :NESTA/Young Foundation Patton, M.Q. (1986) Utilization-focused evaluation. 2nd ed. London: Sage Saxe, L. and Fine, M. (1981) Social experiments: methods for design and evaluation. London: Sage Smith, M. (2009) Rethinking residential child care: positive perspectives. Bristol: Policy Press Vrouwenfelder, E., Milligan, I. and Merrell, M. (2012) Social pedagogy and inter-professional practice. Glasgow: Centre for Excellence for looked after children in Scotland (CELCIS), University of Strathclyde

Author Information

Cristina Devecchi (submitting)

University of Northampton, United Kingdom

Wendy Bannerman (presenting)

University of Northampton

Education/Social Sciences

Northampton

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