Department for Education developing advanced child protection practice and social work leadership development programmes for statutory children’s social workers.
Two government training schemes for experienced children’s social workers will launch next year, the Department for Education has confirmed.
The DfE is developing programmes covering advanced child protection practice and social work leadership, which will be targeted at social workers in statutory services.
The programme will follow on from the two-year early career development programme (ECDP), which will also launch next year and be targeted at newly qualified social workers (NQSWs) in statutory children’s services.
The DfE announced the schemes in its recent response to its consultation on the ECDP and the accompanying early career standards (ECS), against which NQSWs will be judged after completing the two-year programme.
Lead child protection practitioner role
The advanced child protection is geared towards social workers taking on the lead child protection practitioner (LCPP) role, which forms part of the new multi-agency child protection teams (MACPTs) being established as part of DfE social care reforms.
LCPPs’ roles include leading investigations, chairing child protection conferences – roles that have hitherto been separate – and making case decisions, in tandem with their health, police and education colleagues in MACPTs.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which will soon become law, will place safeguarding partners – councils, NHS integrated care boards and police chiefs – under a duty to create at least one MACPT in their areas.
Regulations under the bill will set out the skills and experience required of LCPPs, but it is not clear at this stage whether completing the DfE’s advanced child protection practice course will be a prerequisite for undertaking the role.
Priorities for specialist training in children’s social work
In its consultation, the DfE asked respondents which of a list of areas should be considered for specialist training for children’s social workers who have completed the ECDP.
Of 103 respondents, 72% chose each of the following: practice education, management and leadership skills, child mental health and court skills.
On the back of the response, the DfE said it would launch a leadership programme, for practitioners moving into senior roles, alongside the advanced child protection practice scheme.
“We are developing the detail of how these programmes will be delivered, including funding and assessment, with implementation planned for 2027,” it added.
Axed social work leadership scheme
The DfE funded social work charity Frontline to deliver a leadership training programme, Pathways, from 2022-24, but then axed it on budgetary grounds.
Pathways provided training at four levels – practice supervisor, middle manager, head of service and assistant director – and it is not clear whether the new DfE programme will replicate this model or be differently focused.
The department already funds training for new and aspiring directors of children’s services, delivered by a consortium headed by leadership development body the Staff College.
Source: Community Care, Mithran Samuel
