research information systems & knowledge: the life of a dcs in 2008
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Research Information Systems & Knowledge: The life of a DCS in 2008. Dr Maggie Atkinson Vice President ADCS and DCS for Gateshead. A bounded universe, or infinity? What DCSs do. Every Child Matters 2003, Children Act 2004 National Children’s Plan 2007 - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
ResearchInformationSystems &Knowledge:
The life of a DCS in 2008
Dr Maggie AtkinsonVice President ADCS
andDCS for Gateshead
A bounded universe, or infinity? What DCSs do
Every Child Matters 2003, Children Act 2004
National Children’s Plan 2007
Statutory Guidance: Directors and Lead Members
Act applies to: Every English top tier LA with responsibility
for •Education•Children’s Social Care
Health (Primary & Secondary Care) are in
Early Years to 19, to 25 in care or with disabilities
Youth services (prevention, intervention)
14-19 strategy & delivery,
School planning & commissioning,
Service integration,
Governance & accountability (children’s
trust arrangements)
Second tier LAs: Leisure, Housing, etc
Circle ofintimacy
Mum, Dad, carer,brothers & sisters
others at home
Circle ofexchange
Circle ofparticipation
Circle offriendship
Aunt oruncle
godparent
grandfather
bestfriend
cousin
grandmother
placesof
worship
Peoplein
the park
Parents’friends
other childrenin school
neighbours
classmates
Footballor other sportsclub
scoutsbrownies
guidescadets
Nurses
PoliceAnd support
officers
Firefighters
Nannyor
childminder
shopkeepers
Community wardens
Therapy services
baby sitter
librarian
educationalpsychologist
supportassistant
dinnersupervisor
lollipopperson
Doctorsand health
workers
Teachers,tutors
LeadPractitioner(s)
Outreach workers
Adviser, mentor
EWS
Social worker
Semi-absent step sibling
Neighbourhood Services?
Local authority & statutory agencies
Neighbourhood
Tailored Influenced
Possible neighbourhood services?:
Services that can be tailored or devolved to n’hoods. Service
standards shaped or set by n’hood.
Strategic services:
Services that require central planning, delivery & oversight. Service standards set by LA.
Education
Health
Social services
Recyling
Community safety
Public space & infrastructure
Frontline youth services
Housing management
Waste management
Frontline services delivered at n’hoodlevel & tailored to local needs through partnerships with service providers &
participatory planning.
Mainstream services delivered authority-wide. Scope for local
priorities to be reflected through consultative processes.
Neighbourhood
Services commissioned or delivered by neighbourhoods. Priorities & service standards set through community-led
participatory planning.
N’hoodpolicing
Source: Young Foundation, March 2006
Youth & play facilities
Social care
Health & well-being
Crime
Local transport
Devolved
ParkingCultural services
Road safety
Therapists Nursing Services & Midwives, Health
development Children’s Centres, Early Years Youth and Community learning
Integrated youth support Prevention & early intervention (young
offenders) SEN services
Social Care (C&F) prevention & support Education Welfare, Education Psychology
Tiers 1, 2, early 3, CAMHS
Every school in the area: all
extended schools, relate to core service offer
Joint pledge: no child falls,
fails, languishes or is
passed on
Borough-wide services, “play
into” areas.
Most specialist high level
intervention for children and
young people
Same joint pledge
Area management arrangements, multi-service and multi-agency
Area focused element of Heads of Service work, and links to Area Forums
Area board/mini partnership: writes compacts/area plans contributing to the whole-borough picture of what is planned and intended for children and young people.
Commissioning function backed by strong, differentiated data/knowledge, from all sources.
DCS, Lead Member, Cabinet, Council, Partnership
Maybe:Gateshead children and young people’s services by 2010-2011
Some Joys and Frustrations: SHORT Version!
JOYS: On the ground: “street level bureaucrats” doing
change, shape local policy, bottom up Osmosis: managers & leaders follow, “middle-up-
and-outwards” Workers: find things that unite and don’t divide
them: teams around child/young person/family Preciousness falls away in favour of “getting on with
it” Safeguarding is everybody’s business …… and …… Joy of joys …… So is every other outcome If you’re on my bus, you bought your ticket! Children, young people, families, communities
benefit
Time lags in understanding:
“Duty to cooperate” means what it says “Publish, then pool, your funding” ditto “Co-author your plans” too! “Co-locate in teams round the child” affects
us all Schools are neither monsters, nor
independent states. They are partners. You can’t “just tell them!”
Frustrations Next! Local First…….
Uncommon language, uncommon practice:
What does COMMISSIONING mean?
And PARTNERSHIP?
Is CONFIDENTIAL the same as SECRET?
Do I HELP and EMPOWER you when I intervene?
Or exercise my professional power?
Does what I do improve your life chances?
How do you know?
Who decides?
And National (Government First)
Frenetic, relentless, top-down, sometimes “one-size-fits-all” change: it’s become endemic
Poor ties between research & policymaking, despite policies’ impacts on practice and vice versa
Conflicting targets and plans: Health, differs from Policing, differs from Justice, differs from Schooling, differs from Local Government, differs from …… You get the picture………
Talking to the crew(s) of the Marie Celeste(s)
Talking to the mutineers from the Bounty
Field forces and regulators:
Finding jobs for the boys and girls?
Or helping us find the best practice that will challenge the worst?
Ensuring we have some standards to live by?
Generating premature, unproven orthodoxies?
Communicating with each other to avoid duplication and confusion?
Other: non-Governmental,academic,interdisciplinary
Headline: PRECIOUSNESS, summed up as follows
“Can never get a social worker” (Head)
“Schools just don’t care” (Social Worker)
“When they come they don’t help” (Head)
“When we go they don’t meet thresholds” (Social Worker)
“Not our business” (Every profession)
“Go ahead, integrate your services. Training and research stand by the unified nature of x” (where x is either teaching, or social work!)
“We’ve never done it that way” (most places, most teams)
“We’ve always done it that way” (ditto)
“Ah yes, but it won’t work here.” (ditto)
“What do you expect? Look where they come from”
“Going too fast, this change, Maggie.”
“Going too slowly, this change, Maggie.”
DCSs would share with you:
KNOWLEDGE and our use of it is a thing that sets us apart as humans
Toilers in the field must act on what we know ……
Even when it’s uncomfortable
SYSTEMS we use to help us must:
Interlock to serve each other, AND
Enhance proven, demonstrable outcomes of practice
INFORMATION provides power to make things better
It is not there to safeguard status quo, or
To defend territory you can’t enter, but I can
RISK of things going wrong? It is often less than likelihood that it will!
The change we lead is real, and lasting.
We can be disempowered, or
We can carry on getting on with it
As the eternal optimist DCS I believe:
We are on the right journey here in “Service Land”
Integration is the way forward, even if it’s hard
Maggie the ethnographer considers that
Practice in real places must inform, …… and ……
the evidence derived from it must drive, Both academic research, and policymaking
Dialogues like yours are vital. So………
Here are five hard questions to contribute to it:
What IS “Social Services” please, in 2008?
How does research activity tangibly influence policy and inform its debates?
Where is the voice of your community of research and practice heard?
Where is it acted on?
How do you know?
How will you change your focus, as practice in the field goes on changing?