Spider Diagram Showing Integrated Working - Essay Example

Spider Diagram Showing Integrated Working s Integrated Working Integrated services is described by Soan and Lee (2010, p. 18) as the coordinated delivery of education, health, and social services in way that is designed to enhance the quality of life for families as well as individuals. The spider diagram comprised of professional/practitioners who work all the time on the same site found in the orange region. They were the majority and comprised of: teachers including child protection, head of faculty, Student Leadership Team (SLT), Special Education Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO), and learning manager; teaching assistants include cover supervisor, literacy, head of year, behaviour team, and foundation learning; technician; librarian; parent liaison officer; cleaners; redcoats; playground assistant; police; and finally office staff, such as, finance, attendance officer, first aid, human resource, premises manager, and exam coordinators. Professionals/practitioners who work on the site regularly on the spider diagram is coloured green and include behaviour consultants, social workers, extended school, occupational therapist, first language assessor, mentors, speech and language, business mentors, volunteers, educational psychologist, sports couch, career advisors, and parent classes attendants. Professionals who visit from time to time are in the blue on the spider diagram and include the school governor and ofted. The impact on my understanding of integrated working Through the formation process of the spider diagram, I was able to note that integrated working is at the core of making a significant difference to the lives of young people, children, together with their families. Integrated working comprises of everyone who works with children as well as young people either part-time or full-time. They can be permanently employed, self-employed, or just working on voluntary basis. In the same way, I was able to note that effective school-linked services need to be family oriented. This implies that it needs to be responsive to the needs of the child in the context of the family as well as the community. My spider diagram was more comprehensible and flexible in meeting the unique requirements of the family together with the child. I was happy when one of my colleagues evaluated my spider diagram and reported that it was more decentralised in relation to placing decision-making authority within the community. Besides that, the integrated services were more outcome-focused by trying to gauge success by measuring the progresses of the children in school along with the capability of the school to assist the children succeed. Seeing how the spider diagram was interlinked, I agreed with a views shared by the SENCO and child protection officer that integrated working can only be attained by means of coordination along with collaboration at all levels, and across all services. This was evident from the professional/practitioners who work all the time on the same site, to those who work on the site regularly, to those who visit from time to time. It also came to my knowledge that the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is shared assessment and planning framework that is used in the whole of England in all children’s services centres. The framework is aimed at assisting early determination of children combined with young people’s additional needs to enhance co-ordinated service provision to meet them. After looking through the spider diagram, my colleagues did suggest to make amendments on the spider diagram to be more prevention-oriented by focusing on the developmental services and those services that identify problems early, support families when they look for assistance, and try to find to solutions to crises. It came to my knowledge that the diagram needs should provide students with the opportunity to pursue meaningful post school outcomes. I also found that integrated teams are operational teams of practitioners from various professions who work together daily, under one roof. Reflection After checking the diagram with two colleagues, I was able to see that they agreed with you. I was okay with the child protection officer’s pinion since he was an active listener and observant. Active listening improves communication and mutual understanding. He keenly looked at my spider diagram and by nodding his head I was quite sure he was satisfied with what he was seeing. The practitioner was patient and did have time for me as went through the diagram step-by-step evaluating all components of integrated working in the school setting. What captivated me most was his opening statement when he said, “Great job, this is a masterpiece.” He told me that my spider diagram demonstrated all elements of integrated working by incorporating everyone who supports children and young people and work together in order to meet the needs of the children and enhance their lives in school environment. In this perspective, I believed what he told me about the relationship between my spider diagram and that integrated working since there is a lot of literature that also support such arguments. He stressed his point by use of gestures and body language. Integrated working Drawing on my discussions with colleagues and from my own experience, I identified the individuals who do most integrated working and those who do the least. The people who do a large share of integrated working are those found on the orange region of the spider diagram. On the other hand, the people who the least of integrated working are found on the blue region of the spider diagram. The school governor and the ofted rarely meet the pupils and parents. That is why they need work with other professionals to foster collaboration and information sharing. The people who do most of the integrated working view it as a positive model of working. The thought of integrated working gives them a comforting feeling of collaboration, togetherness, and sharing of the workload. As a consequence, it can lead to positive and effective outcomes. From the spider diagram they comprise of the following: teachers including child protection, head of faculty, SLT, SENCO, and learning manager; Teaching assistants including cover supervisor, literacy, head of year, behaviour team, and foundation learning; technician; librarian; parent liaison officer; cleaners; redcoats; playground assistant; police; and finally office staff, such as, finance, attendance officer, first aid, human resource, premises manager, and exam coordinators. Teachers are core to a student’s development. Studies have indicated that children aged 5 to 18 years spend most of their time with teachers as compared to anybody else. An inspired and informed teacher is the most crucial school-related factor that influences student achievement. Teachers also create a supportive environment. Teachers are also tasked with correcting and disciplining students for unsuitable behaviours. Teachers ensure that the needs of the students are met adequately. For instance, a SENCO is responsible for the day-to-day co-ordination for pupils with special education needs, and liaise with parents, teachers, and other professionals involved with them. In the same way, the child protection officer’s role is to refer cases of suspected abuse against any member of staff to the relevant investigation agencies and liaise with the school and inform her or her regarding the progress of any investigation. Besides, they also: make sure that suitable support is given to the children subject to Child Protection Plans; serve as a source of advice and support, as well as expertise when making decisions on referrals by liaising with relevant agencies; making sure that the establishments of child protection policy are reviewed and updated every year and work with the governing body; keeping accurate, detailed and secure written record for the referrals. The other group of professionals who have constant contact with pupils and their parents is the office staff. They are usually responsible for the administrative duties of the school. This implies that they are in constant contact with the parents and students. They also provide crucial back-up services for the entire school. Some of these professionals are passionate about developing the educational opportunities of children and youth. The behaviour team is tasked with examining the behaviour of the students. They offer effective services to assist children as well as youth succeed socially, psychologically, academically, and behaviourally. The availability of mental services in the school is very vital to the well-being of the children. The behaviour team provide direct mental services and educational advice for students, as well as work with parents or guardians, educators, and other professionals to come up with a supportive social and learning environment for all the children. According to Barth (2009, p.67), the behaviour team apply their knowledge of both education and psychology during collaboration and consultation. The school psychologists incorporate knowledge a together with professional skills across the ten highly interrelated domains. Behavioural programs that promote socio-emotional skills are very crucial in secondary schools. Technicians ensure that the children are assisted to acquire technical skills. This is because technicians are generally better equipped with technique as compared to the general professionals in that field of technology. Most children are in constant contact with the librarian. They assist both students and other professionals to access information for professional and personal use. Librarians are always enthusiastic about the significance of information and knowledge. The parent liaison officer is usually available to speak to parents regarding any issue about the school, family, their child, or any other personal issue. When the liaison officer cannot help someone she usually refers the client to a professional who can. Cleaners ensure that the environment which the pupils and other professionals are in is clean and habitable. The playground assistants ensure the pupils can engage in co-curricular activities in an effective way. They usually monitor the children and the youth while playing in the field. Finally, the police as law enforcement agents ensure that the safety of the school, parents, and students is guaranteed. Aspects of integrated working The first thing that worked well in my setting is that by combining professional experience, knowledge, and skills, and engaging the child as well the family throughout, one can be able to identify needs earlier and deliver a co-ordinated package. This co-ordinated package is based on the child or youth, and assists in securing better outcomes for them. The parents were also very supportive since they appreciated the accessibility of a wide range of professional support along with guidance all under one roof. Parents reported gains in their parenting skills in addition to enjoyment of their children. Even the children with special education needs gained from the integrated working at the school. Integrated working makes the pupils and youth be more confident, and develop better language, communication and social skills. Information sharing is crucial for early intervention to make sure that the children and youth receive the services they need. Information sharing is vital for safeguarding in addition to protecting the peoples; welfare and for offering co-ordinated efficient services based on the individual’s or family’s needs. I noted that practitioners need to appropriately and confidently share information as part of their daily practice. In integrated working lead professionals take the lead to in co-ordinating the provision of integrated services and usually serve as a sole point of contact for the child or youth and their family. The role of the lead professional in integrated children’s services is a very crucial element. It also came to my knowledge that multi-agency working enables various services to come together so as to prevent problems from occurring. Multi-agency working is considered as an effective way of supporting children, youth and their families with additional wants and aids them to secure improved results. There are various positive benefits for practitioners associated with integrated working: increased knowledge and understanding of their professional duties, families’ needs, and the availability of services in a wide range of sectors and agencies; improved enjoyment as well as well-being of their working lives; earlier identification of need; and more opportunities for acquiring skills, and personal and career development; and enhanced communication. What does not work well with me is that integrated working results to an increase in workload. Soan and Lee (2010) claim that integrated working also leads to confusion regarding professional identity, and the risk of some professionals being marginalised. In this perspective, most staff members were keen to promote the specialist nature of their work. For example, the head of year and head of faculty when working together there seems to be a confusion of who is responsible in overall decision making. Following this further, integrated working did not well for me because greater clarification was needed with regard to the basic roles and responsibilities to be undertaken by each professional. The other thing that did not work well with me is that integrated working consumes a lot of time to attain outcomes. Additionally, integrated working involves numerous influences that comprises of individual child and family traits, and contextual factors, thus making it difficult to establish a causal link. About improvements, the workers need to move across the professional boundaries under the supervision of others with greater relevance with a particular environment. Besides, the other thing that needs to be improved is leadership and management. Integrated working requires clear and ongoing management and leadership. This can be improved by adopting common service delivery tools, models, and processes. Management focuses on order and consistency and involves planning, organising, and controlling. On the other hand, leadership entails establishment of direction by creating a vision and setting strategies, aligning people, and motivating and inspiring. References Barth, R. (2009). Improving Schools from Within. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass. Soan, S., & Lee, C. (2010). Improving Outcomes for Looked After Children: A practical guide to raising aspirations and achievement. London: Optimus Education Books. . Read More