News

President of the Association of Directors of Social Services, Mike Leadbetter, has been appointed as head of the practice learning taskforce.

The taskforce has been set up to meet the demand for more practice training in the new social work degree and will start work in September this year, hosted by training organisation TOPSS England.

As director of the taskforce Leadbetter will be supported by a project manager and nine practice learning change agents. These posts are currently being advertised.

The taskforce will be supported by a range of other initiatives by the department of health which include monitoring the provision of practice learning through performance indicators, a review of the funding mechanisms for practice learning and the production of guidance materials, including e-learning.

Leadbetter, who is director of social services at Essex, said: "We will take a creative and radical look at how we fund, support and develop learning opportunities for social workers.

"The importance of embedding social work training within a learning organisation and promoting continuous professional development will also be part of our task," he added.