Do you think there should be a national agency for child protection services? The government is said to be considering an agency in response to the Victoria Climbie inquiry.
Is the current system sound, but not being applied well? What do you think?
Have your say by clicking here and your comments will appear in this section of the website on 2 August.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A recent Have your say asked if social workers had poor literacy and numeracy skills?
These are the comments we received:
"As a senior practitioner and practice teacher in a busy child care team, I have been concerned, shocked, and if I am honest, a little angry about the poor literacy skills I have observed in both qualified staff and students coming on placement to my agency.
The demands placed upon the profession today are immense, and staff must be equipped to meet the challenge. In my experience social work courses are reluctant to accept those concerns that are raised about their students' basic literacy and competency skills, because to do so highlights their poor selection criteria. Nevertheless, I am expected as a practice teacher to negotiate such difficulties, addressing with students problems that I should not have to deal with, and which they should have been made aware of far earlier in the process.
While social work as a profession continues to take an 'anyone welcome' approach to selection and training, it will continue to struggle in the face of demands for increasing professionalism, and those least equipped to cope with it will suffer.
I personally would welcome a far more stringent selection process for those students interested in applying for training courses, as I would in the selection of staff applying for jobs. Perhaps then everyone will get the workers they deserve, and we as professionals will command the respect we already deserve, but rarely receive."
Julie Clark
"I am a registered homes manager for adults with learning disabilities, who has always struggled with poor literacy and numeracy skills. Two years ago I started studying with the open university (OU) for a degree, through the OU I was given the courage to have an assessment for dyslexia. Knowing my problem has helped in a great way, even now being open with people about my needs.
Most people who struggle in this area are possibly dyslexic, but are unaware that this is their problem. Please don't think that younger people are not going to have this problem, teachers are recognising dyslexia, but the government is not funding the extra teaching they require, so the problem will continue. Just because we have a problem expressing ourselves on paper does not mean we cannot gain a professional qualification or be a top tier professional. With the use of computers, we can overcome the problem. As a caring profession, surely help should be offered to these people."
Paulette Hunn
"As a first year social work student with dyslexia, I found that the article about writing reports interesting. I have already come across discrimination on my course from lecturers concerning my dyslexia.
The problem with my dyslexia that it does not stop me writing good reports, but just that I take longer. In addition, my dyslexia does not stop myself from being a capable student, or if I pass, a good social worker in the future. To start to vet people interested in becoming social workers because of their dyslexia could mean that many students might miss the chance of becoming social workers, because their English might not be up to a certain standard.
The writing of good reports should be seen in context of the large caseload that many social workers have to face on a daily basis, and also the growing amount of daily paper work. This amount of work means that many social workers just do not have the time to sit down and write a good report, or even check the English written.
To get good written reports then you must give people the time to write the reports, and this means lower case loads. While writing reports is an important part of the social work skill, it should not be over stated, and used as an excuse to attack social workers who already do a stressful job, without addressing one of the main problems for social workers, that of high case loads."
Anonymous
"Literacy is not the only problem academia needs to address in social work education. I returned to academic study as a mature student in 1996 following 20 years of working in the commercial sector. I took an access to social work course followed by BA in social work, eventually graduating in 2000.
There were a number of individuals including myself on the course that struggled with certain aspects of literacy in particular the correct use of grammar. I understand the need for clear evaluation, concise and accurate recording. However this does not appear to be understood by academia, which seemed to be oblivious to the demands of the profession, lacking any real understanding of the constrictions encountered by individuals working with in it. Therefore academia's obsession with excessively long, overly complicated explanations which are distanced from the reality is of more concern.
We also see a government that is determined to reduce the individuals ability to analyse and evaluate, determining that all education must be prescriptive. Consequently it denies the individual freedom of thought the ability to question or challenge making the whole process a much diluted experience. I do not feel that this particular issue is associated just with social work courses but indicative of problems with our university education system."
Simon Barrett
Carlisle, Cumbria
"Your otherwise excellent article on the poor standards of literacy among some social workers, could have mentioned the apparent unwillingness of some academic institutions to refuse to award students their professional qualification, even when they fail, sometimes spectacularly, to pass a practice placement. Problems with literacy often being a factor in the practice teacher's assessment that the individual is unsuitable."
Dr Vic Tuck
"This is a debate which has been raging within social services for sometime. It is assumed (as noted in your article) that only a small number of social workers working within any given authority at any one time, have problems with numeracy and literacy. I think if departments were to be inspected as to the proficiency of their staff to understand, disseminate and present complex information and data regarding their clients, I have an inkling that the profession as a whole would be somewhat surprised by the poor results, which would be wider spread than is currently believed to be the case.
In a culture of performance management, this is far from satisfactory. All within social work are well aware of the penalties of poor performance. If practitioners have difficulties in comprehending what is required regarding statutory returns and measuring performance and are unable to assist accurate data collection - it is obviously the worse for their departments.
As a practitioner myself, I am well aware that competency within social work does not rest solely upon literacy and numeracy skills. However, as with many other professions, these skills are amongst those which form the foundations of the profession, and upon which competent practice is built. It is inferred that if literacy and numeracy are problematic, then the ability to interpret key legislation and policy regarding social work, education, housing and health will also be problematic.
More importantly, service users themselves are failed by the inability of some practitioners to present their problems or difficulties to other professionals. Is it little wonder then, that some practitioners feel intimidated by medical or educational professionals who are more erudite and articulate in expressing their own views both verbally and in written form.
I welcome the introduction of a qualifying threshold for entry to the new three-year degree course. I also welcome the extension of time spent in practice placements prior to qualification. I am hoping that these reforms will make a substantive difference to the quality of candidates entering the profession, thereby improving the quality of services for users."
K Neill
Children's Planning and Information Officer