by Helen Bonnick
Children and families would be better served if teachers and social care staff at school could overcome their mutual suspicion
I have worked for 15 years in school-based roles and before that 10 years as a community-based social worker. I consider myself reasonably qualified to comment on the oft-raised problem of communication between the two fields of work.
The disheartening fact is that over the past 25 years you could be forgiven for thinking that there had been little progress. Latest findings from a Guardian rolling survey show that 56% of head teachers reported poor communication with social services: difficulties in navigating a differently-structured organisation appeared to be crucial along with the issue of speaking to a named caseworker.
I would suggest that a survey of social workers and managers might reveal similar findings - teachers who don't respond to calls, messages that go astray, people not attending vital meetings. Unless we can tackle these basic issues we will continue to fail children and young people.
Engage key figures
Head teachers in the survey acknowledged the need to engage with the key figures in a child's life to ensure good progress - and this must be judged in emotional and social terms as well as academic - and to support children and their families more.
The placing of social workers in schools must go some way to improving the situation. In the teacher, social workers get access to a member of staff who knows the child well, someone who is easy to contact and get to know a face. Social workers, along with family workers and parent support advisers, can relieve already overstretched teachers of roles for which they recognise they are poorly trained and for which they struggle to find time. The increasing employment of these workers should be encouraged and adequately funded.
Nevertheless, for schools and social services to truly work in partnership, there needs to be more than a requirement to do so. These institutions appear to be striving for the same purposes and ideals but have different training, knowledge bases, priorities and, crucially, thresholds.
Until people train together, genuinely build relationships - drink tea together - they cannot be expected to get beyond the deeply held assumptions, suspicions and prejudices. Yes, it is time-consuming on both sides, but it may save time in the long run. So get out there and get to know each other!
Helen Bonnick is a supervisor of school-home support workers and a social worker
Related article
Leave a comment