Children’s workforce research

Children’s workforce research
Gemma Deakin and Graham Kelly, BMRB
Social Research

The Every Child Matters green paper was published in 2003. It recommended an overhaul of services to children and young people with the aim of supporting every child, whatever their background.

To achieve this, it promised that organisations involved with providing services would be teaming up in new ways, sharing information and working together. However, the latest research reveals that not everyone working with children is fully aware of Every Child Matters and its implications.

The researchers questioned workers in 26 job types involved in delivering services for children and young people. Although almost four out of fi ve of them were aware of Every Child Matters, more than half felt they did not know enough about it in terms of doing their job. Only one third of those questioned had attended formal training meetings.

Findings indicate that relevant workers are interested in the green paper, but that information needs to be clear and targeted at a wide audience.

Nonetheless, a quarter of respondents thought that Every Child Matters would make a great deal of difference to their job. Opinion was evenly split as to whether it would increase the number of referrals to particular services.

The study found that services are considered a little more joined up than a year ago, with most believing that the Every Child Matters agenda will provide some improvement in outcomes for children and young people.