Early Professional Development Pilot Programme (First cohort 2009 to 2011)
Final Evaluation Report
The Early Professional Development (EPD) programme was launched by the Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) in September 2009 following consultation with employers and staff from 45 organisations in England which provided child and family social work services. It was planned to build on the Newly Qualified Social Worker (NQSW) programme by enabling employers to continue to support social workers in their second and third years of employment.
The aims of the EPD programme were to:
- improve the recruitment and retention of child and family social workers;
- improve training and development opportunities for social workers working with children and families during their second and third years of employment;
- improve social workers’ practice;
- promote and improve effective supervision.
These aims were to be achieved through the provision of:
- dedicated time for the professional development and supervision of participants in the EPD programme;
- outcome statements suited to a second and third year social worker;
- supporting materials for participants in the EPD programme;
- supporting materials and comprehensive training for supervisors and programme coordinators.
The EPD programme was designed with a similar overall structure to the NQSW programme. It was based on a set of outcome statements, reflecting the skills which are expected to be achieved by the end of the third year of employment for full time social workers. These outcome statements made clear that in the second and third years, child and family social workers need to develop their skills in greater depth and become more autonomous and confident. Social workers on the programme were expected to take greater responsibility for their own professional development through reflective practice, identifying and using learning and development opportunities and research.
This report concerns the implementation of the EPD pilot programme (2009-11). It assesses the extent to which it achieved its objectives with the first cohort of social workers. In practice, because of the simultaneous demands of the second year of the NQSW programme and because not all NQSWs on the first programme had completed the requirements, the EPD programme had a staggered start. Over 500 participants were registered by CWDC in two phases, before 1st December 2009 and between 1st December 2009 and 28th February 2010.
The report includes a summary of the policy and practice context; summative findings on participation in the programme, its implementation and the outcomes for participating social workers; a set of case and organisational studies to show how the programme was implemented in different organisations; and a thematic analysis of the findings concerning key elements of the programme: implementation and impact, supervision, assessing outcomes and evidencing achievement, and retention.
Published : 30th November -0001
Author : James Blewett, John Carpenter, Carole Haines, Hugh McLaughlin, Demi Patsios, Dr. Dendy Platt, Helen Scholar, Steven M. Shardlow, Carmen Wong & Marsha Wood [ More From This Author ]
Commissioner : Department for Education [ More From This Commissioner ]
Rights : University of Bristol, University of Salford & King's College, London
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