The modernisation agenda that was initiated in public policy by the New Labour government in 1977 gave powerful impetus to concepts of earlier governments of collaboration and partnership working, at this time there was said to be wall-like divisions between professions and agencies that obstructed cooperation (Sloper, 2004). However, today when looking at social work collaboration these walls seem to have been brought down as recent statistics show that most commonly, child protection referrals made to social services are received from multiple agencies with 26.4% from the police, 15.4% from schools and 14.9% from health services (Department for Education, 2015), these statistics also show that the collaboration between schools and social
…show more content…
As some argue childhood is more than simply a biological stage of development (James and Prout, 2015). Instead it could be viewed as a social category that we have created based on attitudes and beliefs of a particular society, and therefore it seems inconceivable to us that the protection of children would not be a fundamental value in all societies (James and James, 2014., Hays, 1996). The implication of social construction in relation to inter-agency collaboration is that both social forces, and discourses, shape the definition of the problem. Therefore, this causes difficulties in inter-agency collaboration, as different professions would construct their service users within separate discourses. Regardless of this, in today’s society children are viewed differently to adults and are seen to be in need of support and protection. Which has led to society putting provisions in place to put the interests of the child as a priority. This is demonstrated in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1991) in Articles 3, 12 and 19 and also in the Children Act (1989), section 27 and section 47 place duties on other agencies, including local education authorities and schools to assist social services in child …show more content…
Berzin, O’Brien and Frey (2011) recognise that the school system is the most common service provider, and with the highest rate of children subject to child protection plans between the ages of 10-15 currently at 30%, it seems beneficial to look at secondary schools in order to provide greater knowledge to the most affected area.
d) Contribution to the study of social work
The study should provide greater insight into the specific collaborative relationship between teachers and social workers. It may therefore, provide useful knowledge about changes that could be made to this working relationship to improve future collaborative working relationships, which should in turn improve the service that service users
As some argue childhood is more than simply a biological stage of development (James and Prout, 2015). Instead it could be viewed as a social category that we have created based on attitudes and beliefs of a particular society, and therefore it seems inconceivable to us that the protection of children would not be a fundamental value in all societies (James and James, 2014., Hays, 1996). The implication of social construction in relation to inter-agency collaboration is that both social forces, and discourses, shape the definition of the problem. Therefore, this causes difficulties in inter-agency collaboration, as different professions would construct their service users within separate discourses. Regardless of this, in today’s society children are viewed differently to adults and are seen to be in need of support and protection. Which has led to society putting provisions in place to put the interests of the child as a priority. This is demonstrated in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1991) in Articles 3, 12 and 19 and also in the Children Act (1989), section 27 and section 47 place duties on other agencies, including local education authorities and schools to assist social services in child …show more content…
Berzin, O’Brien and Frey (2011) recognise that the school system is the most common service provider, and with the highest rate of children subject to child protection plans between the ages of 10-15 currently at 30%, it seems beneficial to look at secondary schools in order to provide greater knowledge to the most affected area.
d) Contribution to the study of social work
The study should provide greater insight into the specific collaborative relationship between teachers and social workers. It may therefore, provide useful knowledge about changes that could be made to this working relationship to improve future collaborative working relationships, which should in turn improve the service that service users