It is important to work in partnership with a child or young person’s parents or carers to share knowledge and understand the child or young person’s strengths and needs. The most successful partnerships are those where each partner is valued in the same way and there is an equal balance of power.
Communication is at the heart of partnership working; the Lamb Inquiry highlighted this: Good, honest and open communication is the key to the development of positive working relationships and requires practitioners who listen to parents and are trusted by them... The quality of communication both reflects and is a reflection of the working relationships between professionals and parents. The worst communication generates significant levels of hostility... The best communication engenders impressive levels of confidence and a sense of partnership. (Lamb Inquiry, 2009)
The SEND Code of Practice (2014) works from the premise that parents/carers know their children best and makes it clear that children, young people and their families should be involved in decision-making at every stage of the process.
Schools and settings should engage with parents by:
- Focusing on the outcomes that children, young people and their families want to achieve; all decisions are led by these aspirations.
- Supporting the participation of children, young people and their families through adopting ‘person-centred’ or ‘child-centred’ approaches.
Person-centred/Child-centred approaches
A person-centred or child-centred approach is an approach that focuses on the individual’s strengths rather than their difficulties.
It values attitudes such as not judging others, trying to understand the experiences of others from their point of view, and fully honouring the uniqueness of the individuals we meet in a genuine and heartfelt way.
Person-centred approaches move away from professionals deciding what is best for a child, young person or family, and places the person at the centre, as an expert of their own experience.
Being person-centred is about focusing support on the needs of the individual, ensuring that people's preferences, needs and values are at the heart of decisions, and ensuring support that is respectful of and responsive to them.
Restorative approaches
Restorative Practice is a way of working with people that uses the principles and values of Restorative Justice in everyday practice. It is built upon a set of values and beliefs that promote building effective relationships with children, young people, families, carers and colleagues. Restorative Practice is a high support/high challenge methodology that has an emphasis of working with people, rather than doing things for them or to them. It enables practitioners to communicate their concerns and worries clearly from the foundation of a respectful and supportive relationship. A range of processes and tools are used including informal and formal interventions. These processes are designed to support effective communication between workers, managers, children, young people and their families.
Ladder of participation
The ladder of participation describes a series of steps towards co-production between children and young people, parents/carers/family members and the professionals working to support them.
- Co-production, Co-design = Doing with in an equal and reciprocial partnership
- Engagement, Consultation, Informing = Doing for engaging and involving people
- Educating, Coercion = Doing to trying to fix people who are passive recipients of service
Co-production means working together at all stages and sharing the decision-making. This is what we should be aiming for when working with children/young people and their families.
Team Around the Child (TAC)
Team Around the Child (TAC) describes the group of people working together to create a plan of support for a child or young person. This plan should be solution-focused and based on the child or young person’s identified needs.
The members of a TAC might include the child or young person’s parents or carers, their teacher, the school SENCo, and other professionals supporting them such as an educational psychologist, Special Needs Early Years Service (SNEYS), speech and language therapist, Sensory Inclusion Service (SIS), school nurse, occupational therapist, social worker, etc.
TAC is a way of coordinating support so that families have a clear understanding of who will be doing what to support their child.
The plan created by the TAC should be regularly reviewed and adapted as the child or young person makes progress.
Team Around the Worker
The Team Around the Worker describes the team of people who are available to support the lead professional (the ‘Worker’) to deliver the work confidently and effectively to the family. The team should provide support and also challenge, where appropriate.
In all of our work, it is important that we try and gain the views of the child or young person that we are supporting.
The Lundy Model of Child Participation (2014), by Professor Laura Lundy, Queen’s University Belfast, provides a way of understanding a child’s right to participation and it includes four key elements – space, voice, audience and influence – that have a rational, chronological order:
Space:
Children and Young People must be given safe, inclusive opportunities to form and express their views.
- How can children and young people feel safe to express their views?
- Have you allowed enough time to listen to and hear their views?
- How do you make sure that all children and young people are heard?
Voice:
Children and Young People must be supported to express their views.
- How are children and young people provided with the support they need to give their views and be heard?
- How can they raise the things that matter to them?
- How are they offered different ways of giving their views?
Audience:
The views must be listened to.
- How do you show that you are ready and willing to listen to children and young people's views?
- How do you make sure they understand what you can do with their views?
Influence:
The views must be acted upon, as appropriate.
- How will children and young people know how much influence they can have on decisions?
- How will you give them feedback?
- How will you share with them the impact of their views on decisions?
- How will you explain the reasons for the decisions taken?
Section 19 of the Children and Families Act 2014 states:
Local authority functions: supporting and involving children and young people
In exercising a function under this Part in the case of a child or young person, a local authority in England must have regard to the following matters in particular:
(a) the views, wishes and feelings of the child and his or her parent, or the young person;
(b) the importance of the child and his or her parent, or the young person, participating as fully as possible in decisions relating to the exercise of the function concerned;
(c) the importance of the child and his or her parent, or the young person, being provided with the information and support necessary to enable participation in those decisions;
(d) the need to support the child and his or her parent, or the young person, in order to facilitate the development of the child or young person and to help him or her achieve the best possible educational and other outcomes.
The SEND Code of Practice (2015) states:
‘They [everyone supporting the child] should seek to understand the interests, strengths and motivations of children and young people and use this as a basis for planning support around them.’
‘Local authorities must ensure that children, their parents and young people are involved in discussions and decisions about their individual support and about local provision. Early years providers, schools and colleges should also take steps to ensure that young people and parents are actively supported in contributing to needs assessments, developing and reviewing Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans.’
Articles 12 and 13 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child state:
‘Children have a right to receive and impart information, to express an opinion and to have that opinion taken into account in any matters affecting them from the early years. Their views should be given due weight according to their age, maturity, and capability.’
When considering what tools/methods to use to gather a child or young person’s views, it is helpful to consider their communication skills.
Nurturing and communicating aspirations
Aspirations are the foundations of any good SEND/EHCP plan: they are the child or young person’s hopes or ambitions for the future.
Aspirations should be kept at the centre of all discussions between children and young people, parents/carers and professionals to create strong and effective support which makes a real difference.
Plans should start with what the child or young person (and their parents/carers) want for their future. Once this has been ascertained, you can work out what the child’s needs are, how they are going to achieve their goals and what support they need.
Aspirations do not have to be ‘realistic’ or definitely achievable.
What is the ‘Golden Thread’?
Aspirations > Needs > Outcomes > Provision
A child or young person’s aspirations should be the starting point for discussions about support. Once you know what their aspirations are, you can link these to the things they need in school or college and the support that will help them. These are all linked to outcomes too, which are like stepping-stones or targets towards the child or young person’s long-term goals. You can then work to identify the provision the child or young person needs to work towards their aspirations.
All of these things together form something called ‘The Golden Thread’.
Aspirations
- Sarah wants to have friends
Needs
- Sarah has a language delay and it affects her learning and social interaction with other children her age. It is also affecting her confidence and self-esteem. Which means that she can be socially vulnerable.
Outcomes
- By the age of 16, Sarah will have a small group of friends and will be able to travel independently so she can meet with them. She will meet friends outside her home and school and have and use a social network.
Provision
- Sarah will have travel training which will include buddy support. Sarah will have a mentor who meets her weekly for three hours to explore her interests. Her mentor will help her develop friendship opportunities and support her to take part in social and leisure activities. Sarah will take part in twice weekly social skills group at school with a Teaching Assistant.
Generally, parents and carers know their child/young person better than anyone. They spend more time with them than anyone else and so have a real understanding of what they are good at, what they find hard, what they enjoy and what motivates them. This means that their views are invaluable when trying to understand the child or young person’s needs and get the support right.
Effective communication is key to establishing and maintaining positive partnerships with parents and carers. When working with parents or carers, it is important to consider their:
- Religious and cultural background, values, beliefs and languages
- Parenting arrangements
- Gender diversity
- Choices
- Family circumstances
Listening is key to effective communication. Here are some ideas for demonstrating good listening skills:
- Let parents know you’re listening and interested by nodding occasionally and making eye contact.
- During the conversation, summarise what the parents/carers have said, and check that you have understood correctly.
- Check on the feeling as well as the content of what parents/carers have said. For example, ‘It sounds like you felt upset when the other parent told Taj to stop shouting. Is that right?’
- Use open-ended questions to get more information if you need it. For example, ‘What sort of things did Taj do when he was being naughty?’
- Try to understand parents’ perspectives, even if you disagree with what they are saying.
- Tools to gather parent/carer views
- POW 3 Power of Words video
Managing tricky conversations
Sometimes, conversations with parents or carers can be tricky, especially if the things you need to discuss may be perceived as negative or challenging. Here are some tips for managing such conversations:
- Start with the positives! Talk about the child or young person’s strengths within their learning, behaviour and experiences.
- Be open and honest. Focus on the facts of the situation.
- Think before you speak, especially when you are talking with parents about difficult or sensitive issues. It might be helpful to write down a few notes to guide the conversation.
- Ask the parents/carers for their views regarding the situation. For example, ‘How do you think we can help?’
- Listen to the parents/carers – sometimes they just need to feel that their concerns have been heard. You do not always have to find an immediate solution.
- If you are not sure about what to say next or how to say it, you do not have to respond straight away. For example, ‘I’d like to think about that more. Can I get back to you tomorrow?’
- Use a problem-solving approach – what can we do to help this situation? Identify clear actions and who will take responsibility for these actions.
- Schedule a follow-up meeting, to review whether the agreed actions have been helpful.