Lyn Trodd

Other ways of seeing; other ways of being: imagination as a tool for developing multiprofessional practice for children with communication needs

The purpose of this discussion paper is to explore ways in which professionals working in multi-professional settings can develop their understanding of the different perspectives and knowledge bases of team members in order to build new working practices together. The importance of exploring professional identity in professional development programmes for new teams is emphasized. The authors draw on their own experience of leading professional development to suggest the use of imagination as a key tool that can enable professionals to develop new ways of understanding the perspectives of others and to forge new identities for themselves in multi-professional teams. On foundations of mutual understanding professionals can begin to develop effective multi-professional working to meet the needs of children with communication difficulties.

Creative approaches to staff development: global education in ITE in The Gambia

The elements of global education should be at the heart of all learning and teaching. In ITE we often protect ‘our subject’ in the belief that it should have more prominence in the curriculum and more teaching time in school. In this article a group of ITE tutors comment on their learning about global education and its inclusion in their subject following a study trip, with students and teachers, to The Gambia. A truly cross-curricular strand develops and ideas within subjects are matched to key concepts of global education. An experiential model of tutor CPD evolves which includes personal challenge of values and attitudes.

‘I enjoy learning’: developing early years practitioners’ identities as professionals and as professional learners

Abstract Emphasis on professionalisation of the childcare workforce internationally is associated with evidence that links education and experience of early years practitioners; quality of early education and care; and outcomes for children and families. In England, this has led to a proliferation of vocational undergraduate programmes. This article draws on research carried out with early years practitioners who were completing a sector endorsed foundation degree in early years programme that provided students in full-time employment with opportunities for professional and workplace learning. The students’ views and experiences, documented in personal reflections and learning stories and voiced during focus groups, were complemented by those of early years managers and mentors. A critique of the findings to learn about developing early years practitioners’ identities as professionals and as professional learners suggests that the students became confident, reflective professionals and learners who shared their learning and sought to implement change in their settings. This research has implications for developing early childhood education and care (ECEC) practitioners, new to academic study, as learners and as confident, reflective members of a professional workforce at a time of ongoing change and uncertainty in ECEC policy and practice nationally and internationally.

Book review: Anning, A., Cottrell, D., Frost, N., Green, J. and Robinson, M. Developing Multi-professional Teamwork for Integrated Children's Services: Research, Policy and Practice. Maidenhead: Open University Press. (2006) 127 pp. Pbk. £19.99 ISBN: 0335219780. Hbk. £55 ISBN: 0335219799:

Developing Multi-professional Teamwork for Integrated Children’s Services was published two years ago, based on a research project completed in 2004. Its publication was eagerly awaited by practitioners and academics grappling with the challenges of multi-professional working because it offered particular insight into two topical concerns. First, what was happening to professional identities of practitioners in the new roles and new contexts characterizing the first half of the decade? Second, how was the emergence of Children’s Centres and their multi-agency teams impacting on long-standing roles of those working with children? In this review we ask, after two more years of change, in 2008, is this text wearing well? This book still offers a useful overview of multi-professional issues and theory to those working in the field of children’s services. It uses research from a project (2002–2004) to depict multi-professional teamwork in the UK and goes on to make broad conclusions linked to the national agenda. It contains the following nine chapters: (1) Working in a multi-professional world; (2) Researching multi-professional teams; (3) Organising and managing multiprofessional teams; (4) Multi-professional perspectives on childhood; (5) Changing roles and responsibilities in multi-professional teams; (6) Sharing knowledge in the multi-professional workplace; (7) Making multi-professional teamwork effective: dilemmas and decisions; (8) Making multi-professional teamwork effective: service delivery; and (9) Taking multi-professional practice forward. The book’s framework of issues and linked theories allows the reader to explore the complexities of implementing recent government reforms in building multidisciplinary or multi-professional teams. It balances the rhetoric of multi-professional teamwork with examples of real work dilemmas in delivering joined-up children’s services, for instance; how to organise and manage