Children’s views and experiences of their contact with social workers: a focused review of the evidence

"The review is ... aimed at exploring children’s reported experiences in terms of their relationship with social workers, as well as their views about social work tasks, and their perceptions concerning what makes a ‘good social worker’. The review also aimed to discuss the implications for initial qualification and continuing professional development in social work and to identify potential areas for further research." - Exec. summar

Children's views and experiences of their contact with social workers : a review of the evidence

A literature review focusing on children's experiences of their contact with social workers, and identifying implications for policy and practice. The paper was subject to peer review

Research governance in children's services: the scope for new advice (Research report DFE-RR072)

"In 2009, following a period of informal consultation with key stakeholders, the former DCSF commissioned the work reported here, with the following overarching aims: to identify and evaluate existing arrangements for research governance and ethics review in children’s services in England; and to make recommendations for the future development of those governance arrangements, with the overall goal of ensuring a more coherent and transparent system, that is proportionate to the governance needs and ethical risks in research with users of children’s services." - Page iii

Feedback in Tournaments under Commitment Problems: The-ory and Experimental Evidence

In this paper, we analyze a principal's optimal feedback policy in tournaments. We close a gap in the literature by assuming the principal to be unable to commit to a certain policy at the beginning of the tournament. Our analysis shows that in equilibrium the principal reveals in-termediate information regarding the agents’ previous performances if these performances are not too different. Moreover, we investigate a situation where the principal is not able to credi-bly communicate her information. Having presented our formal analysis, we test these results using data from laboratory experiments. The experimental findings provide some support for the model

Advocacy for looked after children and children in need: achievements and challenges

This briefing paper offers a summary of the key findings of ‘Advocacy for looked after children and children in need: achievements and challenges’, the first national study of children’s advocacy in England. The study was prepared for the Department of Health and the DfES. The study was undertaken for a number of reasons: despite the relatively rapid increase in the number of advocacy services for children and young people over the last decade or so, relatively little is known about the extent to which advocacy makes a positive difference to the lives of individual children or to developments in children’s services more generally. Evidence also suggests that, in order to reduce the scope for conflict or confusion, there is a need to raise awareness about the principles and practices of advocacy among practitioners and policy makers working in the field of children’s health and social care. This study sought to address these gaps in knowledge and to create a platform for an evidence-based debate about the future of advocacy for children and young people

Student attitudes to entrepreneurship

This study on Student Attitudes to Entrepreneurship investigates the image which university students have of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. It is an initial exploratory/empirical study, which looks at the situation in Germany, Romania, Latvia, Italy and Austria. The study, based on questionnaires, shows that there are significant differences but also common features to the image of entrepreneurship and attitudes to it in the five countries. It is interesting to note that the students polled in connection with the study tended to have a neutral to positive/very positive image of entrepreneurs.attitude, attributes, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, opinion.

Systemic reflexivity: building theory for organisational consultancy

PhD through publicationThis dissertation argues for the value of the concept of systemic reflexivity in sense making, orientation and action in systemic practice, and in organisational practice in particular. The concept emerges as a theme through the development of two specific strands of published work from 1992 to 2013, that of Coordinated Management of Meaning Theory (CMM) and Appreciative Inquiry (AI). Both lines of inquiry highlight the moral dimension of practitioners’ conceptualisation and practice. Systemic reflexivity alerts us to the opportunities and constraints system participants make for the system in focus, facilitating exploration of a system’s coherence, through a detailed framework for systemic thinking which links patterns of communication to their narratives of influence and narrative consequences. It provides the conditions for enabling individual and collective responsibility for the ways that communication shapes our social worlds. The concept is illustrated in practice through a range of case studies within the published works