The Multi-Agency Team Project approached issues of multi-agency training indirectly by using an artist as a catalyst in a group exercise examining movement and sound in relation to early childhood.
The aim of the research was to run an experiential non-traditional training programme based on using an artist as a catalyst to promote inter-agency dialogue in one setting, Woodlands Park Nursery and Children’s Centre, and to analyse the findings.
Eleven participants used this common experiential focus to frame collective research both as a focus group and as individual fieldworkers. The research demonstrated shared professional discourse but also collected judgements relevant to policy issues based on collaborative professional reflection triggered by the exercise.
The findings are presented theoretically in terms of critical discourse analysis using the interpretation-supporting software ATLASti. We next take a further look at the role play exercise in which the group constituted itself as a ‘House of Commons Select Committee’ before summarizing what theoretical insights might be brought to bear and attempting to draw some provisional conclusions. Some evidence is presented suggesting there is a degree of tension and ambiguity between alterative models of multi-agency working
