Learning with, from and about others in multi-agency teams: Expanding perspectives of doing and being.

Abstract

Purpose: The paper examines the learning engendered by professionals working as multi-agency teams within a North-West England local authority Children’s Services. As collaborative working becomes the norm across the sectors, the context of this empirical research typifies the broader challenges facing contemporary organisations across developed economies. \n \nDesign/Methodological approach: Using a case study design, the research takes a qualitative and largely inductive methodological approach. Data were derived from photo-elicitation focus-groups and interviews. \n \nFindings: The learning that was reported is described and analysed in terms of its expansive outcomes, with specific focus upon the creation of new identity, practice and language. \n \nResearch limitations/implications: The research was limited by its small-scale exploratory nature and by the degree of researcher subjectivity. Proposals for extending the research are presented. \n \nPractical implications: As we face the challenges of shifting workplace configurations in efforts to confront the complexities of change, so there is increased need for stimulating generative learning and co-creating new knowing within workplace settings. \n \nOriginality/value: The research fills an important gap in the literature in providing empirical evidence of relationships and learning within multi-agency teams. It refines and extends perceptions of learning that stress regularity of practice and social cohesion, by examining learning within a context typified by tension, difference and change.

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