Training for residential child care: assessing the impact of the Residential Child Care Initiative

Abstract

Following a recommendation by Sir William Utting (1991) nine British universities were selected to deliver the Residential Child Care Initiative, a programme of study leading to a Diploma in Social Work. This paper examines the impact of a Residential Child Care Initiative programme based at one of these universities. A small scale qualitative study was undertaken, designed to explore the transition to work following completion of the Diploma in Social Work. Data were gathered from the first three cohorts of students, their managers and agency based training officers. Four key sets of findings are examined—relating to the positive and negative impacts of training, training opportunities for returning students and the future career intentions of the returners. Three central themes emerge: the impact on the confidence of students; the effect of organisational change; and the significance of conflicting perspectives of the main stakeholders. The findings have particular contemporary relevance in the context of the second Utting report ‘People Like Us’ (1997). The recommendations of the Utting report are considered in the conclusion to this paper with reference to future proposals for the training of residential child care workers.

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