Keeping the child in mind in multi‐professional working: Valuing the viewpoints of children and their parents

Abstract

This survey‐based research explores data from a diverse range of 54 professionals involved in collaborative team working to support children with specific needs. The survey investigated the individual's perception of their own role, and the interactions within the team. The survey collected some quantitative data, such as age and length of time in role, to explore correlations, but it also asked open‐ended questions, providing a wealth of qualitative data. While we have focused on relationship dynamics between professionals in previous work, in this article we revisit the data with a specific focus on the positionality and voice of the child and their parents within multi‐professional teams. In doing so we find that professionals frequently forget that the child themselves is entitled to a say in the decisions made about them and that the concept of the parent as an expert on their own child is rarely recognised in practice. There is also evidence that the challenging emotions that many parents struggle with during multi‐professional working can easily be misread as reluctance or disinterest. All of these findings highlight a need for professionals to take a far more reflective approach to their collaborative work with colleagues, families and children.

‘Small successes make it worthwhile’: The rewards and challenges of the SENCo role in a primary school in England

“…All respondents reported liaising with parents and external agencies on a weekly basis. Although different professional agendas and egos had emerged as key barriers to collaborative working in our previous research (Solvason & Winwood, 2022), there were very few mentions of inter-professional working in this data set. Two respondents referred generally to a 'lack of support from the Local Authority' and two to waiting for specialist reports and long waiting lists for specialist support.…”

“…Challenges: Workload, resources and recognition Robinson and Cottrell (2005), Buckley et al (2020) and Hellawell (2019) all refer to problems of confidentiality and the practical sharing of information across multi-professional teams. Other researchers, however, identify lack of time, resources and professional hierarchies as the primary challenges of interagency working (Clarke & Done, 2021;Kortleven et al, 2019;Solvason & Winwood, 2022). In Curran's (2019) research, 71% of the SENCos interviewed reported that they spend the majority of their working week completing administrative tasks, leaving little time for the strategic and consulting role advocated by the Code of Practice (DoE and DoH, 2015) and the SENCos in Ackers' (2021) research shared how they found the workload involved in multi-professional meetings unsurmountable.…”