Partnership with the LA

Norfolk County Council children's services training and development of school support staff working in parnership with training schools...

The Local Authority is developing a children's workforce that is integrated, of high quality and makes the best contribution possible to local Every Child Matters outcomes. The Norfolk Children and Young People's Plan contains the local focus for the national Children's Plan: Building Brighter Futures. There are a clear set of priorities for developing our workforce:

• A workforce that is responding to the needs of children, young people and families through workforce planning.
• A workforce that is confident and capable that receives good quality learning and development and being trained to the appropriate level and qualification to the meet the needs of children, young people and families.
• Strengthened partnership and integrated working through systems, skills and developing knowledge through being informed by the opinions of children, young people and their families.
• Involved, engaged and committed workforce in the vision and mission to meet the needs of children and young people.

Working in partnership with training schools is crucial in helping to achieve these.

Working collaboratively with training schools is also considered important to support and promote reform and modernisation of the wider children's workforce for schools and to demonstrate a coherent approach towards linking the work of national programmes to support integrated working at a local level.

With the continuing increase in the numbers of new roles within the school workforce, e.g. school business managers and specialist HLTA roles; there is a need to develop clear career pathways for teaching and non-teaching staff - supported by high quality leadership and management, training and CPD opportunities for the whole school workforce.

Profile of Norfolk's Workforce - 2009
(This profile focuses on the roles working directly with children and young people)

The Local Authority is working in partnership with training schools on a number of projects including the following:

• A local programme of training for support staff across the North Norfolk area called the Northern Star. This training covers a broad range of locally delivered opportunities including for support staff.
• Developing training interventions to meet local needs.
• Support for Masters level qualifications.
• Developing CPD networks to find solutions and best practice models.

Some of the challenges for the future include the need to prepare an integrated workforce to meet the challenges of the 21st Century by developing local solutions, with training schools as the hub of their community.

The harmonisation of the schools and children's services workforce is a challenge. With strong links between Children's Services and Training schools in Norfolk there is an ongoing commitment to work towards a whole children's workforce approach.

Further information on support staff Training and Development
can be found on our website www.schools.norfolk.gov.uk/go/supportstaff