College set up for children's workforce

The Lewisham Leadership and Development College aims to nurture talent in the children's workforce as part of borough-wide moves to provide integrated children's services.

Carolyn Umstead, head of standards and achievement at the London Borough of Lewisham's children and young people's directorate, said the council decided to target school staff first because of the professional frameworks already in place. However, the college will broaden its reach to other professionals from September.

She said: "One of the big issues for the children's workforce is making sure we all have the correct skills. One-day courses don't change behaviour, whereas long-term programmes do."

Umstead said it was important to identify all members of the children's workforce as leaders who require individual development: "Everybody has a leadership role. Whether they are leading a team, peers, children or young people."

Hilary Emery, executive director for development and improvement at the Training and Development Agency for Schools, welcomed the idea of empowering workforce leaders: "Schools achieve better results when they utilise the skills of their entire team. We support local authorities and schools in identifying appropriate training and qualifications for support staff and we help head teachers consider potential career pathways by showing opportunities within and across different roles," she said. "We believe making the most of support staff's expertise is key to achieving better outcomes."

The college is the outcome of work carried out by Lewisham's Schools' Workforce Steering Group, whose members include council officers and school representatives. It is being funded by the local authority and the National College for School Leadership, which provided the council with a grant.

Although the college is currently operating through Lewisham's workforce development website as a "virtual" college, it will take up physical residence in the council's old professional centre buildings in September.