The Earl of Listowel, an independent, told a House of Lords debate on children in care that the new Level 4 NVQ for children's home managers (Children Now, 8 December 2004-4 January 2005) was a welcome but "very basic" award.
Pointing out that such workers on the continent have two to three years' training at university, he said: "A consequence of the failure to adequately train staff in such settings is that the work has become bureaucratised.
We have depended on inspectorates and regulations to manage people at the front line."
He highlighted as yet unpublished research that shows 59 per cent of English staff, compared to just five per cent of Danish workers, said their main responsibility was to follow procedures. Nearly 100 per cent of Danes described their main function as supporting children, compared to 41 per cent in England.
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