- Lisa Armitage
- Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care Vol 1, (2018)
The Department for Education commissioned the National Implementation Service (NIS) to design the RESuLT vocational training programme, which focuses on supporting staff to help children and young people develop self-regulation and relational skills through the application of social learning theory methods, combined with an understanding of relational skill building and adolescent brain development.
RESuLT is delivered by two facilitators; one from the residential child care sector and the other from child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). RESuLT offers teams protected time for reflection, allowing members to come together and share their experience and knowledge with each other. Facilitators observed that regardless of how long each staff member has worked in residential care, they are able to learn something new, reflect on a good piece of work they have completed and recognise the importance of a shared approach.
At the start of the programme, facilitators tend to see some staff are optimistic for change whereas others hold the view that they are simply firefighting. RESuLT training challenges the belief that there is no hope for relational skill building in the young people cared for, bringing the diversity of views to a place of optimism. The teaching on brain science that shows workers can support the development of new neural pathways is, according to the author, a revelation to many participants.
Training a diverse team
One facilitator commented that one of the most striking aspects of delivering the RESuLT training compared with other programmes is the diversity of backgrounds of staff. Many describe being motivated to work in a children's home due to personal experiences of the care system or having faced challenging experiences during their own childhood.
Workers from the same home often attend training in a way that is staggered as not to leave the home short-staffed. The effect of this is that knowledge is held by a few members of a team rather than the whole. Even if a special effort is made to share knowledge, it will become at least partially diluted. RESuLT's whole-team approach aims to embed the subject matter in the ethos of the home.
At least 70 per cent of sessions must be attended for the NIS to certify a worker as RESuLT trained. Homes must find a way to release staff to attend weekly, as ensuring the team go on the 10-week training together is key to ensuring the programme becomes embedded into their micro-culture. Management can support this goal by ensuring everyone is scheduled to work on the day of the training.
Use of self
Facilitators find that use of self within the training is central to putting the teams at ease. This is achieved by modelling kindness, warmth and good humour. Facilitators further support participants by creating a space within which not knowing and needing to enquire further is a healthy and a positive part of the learning experience. Facilitators must also have an optimistic attitude and a strong belief in the programme.
There is a debate around whether a facilitator should train the home in which they work due to the complex dynamics this dual role can create. One manager found training his own home to be a very beneficial thing as he was able to effectively lead his staff in embedding the programme. Another facilitator, who did not hold a management position, was not as effective at embedding the model at her home as she did not have the same level of autonomy to make changes to the way her home was run.
It is important to consider the facilitator's position in their organisation if they are to train their own home as well as other factors such as pre-existing relationships with delegates.
It is the facilitator's job to ground the content in residential staffs' work and help them to think about how it applies to their role and their young people. Facilitators have had success by using real-life examples from in and out of work, serving to keep the training interesting and relaxed.
RESuLT asks participants to share occasions when they may have contributed to rather than helped to diffuse an escalating situation at work in front of their whole team, including their manager. Reflecting on such moments as a staff team offers the potential for a great deal of learning and growth to occur. However, participants must feel safe enough to share. One facilitator felt strongly that the right thing to do was to answer such sensitive questions herself before requesting responses from the group.
The facilitator's action of being self-critical and reflective seemed to give permission for the group to talk about situations they may have handled differently in hindsight and reflect together on how to get things right for young people in the future. Encouraging people to be open and reflective about opportunities to improve their practice can only benefit the young people in their care.
Implications for practice
- The whole-team approach of the programme may impact on staffing levels in a residential setting. Managers will need to ensure adequate resource for all staff to commit to the 10 weeks, and to facilitate protected time for ongoing reflection after the end of the training programme so that learning can become embedded within the home's business as usual.
- The neurodevelopmental model is highly theoretical, which may pose challenges to some staff. Keeping the learning ‘real' and relevant, in a way that takes account of the diverse backgrounds and learning cultures of staff, is a crucial element of success.
- The combination of learning theories with reflection on actual situations has the potential to add depth to the way workers engage and form relationships with young people. The programme offers a framework to use those relationships as a form of intervention, and for staff to focus on the outcomes of their work.
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