The Every Professional Matters report warns that the squeeze on publicfinances and move towards integrated services threatens the future ofspecialist disciplines such as educational psychologists and educationwelfare officers.
It found workers are increasingly expected to carry out "hybrid" roles,which water down professional expertise. It also revealed thatspecialist workers are ever more likely to be accountable to managerswith no direct experience of their discipline, meaning managers areunable to offer all appropriate supervision.
John Chowcat, general secretary of the children's services union Aspect,which leads the network, said workers are in favour of integratedservices, but warned that merging roles to save cash would damageindividual professions and children's services as a whole.
"If you integrate just to save money, professionalism can be lost. Whenyou bring together different services, they have different interests.You can't just wave a magic wand and make them work together," heexplained. "We've got to get past institutional rivalries, but we alsohave to protect expertise."
He added that asking staff to work from home or hot-desk saves moneyshortterm, but jeopardises informal learning and development.
