Participation Works

Participation professionals gain new insights into effective tools and resources for participation practice at the first national Participation Works conference.

Chaired by Fiona Blacke, Chief Executive of the National Youth Agency and held at the bold Inmarsat centre, London, the event brought together 170 practitioners and professionals from across England to explore the role of tools and resources in embedding a culture of participation.

Keynote speaker Peter Wanless, Chief Executive Officer of the Big Lottery Fund; set the tone for the day when he shared their experiences of supporting participation. He highlighted that from a recent audit of the 38 BIG funding streams, 36 had a large element of promoting participation. It is in their interests to support effective participation, as it is essential to so much of the work they support. Wanless gave a sneak preview of the future direction for the Big Lottery Fund. He told delegates that they would shortly consult on future programme priorities for the fund as a whole from 2009.

Alex Brookes of the Children’s Workforce Development Council highlighted that quality tools and resources was essential, but, that they need to be in the hands of good quality workers with the rights skills, values and attitudes for participation. Brooks gave an overview of the work of CWDC, how they are engaging with children and young people in their own work and supporting innovative practice through their Participation Fund. New projects for the forthcoming year includes work on involving under 5s in staff appraisal, getting feedback from children for pre-qualification social workers and further work on engaging with children who communicate non-verbally.

Brookes also supported the development of various new tools, which support organisations to engage young people in workforce development – many of which are highlighted on the Participation Works gateway. She urged ‘participation’ practitioners to reach out to the workforce development sector and vice versa. The challenge of participation, as well as the desire to create a unified children’s workforce, requires us to collaborate better if we are to see dramatic improvements in children’s outcomes.
 

As the day continued delegates heard about innovative practice and new tools for participation from the following organisations:

· Diana Mackey, head teacher of Imperial Avenue School, overviewed work for a whole school approach to participation

· Kirsty Taylor, lead trainer for YoMo, shared the social enterprises experience of supporting youth-led action in the UK and abroad

· Camille Clearie from Routeways, Plymouth, gave a case study of involving young people in producing a new training tool for mental health professionals.

· Rachel Monaghan from the National Children’s Bureau previewed a compendium of activities to use support children aged 8-12 to express themselves.

Tue, 23/09/2008 - 00:00