This contrasts with residential children’s homes where” the registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs19 and 20). This plan should:

detail the necessary management and staffing structure, (including any staff commissioned to provide health and education), the experience and qualifications of staff currently working within the staffing structure and any further training required for those staff, to enable the delivery of the homes Statement of Purpose;

• detail the processes and agreed timescales for staff to achieve induction, probation, and any core training (such as safeguarding, health and safety and mandatory qualifications).
• detail the process for managing and improving poor performance.
• detail the process and timescales for supervision of practice (see regulation 33 (4) (b)) and keep appropriate records for staff in the home.

The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff – including the home’s manager.”

The social work England professional standards (4.5) highlight that social workers will contribute to an open and creative learning culture in the workplace to discuss, reflect and share practice, thus, a professional development plan (PDP) (or Professional Development Plan) is a record of measurable actions to support and enable individual/s to achieve their work setting or career goals and a tool that supervising social workers should benefit from using themselves as well as enabling foster carers to use to reflect on their personal/professional development as foster carers.

In connection to the personal development of foster carers, the training development standards for foster care is clear what is required of foster carers regarding the skills and knowledge for those working with children, young people, and families to practice at a basic level. Thus, foster carers should be able to develop themselves (TSD Standard Seven). To meet aspects of this standard, foster carers need to consistently demonstrate the skills and knowledge that indicates their practice meets or is above the following standards:

• 7.3a Understand the purpose of your personal supervision and annual foster carer review and know how to make the best of these opportunities.
• 7.3b Know what additional support and training is available to you.

• 7.3c Be able to recognise when you need support and the importance of asking for help and advice.

• 7.3d Develop knowledge, skills and understanding pertinent to your foster care role (e.g., treatment foster care, fostering teenagers.

• 7.3e Develop knowledge, skills and understanding to enable you to “broaden” your foster care role.

• 7.4a Understand the need for continuing professional development and the ways in which it can improve your practice.

• 7.4b Understand and be able to reflect on how your day-to-day work as a foster carer is influenced by feedback from people you come into contact with and from children, young people and their families.

• 7.4c Work with your supervising social worker or other relevant person to agree and follow a personal development plan.

• 7.4d Be willing to continually improve your practice and understand how to do this.

Given these required standards – The Fostering Network (2021) research highlights that since 2016 –the number of carers who have a personal development plan has increased. Nevertheless, 35% of foster carers do not have a PDP despite this being a National Minimum Standard (NMS 20.5).

Download Free EMPT_016_Supervision WORKBOOK_DIGITAL_v2 (1)Updated 23.12.24

Kolb’s Reflective cycle shown below highlights the need for you to reflect on your experience from participating on learning events/training and to say/write down what you think you have learnt.  You should reflect, following participation on a learning event, on how such participation influences your current practice.

The Experiential Learning Cycle

1. Concrete Experience – (a new experience or situation is encountered, or a reinterpretation of existing experience).
2. Reflective Observation of the New Experience – (of particular importance are any inconsistencies between experience and understanding).
3. Abstract Conceptualisation (reflection gives rise to a new idea, or a modification of an existing abstract concept The person has learned from their experience).
4. Active Experimentation (the learner applies their idea(s) to the world around them to see what happens).

A good personal development plan format can contribute to enabling you to methodically think about your practice aspirations/goals that you need to reach. A Personal Development Plan should be a continual reflective reference or audit trail about your progress regarding the knowledge and skills and understanding you have developed to broaden your role within the service setting, and you should update it every time you reach important milestones. Regularly updating your Personal Development Plan enables you to target new goals that help you grow professionally and as an individual. The following five steps can contribute to creating a professional development plan:

1. Self-assessment to develop yourself: Evaluate your professional interests, knowledge, and skills. Identify areas in which you can improve to obtain your goals (targets).
2. Goals/targets: Set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely) goals that are trackable and achievable by completing small steps. List goals/targets in order of priority with the highest first so you can quickly identify them. Categorise goals as short-, mid- or long-term so you can develop more detailed steps to achieve each one.
3. Action plan: Create a plan of action for each goal. Identify the resources you need to achieve each goal, you should be collaborating and discussing these targets with your supervisor/line manager. Your strategy to participate on specific training, mentorship, online learning, or networking opportunities are some of the proposed actions you can add to your plan.
4. Implementation: Implement your plan of action by taking small steps to achieve each goal. Regularly review your progress and adjust your plan as needed. Your supervisor/line manager should meet with you frequently to discuss your progress and reflection from your participation on learning events.
5. Evaluation: Evaluate your progress by measuring your success against the goals you set (What have you learnt from doing the targeted actions you planned). Try to complete the evaluation forms from training courses that you participate on. The effectiveness of this plan should also be evaluated by your supervisor and or line manager. Celebrate your successes and learn from your failure/vulnerabilities. Then start a new personal development plan.

According to Sartre, ‘existence precedes essence’ it means that people don’t have any predetermined purpose why they exist in this world. Sartre’s opinion is that people are radically free.  Thus, existentialism claims that ‘If we are in a bad mood, for example, it’s because we choose to be. It suggests the external world doesn’t impose itself upon our consciousness and that we control our moods, thoughts, attitudes, and choices.

From Sartre’s perspective, freedom is something that we cannot avoid. Our ability to choose could either lead toward ‘sincerity’ or ‘bad faith’. To live in ‘bad faith’ is to let one’s being defined by social categories such as race, gender, disability, ethnicity, work position, and economic class etc. Therefore, from an existentialism perspective a person who lives in ‘bad faith’ is passive for accepting his current condition to define who they are and does not bother to transcend their situation; whilst negating themselves by the dictation of the crowd/group.  Thus, a ‘person who lives in ‘sincerity’ is the one who transcends their current situation and not being a follower of public/group opinion and actively interacts and perpetually creates their own life’s meaning’.

Anxiety and Alienation

In a society influenced by systemic racism, sexism, Disablism/ableism, and where various forms of abuse may impact on behaviour people may have many internal conflicts whilst managing freedom and experience anxiety. According to Soren Kierkegaard “anxiety is the dizziness of freedom”. Knowing that we are carrying a huge responsibility of creating meaning for ourselves, people may feel a sense of burden, since there is no one who will help them in this course. It is up to us! People may well recognize that life maybe farcical and can become disillusioned from the beliefs they used follow and adhere to. Thus, such experiences may well make people feel alienated as it’s individuals who needs to move their own steering/Life wheel in whichever direction they choose!

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In terms of life chances strategy – the Child Poverty Action Group adopts the view  of promoting labour market policies that create opportunities for progression from entry-level jobs.  Over 55% of young people with GCSE’s below grade C or no qualification are low paid compared to around 12% of those with a degree or equivalent. www

.emptlondon.com
The levels of qualifications gained may also impact on the life chances of the children of the low paid – as the recent loss of student grants may well have a financial impact on young people who go on to undertake degrees. The recent House of Commons briefing paper (June 2017:9) highlights that the ‘biggest impact of the loss of grants will be on students from the lowest income households’.  Thus. the higher the level of qualification gained by young people correlates to a higher level of achieved pay. Therefore, all the different levels of qualifications appear to make a noticeable difference to the amount of paid income individuals achieve. www.emptlondon.com

The qualification levels in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are as follows

Entry level
Each entry level qualification is available at three sub-levels – 1, 2 and 3. Entry level 3 is the most difficult.

Level 1
Some level 1 qualifications are: www.emptlondon.com
• first certificate
• GCSE – grade D, E, F or G   Visit Gov.uk for a full details of what qualifications levels means

Level 2
Some level 2 qualifications are:
• CSE – grade 1
• GCSE – grade A*, A, B or C

Level 3

Some level 3 qualifications are:
• A level – grade A, B, C, D or E
• access to higher education diploma
• advanced apprenticeship

Level 4

Some level 4 qualifications are:
• certificate of higher education (CertHE)
• higher apprenticeship
• higher national certificate (HNC)

Level 5

Some level 5 qualifications are:
• diploma of higher education (DipHE)
• foundation degree
• higher national diploma (HND)

Level 6

Some level 6 qualifications are:
• degree apprenticeship
• degree with honours – for example bachelor of the arts (BA) hons, bachelor of science (BSc) hons
• ordinary degree without honours

Level 7

Some level 7 qualifications are:
• integrated master’s degree, for example master of engineering (MEng)
• master’s degree, for example master of arts (MA), master of science (MSc)
• postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE)
• postgraduate diploma www.emptlondon.com

Level 8

Some level 8 qualifications are:
• doctorate, for example doctor of philosophy (PhD or DPhil)
• level 8 award

Go to Gov.uk for full information on the level of qualifications: https://www.gov.uk/what-different-qualification-levels-mean/list-of-qualification-levels

Personal Development Plans

The social model of disability has been developed by disabled people in contrast to the medical model. The medical model is seen to give little acknowledgement or explanation about the individual personal experience of disability or contribute to promoting a more inclusive ways of living with a disability.

‘Under the medical model, these impairments or differences should be ‘fixed’ or changed by medical and other treatments, even when the impairment or difference does not cause pain or illness’ www.scope.org (2015).

In contrast the social model of disability asserts that disability is caused by the society in which we live and is not the ‘fault’ of an individual disabled person, or an inevitable consequence of their limitations. The social model tends to promote disability as the product of the physical, organisational and attitudinal barriers present within society, which lead to discrimination.

The social model tends to have the aim of removing barriers so that disabled people have the inclusive opportunity to determine their life styles and general outcomes.

In terms of promoting foster carers understanding about the social model of disability – the following Legal entitlements to equality of treatment for children and young people with complex disabilities or conditions may be useful.  Legal entitlements of disabled children and young people for equality of treatment and principles of working inclusively:

• Children Act 1989; Children Act 2004;
• Disability Discrimination Act 1995;
• Disability Discrimination Act 2005;
• Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA) 2001;
• Equality Act 2010; Disability Equality Duty Disability Equality Schemes;
• Aiming High for Disabled Children2009;
• Codes of practice of sector e.g. Special Educational Needs Code of Practice 2001;
• Disability Rights Commission (DCR) Code of Practice 2002;
• Early Years Action/Early Years Action Plus;
• School Action/School Action Plus; Statement of Special Educational Needs;
• Policies and procedure of work place setting

In terms of promoting the training and development standards for foster carers unit one, subsections: 1.1 a, b, 1.2 a, b, c, 1.3 b. c, 1.4 a, b, c –  its useful to work in line with the Ofsted inspection Framework for independent fostering agencies 2014.

The Ofsted framework for independent fostering agencies states that independent fostering agencies must meet their responsibilities as set out in the equality legislation. For all children and young people, the expectation is that the services provided are sensitive and responsive to age, disability, ethnicity, faith or belief, gender, gender identity, language, race and sexual orientation, (2014:8) .