Lucy Morton is manager of the NSPCC’s service centre in Glasgow. She says only by being "outward-looking, innovative and committed", can Scotland achieve its aims of being the best place in the world to grow up
If experience has taught us anything, it’s that we are best at protecting children and supporting families when frontline practice is responsive, reflective and grounded firmly in authentic relationships. We all know – both personally and professionally – that there is no learning that cannot be improved upon by real life application.
At NSPCC Scotland, our services are designed to meet specific needs within the local community, be that offering support to vulnerable new parents or working with families where there is substance abuse. But we recognise that there is always more that can be done, and better ways of doing it.
For this reason – and having identified a lack of accredited advanced skills training available for practitioners – we reached out to partners across Scotland and looked internationally to where child protection training has a more developed clinical skills model. Through discussions with local authority and health partners, we discovered that we were not alone in identifying this gap.
To be the best that we can be, we have to learn not only from professional education, but from practice experience, evidence from research and ongoing self-assessment
To be the best that we can be, we have to learn not only from professional education, but from practice experience, evidence from research and ongoing self-assessment. To this end, we’re delighted to be partnering with the University of Stirling on a postgraduate certificate in advanced practice skills (child welfare and protection) – the first of its kind in the UK.
The course, launching this academic year, will sit within the overall MSc in applied studies. It is designed for experienced child protection staff from a range of professional background. Its whole purpose is to foster the vital relationship between theory and methodology and to give experienced workers the opportunity to explore the lessons from research and of practice experience.
Not only are we immensely proud of this as an example of partnership working within Scotland, to achieve something as yet unique across the whole of the UK, but most importantly because we believe it meets a real need.
The course will comprise three 20 credit modules set at masters level (level 11) for the duration of one academic year. The structure of the delivery will be two consecutive days per month during semester periods To find out more and register your interest, call 01786 467711 or email [email protected].
