Introduction

1. A social care workforce for the 21st century: addressing the learning challenges. Lessons from case studies. Helen Rainbird & Elspeth Leeson, Birmingham Business School, Anne Munro, Edinburgh Napier University. Presentation to SCWRI, Department of Health, London 17th November 2009.

2. Introduction • >Research project on institutional and organisational capacity for skill development 2007-2009, funded by Department of Health. • Examined institutional framework (22 interviews) and 13 case studies (53 interviews). • Focus on good practice organisations – all had won awards/external recognition – individual organisations and consortia arrangements, where new forms of cooperation emerging at regional level. • This presentation: 5 organisational case studies: focus on lessons to be learned from good practice.

3. Structure of paper • Short description of organisations which had innovative approaches to managing training • The triggers for innovation – extent to which Care Standards Act was significant/other factors • Fuller & Unwin’s (2004) expansive/restrictive continuum of learning environments – the extent to which staff are engaged in a range of learning opportunities which meet the needs of individual & organisation, or meet minimum requirements for training & assessment

4. The ‘good practice’ organisations 1. Residential Home (RH) • Family owned limited company, village location since mid 1980s, 50 staff, care for 35 residents, some day care services • Awards ‘care ambassadors’ scheme • Owner active at regional level/organising sector 2. Community Caring Trust (CCT) • Private company registered as charity, set up 1997 following public sector cuts, growing from 85-500 staff, 700 service users • Residential & day care for elderly, adults & children with physical & learning disabilities • 5 day care centres, 35 properties for supported living • Winner Times Top 100 companies to work for

5. The ‘good practice’ organisations 3. The Agency (A) • Large family company dedicated to charitable activity, part of a group of companies providing temporary staff across labour market • Recognised for training & CPD of agency workers • See training as investment > reputation, former staff become commissioners of agency workers

6. The case study organisations 4. The Not for Profit Provider & Training Division (NfPP) • Established mid C19th as charity supplying surgical devices to the poor. After NHS, refocused on care of elderly • Four homes providing services for day care, residential & nursing care, 300 staff, 200 residents • National awards for BTEC induction programme, mgt & leadership training 5. The Dementia Team (DT) • Council Home Support Dementia Team working with NHS Trust • 14 staff, with home specialist home support workers, working in teams of 3 • Skills for Care Accolade for most innovative new type of worker, national winner of winners Accolade.

7. The case study organisations • Shared characteristics: building of internal capacity; whole organisation approaches, systematic approach to managing business & training, ethos of care for all workers • Recruit workers for disposition over formal qualifications and invest in training apart from DT, rigorous induction • Investment in training seen as reputation building, an alternative to marketing

8. The ‘good practice’ organisations Triggers for innovation • RH – Training quality standard (Investors in People,1994)> strategic approach, formalisation, owner a panel member > source of learning • DT* – ‘new types of worker project’ funding by Skills for Care > innovative teamwork using confident workers who share knowledge of users’ needs • A*– experience of failure – need to develop internal capacity & draw down external capacity • CCT – recognition that existing mgt systems were inadequate – high levels of absenteeism – fundamentals of HRM - staff have to want to come to work ‘Top 100 company to work for’ • NfPP* – need to meet statutory requirements *Only NfPP triggered directly, A* indirectly by regulations, DT* availability of funding

9. The expansive/restrictive continuum of learning • Expansive learning environments – engage staff fully in a range of learning opportunities – meeting needs of individuals & organisation • Restrictive learning environments – focus on immediate, task related training/assessment to meet regulatory requirements (Fuller and Unwin, 2004 – study of apprenticeship in the steel industry)

10. EXPANSIVE Assessor as trainer & developer Assessor as knowledgeable care worker Assessor has dual qualification (assessor/trainer) Tailored assessment & development RESTRICTIVE Assessor as administrator Assessor as administrator Assessor has single qualification Standardised assessment The expansive/restrictive continuum of learning environments in care work

11. EXPANSIVE Whole organisation approach Training, devpt & assessment incorporated into organisational practice Internal capacity for assessment & training Moral/ideological commitment to improvement & maximising staff potential Employee-driven learning Trust in competent employees RESTRICTIVE Reactive, compliance driven approach Training, devpt & assessment bolted on Organisation relies on external expertise Lack of commitment to staff development Employees see themselves as ‘just a care worker’ Staff treated as unskilled workers with little autonomy The expansive/restrictive continuum of learning environments in care work

12. Expansive learning in the ‘good practice’ organisations Other factors contributing to innovative approaches • Trust in competent workers who know service users’ needs & understand their medical conditions • Sharing of knowledge of users’ needs – substitutability> quality of service (cf ‘personalisation’ agenda – danger of individualisation) • Employee driven training & job expansion • Organisations’ ability to grow own managers • Access to educational qualifications for career development • Training part of package of HRM practices which include work/life balance – particularly important in reconciling workers’ needs with those of service users

13. References • Fuller, A. & L. Unwin, 2004. ‘Expansive learning environments: integrating organisational and personal development’ in Rainbird et al., Eds., Workplace Learning in Context, Routledge/Taylor & Francis.