The reviewing, planning and evaluation that took place in these meetings enabled us to monitor resources, reflect regularly on the individual progress of the young people and alter the programme to suit individual need, I was therefore able to provide input into the effectiveness and efficiency of the programme. These meeting were also used to prioritise our workloads with the supervisor.
During my time on the programme I have been able to come more familiar with other parts to legislation that I was already familiar with for example the Children Act 1989. The coincidence of the human rights act had a major impact on the ways in which Nacro delivered a service to young people. I was also able to see how this applied to future practice with young people.
The main aim of the programme on which I was placed was to promote rights of the young people to receive an education. The young people were either: -
❑ At risk of being excluded from the school
❑ At risk of being suspended
❑ Already suspended
❑ Already excluded
The rights of the young people to receive an education were promoted during the sessions, just as importantly during communications and meetings with/to external agencies and being an advocate for them. Through one to one mentoring and group work I was able to help the young people develop a healthy self-image and esteem through praise, encouragement and team building activities. This also developed the young peoples confidence in themselves and enabled them to build on their abilities. As the focus was always positive the emphasis was on the young peoples abilities not their inabilities and meeting each young person at their level and minimising power differences. Thus approaching the young people in a manner that they felt able to approach me too.
During the course of the programme it became visible that some of the young people were not getting on with each other. I didn’t feel it necessary to intervene straight away unless there was of course an immediate danger, but instead observed the young people and how they handled conflict. After the incident I spoke to both of the young people together and discussed with them ways in which they could have better handled the situation that presented itself. Therefore allowing the person to assess the situation for his/herself they were able to reflect on their behaviour and develop strategies for dealing with future conflict. Thus modelling cognitive behavioural methods.
The supervision sessions (both formal and informal) were instrumental in enabling me to develop and assess my professional competence and the effectiveness of my application of theory to practice. As action points were always clearly highlighted on my supervision records, this enabled me to plan carefully for my next supervision session.
I was also able to discuss any issues or concerns I had with my performance and manage and prioritise my own work schedule. I was also able to discuss any issues I had concerning my role and responsibilities within the work place.
I was also responsible for recording my own records within agency policy and criteria needs. This helped me to understand how these needs differed from that of a statutory organisation to which I was more familiar with.
At each meeting I was able to identify any future goals. Opportunities were also available to attend training days relevant to the work undertaken at the centre.
Through discussion with my practice teacher and supervisor and my implementation of two proformas (appendix items nine and four) I was able to solve problematic dilemmas with communication between the agencies involved with the young people.
The information and the induction I received (appendix 8) enabled me to have more awareness of the organisations policies and procedures.
At times as I was still in the early stages of learning how to approach the young people I didn’t feel I had enough strategies developed for dealing with the young people who were displaying unsociable behaviour and hence had to discuss this in supervision and also observe other staff on the programme.
I feel that at time I could have altered the young peoples perception of me as a worker and in turn led them to increase unsociable behaviour. This however was not the case, but I felt this was an area I needed to greatly improve upon.
Coming from an educational employment perspective and having a sister who is a qualified teacher now working for another reducing disaffection team, I am aware of the difficulties that can be encountered by teachers when attempting to control large groups of young people and maintain an undisrupted session for the pupils who are displaying unsociable behaviour. But on the programme I had to carefully balance this with the young people coming on the programme who genuinely felt that they were being picked on by the teachers and some experiencing racial discrimination.
Having experienced racial discrimination at school myself one of my beliefs that I struggled with whilst on the programme was that once a young person becomes subject to discrimination of this kind and being labelled as a troublemaker, it then become difficult for a person to receive fair treatment from the teachers in question. This was also supported by an incident we had where a teacher accused a young person on the programme of doing something and he had not actually been on the school premises that day!
A perhaps hard dilemma for me was on the programme (where we tried to instil in the young people the importance of receiving a good level of education for improved future life chances). It became apparent to me that the parents were not holding the same values. Young people were coming in reporting that they had been absent from school without apparent good reason even though they had been well on the day. One reason given was where a young person on the programme had been sent up the town by her mother to buy some new trainers. This reluctance to send their child to school conflicted with the values and aims of the programme.
As shown in supervision three there was a difference in my values and my supervisors value base in engaging the young people outside of session times for example whilst travelling on the minibus. I felt that the young people needed this time to reflect on what they had learnt in the session and to relate to each other and not see me as overbearing or threatening. However the values of my supervisor were that we engaged the young people at all times.
After discussion with my practice teacher and supervisor I was able to see that we only had eight weeks (16 sessions) in which to “get through” to the young people and locate the source of their disaffection. Therefore there was a need to engage the young people as much as possible
One of my perhaps most memorable dilemmas presented itself on the minibus on the way back from an outdoor activity. Upon engaging a female of dual heritage (African-Caribbean and British European) the topic turned to her views on what type of man she would like to settle down with in future.
During the course of this conversation she repeatedly referred to black men as “niggers” and that she would only date one of them as she thought they were much better looking.
This posed several issues for me: -
❑ I found the term personally offensive on the grounds of my own race and own values.
❑ I sadly realised that this was becoming a common street greeting among certain communities who perhaps were unaware of where the term originated.
❑ Issues surrounding possible learnt behaviour with the white service users, and them also picking up this term and the way it would be viewed if they did.
❑ The denial of the other side of her culture.
❑ The time and place of the incident meant it was more difficult to address sensitively.
I don’t feel I had enough strategies for coping with this situation, especially as we were on a minibus of 12 other young people and values are personal things one may not want to discuss in front of others.
A later one to one mentoring session enable me understand what her values and beliefs were surrounding this topic and where they had stemmed from. This enabled me to see this part of her behaviour in a different light. I did however still feel I needed to discuss with her the language that she was using and how it offended me. Therefore enabling her to understand my values too.
Before embarking at the centre I had no real image of what to expect, as I had not worked in an organisation of this kind before.
The group work and task centred learning theory that was applied enabled me to put theory to practice. I found this theory most useful when used as a combination. Because humans are different I found that by combining two theories I could modify my approach easier. For example with those who appeared to learn more by doing I incorporated more task centred learning activities.
I found the Cognitive Behavioural approach instrumental in helping me to help the young people build on what they already knew, examine their behaviour and develop their own strategies for coping.
By leaving the power with the service user and allowing for their self-determination, this enabled me to re-enforce with the service users the need for them to take ownership of their behaviour.
“The making of decisions for oneself without the influence or interference from others” Thomas and Pierson, 1995 (page 337)
Whilst on placement I feel I have learnt so many new ideas and ways in which to engage and communicate with a wide range of people. These skills will also be able to be transferred to use in my future endeavours as a social worker. These skills will also be able to be adapted to enable application to new tasks.
Seeking The views of my service users about how they found the programme and any improvements they felt could be made for the next group of young people coming onto the programme was very useful in planning for the next programme.
This session also allowed me to develop ideas about future intervention with young people in general. Such as the kinds of services they would like to see in place for them or how we can build on and modify the service NACRO is providing at present.
The meeting that took place at the end of the programme enabled us to develop and implement the ideas and wishes of the young people. This will hopefully lead to a service for young people developed by young people.
The recent suggestion of running more groups for females in the near future was particularly important especially as NACRO researchers have identified that between 1993 and February 2001 the population of female prisoners had increased by 145%. This recent report, which will be released 4th April 2001, will have a great impact on the importance of the developing these groups for youth activities and crime prevention work with females in the Wolverhampton area. This work will also educate society and challenge the traditional stereotypes that society has regarding men committing most crimes.
I found the sessions where I discussed my value base quite uncomfortable at first particularly as I did not know my practice teacher as well as I usually would someone with whom I would explain my values in such depth.
This first hand experience was positive and it helped me to increase my understanding of how vulnerable my service users will feel when I am interviewing them and talking about intimate/personal matters, especially when they may not know me well.
Feedback (from both my practice teacher and my supervisor) on all of the core competencies has been good. I feel my previous work experience both as a developmental delay therapist and acting co-ordinator at my previous place of employment has enabled me to utilise skills learnt there to my new endeavours. I plan to build upon these skills during my next placement.
References And Bibliography
Banks. S, (1995) Ethics And Values In Social Work, British Association Of Social Work.
Coulshed. V. And Orme. J (1998) Social Work Practice An Introduction, British Association For Social Workers.
Thomas, M and Pierson, J. (1995) Dictionary Of Social Work, Collins Educational.
Thompson. N, (1996) People Skills, A Guide To Effective Practice In The Human Services, Macmillan Press
Thompson, N, (1991) Theory and practice in health and social welfare, Open University Press.
Citing
NACRO, , “Women Behind Bars” Accessed March 2001
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