The professional development needs of education welfare officers on the management of school attendance

Abstract

This article is based upon an analysis of a questionnaire sent to 431 education welfare officers throughout local education authorities in England and Wales and follow‐up interviews with 59 (13.7%) of the respondents. The questionnaire focused upon profiling the initial induction and continuing professional development needs of the staff. The review of the literature and findings are considered in the context of the changing role and responsibilities of the Education Welfare Service, which has evolved from being a service primarily dealing with pupils’ school attendance to one whose functions often include such issues as managing exclusion, parenting orders, child protection, antisocial behaviour, licensing and child employment, criminal review board checks, alternative curriculum and out‐of‐school placements, health and safety, risk assessments, responsibility for travellers’ children and asylum seekers, bullying, aspects of special educational needs, home tuition, home carers and escort duties, among a range of related issues. The implications of the findings for the Service and for the initial and professional development needs of staff are considered and some new ideas postulated. Three brief illustrative case studies have also been included.

Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank and acknowledge the help given by a colleague, Peter Rhodes, Head of Computing and Information Services, for his assistance with analysing the data.