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November 14, 2008
PROCESS AND PROFESSIONALISM
An article worth reading in the Guardian today: It's about the management of risk and the dependence on process at the expense of spending time in face to face work. Extract here from the article that is likely to resonate within probation work - it was also a point - effectiveness of time spent in front of computer screens - made by a member at the recent Napo AGM to Phil Wheatley, the head of NOMS.
"Panorama next Monday has surveyed children's departments across Britain. It reaches the grim conclusion that many social workers spend 60% of their time in front of computer screens, time that should be spent with families. Like policemen who sit in cars, it is the surest way to fail a service.
In every walk of life, the computer screen has become a professional comfort blanket. It distances carers from the sensibility of clients. It demotes the value of informal contact with colleagues. Provided the screen has been filled and the boxes ticked, officialdom regards itself as in the clear. Risk is eliminated not by personal application but by process."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/14/baby-p-haringey-laming-report
Posted by Hampshire at November 14, 2008 09:23 AM