Dear Colleague
The Centre for the Child and the Family at Liverpool Hope University invites you to a practitioner-led conference on 23rd June 2011, which disseminates the findings of a Collaborative Inquiry focusing on the question: “How can we, individually and collectively, integrate research and practice to improve the wellbeing of children?”
This project, led by Dr Joan Walton and Janice Darkes-Sutcliffe, and funded by Liverpool Children's Services, takes an innovative action research approach to professional development.
The aim of the project is:
To demonstrably improve the wellbeing of children and young people through the facilitation of a collaborative inquiry with practitioners and managers who ask and respond to the questions:
(i) ‘How can I improve my practice in my work with children, young people and parents?’
(ii) “How can we as a group influence the learning of each other and the wider professional contexts in which we live and work, for the benefit of children and their families?”
The specific objectives are:
(i) To increase the motivation and commitment of practitioners by empowering them to create and implement action plans for improving their practice based on their values and ‘what matters to them’.
(ii) To support practitioners in the process of providing evidence and accounting for what they have done to improve the wellbeing of children and young people.
(iii) For practitioners to recognise that they have a valuable contribution to make in the creation of knowledge relevant to improving the wellbeing of children and families as a result of creating and implementing their Action Plans.
(iv) For research and policy-making at local and national levels to be grounded in the experience and knowledge-creation of practitioners.
This conference may be of interest to you, your team, others in your workplace, and/or your students. Please see the attached leaflet for more details and information on how to request a place.
Yours sincerely,
Chris Lowry