Introduction
The last five years have seen a radical shift in approaches to working with children and young people. For the first time ever, children and young people are where they should be – right at the heart of government policy.
The introduction of children's trusts in 2004, has enabled the children's workforce to look at the needs of the "whole child", pooling resources to commission services which provide a "best fit" for the children, young people and families in their locality. Itis an approach which avoids duplication and provides good value for money. In this supplement, we talk to commissioners about what their job involves and what the benefits – and challenges – of pooling resources with other services are.
We talk to schools about how partnership working is helping them improve, both in terms of their own practice, and what they can offer the communities they serve.
We look at the impact of the government's vision for child health, Healthy Lives, Brighter Futures, which aims to improving the health and wellbeing of all children.
Finally we consider some of the new qualifications being developed, such as the Newly Qualified Social Work Programme, the Early Years Professional Status and the Masters In Teaching and Learning, asking how a more highly trained workforce can helped improve outcomes for children and young people.