No Time to Think: Protecting the Reflective Space in Children's Services.

Over the past few years, first line managers in child care have faced mounting pressure on their time from both the national performance management agenda and the professional demands associated with the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families and Working Together to Safeguard Children: A Guide to Inter-Agency Working to Safeguard and Promote the Welfare of Children. This paper briefly discusses the policy context surrounding this period of unprecedented change and focuses on the potential erosion of the reflective space in supervision as first line managers struggle to cope with the ever-increasing expectations. An argument is made for the creative use of multi-agency action learning/research projects within the workplace to supplement individual supervision and promote reflective multi-agency child care practice; some examples of successful projects are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]