Listening for the impact
That sounds like a rather scary title, full of dread and impending doom. In fact, it’s just the opposite, it’s about “Has this really happened?” and “Ah, so that’s why we do this job”.
Let me explain.
Some time ago, Pupil Pathways was awarded a contract to develop a case management system for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (LBBD) Inclusion Team. Its remit was simple: to enable schools and the LA to work together more efficiently to help those children at risk of exclusion to do what they should be doing – staying in school and learning.
This was a major undertaking as we had to understand the process that was used and then translate this into a case management system. As with all such undertakings, this involved understanding the who, the why, and the when, and putting this information into the flow diagrams needed to get sign-off from our Barking and Dagenham colleagues and to provide the foundations for the system design.
To cut a long story very short, many iterations and consultations later, the system was trialled in a few schools and, since April, has been used across the local authority. It goes under the name of Foresight.
It was then decided that we needed to create The Case Study. We know from our experiences that our contacts in Barking and Dagenham are busy, so to speed up the interview we prepared our questions.
However, a few prompts were all it took for Dave Botterill, Exclusion Lead at LBBD to explain the impact that Foresight has had on his job. There were facts and figures, but these merely underpinned the excitement and the passion in his voice as he outlined how he can work more effectively and, as a result, can support better the staff and pupils within Barking and Dagenham. It was a privilege to be there on Teams.
So, if you ever wonder when creating these sorts of systems if it is of value, the answer is a definite yes. And the best way to find out?
Listen. Listen to what is said and how it is said. Listen for the impact.
There are few things more rewarding than finding out that you, along with the wider team, have made such a difference in such an important area of education.