Social Care Workers in Schools Pilot Project Interim Evaluation Report

This report details the initial findings from the SCWIS pilot project evaluation against the following variables set out by Middlesbrough Council:

Achievability, scalability and the impact potential for embedding social care workers within schools against specific objectives 1-4 below:
1. Enhances school response to safeguarding issues
2. Increased collaboration between social workers, school staff and parents
3. Improved relationships between social workers and young people
4. Children and young people to get the right service at the right time to prevent escalation in risk and need.

Early findings of the Middlesbrough Council Social Care Workers in Schools Pilot Evaluation.

Based on early analysis of findings, we can tentatively say that placing social care workers in schools appears to provide benefits to the children and young people who access SCWIS support by enhancing the school’s response to safeguarding issues, increasing collaboration between social care staff, school staff and parents, and improving relationships between children and young people.

Full analysis of the quantitative and qualitative dataset may enable further conclusions to be drawn within the final report.

Further investigation should be carried out to explore whether the SCWIS approach will go on to reduce either appropriate or inappropriate referrals to MACH. Further investigation could also examine whether SCWIS will have a longer-term impact upon the numbers of cases held at lower threshold levels.