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School of Human and Health Sciences

Nationwide Children's Research Centre

Providing Support for Children and Children's Services

Mission Statement

The Nationwide Children's Research Centre promotes high quality research which will improve the quality of life of children and young people and their contribution to society, which will seek to meet their aspirations and to integrate their diverse needs for care, education, a stimulating and safe environment and positive health, and which will reflect their rights and capabilities to influence policy and service priorities within a multi cultural and multi faith society.

NCRC Partnership is supported by Kirklees Metropolitan Council, University of Huddersfield, Calderdale & Kirklees Health Authority, NSPCC and the National Children's Centre.

The NCRC is equipped to provide research, evaluation and consultation to children's services agencies.

The NCRC can provide:

  • Research to underpin children's services strategies
  • Evaluation of new and established interventions
  • Consultation / advice about the design of new services and the development and delivery of inter-agency initiatives and plans
  • Assistance with child care reviews and audits

Government Expectations

Central Government has spelt out its expectations about children's care, education and health more clearly than ever before, setting a demanding agenda for local agencies and highlighting their accountability.

Key features include:

  • Practice must be evidence based. Local services must be integrated to benefit children and families
  • The best possible start for children through expanded early years and nursery education programmes backed up by excellent and affordable child care
  • Bench marked improvements in achievements for children in numeracy and literacy supported by expanded opportunities for out of school learning
  • A commitment to the highest quality of health care for children and young people
  • A requirement for high quality services for children in need of protection, for separated and looked after children, for children with disabilities and for children leaving care
  • Renewed emphasis on the responsibilities of children, young people with families, and new criminal justice legislation with a central aim to prevent offending
  • A 10 year programme to combat the growth of drugs and other harmful substances

Central Government is setting clear standards and is holding local agencies to account for delivering them.

Local Agencies - Support for best practice

As never before children's authorities and agencies need to test the effectiveness of their work and the return on their investments. Agencies need to know "what works", to take account of feedback from service users and to evaluate their contribution to new government initiatives such as Quality Protects, Health and Education Action Zones, New Opportunities Funding (out of school care and learning), Sure Start, Youth Offending Teams, etc.

Agencies must be kept up to date with research findings to improve their services to enable children to achieve and for children in need, children with health problems, for excluded children and for children in trouble.

Children's agencies need strong alliances with independent research and evaluation centres to make sure their services meet modern quality specifications.Intre

Inter-Professional Learning and Family Support Seminar

Programme from the seminar on Wednesday 14th November 2008:

NCRC Research Programme

The Centre's research programme is focusing on:

  • The views of children and young people
  • Children's rights and influence
  • Risk and abuse
  • Family support and parenting
  • Children in trouble
  • Inter-agency support for children and developing integrated children's services

Following consultations held shortly after the Centre was established the NCRC has decided to focus its activities particularly in three areas:

i) Children and Young People's Rights and Influence

The history of children's services for the past 20 years demands a programme of research improving children and young people's influence on services towards them and underpinned by the United Nations Convention on the rights of children. Research needs to be child focused recognising the separate needs of children and their carers. Services need to be redesigned to become child friendly and accessible. Without a major shift in emphasis agency services run the risk of becoming largely irrelevant to children's needs. In this area the NCRC:

  • Is undertaking audits of local services based on the UN Convention on the rights of children
  • Will promote research exploring children's influence across the spectrum of education, health, leisure and social care agencies
  • Will promote and disseminate good practice through the Centre's research, evaluation and conference programmes.

ii) Parenting and Family Support

There are huge variations in the shape and make up of families. Government's expectations about Supporting Families have been set out in the November 1998 Green Paper. Parents are under pressure for their children to achieve at school and elsewhere - and to act responsibly and become good citizens.

Parents are also under pressure from the pace of technological advances accessible to children and from some aspects of youth culture. Some aspects of Government policy such as Welfare to Work have an uncomfortable fit with family support initiatives.

Agencies are developing new parenting support initiatives and programmes rapidly and these urgently require evaluation, not least in the area of behaviour management for older children.

In this area the NCRC:

  • Is reviewing current research findings from the available literature
  • Provides expertise in the evaluation of parenting programmes
  • Is listening to parents about the kind of support and help they need
  • Will focus on the views of children and young people
  • Will promote research on education for parenthood

iii) Children and Young People in Trouble

The Government's challenge to Youth Justice Agencies lies at the heart of the Crime and Disorder Act : to prevent children and young people offending and continuing in a life of crime. Almost all adult offenders start committing crimes as children. There is real urgency for local agencies including police forces to develop confidence about which interventions work for children and young people. Combating materialist and criminal cultures and harmful peer influences represent a serious test. But there are grounds for optimism too.

In this area the NCRC:

  • Is reviewing current literature and research findings
  • Offers consultancy on the Crime and Disorder Act and new Youth Justice services
  • Will initiate research into the outcomes of Restorative Justice approaches, victim/offender mediation and family group conferences
  • Will identify best practice for early intervention and targeted programmes for work with young people in trouble
  • Will contribute to knowledge on major research areas including drug related crime, and the links for young people between local authority care and crime and subsequent experience of homelessness and mental illness

The NCRC is equipped to offer research, evaluation and consultancy across a wide range of children's services and has a specialist contribution to make on children's rights, parenting and family support and for children and young people in trouble.

Partnership

The Centre has been established as a private limited company with charitable status based on an agreement with five core partners:

  • The University of Huddersfield
  • Kirklees Metropolitan Council
  • Calderdale and Kirklees Health Authority
  • the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
  • the National Children's Centre (in Huddersfield)

The five agencies will be represented on the NCRC Board.

Associates

Additional to the core partners there will be associates who wish to be linked with the development of the Centre and who wish to be able to access work by the Centre on favourable terms.

Agencies will be able to join as associates as any point by agreement with the Board.

Advisory Group

In terms of academic excellence an Advisory Group has been established to advise the Director and ensure that the Centre exploits a wider range of partnerships. This will consist of representatives of core partners and associates. The Advisory Group will provide a dynamic and leading edge to ensure that the work programme is imaginative and flourishes to benefit services for children and young people.

Resources

The Centre has close links with the Centre for Applied Childhood Studies and the Centre for Evaluation Studies at the University of Huddersfield, liaises with other national networks to promote research initiatives, and contracts with expert researchers and consultants to contribute to the work programme.

Contact

The Centre will provide initial advice and consultancy in response to enquiries from children's agencies and will consider all requests for research and evaluation.

Terms for associate membership and for individual or continuing pieces of work are available on request.

For further information contact:

Martin Manby
Director

NATIONWIDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH CENTRE
BRIAN JACKSON HOUSE
NEW NORTH PARADE
HUDDERSFIELD
HD1 5JP

Telephone : 01484 415 461
Fax : 01484 435 150
E-mail : m.manby@hud.ac.uk

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