Staff Support, Education and Training

Ultimately, the quality of services that we will provide will be governed by the quality of staff within the organisation. For that reason, personal support, development and education will be at the very heart of what we do.

All our sites develop into Learning Organisations. By this we mean an organisation that is reflective; open to learning; and a place where staff feel enabled to develop and learn without fear. We would like to develop a culture where everyone is prepared to be creative, reflective, analytical and interpretive; and above all where people are prepared to have a go at applying their ideas, even if things don't always work out in practice.

Our proposed model of personal development is founded upon two key features:

• It recognises the special issues of adult learning (i.e. that adults learn best when they are treated respectfully and autonomously, when their learning is practical, based on experience and relevant; and when they can self-direct their learning)
• It is based upon the reflective cycle (The diagram below illustrates how individuals, teams and organisations can interact positively to enable progress to be made in a constructive and creative way)

Diagram: The Learning Cycle (Personal and Organisational)

Systems for Staff Support, Education and Development