In considering how to better support teacher and school leader careers, the ET2020 Working Group on Schools has redressed the balance by understanding better the lived experience of individual teachers and school leaders. The starting point was to focus on what teachers may want from their careers as they enter the school education profession, and how these ambitions may change as their career is sustained.Importantly for policy makers, the Group has considered how support mechanisms can benefit these individuals and, at the same time, benefit schools and the wider system in a coherent manner.It is hoped that education systems, by virtue of their policy makers, can engage and support stakeholders to take a new approach to teacher and school leader careers: one that genuinely nurtures individual motivation and abilities (competence), whilst providing a range of opportunities in which all teachers and school leaders can grow and progress.There are two core ideas explored in this Guide: the need to recognise and support diverse career paths; and the need to take a coherent approach to that support.
Service design is literally the design of services. Service designers improve existing services or design completely new ones. Nothing new so far. Services have been around for centuries, and every service was conceived and designed by someone. However, service design takes a different angle; a different perspective as its starting point: it is a process of creative inquiry aimed at the experiences of the individual user. ‘Service design, insights from 9 case studies’ is the final publication of the Innovation in Services programme. During this programme, creative design agencies applied the methods of service design in nine different projects.
The central question in this study is how, for whom, and under which conditions professional youth work contributes to the personal development of socially vulnerable youngsters, the reinforcement of their social network, the enhancement of their social participation, and the timely finding of appropriate specialized care services in relation to contextual factors such as life events and the influence of significant others. This research used a multiple case study with a comparative design. During a 12-month period, youth workers (N = 20) participated in group intervision meetings and kept diaries reporting on their actions and the development of the youngsters (N = 23). An analysis of this data revealed four patterns of development of socially vulnerable youngsters in youth work settings. Each pattern consisted of a specific form of multi-methodic action that resulted in a specific outcome. The study also revealed how these processes of development are influenced by important life events and significant others. The findings suggest that youth work contributes to personal development and social participation and thereby may lessen the need for formal social care services.
