Hard won lessons: A decade review bringing about systemic change in children's services
Scotland Director
Communications and Production Manager
It has been more than 10 years since the seminal Christie Commission set out the clear and radical vision for the re-design of public services. Yet, we know from the data and evidence, that measurable, tangible progress for children and families falls short. Too many children are being failed by the existing system of care despite best of intentions - with particular groups at greater risk of systemic discrimination (see The Promise; Rights Respecting? Scotland’s approach to children in conflict with the law).
At the Lab, we’ve been developing and refining our approach to facilitating systemic change, by generating and integrating diverse evidence of what children and young people need and want. We have had varying degrees of success. In 2021 we released our first blog in this series reflecting on and celebrating our co-design work with young people to change the system. We’re now releasing our report from the Early Action Project In Renfrewshire to reflect on our experiences of trying to bring about systemic change in children’s services and encourage others to learn from our approach, to support the long-term sustainability of systems change that is both wanted and needed.
Our priorities for systems change in Renfrewshire
The report itself focuses on our joint ambitions (with the Early Action partnership) to prioritise prevention, strengthen children and young people’s participation, bolster partnership working and use robust data to inform decision-making. This content and learning will be particularly helpful for anyone interested in trying to create the conditions that enable children and young people to thrive, and for those in local partnerships interested in understanding the barriers and enablers of transformational change.
Each issue that is reflected upon is supported and underpinned by a range of data and toolkits, which are cited in the report to support others as they apply this learning. For example, you can find:
Significant analysis of financial data to understand investment in prevention;
System maps capturing size, reach and type of provision delivery;
Interactive tools exploring the dynamics of relationships
A co-produced suite of resources by children and young people to improve priority outcomes – see here).
“Hard won lessons”
Our friends and learning partners at Research for Real talk about ‘hard won lessons’ that come about from trying to progress the messy, complex and emergent work of systemic change. In the report, we are raw and honest about some of these hard-won lessons, spanning from talking about relationships and accountability, all the way through to working in uncertain times. We’d like to share some of our learning now that we feel are particularly pertinent:
Power: Power dynamics exist in all relationships, and so we must be intentional and explicit about how we use different types of power for different purposes (e.g. ‘disruptive power’, ‘modelling power’ or ‘narrative power’). There is considerable opportunity for those holding power to model alternative funding arrangements that redistribute this power (e.g. participatory budgeting models).
Risk: We recommend re-conceptualising what we mean by ‘risk’ in the context of systemic change, building our tolerance to safely hold it, and spotlight the risks of not acting, and the potential impact this will have on young people and communities.
Rights-based: Too often this is ignored in systemic work. Those working with communities or with ambitions to do so, need to work to create the conditions that enable decisions following from co-production, as these are just as important as undertaking co-production itself.
Evaluation: Another significant role in systems change work, and we place a great emphasis on sharing reflections on how we measure and evaluate what truly matters to families and young people over time, not just what matters to services.
These were massive areas of learning and challenge in different ways. As such we’ve intentionally tried to share our learning in the form of “conditions that help and hinder” different approaches to systems change, knowing of course that the hard work of systemic change is never-ending.
What does it really mean to do systems change?
Steven Quinn, former Director of Children’s Services in Renfrewshire reflects: “The report offers a balance, addressing where we can build on existing good practice but also, and importantly, highlights: what could be done differently? The insight and recommendations can support and enhance meaningful change in future work of this nature across public services in Renfrewshire and beyond.”
For Renfrewshire, we can say that if the learning and system change methods of the project continue to be embedded, it will be in the strongest position to be better understood, so that Renfrewshire can respond and adapt to local needs as the landscape shifts and evolves. The same can be said of other partnerships who can reconcile some of these learnings in their own work. Ultimately, it’s about creating the optimal conditions that allow these different partnerships to adapt and thrive by building the capacity of the system to continuously learn and grow.
We hope you enjoy reading and reflecting on the learning in this report. If you have any further questions about the challenges and opportunities of progressing systemic change grounded in what children and young people need and want – please contact our Scotland Director kate.tobin@dartington.org.uk.
