A study of applicants for residential child care posts in the North of England 1970-72

Abstract

The thesis is concerned with the qualifications, experience, education and training of people who submitted applications to work with deprived children in certain types of residential establishments in the North of England from January 1970 until December 1971.There is a description of the salient factors which have led to the demand for staff to work in residential homes for children and some indications of the developments which have influenced the job to be done. The thesis goes on to establish some basic factual information about persons who applied for, residential child care posts during the period under study; to determine whether there are discernible differences between those who were successful in their application and those who were not; and to assess how the applicants compared in terms of qualifications with those actually employed in the service. The raw data used was the completed application forms in respect of the total number of applicants upon whom information was available - 413 in all. It was collected in a way which rendered it amenable to computer-assisted analysis. The various findings are described and commented upon. In general, few major differences were found between those who applied and those who were successful. The study did, however, provide some information about persons entering this form of work and cast doubt on several popular notions about the sorts of people whom residential work with children attracts. Some details emerged about the availability of qualified staff in the North of England compared with other parts of the country. The study concludes with some personal viewpoints about the factors likely to influence residential work with children in the future and suggests some of the implications, of this for staffing.