Skills in working with children and families

Abstract

In teaching and training it is customary to divide the requirements needed to undertake a particular kind of work into knowledge requirements, skills requirements and value (or attitude) requirements. This chapter deals with skills requirements. Knowledge is a matter of what a person needs to know in order to do the work; values or attitudes refer to how the person needs to feel; skills are what the person needs to do. It is very difficult to learn how to do something by reading a book – practice skills can only come with time and experience – but a book can tell you what types of skills are necessary to be able to undertake effective work. When you have read this chapter, you will not be a skilled practitioner, but you will have an idea of what skills need to be mastered and how you might begin to acquire these skills.