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EWS had not undergone a review since the
inception of the Boards in 1973 and this
led the SELB into deciding that it was an
opportune time to review the service. The
SELB Management Support Unit (MSU) carried
out an initial review in 1998, which identified
a number of issues that the board considered
needed to be addressed. These included a
need:
•
for clarification of the role of the EWS;
•
to streamline administrative duties;
•
To ensure that Education Welfare Officers
(EWOs) concentrate on core duties and were
not used to fulfil other board duties or
non-EWO tasks in schools.
Arising
out of this review a working group, chaired
by the Senior Education Officer was established.
The membership of the working group consisted
of the Assistant Senior Education Officer,
Chief Education Welfare Officer and the
Head of the Pupil and Parent Unit. The remit
of the working group was to:
•
Identify the core areas of the EWS
•
Review the structure and management of the
EWS
•
Clarify the roles and responsibilities of
the Education Welfare Officer (EWO), Senior
Education Welfare Officer (SEWO) and Chief
Education Welfare Officer (CEWO)
In
keeping with the policy of the Education
Department to involve service users in board
reviews a consultative group was set up
consisting of representatives from primary
and post primary schools, a parent representative10
and a board member. Because of the nature
of the review group it was not possible
to include representation from children
or young people in the review group. After
representation from the Northern Ireland
Public Services Association (NIPSA) an EWO
was invited to participate in the group
The
broad remit of the group was to provide
a perspective from the viewpoint of service
users on the recommendations of the working
group.
Schools
have been consulted about this report and
the draft report was put on the EWS page
of the SELB website to enable as wide as
possible a distribution. The consultation
process has included open meetings for Principals
in each area and discussion at the Primary
and Secondary Teachers Consultative Committees
and the EWS Consultative Group. The staff
of the EWS, the Northern Ireland Public
Services Association (NIPSA), other board
services and other agencies have also been
consulted about the outcomes of the review.
- The
parent representative was able to attend
only a few meetings
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