capped. It is also clear, from reading legal journals and the general press, that some police officers are either not aware of the Home Office directives on the interviewing of mentally handicapped persons or that they ignore them. Some retarded persons have been wrongly convicted. Only education will bring about a better understanding and diminish the stigma of mental handicap. Do all police officers know, for instance, that because of their lower mental age handicapped persons may be found in children’s play areas because they want to be with that age group and not necessarily because of ulterior motives? Can they explain this situation satisfactorily to suspicious mem- bers of the public?

I think there is much to be done and I am en- couraged by some colleges of higher education which have suggested running courses for policemen, proba- tion officers and social workers who will meet together to get to know about the problems of the mentally handicapped and also to get to know more about each other’s jobs so, perhaps, bringing about improved co- operation which ought eventually to benefit the men- tally handicapped person in the community. I know too of a training officer, in a social services department of a large city, who would like to implement such multidisciplinary inservice training, which could well include community nurses.

There are many parents who want their handicapped children to remain within the community. There are many handicapped persons, in one form of institution or another, who can lead happier, and certainly less frustrated lives in the community. Segregation and

isolation do no one any good. Ideas become stilted, misunderstandings arise because of ignorance and insularity. Institutions are remote places, whether schools, hospitals or foster homes. There are claims that schools do not produce what commerce and industry require, hospitals are organised to cater for the needs of the staff and not for the patient and so on . . .

The growth of the British Institute of Mental Handi- cap has done much in a few years to bring many people together, be it at conferences, by courses or through its journal. Better understanding is coming about. Less insularity and a fuller appreciation of the world we live in may even bring about a love for each other which will eventually overcome some of the difficulties Judd Hulme sees in the process of “normal- isat ion”.

In visiting other countries I found the “preparation” of mentally handicapped people for integration into the community more thorough than in the UK - more reason, perhaps, why the police, who are sworn to protect life and property, should take a greater interest in the mentally handicapped to ensure that they are not exploited, made fall guys or, if victims of crime, be able to enquire into their misfortune with patience and understanding. How many people know that close on 70 per cent of calls at or to police stations are of a non-criminal nature? The community asking for advice or help. We all have a part to play in making a better life for the mentally handicapped in the community - but what is a community without unity? I hope that BTMH can bring about some unison.

~~ ~

Training for managers of adult training centres a report of a course organised by the Workers’ Educational Council

MARY PHILLIPS formerly Associate Director Development Team for the Mentally Handicapped

JO PRYNNE Workers’ Educational Association (Western District) Keynsham

Introduction As WEA tutor organiser in the mental health field,

Mrs. Jo Prynne has been involved in organising educa- tional activities for mentally handicapped and mentally ill adults in hospitals, training centres and hostels, over the four counties of the Western District - Avon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire - for the past five years.

A number of ATC managers suggested that the WEA - as an independent, voluntary, educational body - might be an appropriate agency to mount a course for ATC managers and deputy managers from several counties. The opinions of managers in the Wiltshire Centres were sounded out and, finding that they were already discussing amongst themselves their need for an opportunity to meet colleagues in other areas to exchange ideas and to learn from other people about ways of developing their skills as managers, we decided that there would probably be a wide demand for such a course and embarked on the planning of the venture.

planning I t was decided to book Dillington Adult Education

College in Somerset for a week in March, 1979. The costs of the tutors and lecturers were covered by their employers, so fees for the 27 students were kept to a minimum (E45 per person for accommodation and tuition).

As the course aimed to meet the expressed needs of managers, an advisory group was invited to assist with planning and evaluation. Membership included an educationalist, two managers, four Social Services Department day care advisers, one Social Services training officer, the Regional Director of the National Society for Mentally Handicapped Children and a regional social work services officer.

The advisory group met three times and, from the outset, local authority representatives indicated that there would be a strong commitment from Avon, Devon, Gloucestershire, Hampshire and Wiltshire, all of whom were willing to second a t least four staff. I t was decided to offer the three remaining places to authorities in South Wales. The final list of students is shown in Table A.

126 A p e x . 1. Brit. Inst. Meni. Hnnd., Vol. 7 No. 4, 1980. 126-129

TABLE A: Course participants Authorities Managers Deputy Managers Avon 6 Devon 3 1 Gloucestershire 3 1 Hampshire 3 3 Wiltshire 4 Gwent 1 Dyfed 1 South Glamorgan 1

The managers and day care advisers on the Group discussed with their colleagues the aspects of work that they would like covered in the course. The list was very long so it was agreed to concentrate on four main topics:

Curriculum planning Communication Knowledge and use of community resources Staff development and promoting change. The Group considered it important not to include in

the course programme material which was already covered by local authority training programmes. Even so, it was realised that the course could not do more than stimulate managers’ interest in learning more about these aspects of their work.

Method Every effort was made to involve participants actively

throughout the course. The response to this was excellent, although the facilities for small group work were limited. Apart from a major group task (See Appendix I) participants were introduced to role play and the use of video equipment.

A resource centre with a wide range of books, journals and handouts was provided throughout the week as a means of showing how much information is available and how important it is for managers to keep up-to-date with current developments. The resource centre was also used extensively by the students during their group tasks.

Content Appendix I1 outlines the course programme for each

of the five days. The week could easily have been devoted to any one

of the four main topics so time for discussion of each aspect was limited. The extent to which the content was very relevant to the immediate needs of managers, and their willingness to participate fully in the programme, added to the feeling of pressure. I t was evident that managers need opportunities to study these four topics in greater depth in their own areas.

Equally important was the opportunity the course gave managers to discuss, with each other, methods of work and ways of dealing with their problems. They took full advantage of this opportunity. I t was very clear that managers seconded from the same authority came to know each other very much better than they had been able to do through staff meetings.

ATC managers are facing the problem of coping with change and helping their staff to cope with change. Therefore, they have a special need to meet regularly on a regional basis to exchange ideas and ways of moving forward.

From the way in which managers responded to the course content, it was evident that they particularly needed to learn about curriculum planning and how to relate their knowledge about teaching methods to their knowledge of their clients’ individual needs, based on the results of assessment of their capabilities such as is now carried out a t most adult training centres.

Another important area was staff development and

how to delegate responsibility. Included in this was discussion of the skills needed to run effective staff meetings and for ensuring that staff made more contact with outside agencies. These aspects of managers’ work require considerable ability in communication methods. Their ability to make good use of community resources is also partly dependent on their learning how to build up knowledge of what is available in a systematic way.

Implications for local authorities The response to this course demonstrated that ATC

managers are anxious to develop their skills, especially in curriculum planning and staff development. I t is important that tutors who contribute to courses for all staff should familiarise themselves thoroughly with the work carried out in adult training centres and the considerable changes that are taking place.

It is important for local authorities to make use of the training resources available in their area. This may involve linking up with health authorities, the local education authority or voluntary agencies.

Managers need regular opportunities to meet each other - particularly when they are evolving new methods of work - and the advantages of this cannot always be achieved on the basis of half-day staff meet- ings. Consideration should be given to the possibility of holding occasional residential two-day sessions and for staff to meet one another on a regional basis.

As was clearly demonstrated on this course, mana- gers gain a great deal from a learning experience which involves their active participation. They appreciate greatly the opportunity to step back from their work situation and spend time evaluating what they are trying to do. Managers are sometimes unable to make use of the resources that are available because they have insufficient knowledge of local and central government structures.

There is now a good deal of material available to help staff to keep up-to-date and to stimulate their thinking about new methods of working. Not all local authorities ensure that their staff have access to this kind of material, nor recognise when they need help in using it. This also applies to the provision of, and use of, appropriate teaching aids, such as video facili- lies and goal-planning manuals.

Evaluation There was general agreement that the balance of the

timetable had been appropriate and that participants had gained valuable experience from being actively involved in the course programme. Their evaluation indicated that they would have liked more exercises or seminars which would have given them further practical experience of the material presented in the plenary sessions.

I t was suggested also that a completely free afternoon which would have been used optionally to visit a local unit would have been welcome.

The real test of how useful a course has been is the extent to which participants feel they have been able to use what they have learned when they returned to work. Comments on this aspect received from some of the managers who attended this course will be presented in an article in the next issue of Apex.

Acknowledgements We would like to express our appreciation for the

help we received from members of the Advisory Group and from David Carter, NSMHC, Councillor Irving Rogers, Bristol Polytechnic and Michael Shackleton- Bailey, Hampshire Social Services Department who contributed sessions during the week.

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APPENDIX I: GROUP TASKS Course members were divided into Groups A, B, C and D and asked to do one of the following tasks. They were left to work on their own, although tutors were available for advice. Materials and literature were pro- vided in the resource centre.

1. CURRICULUM PLANNING (Group C chose this task) A new Manager, Mr. Peterson, (aged 41, DTMH), has just

taken over a 120-place Centre which has 11 other members of staff. (A description of each of these staff and their working relationships with one another was supplied). The Centre is a modern building with a spacious workshop, a domestic teaching flat, an “education room” and a large hall with a stage. It is situated in half an acre of ground, about a mile away from the centre of a town with a population of 60,000.

Mr. Peterson organised a survey of trainees’ needs and obtained the following results:

Need for Training: Level of Priority v. low

very or not insuff. high high medium low needed knowledge

Self care 21 8 49 20 4 18 Domestic 12 32 46 14 16 0 Daily living skills 31 31 20 22 !6 0 Verbal communication 12 27 68 7 6 0 Social adaptability 8 22 41 33 12 4 Close relationships 4 18 12 33 42 1 1 Outside employment 3 6 3 7 99 2 Leisure use 42 39 31 I 1 0 Physicaldevelopment 17 23 28 22 17 13

Apart from a small parents group (five regulars), there has been almost no contact between parents and the ATC, except over the annual outing, the Christmas party and occasional jumble sales. The Local Society is not well organised to help but is looking forward to change in the ATC. The Chairman is a very sensible and helpful woman who lacks support and is not very strong on organisation.

The Local Health Authority has told Social Services that it can provide a couple of hours physiotherapy and speech therapy each week if ATC staff are prepared to put their suggestions into practice.

A progressive Social Services Department is shortly opening three group homes (six trainees in each) and is looking to the ATC for practical training. A local school (with swimming bath) and the Sixth Form College can all offer help which has not been welcomed in the past.

Current activities, apart from workshop, are mainly confined to the “education” and domestic rooms, plus one afternoon of football a week, occasional gardening in the summer and a half-day a fortnight of sewing with a volunteer.

TASKS 1 . Identify Mr. Peterson’s main priorities in improving train- ing at the ATC. 2. Draw uv a brief plan to show the main types of training to be offerid over th i next two years. Indicatk the duration and frequency of each training programme. 3. Draw up a weekly “subject timetable” (to be run over the next four months). 4. Draw up a weekly “staff timetable” (to be run over the next four months). 5. Suggest general ways in which Mr. Peterson might help the staff to accept and adjust to the changes in working patterns demanded by the new timetable. Which staff members are likely to present him with the stickiest problems? Suggest some specific ways in which these might be overcome. 6. Indicate what Mr. Peterson’s main approach might be in beginning to work with parents. N.B. The description of the Centre and its staff is only a guide - yon can invent additional features (personal or material) but should not change tho5e which have been given.

2. STAFF TRAINING PROGRAMME Draw up a staff training programme for two adult training

centres which are, say, 20 miles apart - one serving a rural area and the other an urban area - to include all instructors and care staff. One third staff are qualified (Dip. TMH).

The programme is to last six months and, in addition to the resources of the SSD Training Section, there is a limited budget for outside speakers and visits/observation.

3. INVOLVING PARENTS AND THE COMMUNITY (Group D chose this task)

You are taking over an ATC where there is very little involvement with parents and the local community.

Work out a six-month programme that could be carried out by you and your staff to encourage closer links with parents - as individuals and collectively - and to foster better relations with the local community.

Iluckground irzformafion : 90-place purpose-built Centre, serving population of 100,000, scattered rural area. Staffing ratio 15:1, plus Manager and Deputy. Parent/Training Centre relationship has not been encouraged. No need has been recognised by previous Manager or staff. Involvement of the community has been actively discouraged. Parental involvement AIMS 1. To involve parents in the work of the Centre. 2. To establish an initial contact between parents and Centre staff. 3. To obtain a more complete assessment of the trainee. 4. To understand how the trainee functions at home as well as at the Centre. 5. To produce a complete profile of the abilities and needs of the trainee. 6. To draw up a programme to meet the defined needs of - . - each trainee. 7. To ensure that a coordinated programme between the home and the Centre is established. 8. To provide a central bank of information and support to parents. 9. To help parents to accept the necessity of the “dignity of risk”. METHODS 1. Staff involvement: formal meetings; discussions; suggestions. 2. Informal social: invite both parents and trainees. 3. Newsletter: general Centre news and information. Intro- duce subject of parental participation - ask for suggestions. 4. Informal individual meetings: Parents invited to meet manager and staff member to discuss their son/daughter; see the Centre working; discuss training aims of the Centre. (A record of these meetings to be kept - approx. 12 trainees each day, one day each week for 8 weeks). 5. Assessments by Centre staff using information gained from parents as part of the input. PROBLEMS 1. Apathy. 2. Transport problems. 3. 4. Community involvement AIMS 1. To promote good relationships between Centre and com- munity. 2. To break down barriers of fear, apathy, incorrect assump- tions and ignorance. 3. To integrate trainees into the community. 4. To foster acceptance of trainees by the community. 5. To help the community to understand the needs and capabilities of the mentally handicapped. 6. To establish mutual rights and responsibilities. 7. To enable trainees to use normal community resources: educational; recreational and leisure; health. METHODS 1. Open Day. 2. Informal coffee yornings - contacts must be made as opportunities arise: bus guides, womens’ institutes, staff suggestions. 3. Invitations to visit: schools and colleges, local organisations. 4. Involve Mencap Society. 5. Involve staff of community resources: ’bus company, library, GPO, police. 6. Volunteers: schools - sports; police - road safety. 7. Publicity: handout for visitors; press, radio and TV; public speaking. 8. Community service by trainees. 9. Use of community resources. PROBLEMS 1. Ingrained attitudes and resistance. 2. Apathy. 3. Resources: transport, finance, time.

4. TRANSITION FROM SCHOOL TO WORK (Group B chose this task)

Draw up some guidelines for staff from the local education authority and social services department for the transition of the mentally handicapped school-leaver to the adult training centre. Introduction Why do we need guidelines?

Parents’ feelings of rejection in the past. Constraints on the time and tolerance of staff.

For a mentally handicapped person there are several critical development points. One of these is the transition from school to work which, for all us, is a traumatic experience. Change of activity. Ghange of environment.

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Physical and emotional effects of onset of adolescence: awareness of growing up; experiences and activities becoming more adult; outgrowing peer groups; personal anxieties about fitting into strange new group; beginning to reach more concrete operational levels. DES pamphlet 7 0 continuity of training; maximisation of learning period. Parental anxieties re employment, SCU, FE, residential options, period of stability to unknown. Major crisis which needs to be effectively planned and administrated by the members of the professional agencies involved to achieve smooth transition on as human a time scale as possible.

Approx. 2000 m/h school-leavers per year to 400 ATCs in England and Wales 1973 - on average 5 per ATC. Whelan 6( Speake survey 1977 - 50 per cent of ATCs in survey have transition class for children in their final year. Thereforc, 50 per cent do not. And if we look at the figures in an updated way, 450 centres have 2,250 school leavers, 1,125 receive no form of transition.

This may be self-evident but does it happen?

This defines the need for guidelines quite clearly.

5. FINANCE TO MATCH PHILOSOPHY The changes that are now taking place in the organisation

and work of adult training centres may mean that the way in which money is allocated to you is inappropriate.

You have been invited to meet the senior management of the Social Services Department and a representative of the Treasurer’s Department to explain why changes are necessary and to suggest an improved method of allocation.

Draw up a brief which will enable you to present your case cff ectively.

6. EDUCATING OUR COLLEAGUES (Grorcp A chose f h i r task)

A manager and his staff decided that there was so little understanding about the work they were trying to do, amongst colleagues in their own and other related departments, that they must do something about it.

Draw up a programme for an “Open Day” for professional colleagues which would give them a dynamic view of the Centre.

APPENDIX 11: COURSE PROGRAMME Monday Pm 12.00 to 12.30 1.00 to 2.00 2.00 to 3.00 3.00 to 4.00 4.00 to 4.30 4.30 to 6.30 7.00 to 8.00 8.15 to 9.30

Tuesday 9.30 to 12.30

Arrival Lunch Welcome to course: Introductions LOCAL AUTHORITY MANAGEMENT (1) Tea LOCAL AUTHORITY MANAGEMENT (2) Dinner Plenary session Task Groups. Discussion and choice of tasks (See Appendix I)

CURRICULUM PLANNING .. - ~ .

12.30 to 2.00 Lunch 2.00 to 3.30 EXERCISES related to Curriculum Planning 5.00 to 6.30 GROUP TASKS 8.15 to 9.15 Optional discussions led by managers

Wednesday 9.30 to 10.45

10.45 to 11.15 11.15 to 12.30 2.00 to 3.30 5.00 to 6.30 8.15 to 9.15

Thursday 9.30 to 10.45

10.45 to 11.15 11.15 to 12.30

2.00 to 3.30 5.00 to 6.30 8.15 to 9.15

Friday 9.30 to 12.30 2.00 to 3.00 3.00

COMMUNICATIONS: EFFECTIVE MEET- INGS Coffee COMMUNICATIONS: Role play exercises GROUP TASKS STAFF DEVELOPMENT Optional discussions led by managers

COMMUNITY RESOURCES in relation to different kinds of employment opportunities Coffee COMMUNITY RESOURCES - making usc of resources . . .._. ..~. .~

GROUP TASKS CHANGE: A threat or a challenge? Optional discussions led by managers

PRESENTATION OF GROUP TASKS SUMMARY OF COURSE Tea and departure

-- Aspects of Mental Handicap

Accident of Birth is a six-part BBC tv series, with an accompanying book, for parents, teachers and all concerned with the care of the mentally handicapped.

The twelve-minute programmes start at 10.22 am Sunday 30 March 1980 on BBC-I. They define and describe mental handicap and its effects; analyse the care of the handicapped in Britain today in the light of developments at home and abroad; and examine the kind of future envisaged by special Reports.

is available as a BBC paperback, price E2.75 from booksellers.

The book Accident ofBirth, by Fred Heddell,

BBC

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