Education Welfare Officer

Deborah Bell is the principal education welfare officer for the London Borough of Hillingdon. She is based in Uxbridge.

How would you outline your role?

I manage a team of education welfare officers (EWOs) and Connexions intensive personal advisers (IPAs) who support children, young people and families in accessing their full educational entitlement. EWOs work with caseloads of up to 100 children and young people at one time. Sometimes, when intensive support is required and it would not be in the public interest to take somebody through the courts, the Connexions IPAs step in. This means supporting young people in their education until they reach the statutory school leaving age. We also seek to minimise the exploitation of children and young people by licensing young people's employment including children who work in the theatre. Ours is a statutory service and we can prosecute in the courts. This is only used as a final resort.

What are your main responsibilities?

My main responsibility is to ensure that Hillingdon fulfils its legal duty that all children in the area receive a suitable education regardless of their circumstances. It is their entitlement. A variety of methods are used to carry this out, such as supporting new arrivals to Hillingdon through the complexities of the schools' admissions processes in Hillingdon, home visits, 'surgeries' in schools, engagement with partner agencies to support the child and family and attendance panels.

In a typical day, I might meet with partner agencies to agree common strategies, attend court as a prosecution witness, chair attendance panels in a school, visit a family at home and examine attendance data to pinpoint where our limited resources could be best utilised. There is also paperwork as all EWOs have to write up detailed reports.

What hours do you work?

I work a minimum of 36 hours per week. Hillingdon operates a flexitime system which allows additional hours worked to be taken as time off. However, we always tend to work over our contracted hours.

What is your working environment like?

We work in the Civic Centre in Uxbridge. We desk share and have access to a parking space for four days a week. The Civic Centre is in a great location with easy access to all of Uxbridge's shops at lunchtime.

Who do you work with?

I work with a close and friendly team of 11, within a wider group of services that fall under the management of the Behaviour and Attendance Services. This department covers a whole range of issues like bullying, exclusion, school attendance, child employment and school-aged parents.

What skills or qualities do you need?

You need the ability to think of several aspects of one case simultaneously as cases are quite complex and not always straightforward. You need to have a mature attitude and have enough confidence to challenge when you think it's needed. You have to be able to argue confidently and justify your decisions. You must also be a resilient person who isn't easily shocked by what you might hear in confidence. Flexibility and a sense of humour are also very important.

Why did you choose this type of work?

I chose this area of work because for every sad story you hear another young person could turn their life around and make a positive start to a happy life. That's a great feeling.

What training have you done?

I've taken many specialist courses such as child safeguarding and legal duties. All education welfare officers have to undertake this training. I also have a Masters degree in education.

Do you use any special tools or equipment?

Our essential tools are computers and mobile phones.

What do you like/dislike about your job?

I love the variety and the challenge. The job is never boring. I would like more team members as our resources are stretched and more office space would be nice.

What are the main challenges?

The main challenges are making school attendance interesting to families who do not see the benefits of education and trying to impress on schools the importance of attendance routines to support attainment.

How do you see your future?

I'd like to develop the section to be one of the best in the country so that Hillingdon can become a model of best practice.

Deborah's route

• BA (Hons) degree in history.
• Masters degree in education.
• Worked in a vocational training college for young people working on NVQs.
• Teacher training (PGCE).
• Worked as a key stage 1 teacher (age 5-7 years).
• Became an education welfare officer to accommodate the needs of my own family and I never looked back!

Deborah's tips

• It pays to acquire as many life skills as possible before trying this work. Advising schools, parents and young people requires some credibility.
• EWOs could not do this job if they were judgemental. Be prepared to be unshockable at the stories that you will hear.