This course offers practitioners the opportunity to critically review current practice and policy and identify and formulate ideas for future development and practice; it aims to meet the continuing professional development needs of a range of social welfare professionals involved in leading and delivering services for children and young people; it is linked in a variety of ways to policy and practice standards and guidance issued by government such as that on the lead professional and in relation to common core skills and knowledge for integrated services; the core philosophy of the programme is to provide opportunities for a range of social professionals (Banks 2002) to engage in a critical and intellectually rigorous dialogue and investigation of their own professional contexts and practice responses; the core approach involves establishing critical and collaborative spaces (that are frequently difficult to find in work settings) in order to foster confidence and capacity in participants� analysis, examination and reflective professional practices; the programme seeks to enable participants to identify new knowledge, inform future policy and practice and facilitate the emergence of new professional (and interprofessional) identities and skills.