Evidence-based policies for residential childcare staff: who benefits from a minimalist approach to education and training?

Despite the well-publicised inadequacies of residential childcare social work in Britain, minimal progress has been made towards implementing an effective education and training policy for those staff who care for some of the most vulnerable children in society. This study focuses on the Scottish context and examines the effectiveness of a range of accredited and non-accredited education and training courses for residential childcare staff. The findings would suggest that courses have a positive impact on learning and practice; however, their existence appears to be incompatible with recent developments in education and training policy in Scotland.