Exploring Drivers and Barriers: Working in Multiprofessional Teams to Support Children and Families

For some children, additional help sought from specialists outside of school may be crucial for them to engage successfully with their education. How effectively educationalists and these professionals from a wider field interact will have a significant impact upon the support the child receives. This research set out to better understand approaches that help and hinder multiprofessional
working for the benefit of the child and their family in the United Kingdom (U.K.). Literature suggests that although there are many benefits accessed by working in multiprofessional teams, the reality is that such collaborative working is beleaguered with challenges. Through a constructivist approach we sought to find out more about the lived experience of professionals in being part of a child and family support team. Using an anonymous survey, we asked a range of professionals questions designed to elicit both quantitative and qualitative data. We were surprised to find that the categories such as age and gender that we had presumed would impact confidence did not; likewise, external restrictions such as time and funding had minimal sway on functionality. Instead, our data suggests that a positive experience is almost entirely based upon the quality of respectful, interpersonal relationships.