Cohesive integration practices within 'one-stop' student support services are critical for student success, however empirical studies in this area are limited in number and scope. This case study addresses this gap by exploring the lived experience of staff and managers who support students at a regional Australian university's integrated student…

Most mental disorders often onset during the adolescent years, providing opportunities for educators, health care providers, and related stakeholders to work collaboratively in addressing adolescent mental health care needs. This report describes early implementations of various components of the School-Based Pathway to Care Model currently…

Educational partnerships with area-based approaches comprise an increasingly well-grounded and internationally extended strategy for equitable improvement. However, literature shows a lack of focused inquiry on the assessment of these educational collaborative programmes. This article aims to develop and validate an instrument to assess these…

In Zambia, as elsewhere throughout sub-Saharan Africa, orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) face multiple physical, emotional, social and psychological challenges which often negatively affect opportunities for educational attainment. REPSSI (Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative), in collaboration with, the University of Cape Town and other…

Against the background of a European-wide strategy of governance aimed at improving support for parents and families, the following report details the conceptualization and evaluation of a federal state program in Baden-Württemberg (Germany) which was launched in 2008 to encourage family and parent education. Two program components, a voucher…

The local authority research consortium (LARC), established in 2007, supports children's service authorities in using and conducting research to evaluate progress, to inform practice, share findings and make recommendations locally and nationally. This summary reports the collective findings of the 24 authorities involved in the LARC2 project…

The contribution introduces the present situation and the basic challenges of school social work in Austria. Starting with the perception of a developing "knowledge society" (Höhne, 2004), school is seen as a life place at which social subjects and problems occur and are made manifest. The analyses are based in particular on empirical…

Independent evaluation of refugee-focused programs in developed nations is increasingly a mandatory requirement of funding bodies and government agencies. This paper presents an evaluation of the Integrated Services Centre (ISC) Pilot Project that was conducted in Australia in 2007 and early 2008. The purpose of the ISC program was to provide…

The full service extended schools (FSES) initiative in England sought to build the capacity of schools to deploy multiple interventions across a range of child, family, and community contexts in order to improve the lives of children and families, and to enhance the sustainability of the areas where they live. As such, it was part of wider…

Leadership mentoring is a central component of the National Professional Qualification in Integrated Centre Leadership (NPQICL), which is designed to develop robust, creative and courageous children's centre leaders. Mentoring provides a safe, supportive and confidential space in which leaders can discuss the challenges of leading their centres.…

A model of service delivery called Wraparound, which was developed in the USA, focuses on maximising collaboration between stakeholders, including the client and their support network, as well as services involved. It is used extensively in the disability, mental health, juvenile justice, education and out-of-home care fields across North America.…

In early 2007, at the start of the Local Authorities Research Consortium's (LARC's) first year of work, local authorities (LAs) wanted to know if integration of services was having an impact on outcomes. One year on, the question has become--how can we make integrated working deliver better outcomes faster and more consistently? The shift in…

An innovative approach to delivering health care is being developed in several Ontario (Canada) communities. This report describes the initial framework for quality and evaluation for a comprehensive health organization (CHO). As CHOs become operational, there is great opportunity to develop a comprehensive approach to quality and evaluation. (SLD)

The focus of the Local Authorities Research Consortium's (LARC's) first year was to identify the early impact of integrated children's services and the features that promote or hinder success in improving outcomes for children and young people. The research operated in varied localities within the 14 participating Local Authorities (LAs), with one…

School improvement initiatives are needed to better meet the needs of underprivileged students, to reduce underachievement and to break a continuing cycle of disadvantage. This article describes part of a school improvement initiative in New Zealand that provided additional funding for school nurse and social worker services in nine secondary…