A Guide to Use of Strategic Choice Workshops

Abstract

This guide to the organisation and management of a planning workshop designed in accordance with the principles of the Strategic Choice Approach was originally written at the end of a research project to advise the Departments of Education and Health for England on the local co-ordination of services for children with special needs. The project was led by a team from London University’s Institute of Education, with john Friend as an adviser. In an earlier form, this guide was written as a contribution to a wider Inter-Service Resource Pack for agencies involved in implementation of the 1981 Education Act. The Research Dissemination and Management Development Project through which this Resource Pack was distributed involved pilot work with education authorities, health authorities and social services authorities in three contrasting areas of England: Bristol, Oldham and the London Borough of Harrow. The fictitious illustrative example that is followed through in the six attachments to this guide is based loosely on the choices, criteria and areas of uncertainty that emerged in the course of a live strategic choice workshop conducted in Harrow during the course of the project.