Thursday 21 May 2015

What's next for the PBS Competence Framework Project?

So the competencies have been defined and are available here. Defining the competencies (see the first blog) was an important and necessary first step. Disseminating and putting them into practice requires some additional pieces of work.

We are pleased to advise therefore that Phase 2 of the Competence Framework Project is underway thanks to generous funding from the Royal Mencap Society. Phase 2 aims to produce a set of resources that map onto the PBS Competence Framework, tailored for different target groups to facilitate the implementation of the competencies for the delivery of best practice.

It is anticipated that these will include:
     Guidance for commissioners that enables them to commission
       high quality, community-based PBS support services (both at an individual and service level).
     Guidance for parents and carers about what PBS is, what to ask for to support their son/daughter whose behaviour challenges, and what competencies they may need to develop themselves to be a part of their PBS support network.
     Guidance for service providers about how to design/organise and deliver high quality PBS services.
     Guidance for people with learning disabilities about what PBS is, and what to expect from a good quality PBS service.
     Guidance for direct support workers which translates the PBS competencies into a more accessible format.

Who will be part of this project?
Phase 2 is being managed on behalf of the PBS Coalition by Louise Denne (Project Director) and Alison Branch (Project Co-ordinator). Louise is a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst and project managed the development of the PBS Competence Framework. Alison is a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst and Occupational Therapist working in the North East of England in a NHS community service for people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour.

As with the development of the PBS Competence Framework, this will be a collaborative piece of work involving the wider PBS community and stakeholder groups. A series of working groups are currently being set up for each of the above work streams. If you have some specific expertise in any of the above areas and would like to help with this part of the project, please get in touch.

Alison and Louise will be providing regular updates on this blog site and through Twitter and any materials produced will eventually be published here for free.

If you have any questions about the Competence Framework or this next stage of the project please contact us at pbscoalition@gmail.com




Wednesday 20 May 2015

Positive Behavioural Support Competence Framework now available!



Positive Behavioural Support Competence Framework now available!

We are delighted that the Positive Behavioural Support (PBS) Competence Framework is now available to download here for free. The framework has been developed as a collaborative project, made possible by many individuals giving their time for free. In addition, Skills for Care has also provided some funding to help this development.

We are grateful to all!

Many organisations have agreed to endorse the Framework and make it available through links on their own websites. We hope you may wish to endorse the Framework after reading it. Please contact the PBS Coalition by email: pbscoalition@gmail.com if you would like to do so.

So what is the PBS Competence Framework and who should use it?

It is a resource that provides a common and shared knowledge and associated actions necessary for the delivery of PBS to people with learning disabilities and behaviours that challenge. Defining PBS competencies was an important and necessary first step as it is vital that we have some agreement about what constitutes a good standard of competence for PBS delivery in the UK. We want it to be used by many different groups including, families & carers, commissioners of services, service providers, direct support staff, health, education or social care professionals, researchers or academic institutes.

How can the framework be used?

The framework could be used to help develop a range of tools and products including a structured and progressive continuing education curriculum for all professionals involved in the delivery of PBS, a framework for human resource management including recruitment, retention and staff progression, assessment tools with which to evaluate individual and group performances.

Any organisation or individual may remix, tweak and build upon the content to meet their own needs, even for commercial purposes. The aim is not to prescribe what these resources may look like; rather it is to provide a common basis upon which such resources may be developed.  The only thing that we ask is that the PBS Competence Framework and the work of the PBS Coalition is credited and that new work is shared in the same spirit. The Framework is therefore licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

If you have any questions about the Competence Framework please contact us at pbscoalition@gmail.com