ABSTRACT
Having looked at a number of case studies around particular types of need and service/agency working which demonstrate many of the aspects of the well-developed service outlined in our model, Samson and Stephenson tackle the difficult area of collaborative partnerships to promote inclusive practice within the context of school improvement. They set out the issues faced by teams willing to work in an integrated fashion and focus particularly on the need for a form of working that enhances rather than reduces professional roles. Their work is highly pragmatic and concerned with ‘joined-up’ doing as well as ‘joined-up’ thinking. The nature of the work, which is cluster-based, involving both schools and services, demonstrates the potential that ‘integrated’ teams hold for community-based working that can encompass a wide range of additional educational and social needs.
