Objectives for Black Box: child protection

The workshop is designed to focus attention on the means by which we understand what we see and hear; it breaks down the processes of interpretation, which are normally so automatic, and explores the frameworks that we use to make sense of the world. Black Box also enables us to reflect on how we communicate, both consciously and unconsciously; deliberately and inadvertently. In these and other ways it helps colleagues in making assessments, and in organising and presenting support evidence.

Black Box is invaluable in helping us to see things from other people's perspectives.

'I think Black Box challenged some of our accepted ways of assessment – we tend to short-cut because of our experiences and sometimes pre-determined ideas'. - Public sector delegate

Black Box can develop your skills in the following areas:

• Establishing relationships and ways of communicating with colleagues from other services and professions — a useful skill given the emphasis of recent policy and the introduction of the Common Assessment Framework.
• Recalling physical evidence in its absence.
• Identifying the conventions and preconceptions, which may affect the way we make judgments and assessments.
• Exploring the relationship between intention and effect in communication.