In one enquiry after another, there has been a call for an increase in the proportion of qualified staff in residential child care services, as one of a range of solutions to the difficulties that have beset the service. Leadership in Residential Child Care compares and assesses courses available for professional social work training and explores the ways that training contributes to the quality of care in the sector. Drawing on an evaluation of the Residential Child Care Initiative, the authors examine the dilemmas concerning the provision of qualification training for residential care staff today. They address issues such as:

• the loss of qualified staff from the sector
• different models of ?professional competence? that qualification seeks to achieve
• the role qualification and training can play in enhancing the status of what is sometimes seen as the ?Cinderella? element in child care provision

Leadership in Residential Child Care discusses issues of considerable relevance to managers and trainers seeking to maximise the value they derive from the training provided to residential child care staff. The experience of special courses developed under the Residential Child Care Initiative will be of interest to all those concerned with the development of the sector?from those considering the training needs of residential care staff, to teachers and tutors in universities and colleges of higher education providing social work qualification programmes.