Genuine Partnerships and the Four Cornerstones approach to co-production in Rotherham

Genuine Partnerships is a community interest company made up of young people, parent carers and practitioners working together to model and promote high-quality co-production and inclusive practice. The bedrock of their work is the now nationally recognised Four Cornerstones approach, which was pioneered through co-productive work between young people, families and practitioners in Rotherham. Genuine Partnerships aims to improve day-to-day lived experiences for young people and families by providing a clear framework for embedding co-production and inclusion within local Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND¹) systems and settings. Now an independent organisation, Genuine Partnerships grew out of – and continues to be supported by – the work of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council (RMBC)’s Educational Psychology Service (EPS) and Rotherham Parent Carers Forum (RPCF). Genuine Partnerships works nationally to deliver co-produced training packages, tools and accreditations that recognise and celebrate good practice in co-production and inclusion, drawing extensively on the perspectives of children and young people with SEND[1] and their parent carers.

The SEND Effective Practice Evidence Framework considers that the “strength of evidence” of this case study is good – the work of Genuine Partnerships has been reviewed internally, sustained for over a decade and replicated in many other local SEND systems. The “breadth of impact” of this case study is promising – there is evidence of impact in two of the four broad areas of impact considered by the framework.

[1] For ease of reading we use the term ‘SEND’ to refer to disabled children, young people and children and young people with special educational needs.