Understanding the relationship between SHANARRI and GIRFEC is essential for anyone working in Scotland’s care and education sectors. While the terms are often used together, they serve different roles.
GIRFEC (Getting It Right for Every Child) is the national approach to supporting children and young people. SHANARRI sits within that approach as the set of wellbeing indicators used to assess, record and understand a child’s experience.
Together, they form the foundation of how support is planned, delivered and evaluated across services.
GIRFEC: The National Approach
GIRFEC provides a consistent, rights-based framework for how organisations support children and young people. It brings together services — including education, health, social work and residential care — to ensure that support is coordinated and centred around the individual.
At its core, GIRFEC is about:
- Early intervention
- Multi-agency collaboration
- Putting the child’s needs at the centre
- Improving long-term outcomes
However, to apply GIRFEC effectively, professionals need a clear way to understand and measure wellbeing. That is where SHANARRI comes in.
SHANARRI: Measuring Wellbeing in Practice
The SHANARRI wellbeing indicators provide the practical structure for assessing a child or young person’s situation.
Each indicator — Safe, Healthy, Achieving, Nurtured, Active, Respected, Responsible and Included — helps professionals consider different aspects of wellbeing and identify where support may be needed.
In practice, SHANARRI is used to:
- Structure observations and case notes
- Inform assessments and reviews
- Support the development of a Child’s Plan
- Evidence outcomes over time
Without SHANARRI, GIRFEC would lack a consistent way to measure progress.
The Child’s Plan and Shared Understanding
The Child’s Plan is a key component of GIRFEC, bringing together information from multiple professionals to outline how a young person will be supported.
SHANARRI plays a central role in this process by ensuring that all contributions are aligned around the same wellbeing indicators. This creates a shared understanding across care, education and other services.
When used effectively, this approach:
- Reduces duplication
- Improves communication between teams
- Ensures decisions are based on a full picture of wellbeing
Bridging the Gap with Digital Tools
While the relationship between GIRFEC and SHANARRI is clear in principle, applying it consistently across organisations can be challenging.
Information is often recorded in different formats, across multiple systems, making it difficult to maintain a shared view of each young person.
Platforms like Geco Connect are designed to bridge this gap by aligning daily recording directly with the GIRFEC framework and the SHANARRI wellbeing indicators. This allows organisations to organise information once, share it across teams and build a clearer picture of outcomes.
A Unified Approach to Supporting Young People
GIRFEC and SHANARRI are not separate systems — they are two parts of the same approach.
GIRFEC sets the direction.
SHANARRI provides the structure.
Together, they ensure that support is coordinated, consistent and focused on improving outcomes for every child and young person.
See How It Works in Practice
If you’re looking to strengthen how your organisation applies GIRFEC and SHANARRI in everyday reporting, Geco Connect can help.
Book a demo to see how it works in practice.