Academies

Research by the London School of Economics has found that the conversion of primary schools into academies has not improved pupils' results. The results of primary schools converted to academies, were studied by the authors who saw no improvement compared with similar schools that converted later. This comes in the wake of the Government's U-turn on their Bill to force all state schools in England to become academies. 

Child Neglect

Research, Policy and Planning, the Journal of the Social Services Research Group, have published a special issue on child neglect; it is freely available online, articles are listed here:

• Research, policy and practice across a devolved United Kingdom – an overview of the field. 

• Noticing and helping neglected children in Scotland: ‘... sometimes it’s just too hard to talk...’. 

• Tackling child neglect: key developments in Wales. 

• Child neglect: policy, response and developments in England.

• Childhood neglect – the Northern Ireland experience.

Education Update

The Government has now decided to scrap the Education Bill introduced earlier this year; many were relieved that state schools will not be forced to become academies by 2022. Parts of the bill expected to survive include the proposed revamp of initial teacher training and an overhaul of the National College for Teaching and Leadership.

The DfE has also been busy with two other bills: the children and social work bill and the higher education and research bill; there is also the technical and further education bill which will have its second reading debate next Monday.  Also expected from Justine Greening, new education secretary, are proposals on extending grammar schools in the 'Schools that Work for Everyone' consultation to be published early next year.

In the meantime, authorities are concerned about the planned cuts of £600m from the education services grant awarded to councils and academies. 

Improving lives

The Government has launched a Green Paper, 'Improving Lives': a consultation on disability, health and work. They are seeking views from all sections of the community eg. employers, health care professionals, family as well as those living with long-term health conditions, in order to better understand the range of conditions and the circumstances faced by this group. The consultation is now open until Friday 17th February 2017.

Children's Homes

New updates have been added to the Memorandum of Understanding between Ofsted and DfE: 'Secure Children's Homes'; it outlines working arrangements between the DfE and Ofsted, to ensure that children’s homes offer safe, good quality care to children.

Safeguarding

Safeguarding is always a popular topic so here are some sources of information that might help. Let's begin with the Chimat website; their Knowledge Hub provides a link to the Safeguarding Children Training Directory  and a list of  key organisations and sources of safeguarding information.   

The DfE website offers resources on various aspects of safeguarding children and young people, whether at home or in an education setting; there is also a list of related publications available. 

A couple of new reports have been published: 'Time to Listen' sets out how collaborative working can help tackle child sexual exploitation. 'Children in need of help or protection,' published by the National Audit Office, this suggests that the DfE has not yet succeeded in their attempt to improve the quality of child protection services delivered by local authorities.

During an online resources teaching session yesterday, a student spotted a particular article which she said was exactly what she needed for an assignment! I thought I would share it here - simply search for 'Completing Your SEF - Safeguarding' in Teaching Times (E-Resources - Athens) :0)

Mapping user experiences of the EHC process

A recent report, commissioned by the DfE, examines the experiences of children, young people and families involved in the EHC process and their satisfaction with the Education, Health and Care (EHC) process for children and young people with SEND. 

It also explores the extent to which the approaches employed to capture user feedback in the course of the study, could help others gather user satisfaction and make improvements to their service. 

Regional Schools Commissioners

Eight Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) were appointed in September 2014 to oversee the growing numbers of academies in England and have since become increasingly prominent. In fact, their roles are likely to expand to include decision-making in tackling poor performing local authority (LA) maintained schools as well as coasting schools. 

Further to the Government's report laying out plans to turn all maintained schools into academies by 2022, research by the Local Government Association (LGA) found that 86% of council-maintained schools are now rated 'good' or 'outstanding' by Ofsted, compared with 82% of academies. They also found that 'inadequate' council-maintained schools are more likely to improve if they stay with their local authority, rather than being forced to convert to an academy.

Children leaving care

Considerable research has been conducted into the area of children returning home following a period in care. The government has set out guidelines on improving practice in respect of children who leave care to return home. This article offers advice on helping children re-settle back into their homes and the risks posed to these children is addressed by the NSPCC here.

Reports: Teacher's workload

The three review groups set up to propose ways of reducing teachers’ workload have submitted their final reports to the Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan. The first report calls on all parties in the education system to reduce the unnecessary burdens of data management by ensuring that every data collection has a clear purpose and that the process is as efficient as possible; the second looks at the role that marking plays in teaching and the three principles of effective marking; the final report, looks at the role that planning plays in effective teaching, the difference between lesson planning for accountability purposes and lesson planning to help pupil progress.

The recent NUT conference supported warnings on workload, which delegates said had been exacerbated by teacher shortages and rising pupil numbers. Delegates said teachers were now working 65 to 70 hours per week in term time, claiming it to be one of the most common reasons for teachers leaving the profession.

Consultation: 30-hour offer

The Department for Education has begun a consultation to gather evidence about the 30-hour free childcare offer which is being introduced from September 2017. The consultation will seek views on a number of issues including: how local authorities should work with childcare providers to provide the entitlement and how the needs of working parents can be met. The consultation runs until 6 June 2016.

Childcare

A Government report provides information on a survey of parents with children aged 0 to 14. It covers parents’ use of childcare and early years provision along with their views and experiences. This presentation looks at the 30 hours childcare offer and what it would mean for children and also aims to understand how providers see the child’s experience.

Mental Health update

The Department for Education has announced plans to help young people set up online advice networks and workshops so that they can offer peer support on mental health issues.

A recent issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry included a supplement in which the editors make the case for a transformation of mental health care for young people based on early intervention and a priority focus on emerging adulthood.

The Mental Health Taskforce has published a report, which takes a strategic approach to improving mental health outcomes and makes recommendations for the NHS. 

Place2Be and NAHT give a picture of primary school counselling provision across the country. They believe that all schools need access to or the ability to host professional mental health services, in order to effectively support children and build their resilience for the future, 

The Institute of Health Visiting is calling on local authorities, to ensure that all health visitors have the training, capacity and support to provide “sufficient advice to all new parents”. They stated that an increased focus on the first two years of a child's life would help the NHS to reduce the impact of maternal depression and other perinatal mental health problems on babies’ mental wellbeing. The responsibility for the commissioning of public health services for under-fives was handed to local authorities last October.

Child Protection

The NSPCC has recently published new reports on sexual abuse: 'Getting Help' highlights the expectations and experiences of children and young people about receiving therapeutic services following sexual abuse; 'Letting the Future In' is an independent evaluation of the NSPCC's therapeutic intervention service for children who have been sexually abused; 'Someone to Lean On'  is a guide created by NSPCC practitioners who deliver the programme for mental health and social care practitioners.

An article published in the Guardian outlines what the government has in mind for child protection; they have also launched a consultation on plans to protect children from seeing pornographic material online.

Skills for Health

Skills for Health are a non-profit organisation, licensed by Government to provide workforce solutions to help improve healthcare, raise quality and improve productivity and financial performance. The Resources section of their website provides useful case studies, reports and guidance documents, covering such topics as workforce planning, care pathway analysis and employability skills.

Free School Meals

More than 100 MPs from various parties have introduced a bill to Parliament to compel local authorities to automatically register all children who are eligible, for free school meals. To set the ball rolling, the new Birmingham City Council leader, John Clancy, has pledged to set up a Free School Meals Trust to begin the process of making Birmingham a ‘free school meals city.’ It would be an incremental roll out, school by school, as funding is secured. He said the Free School Meals Trust would attract funding and sponsorship from businesses and charities to speed up the process. He hopes the trust will appeal for support from businesses, such as Asda and Primark, as part of their commitments to corporate social responsibility.  

Recent Stories...

Here's a round-up of research and news:

A new report, 'Supporting the attainment of disadvantaged pupils' was published in November. Written by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), it is based on national research, gathered through surveys and interviews from 1,329 primary, secondary and special schools across the country.

There has been an amendment to the DfE's ‘Getting the simple things right: Charlie Taylor’s behaviour checklists’: from January 2016, schools will no longer have an obligation to use home-school agreements and it explains the powers members of staff have to discipline pupils. A supporting guide, 'Behaviour and discipline in schools', has also been produced for headteachers and school governing bodies.

The BBC reported that super-size schools, accommodating upto 3000 children will need to be created over the next ten years to cope with the rapid rise in England's birth rate. This coincides rather neatly with another recent story about the world's largest school - City Montessori school in Lucknow, India, which accommodates about 52,000 students in 1,050 classrooms. Meanwhile, head teachers in England say schools are facing increasing difficulties in recruiting new teachers and are having to spend a growing share of their budget on supply staff.

Finally, the Royal Society of Edinburgh says having Stampy Cat, one of the world's most popular YouTube stars, deliver its Christmas lecture, was the "biggest event" in the organisation's history. Joseph Garrett's lecture offered an insight into how he makes the videos, showing children how careers could be forged in industries that did not exist three or four years ago.

Spending Review 2015

The government presented its Autumn Spending Review on Wednesday - here is a summary of the key points. The outcome for 30-hour childcare is discussed and another report gives an overview of the impact of the review on education funding. On the surface, the NHS have done well, with an extra £8bn a year pledged. However, a focus on patient safety and rising demand mean that hospital trusts are likely to remain in considerable deficit by the end of this financial year. Publicly funded bursaries for student nurses are to be phased out and replaced with student loans. The government's U-turn on tax credits seems to be good news for tax credit claimants - or is it? The small print within the review has been studied closely in this Guardian report. 

HM Treasury have published supporting documents for the review; detailed background on the context and aims of the review is given and the process is explained here.   

On their own terms....

A research study has found that of 500 teachers, only 4% of them would consider imposing staggered terms and more than half said they were not even aware that staggering was an option. Since September, headteachers have had the power to set their own dates for school terms with the hope that this will produce staggered school holiday dates, which could reduce holiday prices for families. The issue was debated in the House of Commons earlier this week when MPs heard that 90% of school heads would welcome advice from the government about what constitutes an “exceptional circumstance”. 

While you were away....

Over the summer, there have been a number of changes in the early years and childcare arena - here goes!

Back in June, The government introduced the Childcare Bill to bring in 30 hours of free childcare for employed families of 3 and 4 year olds. Plans are being drawn up to introduce the changes for some families a year earlier than planned, with pilots in some areas offering 30 hours worth of free places from September 2016. The DfE has announced a call for early implementers to pilot the scheme; organisations who would like to register their interest can do so by emailing the DfE here by Monday 28th September.

The new Common Inspection Framework came into effect on the 1st of September. Ofsted has published the first edition of the Early Years Inspection Update newsletter which provides key messages, relevant publications and updates to inspection documentation.

A new report from the Study of Early Education and Development (SEED) study has been published which highlights the key factors distinguishing the quality of care provided by childminders.

Ofsted has published its annual report for the early years. Accompanying the report is a detailed survey exploring teaching and play in the early years which includes links to videos of good practice and detailed exemplification. Also by Ofsted are published statistics on childcare inspections and outcomes covering childcare in England.