Byron Review

BBC News interview with Dr. Byron

The Byron Review into children and new technology has been accepted in full by the government.

Executive summary of the review:
- The internet and video games are very popular with children and young people and offer a range of opportunities for fun, learning and development.
- But there are concerns over potentially inappropriate material, which range from content (e.g. violence) through to contact and conduct of children in the digital world.
- Debates and research in this area can be highly polarised and charged with emotion.
- Having considered the evidence I believe we need to move from a discussion about the media ‘causing’ harm to one which focuses on children and young people, what they bring to technology and how we can use our understanding of how they develop to empower them to manage risks and make the digital world safer.
- There is a generational digital divide which means that parents do not necessarily feel equipped to help their children in this space – which can lead to fear and a sense of helplessness. This can be compounded by a risk-averse culture where we are inclined to keep our children ‘indoors’ despite their developmental needs to socialise and take risks.
- While children are confident with the technology, they are still developing critical evaluation skills and need our help to make wise decisions.
- In relation to the internet we need a shared culture of responsibility with families, industry, government and others in the public and third sectors all playing their part to reduce the availability of potentially harmful material, restrict access to it by children and to increase children’s resilience.
- I propose that we seek to achieve gains in these three areas by having a national strategy for child internet safety which involves better self-regulation and better provision of information and education for children and families.
- In relation to video games, we need to improve on the systems already in place to help parents restrict children’s access to games which are not suitable for their age.
- I propose that we seek to do that by reforming the classification system and pooling the efforts of the games industry, retailers, advertisers, console manufacturers and online gaming providers to raise awareness of what is in games and enable better enforcement.
- Children and young people need to be empowered to keep themselves safe – this isn’t just about a top-down approach. Children will be children – pushing boundaries and taking risks. At a public swimming pool we have gates, put up signs, have lifeguards and shallow ends, but we also teach children how to swim.

DCSF Movie on the Byron Review

Leading for social inclusion

This NCSL study looked at leadership issues in relation to social inclusion, through a series of six case studies in three areas showing high levels of disadvantage.

Key findings & recommendations:
- Social inclusion is complex and interpretations differed, however three perspectives where common across all schools, although given different priority weighting:
• focus on achievement
• focus on barriers to achievement
• focus on socialisation and capacities

- It is a mixture of the leadership and context which together dictate which perspective dominates.
- There is no list of things leaders should do to induce social inclusion, rather the context will demand different leadership skills and approaches. For example a school with a weak learning environment will benefit from an inward looking approach which fosters a school ethos rather than an approach which looks to the community.
- Government policy should remove the contradictions which exist limiting the implementation of social inclusion.
- There should be greater freedom to adapt the curriculum by schools.
- Although other outcomes, such as the Every Child Matters outcomes, are now being monitored by ofsted, published data relies only on attainment.
- Distribution of leadership within schools will assist further.
- A clear school vision, linked to inclusion, should be articulated and pursued by the leader.
- Views of and approaches to social inclusion should also ideally be translated into different measures and assessment of impact.

Within school variation

The NCSL have released a paper proposing ways to tackle within school variation and suggests this might be a focus rather than the usual strategies of approaching between school variations.

Key points:
- Within school variation is more dominant in the UK, which could be due to the inability of professional development to close the gaps between the effective and the ineffective or less competent teachers.
- Schools which improve within school variation see an improvement in many outcomes.
- Whilst it is difficult sometimes, the focus should be on what happens at the classroom level, rather than the department or school level.
- The focus should be upon enabling forces which allow effective "smarter working" such as by the use of performance data; benchmarking and systematically transferring knowledge between those on the front line.

Well being in primary school

The Centre for the research of the Wider Benefits of Learning has conducted a study which examined four dimensions of well-being: mental health; pro-social behaviour; anti-social behaviour and achievement.

Key findings:
- Most children experience positive well-being in primary school. Between the ages of 8 and 10, there is an overall increase in levels of well-being. However, 20 per cent suffer from either declining or low levels of well-being from 8 to 10 years. This subset is most likely to be male, from low socioeconomic-status (SES) backgrounds and low achieving.
- It is children’s individual experiences such as bullying, victimisation and friendships, and their beliefs about themselves and their environment, which mainly affect their well-being, rather than school-level factors such as type of school. There is an element of continuity in these measures; and a high level of interrelatedness within and between the dimensions measured.
- School factors explain 3 per cent or less of the variation in pupils’ mental health and behaviour, 7 per cent of the variation in Key Stage 2 (age 11) maths scores and 10 per cent of the variation in KS2 English scores. These differences between schools are explained by factors such as school disadvantage and school ethos.
- It is children’s individual experiences within schools which are most important. Children experience a very different environment, even within the same school, based on their own individual interactions with peers and teachers.
- Socio-demographic factors, with the exception of gender, have no effect on children’s pro-social and antisocial behaviours, although they do affect school achievement.
- Boys have better mental health than girls, with higher levels of belief in their own abilities and more feelings of control. However, boys are less likely to engage in pro-social, and more likely to engage in antisocial, behaviours.
- Much of the variation in children’s well-being remains unexplained. It is likely that the unmeasured cumulative experiences of children within their home and school are important constituents of their overall well-being.

Successful transition: primary - secondary school

This DCSF research brief asked parents, local authorities, schools and children on the primary-secondary transition.

Key findings:
- A range of practices were employed by schools which helped to support children's transitions including: the use of ‘bridging materials’; the sharing of information; visits to schools; distribution of booklets; talks at the schools; taster days and other joint social events.
- Most children (84%) said they felt prepared on entry to secondary school. Many believed that their family and/or teachers helped them to prepare by addressing worries, reassuring and encouraging them, explaining what to expect and how secondary school works, and by giving advice and tips on how to cope at their new school. However 16% did not feel prepared when they changed schools, but only 3% of children were worried or nervous a term after starting their secondary school.

- The data analysis revealed five aspects of a successful transition. A successful transition for children involved:
~ developing new friendships and improving their self esteem and confidence
~ having settled so well in school life that they caused no concerns to their parents
~ showing an increasing interest in school and school work
~ getting used to their new routines and school organisation with great ease
~ experiencing curriculum continuity.

- Children who felt they had a lot of help from their secondary school to settle in were more likely to have a successful transition. This included help with getting to know their way around the school, relaxing rules in the early weeks, procedures to help pupils adapt, visits to schools, induction and taster days, and booklets.
- If children had experienced bullying at secondary school, had encountered problems with dealing with different teachers and subjects or making new friends, then they also tended to experience a negative transition.
- Low SES (socio-economic status) has been found to have an association with less positive transitions for children.

Competition for private and state school teachers

The Centre for the Economics of Education have released this report into the effect that the independent school sector has on the teacher labour market.

Key findings:
- Independent schools employ a disproportionate number of teachers compared to the number of pupils they educate and this has increased in the last 20 years.
- Teachers in independent schools are more likely to be specialists in shortage subjects and more likely to have post graduate qualifications than in the state sector.
- There is a steady flow and slightly increasing flow of teachers from the state sector going into the independent sector.
- There is a mixed picture with reference to the benefits of working in the state sector: the independent sector teachers work with fewer pupils and have longer holidays but the overall satisfaction, which was higher for the indpendent sector in the mid-90's has since seen convergence. Among women pay is lower in the private sector and there is no difference between pay for men. However, there is a pay premium for independent school teachers of subject shortages.

Primary languages in initial teacher training (ITT)

This Ofsted survey evaluated the quality of ITT providers in preparing new teachers to implement the National Languages Strategy in primary schools in 2009/10.

Key findings:
- The ITT courses surveyed are providing good quality training for future languages specialists in primary schools. Trainees are being prepared well to become teachers of languages and for their likely role as languages coordinators.
- These complex courses make high demands on providers and trainees. Effective communication and cooperation at institutional, local, national and international levels underpin the best provision.
- Trainees are highly motivated and very committed to making languages in primary schools work. They show an evangelical determination to win over those who remain unconvinced of the benefits of early language learning.
- Although trainees are developing an understanding of the challenges for pupils when they transfer from primary to secondary school, few trainees have firsthand experience of how secondary schools build on earlier learning in languages.
- Trainees gain significantly in confidence and maturity as a result of their four week placement abroad. Working in two educational cultures enhances their ability to reflect critically on their practice.
- The trainees are mostly competent in their teaching language, and the best provision ensures that they continue to develop their expertise. Despite this, they do not use the foreign language sufficiently with pupils in the classroom.
- Trainees focus mainly on their own teaching language. Many of them do not know enough about the other languages spoken by pupils in their classes. Most training providers do not place enough emphasis on this ‘bigger picture’ of languages.
- A shortage of specialist mentors means that many trainees do not have sufficient opportunities to observe good languages teaching and to receive expert feedback on the elements of their own teaching specific to languages.
- Primary schools have benefited from the opportunities the providers have offered for mentors to be trained, but they express concerns about the sustainability of this training initiative up to, and beyond, 2009/10.

Enjoyment and confidence of reading at ages 9 & 11

In 2007 the NFER have repeated a similar questionnaire ran in 2003 asking a representative sample of students at ages 9 & 11 their enjoyment and confidence towards reading.

Key findings:
- There was no overall change in enjoyment or confidence between 2003-07
- Enjoyment of reading poems declines whilst enjoyment of reading comic books increased.
- Enjoyment of reading declines between the ages of 9 and 11.
- Overall girls enjoy reading more than boys.

New Every Child Matters Framework

The DCSF have released a new Every Child Matters (ECM) outcomes framework. The framework links all of the outcomes to the Public Service Agreements (set by HM Treasury) and the National Indicator Set. The major themes from these were to increase attainment for all and to close the gap between children from disadvantaged background and their more affluent peers.

Key points:

- The majority of indicators relate to the outcome "enjoy and achieve", which includes a strong focus on school attainment

- Few indicators relate to "make a positive contribution" and "achieve economic well-being", but these relate to big government challenges, such as reducing child poverty and integrating housing and transport policy

Children's Plan timeline

The DCSF have released a timeline of the actions intended to develop from the Children's Plan, up to 2010.

Key publications and implementation pieces to look out for:

- Play pathfinders start (Spring 2008)

- Bercow Review into children with speech, language and communication needs (Summer 2008)

- Youth Runaways action plan (Summer 2008)

- Strategy document on alternative provision (Summer 2008)

- Play strategy (Autumn 2008)

- Rose review of primary education interim report (Autumn 2008)

- Child's workforce strategy document (Autumn 2008)

- Child's workforce expert group report (Autumn 2008)

- Pilots of alternative provision start (Winter 2009)

- Rose review of primary education, final report (Spring 2009)

- HMCI review of progress on special educational needs (Summer 2009)

- New primary curriculum agreed (Autumn/Winter 2009)

Developing the Children's Worksforce

A series of papers accompanied the news release by the DCSF setting out the next steps in terms of workforce development. This builds on a similar paper released earlier about the development of school staff.

Paper 1: next steps for children's workforce
This paper sets out what the DCSF expect the "Expert Group" examine and to report on in autumn 2008.
Key points:
- There is a clear definition of what the children's workforce is: "everyone who works with children and young people and their families, or who is responsible for improving their outcomes." (p.9)
- The following diagram is used (click to enlarge):

- A summary of improvement to teacher development many of which such as making teachers a masters qualification and transition to teaching programme have been announced previously.
- Upskilling the early years and play workforce.
- The "common core" (skills and knowledge used across the children's workforce) will be reviewed.
- A push towards more effective engagement with parents.
- A strategy to improve commissioning at Local Authority level.
- A move towards full integrated working, especially for children requiring additional support and the development of children's trusts.

Paper 2: Leading & Managing Children's Services in England
This looks at the development of strategic leaders of children's services and sets out a framework is set out for leadership and management within the (broad) sector. Alongside guidelines of what the elements of the framework are and how to use it (click to enlarge):

Mentoring for newly qualified teachers

A study by the Scottish education inspectorate into their mentor scheme for newly qualified teachers.

Main findings
- The scheme had clear benefits on the newly qualified teacher, the mentor, the school and the pupils.
- As ever, it depends on the quality of the mentor and the relationship. There are clear suggestions of how to ensure effectiveness.

There is also reference to a similar scheme in the USA.

Teachers Pay Strike

The National Union of Teachers, England's biggest teachers union, have voted for a one day strike arguing pay should increase more than the government is prepared to offer. BBC News.

What does the research say on the issue of pay? One report I recently read on the worlds best school systems, by Mckinsey & Co. found that starting salary's were attractive but not more than the average: all but one of the best school systems had a starting salary within the narrow window of 95-99% of GDP per capita. They cite Recent rises to England's teaching starting salary having a large effect on teacher recruitment (a 10% rise resulted in 30% more applicants). However, referring to other countries, it was found that once salary's exceed the national average there is little effect on the number of applicants. The report shows that England's starting salary is currently 96% of GDP per capita. However, some figures indicate that the teaching salary is behind the average graduate starting salary (although it depends what figures you read).

The likihood is that salary's are probably just about good enough, although how long this will remain with inflation and average wages increasing faster than the government's pay offer remains to be seen.