Draft legislation: Children's Trusts; Sure Start; Pupil Groups; Apprenticeships; Wellbeing; School Buildings; Admissions

In the last three months (June-September) there have been ten draft legislation pieces open for consultation from the DCSF alone. These are listed below, in order of initial publication.

Admissions - a technical area, so best reading the document if interested.
Pupil wellbeing - educational establishments are required to promote pupil wellbeing, this is draft guidance as to how they could achieve.
Schools causing concern - proposed changes on how to deal with schools which cause concern.
Strengthening Children's Trusts - proposals aimed at making the Children's Trust the main strategic body for children's services.
Zero carbon schools - calls for evidence so the government can realise their 2016 target.
Apprenticeships - steps to legislate for the provision of apprenticeships, including making the LSC ensure apprenticeships exist.
Draft guidance on safeguarding children from sexual exploitation.
Draft guidance for children not receiving a suitable education.
Under performing groups - changes to which groups of children are monitored reducing the overall number but including pupils on free school meals for the first time.
Sure Start Children's Centres - legislation to make this provision a legal requirement.

Ofsted: weak teachers hard to fire

The Chief Inspector of schools, Christine Gilbert has written in the Sunday Telegraph that students are being let down by inadequate teachers (BBC News).

Ms Gilbert called for schools to be able to fire underperforming staff more easily and criticised a "revolving door syndrome" which enabled poor to teachers move from school to school.

She said: "As I go round the country heads tell me how difficult it is to get rid of weak teachers.

"They say they start the procedure and they might be 18 months down the line and the teacher will move... we need to be thinking of ways of preventing that.

"That isn't Ofsted's role but I sympathise with head teachers about that."

The impact of programme led apprenticeships

This Ofsted survey evaluates programme-led apprenticeships (PLA) and their impact on improving participation and achievement. Programme-led apprenticeships provide an important alternative to the more traditional employer-led apprenticeship route for young people who have found it difficult to gain employment or for those who require an initial period of planned training before taking up employment. This report looks at the different methods of delivering programme-led apprenticeships and evaluates their success.

The Learning and Skills Council published "A Strategy for programme-led apprenticeships in England for 2007–2010 in July 2007". This report also looks at the implementation of this strategy.

Key points:
- Learners on PLAs were better prepared for their apprenticeship and were more likely to achieve their full apprenticeship framework in a shorter time period where PLAs were well-designed and provided an initial period of planned training which included elements of the apprenticeship framework.
- Employers were positive about the initial period of planned training that learners on PLAs had undertaken prior to becoming employed. It enabled employed apprentices to settle more quickly into their work roles.
- Too few further education colleges had converted their programme-led full-time vocational courses to ensure there was progression to an employed apprenticeship.
- Work placements, as part of a programme-led apprenticeship, gave a valuable opportunity for young people to start an apprenticeship where there were insufficient employers offering apprenticeships or where they needed work experience prior to being employed. But learners who spent too long on a work placement, without the prospect of securing employment, lost motivation and were more likely to leave their programme.
- The low level of payment available for learners on PLAs is a potential deterrent for those on work placements. There were examples of learners on PLAs working for 30 hours a week and receiving no payment.
- Insufficient use was made of PLAs as a progression route from Entry to Employment.
- Learners’ views on PLAs were mixed. Learners on PLAs who were completing an initial period of planned training were generally more positive than those on work placements.

The report also contains recommendations for the Learning & Skills Council, Government Departments, Skills Sector Councils and Learners and Providers.

White boys from low income families: good practice in schools

This report by Ofsted is based on a small survey of good practice in the education of white boys from low-income backgrounds. It is based on a study of six primaries, 10 secondaries, 3 special schools and 1 pupil referral unit.

Key points:
- Examples of good practice are grouped under the following questions that inspectors asked schools during the survey.
~ What teaching and learning strategies work best to raise standards?
~ How do schools promote the personal development and well-being of white boys from low-income backgrounds?
~ What do schools need to do to understand and meet the needs of white boys from low-income backgrounds?
~ How do schools support white boys from low-income backgrounds to become independent learners?
~ How should schools make use of increased flexibility in the curriculum to support white boys from low-income families?
~ How should schools seek to engage parents and carers?
~ How should institutions make the best use of resources?
~ What are the roles of others beyond the school in helping to personalise teaching and learning?

- Schools that are successful in raising the attainment of white boys from low income have these features:
~ an ethos which demonstrates commitment to every individual and which
treats staff and pupils with fairness, trust and respect
~ consistent support to develop boys’ organisation skills and instill the importance of perseverance; any anti-school subculture ‘left at the gates’
~ rigorous monitoring systems which track individual pupils’ performance against expectations; realistic but challenging targets; tailored, flexible intervention programmes and frequent reviews of performance against targets
~ a highly structured step-by-step framework for teaching, starting with considerable guidance by the teacher and leading gradually to more independent work by the pupils when it is clear that this will enhance rather than detract from achievement
~ a curriculum which is tightly structured around individual needs and linked to support programmes that seek to raise aspirations
~ creative and flexible strategies to engage parents and carers, make them feel valued, enable them to give greater support to their sons’ education and help them make informed decisions about the future
~ a strong emphasis on seeking and listening to the views of these pupils
~ genuine engagement of boys in setting individual targets, reviewing progress, shaping curricular and extra-curricular activities and making choices about the future
~ key adults, including support staff and learning mentors, who are flexible and committed, know the boys well and are sensitive to any difficulties which might arise in their home
~ a good range of emotional support for boys to enable them to manage anxieties and develop the skills to express their feelings constructively
~ strong partnership with a wide range of agencies to provide social, emotional, educational and practical support for boys and their families in order to raise their aspirations.

Safeguarding children report 2008

This report by Ofsted (on behalf of 8 inspectorates) examines arrangements for safeguarding children, is the 3rd such report and assesses arrangements for safeguarding children and young people in four key areas:

1. the effectiveness of the overall safeguarding systems and frameworks that are in place
2. the wider safeguarding role of public services
3. the targeted activity carried out to safeguard vulnerable groups of children. This includes updated evidence on the groups considered in the previous report, including asylum-seeking children, children in secure settings, looked after children and children treated by health services
4. the identification of and response to child protection concerns by relevant agencies.

Some key points:
- Local Safeguarding Children Boards have grown in independence but are still not fully developed.
- Strategic Partnerships are developed in all areas, but still need to improve joint commissioning and the management of high risk offenders.
- CRB checking is standardised, but good practice is not always followed.
- Inspections found evidence of a strong commitment by agencies to focus on the wider safeguarding needs of children and young people in addition to child protection.
- A shared, consistent understanding of safeguarding is still lacking, particularly between social care services and the criminal justice system.
- Some children and young people continue to express significant levels of concern about their personal safety and about being bullied, particularly in institutional and secure settings.
- There is better identification of needs at an early stage and increasingly effective provision of preventive and earlier intervention services.
- Many areas have identified domestic violence as a high priority area for action.
- Most areas are making good progress in developing the Common Assessment Framework.

The report goes onto make a series of recommendations, relevant at national and local level.

Byron Review Action Plan: safe use of technology

The Byron Review Action Plan set's out the government's response to Dr. Byron's review of technology.

Key Points:
- Full acceptance of all the recommendations of the Byron Review.
- Establishing a UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) whose members will come from industry, the third sector and other key partner organisations. One of the first tasks the Council must undertake is to develop a Child Internet Safety Strategy and this plan is the first step towards achieving that.
- Plans to raise awareness of e-safety issues among children, young people, parents and other adults through a public information and awareness campaign. This needs to be more than a one-off advertising campaign and should ensure that e-safety messages are part and parcel of communications to parents, young people and children, which will empower them to keep themselves and their families safe.
- Reforming the classification system for video games, which Dr Byron said many parents remain confused about.
- Government will work with industry to improve information and support to parents on video games.
- Better regulation including Rolling out of the new kitemark for parental control software.
- Better support for schools including: providing guidance and support to schools on e-safety; ensuring that Initial Teacher Training takes account of e-safety issues; ensuring extended schools support children and families around e-safety and media literacy; and ensuring school inspection frameworks support and challenge schools in improving e-safety (Ofsted).

"Stalled standards" and Ofsted reform

Ofsted are proposing changes to their inspection regime from September 2009 and have opened consultation on their suggestions.

Key points in the proposals:

- Different inspections, suited to the school's previous inspection, with a focus on schools which are not improving:

- Good and outstanding schools will receive an inspection within 6 years (with a small "health check" at a mid-point);

- Satisfactory schools within 3 years;

- Satisfactory schools which are not improving, will receive a monitoring visit within 12-18 months and a full inspection in 3 years;

- Inadequate Notice to Improve will receive a monitoring visit within 6-8 months and full inspection in 3 years.

- Special Measures, two or three monitoring visits per year.

- Parents will have more say over whether their school should be inspected.

- Increased focus on the progress made by different types of students (those typically likely to fall behind).
- Explore whether the possibility of "no-notice" inspections are feasible (this has been criticised by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, cited on BBC News).

- Reporting on the contribution the school makes towards community cohesion.

- Assessing that leadership and management ensure that teaching has an impact on learning; equality, diversity and cohesion are taken into account; parents and students views are taken into account; the curriculum meets the needs of learners; resources are used well and learners are well supported.

There was discussion in parliament after ofsted said that standards in schools have stalled:

"If education in England is going to compare favourably with the best in the world, standards need to improve. In fact they have stalled,"

Watch debate from BBC news

Support for Community Cohesion

As from September 2007 all schools have had a duty to promote community cohesion. This will be monitored by ofsted as from September 2008. To support the Institute of Community Cohesion has produced a useful links document for schools.

Evaluation of Teach First

Ofsted have evaluated the Teach First programme in London to find:

- The training is effective because of the close links to the Canterbury Christ Church University and the Teach First office
- The expectation that trainees should develop beyond the minimum qualified teacher status requirements is a significant feature and resulted in over half achieving "outstanding" status and a further third achieving "good" status
- The majority of participants would not have considered teaching and around half chose to stay in the classroom for a third year
- Teach First participants were highly motivated by the mission of reducing social disadvantage
- Teach First participants were most likely to struggle with behaviour management
- Schools should better monitor how they train the Teach First participants

Impact of Extended Schools and Children's Centres

Ofsted have reviewed 30 Children's Centres and 32 Schools across 54 Local Authorities to find:

- over 75% of those examined provided good or better service overall
- All those examined integrated education and child care effectively
- Both extended schools and children's centres need to better reach new parents and children
- Strategic guidance from the local authority assisted the children's centre and extended school, however there was no assessment of whether the centre was providing value for money as monitoring was weak
- Those using the centres found them to be beneficial and take up was best when consideration was given to transport and integrating health service provision
- Uncertainties around the finances of multi-agency partners threatened services and staffing especially in children's centres

For Children's Centres:
- In 23 (of the 30 examined) children's centres children were seen to be making at least good progress in sessions observed, however, none of the centres monitored the long term progress of children
- There was a positive link between the senior staff having qualifications in education and the children's attitude towards learning and their enjoyment of learning

For extended schools:
- 13 (of the 32 examined) provided the full core offer
- All schools examined provided a varied menu of activities but they also found it difficult to offer year round care or to support families in finding provision
- A positive impact on the child's achievement and personal development was evident, this was greatest for the most vulnerable children
- The most effective are those which integrated the extended school into the whole school improvement plan
- There was some radical thinking in the application of multi-agency working

Best Practice in Post-16 Vocational courses

Ofsted have released five papers examining effective provision of post-16 vocational teaching and learning. The research was gathered by conducting over 100 visits to colleges which provided courses in business, administration and law; science; engineering and manufacturing technologies; construction; planning and the built environment; and agriculture, horticulture and animal care.

The best providers are those which:
- Have subject specialists, who have considerable experience in industry, technology and the relevant vocation
- Have strong links to local employers and business, this often results in sponsorship and/or donations
- Conduct continuous assessment of the students to ensure they are on the right track, have appropriate individual targets and swiftly identified and supported those at risk of falling behind
- Had good leadership and management

Some providers tailored the provision by offering learning on business premises.

However, weaknesses in the use of ICT was found.

Raising Attainment of Black boys and Black young men

The government's response to the REACH groups recommendations (REACH is an independent group commissioned by government that made five recommendations on how to improve the aspirations and attainment of Black males) has the following:

- Establishing a national role model programme and support for local groups
- Local Authorities should support the establishment of Black-led consortia on a local level
- Ensuring the many school initiatives are effective for Black pupils
- Ofsted and others should report on how well schools are satisfying race equalities duties

Early years reform

Just a recap on the changes to the early years sector:

- Since October 2007 Local Authorities (LAs) have had a duty to provide information, advice training to all childcare providers
- DCFS published statutory guidance for LAs on the Early Years Outcomes Duty
- LAs are required to submit targets to DCFS by 31st January for raising standards of children that reach a good level of development at age five and for reducing inequality
- LAs must have completed its assessment of childcare sufficiency and ensure sufficient childcare for working parents and those looking for work by April 2008
- LAs must provide information and advice for parents about childcare and other services in their area by April
- LAs, NHS services and Job Centre Plus must work in partnership to improve all young children's outcomes and reduce inequalities by providing effective integrated services
- Ofsted's new early years inspection framework is published in April
- As from September the Early Years Foundation Stage becomes a requirement in all schools and registered early year settings
- Early years and compulsory Ofsted Childcare Registers take effect in September alongside the new early years inspection arrangements being in place

Education and Skills Bill, 2007

The bill went before the House of Commons on 28th Nov. 2007. The main focus of the bill was on the post-16 provision. Here are the main points:

- There is clarification for school governing bodies about their role in arranging for young people to work elsewhere.
- Learning and Skills Council are responsible for ensuring learning opportunities exist.
- Local authorities are responsible for ensuring young people are engaged with education and/or training post 16.
- Providers of post-16 provision must tell connexions if a young person leaves training so they can be supported by the connexions service.
- Employers taking on a young person (for more than 20hrs a week) has to be satisfied that they are attending training or education.
- The service of Connexions will transfer to Local Authorities, which should adhere to the Quality Standards for Information, Advice and Guidance (issued 31st Oct 2007). This along with careers advice in schools must be delivered impartially.
- Additional requirements are also placed on the local authority if the young person has special educational needs.
- The Learning & Skills Council will have to ensure that adults have the right to free basic numeracy and literacy education and that those between 19-25 have access to free training up to level 3.

"Revolutionary shift in workforce culture"

The words of Ofsted in their report on workforce modernisation which found that the requirements of the Children's Act and National Agreements were being met and that teachers are now spending more time on teaching and learning. However, the impact of the reforms has not being effectively evaluated at the school level and slower progress is being made in allowing strategic leadership and headship time largely because of confusion about what "dedicated headship time" meant.