improvement spring 2013

IMPROVEMENTASPECT

Choice and quality? Elizabeth Truss wants high quality, good value childcare for children, parents and the taxpayer.Will her plans deliver?

NORTHERN IRELANDEDUCATIONis in a state of transition, reports Nick Wright

TOIL AND TROUBLERoger Kline on the safeguarding controversy

WORKING TIMEMore than half of education professionalswork unpaid overtime

PRIVATISATIONAND AUSTERITYthreatens education, says Frances O’Grady

PERFORMANCE PAYFOR TEACHERSis unlikely to result in much schoolimprovement, argues Mike Hardacre

LISA NANDY INTERVIEWEDA rising star in Labour’s team

THINK STRATEGICALLY,ACT LOCALLYMartin Baxter sets theBuckinghamshire Teaching School in a national context

NEWSOfsted bids for improvement role Ofsted inspection frameworkAspect Group action plan E Bacc U-turnBudget analysis Horsemeat scandal Aspect Group membership survey

visit our website at www.aspect.org.uk

SPRING2013

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CONTENTS

www.aspect.org.uk spring 2013 | Improvement | 3

01226 383428 | [email protected] | www.aspect.org.uk

ASPECT GROUPPUBLICATIONS

01 New Terrain – New Models of Education and Children’sServices Delivery

02 ImprovingChildren’s Services: Lessonsfrom EuropeanSocial Pedagogy

03 Learning – The Key to Integrated Services

04 NationalStandards forEducationalImprovementProfessionals

05 United Minds,United Purpose: A Charter for ModernProfessionalism in Children’sServices

Improvement is the quarterly magazine from the Aspect Groupof Prospect. No part of this publication may be reproduced,copied or transmitted in any form or by any means withoutprior permission of the Aspect Group. The Aspect Groupcannot accept any liability for any insert or classifiedadvertisement included in this publication. While everyreasonable care is taken to ensure that all advertisers arereliable and reputable, the Aspect Group can give no assurancethat they will fulfil their obligation under all circumstances. Theviews expressed in Improvement are the contributors’ own anddo not necessarily reflect Aspect Group policy. Official policystatements issued on behalf of the Group are indicated as such.All information correct at the time of going to press.

Improvementmagazine is published by the Aspect Group of Prospect in partnership with Archant Dialogue Ltd

IMPROVEMENT EDITOR Nick WrightEmail: [email protected] Lisa ParkinsonArchant Dialogue. Tel: 01603 772521 Email: [email protected]

ASPECT GROUP OF PROSPECTWoolley Hall, Woolley, Wakefield, West Yorkshire WF4 2JR Tel: 01226 383428 Fax: 01226 383427 email: [email protected]: www.aspect.org.uk

04 LESLIE MANASSEH

05 NEWS Ofsted bids for improvement role | Ofsted inspection framework|Aspect Group action plan | E Bacc U-Turn |Budget Analysis | Horsemeat Scandal |Aspect Group membership survey

24 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

39 REVIEWS AND BRIEFINGS

46 JOBS ROUND-UP

Regulars

Features10 SAFEGUARDING: TOIL AND

TROUBLE Roger Kline thinks there is enough turmoil in Michael Gove’seducation brief without a similaruproar in his social care brief

14 CONFLICTED TRADITIONSUNITED IN SUCCESS NorthernIreland education is in a state oftransition, reports Nick Wright

18 WORK YOUR PROPER HOURSMore than half of educationprofessionals work unpaid overtime

22 SPEAK UP FOR EDUCATIONPROFESSIONALS Privatisation and continuing austerity threateneducation, says Frances O’Grady

28 SNAKES AND LADDERSPerformance pay for teachers is unlikely to result in much schoolimprovement, argues Mike Hardacre

32 LISA NANDY INTERVIEWEDA rising star in Labour’s team

36 CHOICE AND QUALITY? ElizabethTruss wants high quality, good valuechildcare for children, parents and thetaxpayer. Will her plans deliver?

42 THINK STRATEGICALLY, ACTLOCALLY Martin Baxter sets theBuckinghamshire Teaching School in a national context

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4 | Improvement | spring 2013 www.aspect.org.uk

LESLIE MANASSEH

ONE CAN LEARN A LOT from studying the detail ofparliamentary exchanges. Consider the followingextract from Hansard:

Sarah Teather MP: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many maintained primaryschools in England, which have received a gradingof inadequate in a section 5 Ofsted inspection sincethe introduction of the new inspection frameworkin September 2012, his Department has undertakento find a preferred sponsor for academyconversion (a) at the request of the governingbody and (b) at the suggestion of his Department;and if he will make a statement.

David Laws MP: Ofsted judged 123 maintainedprimary schools to be inadequate between theintroduction of the new framework in September2012 and the end of January 2013. We believe that the best and most sustainable way for these schools to improve is for them to becomeacademies, with a strong sponsor. In every case,ministers are responsible for identifying a preferredsponsor, taking into account a range of views,including those of the governing body.

I have no doubt that DfE officials spent someconsiderable time crafting this response, but their efforts to be anodyne cannot disguise thebehaviours at the heart of Michael Gove’s approachto schools. The simple fact of the matter is thatschools and governors are under relentlesspressure to create academies. It seems that dissentwill not be brooked and detractors can expect to face a rough ride. There is an obvious place forreform of the school system to deliver the besteducation for our children, but there is no place for blind zealotry.

The exchange also gives an alarming insight into the thinking on school improvement. Liberate

schools from the yoke of local authority oversight,impose a requirement on them to operate as aprivate company and suddenly they will emergeblinking in the light of revelation and never lookback. We are to believe that failure will be stoppedin its tracks and improvement will follow just asnight follows day!

We need careful, evidence-based policy making,not this type of reckless faith in a market modelwhich is already showing signs of failure. As wereported in the last issue of Improvement, therecent report of the Academies Commissionclearly demonstrated that, in and of themselves,academies are not the answer. A single policy toolbased on a one-size-fits-all approach is bad enoughbut, unfortunately, there is more. Free schools runby heads with no educational experience, the wilfuldisregard of the value of teaching qualifications andthe assumption that if you are a good scientist youwill automatically be a good science teacher allspeak of a willingness to gamble with the right of all children to a high-quality education.

So how should unions in the education sectorrespond? We have three principal roles – to speakup for the ethics, values and standards of theprofession, to participate in debates about publicpolicy and to represent our members individuallyand collectively. On all these matters, the AspectGroup of Prospect is planning to raise our game.However, it is vital that members pay their part too.We need you to be our eyes, ears and advocates in the workplace. Elsewhere in this issue, we reporton the recent survey of members which provides a valuable and authentic picture of developmentsaround the country. It reveals the nature and extent of the challenges facing us. We need anactive, engaged membership if we are to giveourselves the best chance of meeting them.

Leslie Manasseh

Not singing from the same hymn sheet

“We need careful,evidence-based policy making, not this type ofreckless faith in a market model which is alreadyshowing signs of failure”

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ROUND-UP

Ofsted: ‘Improvements in 2012 were due toinspection framework’

SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

Sir Michael Wilshaw, Ofsted Chief Inspector, has claimedthat improved school effectiveness in the last quarter of2012 was due to the new Ofsted inspection framework.

Figures published by Ofsted show that nearly halfthe schools inspected saw improvements in theiroverall effectiveness – 977 schools, or 47 per cent,were judged as improved.

The proportion of schools judged good or betterat their latest inspection was 74 per cent at the end ofDecember – an increase of four per cent over theprevious year.

Under the new Ofsted regime implemented since September 2012, a new category of ‘requiresimprovement’ has replaced the earlier ‘satisfactory’grade and schools are notified of a prescribed timeframe in which to improve. A more rigorousinspection regime extending up to four years entailsinspection on a more intensive basis than previously.

Sir Michael said: “I’m clear that scrapping the‘satisfactory’ judgement and replacing it with‘requires improvement’ is injecting a sense ofurgency in both schools and local authorities. Heads and governing boards now have a muchgreater focus on tackling the central issues of school improvement.”www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/official-statistics-maintained-school-inspections-and-outcomes

Ofsted inspectors have reported that the forcedacademies programme has hindered schoolimprovement. Commenting on cases in Preston and Birmingham, inspectors say primary heads and governors have been distracted with meetingswith DfE ‘academy brokers’, staff and parents.Source: Guardian – March 25 2013.

SELECT COMMITTEE

Ofsted bids for improvement roleOfsted Chief Inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw has told the CommonsEducation Select Committee that he was “repositioning” his organisation.

“We’re an inspections body, but we’re also going to try to help schoolsthat are finding it difficult to improve,” he told the Committee.

Responding to questions from MPs about Ofsted’s ability to remainimpartial when it was re-inspecting schools which it had been working to improve, he said that he was confident that providing schoolimprovement services would not conflict with Ofsted’s role as the independent regulator.

Sir Michael said it had been “incredibly difficult” to obtain data from the DfE on the make-up of academy chains and agreed with Tory MPGraham Stuart – who chairs the Select Committee – that it was “shocking”.

He said that Ofsted did not have powers to investigate academy chainsbut had hopes that it might. “A number of chains are doing outstandinglywell but, looking at the raw data, some aren’t doing very well and we needto worry about those chains,” he said.

He added: “…we need to think about how we are going to manageunderperformance. Who is going to do it? Is it going to be the Secretary of State and his officials at the centre or is it going to be another form of intermediary organisation? It seems to me that, if we do not think about this one carefully, we could have a situation where Whitehall is controlling an increasing number of independent and autonomousschools – and finding it very difficult to do so.”

Warning local authorities with inadequately-maintained schools to makebetter use of their “wide range of powers” to intervene, he said: “We willtake action against those authorities unless we see improvement.”

Local authorities had, he said, in addition to monitoring maintainedschools, an important role in monitoring academies and free schools.They should write to the school’s chair of governors or to the Department for Education.

In a separate meeting of the Parliamentary Liaison Committee thatdeals with Select Committee business, Graham Stuart quizzed PrimeMinister David Cameron about the academies policy and how failingacademies were to be supported.

The Prime Minister agreed that the local authorities role will be “quitechanged” by the expansion of academies and said that the governmenthad not yet decided how best to provide support for academies in trouble.He also said that he would investigate whether legislation would berequired to authorise Ofsted to inspect academy chains.

Following the meeting, Graham Stuart said: “As more and more schools become academies, it is essential that the government sorts out who is going to be responsible for monitoring them and making surethey get the support they need if performance drops. This issue is not one we can continue to avoid. We will soon have more than half of allsecondary schools as academies and the Prime Minister wants thousands of primaries to follow. We can’t wait any longer for answers.”

Flashback Press Association www.guardian.co.ukTuesday June 12, 2012

OFSTED FIGURES SH OW ALMOSTHALF OF SCHOOLS NOT DOINGWELL ENOUGH

Regulator says three per cent rise in numberof schools judged to be ‘inadequate’ isprobably due to new inspection regime.

Almost half of schools inspected in the first three months of this year were found to be not good enough, new figures show.

Statistics published by Ofsted reveal that 34 per cent of the 1,964 schools visited byinspectors between January and March were only satisfactory.

A further nine per cent were judged to be inadequate and either given a notice to improve or put in special measures. This is higher than the previous academic year,2010/11, when six per cent were found to be inadequate.

Ofsted said this is likely to be because, sinceJanuary, schools have been inspected undera new regime.

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SURVEY

Extra work, less pay,worsened servicesCuts in education and children’s services are making a big impact on the working lives of Aspect Groupmembers. A survey carried out by the union showsthat 85 per cent regularly work beyond theircontractual hours. Nearly seven out of 10 have taken on additional responsibilities in the last two years, while more said that their workload has increased significantly as a result of job cuts.

A shocking 13 per cent have suffered a pay cutfollowing assimilation into a new grading structure.

The crisis affects not only employed staff but alsothe self-employed. Of those working extra hours, 37.5 per cent of employees worked between six and 10 additional hours a week, one in five worked an extra 11 to 15 hours a week and 18 per cent workedmore than 15 additional hours a week. Although self-employed respondents were less likely to be directlyaffected by job cuts, 29 per cent reported that theyregularly worked beyond their contractual hours.

Aspect Group Secretary Leslie Manasseh said:“These survey results sound a warning togovernment and employers. People are the mostvaluable resource that education and children’sservices have available. It is not possible for ourservices to endure year-on-year cuts in staffing levels and in training with worsening conditions and declining salary levels without criticallyweakening schools and damaging the prospects for the nation’s children.”

Morale is badly affected, with three-quartersreporting that their workplace has become a worse place to work and more than seven out of 10anticipating things will get worse in the coming year.

More than six out of 10 employees said the qualityof services they delivered was worse, with a fullquarter saying it is much worse. More than 40 percent of the self-employed thought the quality ofservices has worsened. More than six out of 10employees experiencing changes to their workingconditions felt they were not properly consultedbefore the changes were introduced.

The cuts have bitten deep into staff training, with75 per cent of respondents without access to trainingbecause the training budget has been cut. Meanwhile,45 per cent report they are unable to take time off fortraining because of workload pressures and a further30 per cent have no cover for their job role.Revealingly, more than three out of 10 have no access to work-related training.

Escalating travel costs are a big problem, with 45 per cent of employees and 29 per cent of self-employed reporting an average shortfall betweenmileage allowance and normal costs.

More than one in five report unwelcome changesat work including paying for parking, less flexibility and

reduced office space. A third of employees haveworsened redundancy arrangements, 29 per centhave had their essential car user status removed, 19 per cent have had a reduction in salary-relatedallowances and 13 per cent have new restrictions on the timing of holidays.

The publication most read by Aspect Groupmembers is the Times Education Supplement,which is regularly read by 76 per cent ofrespondents, followed by the Guardian Education supplement, which is read by 38 per cent. One in five of employees regularly reads Children and Young People Now and 18 per cent read Nursery World.Slightly more than half of respondents are satisfiedwith Improvement, with 10 per cent very satisfied.An undecided 39 per cent have no view either wayand a mysterious six per cent say they have neverread it...

CHANGINGWORLD

The survey revealed the changing shape of the union, with three-quarters employed and a quarter self-employed. Nearly nine in 10employees work for local authorities, five per cent work for a separate educational body delivering local authority services and 8.5 per cent are employed by ‘other’ types oforganisations such as nurseries, the MOD and charity or voluntary sector organisations.

Six out of 10 employed staff and 69 per cent of self-employed work in school improvement.Thirteen per cent of employees work in earlyyears, while 22 per cent of employees and29 per cent of self-employed are engaged in ‘other’ work such as SEN work, adulteducation or lifelong learning and a range of other job roles.

Sixty two per cent of employed staff are paidon Soulbury scales. Of those not covered bySoulbury, 32 per cent have been assimilatedinto the Single Status structure, 46 per centhave not and 22 per cent were not sure.

Of those assimilated into Single Status, 57 per cent said they have been properlyevaluated via a job evaluation scheme versus 43 per cent who said they have not (five per cent of employees overall).

HorsemeatscandalhighlightsspecialistroleFood Standards Agency staff have foundhorsemeat in school dinners. Equine DNA was found in cottage pies supplied to 47 schoolsin Lancashire. Catering firm Compass, whichsupplies many schools, found horsemeat inburgers in Northern Ireland.

Prospect, which represents professionals in the FSA, said that the government mustreconsider its approach to its specialist staff inthe wake of the horsemeat crisis, learn to valuetheir skills and ensure that civil service reformembeds them at the heart of the Whitehall policy-making process.

The union says the Government’s rush todismantle organisations as part of the much-vaunted ‘Bonfire of the Quangos’ has notproduced the benefits intended.

Prospect Deputy General Secretary LeslieManasseh said: “How many MPs thought through the consequences when voting in favourof abolishing or reorganising public bodies?

“Of all the thousands of words written aboutthe UK food supply chain, insufficient attentionhas been paid to the need for good regulation,consistently applied. Complexity andfragmentation of arrangements forresponsibilities across departments and the public sector have added to the chaos.

“It is ironic that, after being vilified by some politicians and parts of the media, FSA staff now have an essential part to play in the resolution of the crisis. It is barely threemonths since we experienced the full force of the ash dieback outbreak, with governmentrelying on similarly hard-pressed specialists to manage the consequences.

“The crisis illustrates very well the crucial rolespecialists must play in government. Far from the caricature of time-serving bureaucrats, they are the go-to people when there is a crisis.Government must take them seriously.”

SCHOOL MEALS

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ROUND-UP

Gove U-turnIf progress in educating our children is to becontinuous, changes need to be evidence-based and carried through with consent,” said educationprofessionals leader Leslie Manasseh, commentingon Education Secretary Michael Gove’s U-turn overplans to replace GCSEs with a new EnglishBaccalaureate.

The Aspect Group secretary said: “Criticism of the policy from within the government coalition,from MPs across the entire spectrum of opinion and from industry and academia echoes thewidespread opposition from teaching and school improvement professionals.

“The cross-party Commons EducationCommittee said the government had ‘not provedits case’ that GCSEs should be abolished in keyacademic subjects. This should be a warning that,when profound changes are planned, they will beimplemented most effectively when theintellectual and practical case for them is convincing.

“Michael Gove is mistaken in thinking thatopposition to these changes was that they are ‘one reform too far’. It is not only the nature of the changes but the method by which he tried to force them through that has forced thishumiliating climbdown.”

The Education Secretary had originally intendedto replace GCSEs with a new English Baccalaureatecertificate in the five core academic areas ofEnglish, maths, science, languages and humanities – history or geography. He told MPs that, instead of the new E Bacc, GCSEs will be reformed – withexams taken at the end of the course, rather than in modules, alongside extended questions andreduced internal assessment.

E BACC

Unions angry at pay capMillions of families will face another year of severely squeezed incomes following the budgetannouncement that public service pay is to becapped for another year and incremental payprogression is set to be scrapped.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “The Chancellor is either oblivious to the tough time that millions of public sector workers and their families are having or he is deliberately settingout to punish them.”

Prospect General Secretary Mike Clancycondemned the Chancellor’s public sector pay limit:“To rub salt in the wounds of skilled public sector

workers, today’s announcement will make thempoorer through the government’s expressed desireto remove contractually agreed pay progression.They have already seen a rise in their pensioncontributions and, effectively, a pay cut with increasesof under one per cent which will be the case until at least 2016. This is leading to a widening gapbetween themselves and similarly skilled workers in the private sector.”

A FUTURE FOR FAMILIESTUC pre-budget rally called for a budget that putsjobs, growth and families first

Action plan adopted to tackle issuesThe Aspect Group has adopted an actionprogramme to meet the new challenges it faces. “We face an uncertain future shape ofeducation and children’s services in England,”Aspect Group Secretary Leslie Manasseh toldthe Group Council meeting in Liverpool.

“The Soulbury agreement, which has been the basis of most of our members’ terms andconditions and professional status, is under threat. Cuts in the number of school improvementprofessionals continue while the revolution withineducation and local government combined with theCoalition Government’s unwillingness to engagewith trade unions and determination to underminerights at work make for a very difficult environment.

“The Local Government Association –representing the employers – has expressedclear preference to move towards single tablebargaining and the Aspect Group needs toconsider how best to preserve a voice forSoulbury grades,” he said.

Proposing a strong lead from the GroupCouncil on strengthening the union’s position in the ‘middle tier’, he said the historical base of the union provides its ‘unique selling point’ in going forward.

The Group Council agreed an action plan that includes a recruitmentprogramme aimed at the two thousand school improvement professionals still

outside of AAA membership and an extra focus on staff in London boroughs, Soulburystaff in the Ministry of Defence and youth service managers.

Further exploratory work was agreed toidentify the potential among the union’s existingbase among early years professionals, educationwelfare and social work staff and youth andcommunity service managers.

Leslie Manasseh said the union needed to strengthen its offer to the growing self-employed sector. Improving services, includingthe business register, and strengthening thegroup’s role in the field of accreditation andquality standards were priorities.

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ROUND-UP

LOCAL AUTHORITIES

Education sector rallies to middle tierThe Ofsted initiative to inspect schoolimprovement services has sparked support for the role of local authorities.

Starting this April, Ofsted has taken the power toinspect the school improvement functions of localauthorities where it fears that “the statutory duty to improve school standards is not being met”.

The unspoken inference is thatunderperformance and failings revealed in suchinspections would lead to DfE pressure for schools to convert to academy status along the lines alreadyexperienced by individual schools which are judgedto be under performing.

Critics fear the end result would impoverishcouncils and weaken their ability to concentrateresources and undertake authority-wide initiatives.

Ofsted Chief Inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw said:“In these focused and concentrated inspectionprogrammes, we will be seeking to determinewhether councils are really fulfilling their statutoryduties to promote high standards and fair access toeducational opportunity. Ofsted will inspect withoutfear or favour, and with no preconceived idea of what we will find. If we find that the local authority isproactive in addressing the key issues and standardsare improving, that’s absolutely fine. But where wefind evidence that the local authority is notdemonstrating effective leadership, then we shall inspect it.”

RED TAPE“We agree with Ofsted’s call for more to be done but,rather than extra inspections of councils, we believepupils would benefit far more from governmentuntying the hands of local authorities so they can get on with quickly and decisively helping the worstperforming schools without first having to negotiateswathes of red tape and bureaucracy,” said LocalGovernment Association Children’s Board chair Cllr David Simmonds.

“Local authorities want to be able to intervenemore quickly in underperforming schools but weare prevented from doing so as a result of decades of reforms to give schools greater independence andreduce what was perceived as council interference,”he added.

CENTRAL CONTROLATL leader Dr Mary Bousted said that Ofsted needsto realise that there is now a huge problem sinceacademies and free schools report directly to theDepartment for Education and local authorities havelittle influence over them. In the Government’s newworld of academies, it has failed to clarify the role of local authorities.

“We know from the Academies Commission that many new academies are failing to support

neighbouring schools despite being required to do so.

“This looks like inspection is punishment ratherthan support to help schools improve. Instead, we need the accountability system to bereconfigured so that local authorities have realpowers to run inspections and improvement in all schools in their area, while Ofsted’s reports onnational trends and checks the quality of localauthorities’ education services,” said Dr Bousted.

COOPERATIONAspect Group secretary Leslie Manasseh called for cooperation – not coercion.

“Inspection is an essential component of anycomprehensive system of school improvement, and is an invaluable aid to the deployment of local authorityschool improvement resources and to teachers,heads, governors and communities,” he said.

“When divorced from being a cooperative and integrated approach, it risks being seen as merely intimidatory and coercive.

“In redefining the role of national inspection andtargeting selected local authorities, the Government,through Ofsted, is paying a perhaps unconscioustribute to the principle that local authoritiesthemselves are the critical resource for the deliveryof well-informed, speedily deployed and expert localschool improvement services.

“It is unfortunate, therefore, that the main currentdirection of government schools policy is to denyfunding, disaggregate and disrupt local authorityprovision and thus diminish the role of the criticalmiddle tier in school improvement.”

CRUDE SPECTACLENAS UWT leader Chris Keates said: “These ‘dawn raid’inspections have nothing to do with raising standardsor tackling inequality. These are crude spectaclesorganised to create a climate of fear and panic.

“As this announcement by HMCI comes only a short time after the Secretary of State declared waron local authorities resistant to his ideological reformof school structures, it would be understandable ifthe conclusion was drawn that Ofsted was beingused by the Secretary of State to settle politicalscores against those who have had the temerity to challenge or criticise his policies.

“Ofsted is no longer an independent bodyoperating in the public interest. It is now merely theSecretary of State’s hit squad,” she said. “The idea thatthese inspections will reveal any robust data about the performance of local authorities by questioningheadteachers about the support they receive is risible.

“The punitive high-stakes inspection regimemeans that any school involved in these inspectionswill understandably seek to protect itself fromcriticism by deflecting blame onto its local authority.”

FUNDAMENTAL FLAWThe Government’s academies and free schoolprogramme means that local authorities no longerhave the right to intervene in many schools, NUTleader Christine Blower said.

“Academies and free schools have beenspecifically set up to be independent of the localauthorities, so any legislation relating to their schoolimprovement and intervention powers is not valid.Local authorities cannot issue them with a warningnotice about performance standards, appoint to or replace the governing body or require the schoolto undertake any kind of improvement work. Instead, they are ultimately answerable to theEducation Secretary.

“This is a fundamental flaw in Michael Gove’s plans.It is quite inconceivable that he will be able to overseeall schools in England, let alone deal with issues thatparents and pupils may raise with individual academychains or free schools.

“Sir Michael Wilshaw’s latest announcementseems to be yet another way of forcing schools out of the local authority family and into the hands of academy chains and the EducationSecretary himself.”

INSPECTION FOCUS

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION

www.local.gov.uk/children-and-young-people

OFSTED STATISTICS

www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources /statistics

NFER SCHOOL INSPECTIONS

INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE REVIEW

www.tinyurl.com/boqtzl6

In January, an Ofsted team examined schoolsand the school improvement service in Derbywhere the agency saw unacceptablevariations in its performance compared to other local authorities with similar mixes of social and demographic factors.

Ten schools, selected at random, wereinspected including including a nurseryschool, five primaries, two junior schools, onesecondary school and one special school.

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IN THIS ISSUE


OUR NEW LOOK

Improvementhas improved, we hope. Our new style has been designed to reflectchanges in the way material is presented toAspect Group members and to the wideraudience that is interested in our message.We are commissioning longer and morereflective feature articles, and strengtheningour news coverage of both trade unionmatters and education and children's services.A news blog at www.aspect.org.uk willcomment on events as they unfold.

In addition to the print version that is sent to all Aspect Group members and subscribers,Improvement is now available as a downloadablePDF from www.aspect.org.uk and online,hosted at www.issuu.com/aspectgroup/docs/improvement

In this issue of the magazine, there is a pathwayfor education and children's servicesprofessionals to join our union. It would bea good idea for each Aspect Group memberto send an email, containing either the PDF or the link, to their colleagues who may not be members of the union.

n his anxiety to make an impression,Michael Gove has overreached himself.Criticism of his various schemes comes,not only from the usual suspects, but also from both the Commons EducationSelect Committee and Local Government

Association Children’s Board. Not every excess of iconoclasm emanating

from the DfE meets with approval andopposition to government plans finds morethan one education minister under fire. The childcare plans of the Elizabeth Truss have been out to consultation.

The union’s Early Childhood EducationGroup has responded by arguing thatflexibility in the ratios of children to staffis a different issue to the kinds of qualificationsstaff should possess. In its response to theconsultation, it makes some eminentlysensible suggestions that would, if implemented,help embed a more highly qualifiedworkforce in a childcare system that would be both better resourced and more comprehensive.

Over the waterThe saying in Ireland is that an expert is an Englishman 20 miles from home. Better,then, to ask questions than proffer solutionsbased on the vastly different experiences inBritain. Last year, according to the TIMSSand PIRLS results, primary school childrenin Northern Ireland were sixth in the worldin numeracy and fifth in literacy.

Stepping carefully, Nick Wright asks howthe secondary school system over the watermanages to transform these successfulprimary school children into markedly less successful secondary school students.

Better safeOur union weighed into the consultation on the revision to the draft guidance onsafeguarding with evidence that stronglysupports an unwaveringly rigorous approach.Roger Kline argues that relaxing these willnot help while there are record numbers of referrals to social work services, recordnumbers of children subject to a childprotection plan and record numbers of care applications.

Against austerityEducation International, the global body that groups trade unions in the educationsector, met in London to discuss problems in the most highly developed OECD nations. Frances O’Grady – the newly elected General Secretary of the TUC – spoke out for education professionals.

Performance payMike Hardacre argues that the wide range of factors that influences educationalattainment, the disparity in starting points forschools drawing on widely differing intakesand uncertainties about the objectivity ofteacher performance assessment proceduresmake for a debate over Michael Gove’s latestwheeze – performance pay for teachers –clouded with doubt.

The alternative?Coalition government is producing somesurprises, with a refreshing plurality of views emerging and some interestingcontradictions between the parties, between ministers and backbenches andbetween a centralising government and localauthority figures who value their autonomy.

But debate among the Opposition is by no means stilled either. In this issue, ShadowChildren’s Minister Lisa Nandy is given some tough questions to answer.

Self ReliantMartin Baxter draws on his direct experienceand on the literature to demonstrate that,even when that vital middle tier of strong localauthority support for school improvement iseroding, schools can draw on an enormouspool of creativity and experience to mobilisetheir resources and strengthen the delivery of education.

IMore haste, less speed

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SAFEGUARDING

Those whose role straddles the different sectors ofchildren’s services will know there is considerableturbulence here also.Decisions on adoption

policy and childcare staffing may have got the media headlines, but the policy thatcauses most trouble behind the scenes is the draft guidance on safeguarding to replaceWorking Together – or ‘Working Together Lite’, as it has been called.

I spoke at a well-attended WestminsterForum of 200 safeguarding experts earlierthis year. The House of Lords chairpersonasked for an audience straw poll at the endwith the question: “Who agrees that, in itscurrent form, the draft Working Togetherdocument should not be published?”Almosteveryone put up their hands. While manystaff feel Working Together in its current formis unwieldy, its content has wide support.

To understand why, a little history helps.Working Together was written in the wake of successive child death enquiries that –from Maria Colwell onwards – foundparticular fault in the system of inter-agencycommunication and a failure of procedures.

Basic standardsMany experts fear a return to the disjointed services of the 1970s, whichespecially hampered organised abuseinvestigation.As the Every Child in NeedCampaign 2012 cites, “basic minimumnational standards and requirements areessential. A hands-off approach, allowing local authorities to do what they want, when they want, is dangerous. Even theGovernment’s own impact assessmentrecognises this – it accepts that “there is a risk of negative impact on children if central government is less prescriptive (DfE 20112b). That is not a risk we should be taking”. Why has Michael Gove ignored his own risk assessment?

The Association of Directors of Children’sServices is particularly concerned“that therevised guidance presents a significant, anddetrimental, shift in tone and focus awayfrom whole system guidance and a narrativeof safeguarding as everybody’s business to afocus on social workers and local authoritieswith support from other agencies.”

Some responses to the consultation note the peculiar absence of any reference to the role of health visitors in children’ssafeguarding guidance and cannot understandwhy the Department of Health is publishingits own guidance.

DeregulationMichael Gove sits centrally in the governmentschool of deregulation.These values aredeeply embedded in Working Together and do not make for easy reading. Some claimthe current Working Together is a key cause of the disproportionate amount of time that safeguarding and children’s services staff spend in front of computers, but theprovenance of that problem lies elsewhere.

Though Eileen Munro, in her final review,makes reference to Professor Nigel Partonwho, in an historical overview of childprotection processes, cited the increasednumber of pages of Working Together, he did not argue for a reduction of the guidance but suggested instead a navigable web-basedversion and a short practitioner guidealongside distinguishing the statutory and non-statutory aspects of the guidance.He certainly did not recommend tamperingwith the statutory guidance.

UnderminedAt the heart of Michael Gove’s determinationto shorten the guidance lies a deep failure to understand that, with heavy workloads and rising need, the failure to be sufficientlyprescriptive and mandate key measuresinevitably undermines the ability of managerswithin each agency to prioritise and access

child protection resources at a time whenhealth, education, probation and policeservices are under immense funding pressures.

These proposed changes come at a timewhen there is evidence of an unprecedentedincrease in serious crimes against children.Child abuse occurs within families and thiscontext provided the focus of the Laming and Munro reviews. But there is also a vast international child abuse industry that exploits children and includes trafficking for commercial, domestic andsexual exploitation, online abuse, the illegaladoption trade, the illegal organ trade, forcedmarriage and the trade in abusive images.

What does the draft have to say about this? Very little indeed. It may be that therecent high-profile child abuse cases havecaused some pause for thought deep inside Whitehall.

Those who support the changes claim therevised draft guidance will make it easier todevelop professional confidence and capabilityand to exercise more judgment. Practitionerswill be unclear how this will happen at a timeof rising workloads, increasingly inappropriateskill mix and rising eligibility criteria.


“Many experts fear a return to the disjointed servicesof the 1970s, whichespecially hamperedorganised abuseinvestigation”

Toilandtrouble


SAFEGUARDING


Lord Laming, following the tragedy of Peter Connolly, reported that: “Frontlinesocial workers and social work managers are under an immense amount of pressure.Low staff morale, poor supervision, highcaseloads, under resourcing and inadequatetraining each contribute to high levels of stress and recruitment and retentiondifficulties. Many social workers feel the size of the task in protecting children and young people from harm is

insurmountable and this increases the risk of harm.”

This hasn’t changed and it is hard to seehow the draft guidance will help at a time of record numbers of referrals to social workservices, record numbers of children subjectto a child protection plan and recordnumbers of care applications.

Less prescriptiveThe Every Child in Need Campaign claimssome local authorities – cash-strappedfollowing swingeing cuts to their budgets –may see less prescriptive guidance as a meansof reducing the pressure to act quickly whena child in need comes to their attention.

Dr Liz Davies (a trenchant critic of theproposals and an authority on childprotection) suggests that, if Michael Govewants simple solutions, he could start by re-establishing the national child protectionregister that was abolished in 2008 withoutany basis in research findings.

She points out that, while Working Togetherrequired that certain crucial aspects of themanagement of individual cases beundertaken only by more experienced and qualified social workers including the initial assessment (5.41), the strategydiscussion (5.56), the core assessment (5.62),and joint interviews with children (5.68),those requirements have vanished.

Speak outThere is a wider context to this discussion.The public inquiry by Robert Francis QCon the Mid Staffordshire Hospital scandalstressed the importance of NHS staff havingthe courage and confidence to speak out and raise concerns. As recent cases in socialcare have shown, similar problems exist theretoo. Yet critics point out that Michael Govemade no objection to the removal of theexcellent requirements of the GSCC Codeof Practice on raising concerns and beingadvocates for services users when it mergedwith the Health and Care ProfessionsCouncil to save money.

All those in children’s services should pay close attention to the smoke signals that emerge from the DfE on children’ssafeguarding. The Aspect Group’s own evidenceasked that this revision be withdrawn so that amore considered, evidence-based discussioncan take place about what changes might beneeded to Working Together in order to supportgood practice by the national provision ofproportionate and relevant statutory guidancethat is fit for purpose.

We await the outcome of the consultationwith trepidation.

“At the heart ofMichael Gove’sdetermination toshorten the guidancelies a deep failure tounderstand that, with heavy workloadsand rising need, the failure to besufficientlyprescriptive and mandate keymeasures inevitablyundermines theability of managerswithin each agency to prioritise andaccess childprotection resourcesat a time when health,education, probationand police services are under immensefunding pressures”

USEFUL LINKS

WORKING TOGETHER

www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/statutory/g00213160/working-together-to-safeguard-children

FRANCIS REPORT

www.midstaffspublicinquiry.com

EVERY CHILD IN NEED

www.everychildinneed.org.uk



Aspect responds to Ofsted planKey role for local authorities undermined

Aspect has sounded the alarmover plans by Ofsted tointroduce a new frameworkfor the inspection of local authority schoolimprovement services

and has said that councils should continue to take a major school improvement role.

Responding to the public consultationover the plans, the union said Ofsted shouldbe wary of drawing any conclusions, aboutthe local authority role in general or theschool improvement function in particular,without taking into account spending cuts,the removal of national programmes withfunding streams attached and a reduction infunding – as schools (especially secondaries)have become academies – and while therehas been no reduction in local authorities’statutory responsibilities.

The union said that “unless the consultation takes proper account of theincreasing diminution of local authorities in running local schools over the last twodecades, it might draw incorrect conclusionsabout the influence that such functions shouldexercise within the current policy framework.”

Aspect lined up with the LocalGovernment Association’s children and young people board in arguing that “localauthorities want to be able to intervene morequickly in underperforming schools, but weare prevented from doing so as a result ofdecades of reforms to give schools greaterindependence and reduce what was perceived as council interference.”

The union highlighted the mismatchbetween continuing local authority functionsand their diminishing resources and influence,arguing that a framework that does not“acknowledge these pressures might – at some future date – draw incorrectconclusions either about particular school improvement functions or the local authorityrole in general.”

While a direct link remains between local authorities and maintained schools, the relationship with academies is “necessarilyhighly variable”.The inspection frameworkfor local authority school inspections

functions “must demonstrably take that into account,”the union argued.

The union told Ofsted that it agrees with Andrew Webb, Vice President of theAssociation of Directors of Children’s Services,who said Ofsted’s plan to gather evidencefrom schools was an “inadequate way” to assess local authority provision and that “localauthorities must be given the chance to offertheir own input and evidence of the type of support they provide in order for Ofsted to be able to produce an accurate and robustreport on which to base a judgment.”

Commenting on the Ofsted proposals,Aspect Group Secretary Leslie Manasseh said: “We are concerned that change andinnovation in school improvement should be evidence based. There is much speculationthat new models of managing schoolimprovement – some grounded in a morecentralised function, others which place theemphasis on school-to-school support – canreplace the vast reservoir of expertise andlocal knowledge that has been built up inlocal authorities and replace its strategic role.

“We remain unconvinced. The uncertaintyand imprecision that is inevitably arising fromthis toxic combination of funding cuts andfragmentation has a profoundly disorganisingeffect. It is clearly unrealistic to task localauthorities with the responsibility for improvingacademies which are not meeting expectations.

“The outcome of this consultation processmust result in clarity of thought and action,not only in relation to the role of localauthorities, but also the responsibilities ofacademies and chains of academies themselves.

“We are clear that, in any conceivablecircumstances, local authorities will continueto have a critical role in monitoring, brokeringand commissioning school improvementservices. They must also have the staffing andresources to meet these responsibilities.”

OFSTED SAYS

Ofsted says it intends to introduce “a sharplyfocused and bespoke inspection framework”where schools and other providers are not yet good or where they are not improving quickly enough.

It will carry out individual inspections of theeducation and training function of local authoritieswhere information about schools and otherproviders tells it that standards and effectivenessare either too variable or not yet good.

INSPECTION CRITERIA

Ofsted proposes to use the indicators below to determine whether an inspection is required where one or more of the following apply:

The proportion of children who attend a good or better maintained school, pupilreferral unit and/or alternative provision is lower than that found nationally.There is a higher than average number ofschools in an Ofsted category of concernand/or there are indicators that progressof such schools is not securing rapidenough improvement.There is a higher than average proportion of schools that have not been judged to be good by Ofsted.Attainment levels across the local authorityare lower than those found nationallyand/or the trend of improvement is weak.Rates of progress, relative to starting points,are lower those that found nationally and/orthe trend of improvement is weak.The volume of qualifying complaints toOfsted about schools in a local authorityarea is a matter of concern.The Secretary of State has concerns aboutthe effectiveness of local authority schoolimprovement functions.

OFSTEDtinyurl.com/d5gvzlf

ASPECT RESPONSEwww.aspect.org.uk

INSPECTION

13 Inspection:Layout 1 4/4/13 14:57


14-17 Northern Ireland:Layout 1 2/4/13 14:49


Conflictedtraditionsunited insuccessNorthern Ireland education is in a state of transition,reports Nick Wright

ere is a conundrum. Northern Ireland has one of the best performingprimary education systems in theworld. Last year, measured throughthe Trends in International Maths and

Science Study (TIMSS) and Progress in InternationalReading Literacy Study (PIRLS), Northern Irelandcame sixth in numeracy and fifth in literacy – beating even highly rated Finland.

Six hundred thousand nine- and 10 year-olds from50 countries were tested. Singapore scored better innumeracy and Hong Kong in literacy, but NorthernIreland was the highest-scoring English-speaking centre of excellence.

Yet, in February, the Northern Ireland Audit Office reported that, although standards were slowlyimproving, 9,000 school students failed to achieve a minimum of five A*-C GCSEs in 2010-11. Morethan one in five fails to meet the required standard at Key Stage 3 – in Northern Ireland, this refers to years eight, nine and 10 or the first three years at secondary level.

Predictably, poverty and deprivation were powerfulfactors: 31.7 per cent of pupils entitled to free schoolmeals achieved the expected level at GCSE, comparedto 65.1 per cent who were not entitled.

Equally predictably, boys performed less well than girls throughout their schooling. Interestingly, poverty (or, more widely, social deprivation) has a bigger impact in state schools,which mainly cater for children from Protestant communities than inmaintained, mostly Catholic, schools.

The Aspect Group’s Sean Maguire – whoseprofessional background is as a science advisor – saysthe primary results are a telling product of the revisedprimary curriculum in place since 2007. In place of the more traditional content-based approach, therevised curriculum centres on developing skills.

When it was introduced, the then EducationMinister Catherine Ruane said: “The important thingabout the revised curriculum is the stronger emphasison the fundamental skills – literacy, numeracy andICT. These are the core to a sound education and to future prospects of the children.

“In addition to these core elements, I believe we need to make education more attractive to ourchildren by giving greater emphasis to the creativeand expressive areas, like art and music, providingsupport that will enable schools to enhance provision in sport and language learning.”

The current Minister of Education, John O’Dowd,reckons the primary successes are a product of the

H

NORTHERN IRELAND



emphasis on creating independent learners.He points to initiatives such as Count, Readand Succeed and a greater teacher trainingemphasis on numeracy and literacy.There is also a big emphasis on self-evaluation andcontinuing professional development, extra pay for extra responsibilities, an impressiveinvestment in ICT and over£470 million of infrastructure spending.

The big question is how does thesecondary school system in Northern Irelandmanage to transform its successful primaryschool children into markedly less successfulsecondary school students?

The answer may lie in the ways in whicheducation in Northern Ireland is structured.The first point is that the effects of the 11 plussystem have only recently begun to dissipate.Therefore, it seems probable that the notoriousfunction of post-primary selection – to reflect,replicate and institutionalise class stratification –is operating to a greater or lesser extent.However, there is still considerable support for selection at 11 – some of it grounded inobjections to the new system, which involvespupils taking separate tests for each school.

But the distinctive feature of the NorthernIreland system is the extra factor of a moreintensive division on the basis of familyreligious affiliation than is found elsewhere – a factor compounded by the remainingpatterns of settlement and social organisation in which different communities livesubstantially separate lives.

Paradoxically, the new transfer system at age 11 is having some effect in breakingdown the sectarian features built into thesystem, with children sitting tests for entranceto both ‘controlled’ (i.e. Protestant) schools

and to ‘maintained’ (i.e. Catholic) schools in a situation where schools are nowcompeting for pupils.

The role of the Protestant churches in managing schools, enshrined in theirguaranteed places on governing bodies, is under threat from the Review of PublicAdministration as it is considered to breachthe equality provisions of the NorthernIreland Act 1998.

Fewer than one in 10 students attendintegrated (i.e. non-sectarian) schools. Thereis a perception that working-class boys frominner-city Protestant communities do lesswell and some people attribute this to theheritage of more stable employmentopportunities in Northern Ireland’s nowmuch-reduced heavy industry with theassumption that such guaranteed workresulted in educational attainment having a lower status. There is a parallel perceptionin that community – owing to thediscrimination against working-classCatholics – that there is an historicallygreater emphasis on obtaining a goodeducation at secondary and higher levels.

It has to be said that both perceptions are challenged and, in present, circumstancesthere is strong evidence that disadvantage iswidely distributed across both Catholic andProtestant working-class communities.

Flawed fundingAn independent panel has reported that the funding system for Northern Ireland’sschools is fundamentally flawed.

In a damning criticism, the reportconcludes that the current model for fundingschools does not maximise opportunity for all pupils, nor does it sufficiently targeteducational under-achievement or childrenwith additional educational needs.

In two key areas, it runs counter to thewider Department for Education objectives.Small schools get “significant additionalsupport” irrespective of circumstances, whilethere is a low level of additional funding for pupils from socially disadvantagedbackgrounds or with additional educational needs.

There are criticisms of a lack oftransparency,which“facilitates perceptions ofbias”, while it is often difficult to understandwhy a school receives the funding it does.

In Northern Ireland, voluntary grammarand grant-maintained integrated schools arefunded through Department for Educationgrants. Other schools’ budgets – and theiraccounting systems – are delegated butlargely maintained by the five Education and Library Boards.

Decoded for an audience innocent of the often unspoken contours of NorthernIreland’s complex of religious distinctions,

PRIMARY SUCCESS

In reading, NI pupils were ranked fifth out of the 45 participating countries. Pupils in NIsignificantly outperformed pupils in 36 of the countries that participated in PIRLS 2011.NI was the highest-ranking English-speaking country.NI pupils were ranked sixth out of the 50countries that participated in TIMSS 2011mathematics. NI pupils significantlyoutperformed pupils in 44 other countries.NI was the highest-performing Englishspeaking country in mathematics.The average score for NI pupils in science was lower than for reading and mathematics,although still significantly above the TIMSSscience international average.NI pupils outperformed pupils in 23 othercountries and were outperformed by pupilsin 17 countries in science.Pupils in NI who were categorised as liking,‘motivated’ or ‘confident in’ reading, learningmathematics or learning science were more likely to have higher averageachievement scores.Pupils in NI were more likely (84 per cent) to be taught by teachers who rated theirworking conditions relatively highlycompared to the international average (73 per cent).NI had one of the highest levels of computerprovision among all participating countries,with over three-quarters of pupils taught inschools where a computer was available forevery one to two pupils.NI had the highest proportion of schools thatwere categorised as safe and orderly and oneof the highest levels for discipline and safety.A higher proportion of children (30 per cent)in NI reported having many resources forlearning at home compared with the averageinternationally (17 per cent). Pupils withaccess to more home resources for learninghad higher average achievement in reading,mathematics and science.The proportion of pupils whose teachersreported lack of sleep as a limiting factor wasgreater in NI than the international average in all three subjects.Pupils in NI whose teachers reported thatpupils’ lack of basic nutrition and lack ofsufficient sleep limited teaching had loweraverage achievement than those pupilswhose teachers reported not having these limitations.

“How does thesecondary schoolsystem in NorthernIreland manage to transform itssuccessful primaryschool children into markedly lesssuccessful secondaryschool students?”



this means state schools predominatelyattended by children from Protestantcommunities get one kind of funding and church schools attended by childrenfrom Catholic communities another.

The principal feature of the current fundingformula is a bias towards funding institutionsrather than one that, as the report argues, wouldplace “individual pupils and their varying levelsof educational and pastoral need at the heart of funding allocations”.

The report’s recommendations areuncompromisingly bold. It proposes reducingadditional funding for small schools, removingit completely at post-primary level andfunding the remaining designated ‘smallschools’ from outside the Common Funding Formula.

A new, simplified and transparent formulawould be principally based around basic perpupil funding, weighted to reflect the phaseof education and with a weighted pupilpremium for social deprivation. Othersubsidiary elements would designate fixed,lump-sum costs for primary schools andmeasures for newcomer children, Traveller,Roma and looked-after children, servicepersonnel children and a notional SENbudget drawing on deprivation indicators.

Northern Ireland RevisedPrimary Curriculumtinyurl.com/c6r3hyl

Count, Read, Succeedtinyurl.com/bow3b5y

USEFUL LINKS

PRILS AND TIMSS GLOBAL

timss.bc.edu/index.html

PIRLS AND TIMSS NORTHERN IRELAND

tinyurl.com/beekofp

COMMON FUNDING SCHEME

tinyurl.com/ahjaadc NICIE: NORTHERNIRELAND COUNCIL FORINTEGRATED EDUCATIONwww.nicie.org

“The funding systemfor Northern Ireland’sschools isfundamentally flawed”

INTERGRATED SCHOOLING

Northern Ireland has 62 integrated schools,with 21 second level colleges and 41 primaries.Another 19 nursery schools are mostly linkedto primaries.

A lack of places means up to 700 applicants areturned away every year. An Omnibus Survey byMillward Brown Ulster showed that 81 per centof people in Northern Ireland believed thatintegrated education is important to the peace and reconciliation process.

The admissions criteria for integrated schoolsin Northern Ireland are not secular but rather

aim to achieve a balanced intake, includingchildren from diverse religious backgrounds –principally Catholic and Protestant – or fromother cultural traditions.

Children from Catholic families can takeSacramental preparation at P4 and P7.Children from Protestant families have access to a Delving Deeper programme.

With several decades of experience ofworking in a deeply conflicted society,Northern Ireland’s integrated schools provide an alternative to a largely segregated educational system.

NORTHERN IRELAND



An analysis published by theTrades Union Congress tomark the ninth annual WorkYour Proper Hours Dayshowed that 52.4 per centor 712,322 teaching and

education professionals worked an average of 11.1 hours without pay each week.

The study of official figures shows that one in five workers across Britain regularlywork seven hours a week more than theircontracted hours without getting paid for it.

Unpaid overtime is a regular feature for staffin some professions, with half of all financialmanagers, research and developmentmanagers, teachers, health and social servicesmanagers, lawyers and media professionalsoften putting in extra hours for free.

More than half of education professionalswork unpaid overtime

Work Your ProperHours

EXPLOITATION

18-20 work proper hours:Layout 1 4/4/13 15:43

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Back in 2005, the TUC launched WorkYour Proper Hours Day – the day when theaverage person who does unpaid overtimewould start to get paid if they did all theirunpaid hours at the start of the year – tomark, in a light-hearted way, the extent of unpaid overtime across the UK.

Last year, five million workers in Britainregularly put in extra hours for free – worthover £5,600 a year per person to theiremployer. The 1.8bn hours of unpaidovertime worked across Britain in 2012added £28.3bn to the economy.

In 2012, the number of people workingunpaid overtime fell by 200,000 on theprevious year, though the average amount of extra time worked increased by sixminutes to seven hours and 18 minutes.

Londoners are the most likely to do unpaid overtime, with over one in four(26.1 per cent) workers in the capitalregularly putting in extra unpaid shiftscompared to a national average of 20.2 per cent. Londoners also do moreunpaid hours than anyone else – aroundeight and a half hours a week – which is worth £9,000 per person per year to their employers.

The TUC analysis also shows a sharp rise in unpaid overtime among public sectoremployees, who are more likely than privatesector staff to do extra hours for free.

While the number of public servants fellby around 100,000 last year, the amount ofunpaid overtime worked in the public sectorincreased by nearly three per cent toaround 620 million hours. Publicsector job losses

are putting an extra strain on the workloadsof those still in work, says the TUC, which is likely to lead to more stress and anxiety.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Gradysaid: “Millions of UK workers go above andbeyond the call of duty each year to ensuretheir businesses and organisations stay afloat.

“This has especially been the case in thepublic sector where, in the face of large-scalejob cuts, those staff remaining have had to put in even more unpaid overtime.

“While most staff don’t mind doing a few extra hours, working time needs to be properly managed or excessive hours can become a drag on the business.

Employers shouldn’t be pressurising their staff into doing more for less.

“A significant part of the nearly twobillion hours of unpaid overtime workedevery year could be wiped out by smartermanagement practices, such as focusing onthe work staff actually do rather than thetime spent at their desks.

“Where employees regularly have excessiveworkloads, businesses should be consideringwhether a few more members of staff might help make everyone less stressed and more productive.

“A long-hours culture is bad for workers’health and their family life – whether the hours are paid or not.”

Taking stock of your working timeGo to our union’s useful worktime/yourtime resource – including a helpfulspreadsheet – to track your hours.

www.prospect.org.uk/campaigns_and_events/national_campaigns/worktimeyourtime/calculator

“The 1.8bn hours of unpaid overtimeworked across theBritain in 2012 added £28.3bn to the economy”

WORK YOUR PROPER HOURS DAY

Work Your Proper Hours Day – February 24,2013 – was when the average person whodoes unpaid overtime finishes the unpaiddays they do every year and starts earning for themselves. More than five millionpeople at work in Britain regularly do unpaidovertime, giving their employers £29.2billion of free work last year alone.

The TUC said workers and their managersshould take a proper lunch break, knock off on time and that, while a lot of unpaidovertime is down to heavy workloads whichemployers need to manage better, much ofit is also down to pointless presenteeism –with staff judged by the hours spent at theirdesk rather than the work they do.

This workplace culture, as well asheightened fears about job security, oftenmeans that staff feel unable to leave ontime, even if their work is complete, whichleaves them with less time to spend withfriends and family, said the TUC.

Tools at tinyurl.com/bdxmkkh include:

Long Hours Clinic: Advice fromProfessor Cary CooperUnpaid overtime calculatorCheck your balance: Find out youroffice working styleThe Work/Life Map: see how the UK worksThe Breaktime game: can you work your hours?

EXPLOITATION

SURVEY WORKING HOURS SHOCK

A survey carried out by the union shows that 85 per cent of Aspect members regularly workbeyond their contractual hours; nearly seven outof ten have taken on additional responsibilities in the last two years while more said that theirworkload has increased significantly as a result of job cuts.

Of those working extra hours, 37.5 per cent of employees worked between six and tenadditional hours a week, one in five worked anextra 11 to 15 hours a week and 18 per cent morethan 15 hours a week. Although self employedmembers were less likely to be directly affected by job cuts 29 per cent reported that they regularlyworked beyond their contractual hours.

18-20 work proper hours:Layout 1 4/4/13 15:41

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21 ASI Ad Page.qxt:0.1 Ad Page 00 3/4/13 10:13 Page 1

At a time when education isincreasingly being privatised and subjected to the profitmotive, we must speak up forhigh-quality, publicly funded and publicly accountable

education that is accessible to all.With the forces of global economic

competition and the interests of multinationalcorporations increasingly shaping the educationour young people receive, we must also resist the creeping commercialisation of what is beingtaught in our schools, colleges and universities.

Education is not just about economiccompetitiveness, important though that is. Mostfundamentally, it is about human enrichment,about the power of knowledge to transform lives and about the beauty of learning itself, so that every child, young person and adult hasthe chance to fulfil their true potential in life.

But education is under real pressure. Spirallinginequality, the economic crisis and savagespending cuts are all taking their toll. In the UK, austerity and creeping privatisation areundermining the educational opportunitiesavailable to children, young people and adultlearners alike.

We’re also seeing the massive expansion of so-called free schools and academies, many run by business, many run for profit and manydevoid of any form of local accountability.

Speak up for education

Privatisation andcontinuing austeritythreaten education,says Frances O’Grady


“

22-23 Frances:Layout 1 4/4/13 14:58


professionals

We’re seeing the rapid marketisation ofhigher education, with top-up fees pricingmany students from low and middle-incomebackgrounds off university campuses, andwe’re seeing all aspects of education policy – from early years provision right through touniversity funding – driven not by the needsof young people, but by right-wing ideology.

For example, UK banks are being invitedinto schools to provide financial education tochildren – though presumably not the samebanks who crashed the British economy andleft taxpayers with a £70 billion bailout bill?

Whether it’s here in Britain or elsewherein the world, we must speak up for educationas a public good. It is quite simply thedriving force behind all human progress.

Without teachers, tutors and academicsalongside the support staff who help them,education would be nothing. Withouteducators, there can be no education.

Polls consistently show that teachers, alongwith doctors and nurses, are the most trusted

of our professionals, while it comes as no surprise that politicians and bankers rank among the least trusted.

The trade union movement must continueto speak up for the dedicated professionalswho make education the unique force forchange that it is.

I urge parents, and in fact anyone whocares about children and their futures, tosupport the campaign being co-ordinated by our education unions for a top-class, not-for-profit education system in the UK.

Classrooms should be a place for learning,not a source of shareholder profit, and wemust resist government attempts to usher in a whole new era of schools run by firmssimply wanting to make a quick buck fortheir shareholders.

Of course we want well-funded schools,colleges and universities and good educationaccessible to all regardless of background,status or wealth. But we also want oureducators to be well treated, fairly rewardedand respected for the work they do.”

Frances O’Grady is the first woman to be elected to head the TUC. This is an editedversion of her speech at a two-day conference foreducation unions in OECD countries held atCongress House by Educational International,which represents teachers and those working ineducation around the globe.

“The trade unionmovement mustcontinue to speak up for the dedicatedprofessionals whomake education theunique force forchange that it is”

EDUCATION

EDUCATIONINTERNATIONALwww.ei-ie.org

22-23 Frances:Layout 1 4/4/13 14:58

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THIS TAKES PLACE ON:May 17, 2013 BirminghamSeptember 20, 2013 London£245+VAT for Aspect Group members £295+VAT for non-Aspect Group members

2. A bespoke in-house course forgroups of colleagues in a localauthority or coming to the end oflimited contracts – costs negotiated.3. Career review and development forindividuals wishing for a personallytailored programme, together withcareers counselling and/or skillsanalysis – in association with xué.

The Thinking of Going Independentprogrammes are overseen by JohnPearce, one of the union’s longest-serving and most successfulindependent associates. Typical comments from participantson recent courses include:

“The day really provided what I washoping for!” “A very useful and productive daywith excellent facilitation.” “Useful content with clear ideas forfollow-up work I need to do.” “Challenging scenarios.” “John answered questions I didn’tknow I needed to ask!” “I appreciated the coverage ofreally practical issues and nowhave the bones of a business plan!” “Excellent day. Inspiring, practical andentertaining, made me think”.

For further details of the courses,options and costs, please contact:Cheryl Crossley of Aspect Group of Prospect [email protected]: 01226 383428

Thinking of goingindependent?The union has provided high-quality support and training for more than 1,000 members in the last year throughits highly regarded course for members – thinking of becoming an independent consultant?


CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

24-26 CPD:Layout 1 4/4/13 15:14

Following on fromthe previoussuccessfulprogrammes we are offering two further

opportunities for members to enrolon the Institute of Leadership andManagement (ILM) accreditedCoaching and MentoringDevelopment Programmes run in collaboration with xué. BothProgrammes are appropriate forthose who wish to use coaching ormentoring in the workplace or whowant to establish a coaching practice.

THE NEXT TWO PROGRAMMESARE:

ILM Level 7 (postgraduate level)Certificate in Executive Coachingand Mentoring (15 credits) whichcan be extended to the Diploma(40 Credits) Start date July 2013 ILM Level 5 (degree level)Certificate in Coaching andMentoring (13 Credits), which canbe extended to the Diploma (37Credits) Start date April 2013

PROGRAMMES INCLUDE THEFOLLOWING ELEMENTS:

Element 1 – ProgrammeIntroduction and pre-programmepreparationElement 2 – completion of and feedback on adiagnostic/assessment toolchosen to support eachparticipant to gain personalinsights and growthElement 3 – face to face full

day modules supporting skilldevelopment and practice spread across the Programme

LEVEL 5 PROGRAMME– FIVE DAYS (Spread over nine months)

LEVEL 7 PROGRAMME– SIX DAYS (Spread over 12 months)

Element 4 – live coaching and/ormentoring practice supported by a coaching diaryElement 5 – coaching/mentoringsupervision by a trained supervisorElement 6 – personalised learningsupported through access toonline materialsElement 7 - completion of a Personal Learning Log Element 8 – completion of threewritten assignments. This elementis supported by tutorialsElement 9 – Personal InterestStudy – for the those taking theLevel 7 Programme

ILM LEVEL 5 (DEGREE LEVEL)CERTIFICATE OR DIPLOMAPROGRAMME DATESSummer Module 1 April 25/26 2013Summer Module 2 June 27/28 2013Summer Module 3 November 14 2013Venue: Derbyshire

Autumn Module 1 Oct 24/252013Autumn Module 2 Jan 9/10 2014Autumn Module 3 May 22 2014Venue: Derbyshire

ILM LEVEL 7 (MASTERS LEVEL)CERTIFICATE OR DIPLOMAPROGRAMME DATESSummer Module 1 July 11/12 2013Summer Module 2 Sept 26/27 2013Summer Module 3 June 5/6 2014Venue: Derbyshire

Further information [email protected]

xué coach and mentordevelopment programme A National Qualification in Coaching and Mentoring at Level 5 or Level 7



24-26 CPD:Layout 1 4/4/13 15:14


ThisAspect Groupof Prospect’sBTECProfessionalAdvancedawards and

certificates have won great credibilityaccross the range of childrens services.

At the core of the professionaldevelopment programme is theunion’s highly esteemed BTECprogramme of advanced servicetraining and professional careerdevelopment for children’s services.

The study programme provides an opportunity for reflection, review and assessment of yourprofessional role.

The portfolio is a greatopportunity to focus on yourachievements in your job, askingothers for informal and formalfeedback, and gathering the evidenceto show that your professionalcontribution makes a difference.

Creating a persuasive and well-evidenced portfolio thatdemonstrates your effectiveness and impact is of great use duringperformance management reviews,SPA 3 assessment, job reviews,recruitment interviews and re-organisations.

The programme provides a chancefor teams to work together on whatmatters most to them, and confirmthe impact they are having. Localauthority children’s services teamshave found that building portfoliostogether enables them to create a persuasive and comprehensiveaccount of their work, their skills andthe impact of their interventions.

For some, this can also mean that a whole team portfolio is producedthat is useful during reviews, auditsand inspections. Employers, partnersand client organisations are comingto realise the potential of the BTECaccreditation process as a usefulquality assurance mechanism thatenables individuals, teams andorganisations to demostrate therange and level of their professionalskills, to identify and work with otherprofessionals with similar profiles and qualifications.

The BTEC programme now offersprogression pathways from Level 3 toLevel 6 in Governor Services and fromLevel 6 to Level 7 in the Children’sService Development (relevant toworking at Masters Degree level).

The first group of candidates forthe new Advanced ProfessionalCertificate in Improvement in

Children’s Services, which isparticularly designed for those who work in the multi-agency context,started last May, and attractedinterest from team leaders and othersenior local authority professionals.

The Aspect Group of Prospect’sBTEC programme provides a powerful process that can make a significant contribution todemonstrating your competence,effectiveness, achievements and impact.

More than one hundredcandidates have successfullycompleted one of the four courses available.

THE FOUR BTEC QUALIFICATIONSAVAILABLE ARE:

BTEC Professional Award andCertificate in Education andChildren’s Service Development –Level 6 BTEC Advanced ProfessionalAward and Certificate inImprovement in Education andChildren’s Service Development –Level 7 BTEC Advanced Award inGovernor Services in Educationand Children’s ServiceDevelopment – Level 3 BTEC Professional Certificate in Co-ordinating Governor Servicesin Education and Children’s ServiceDevelopment – Level 6

Please contact the Aspect Group ofProspect for details of workshops.Discounts are also available forgroups and for upgrading ontohigher levels.

We have introductory workshopsrunning throughout the year forthose interested in undertaking any of the above courses.

For further details, application forms,or if you are interested in forming a local authority group to undertakeany of the above BTEC programmes, please contact Cheryl Crossley,[email protected] 01226 383428

Aspect’s BTECQualifications


24-26 CPD:Layout 1 4/4/13 15:14

www.canetwork.org.uk/cppa

Undergraduate Certificate in the Principles and Practice of Assessment – a one-year blended learning course on educational assessment

DEVELOPING AND SHARING EXPERTISE IN ASSESSMENT

Benefits to you as a PARTICIPANT:

MASTER the vocabulary of assessment

GAIN a firm grounding in the principles and practice of assessment

SHARE best practice with fellow professionals

GET RECOGNISED for your competence in assessment

Benefits to you as an EMPLOYER:

BETTER INFORMED and resourceful staff

ACCREDITED professional development

GET YOUR ASSESSMENT SKILLS RECOGNISED



Snakes and

28-30 Performance pay:Layout 1 4/4/13 15:23


ichael Gove has found a friend. Responding to the beleagueredSecretary of State’sacceptance of proposalsby the School Teachers’

Review Body (STRB) – the Quango thatadvises the ministers on teachers’ pay – theNational Association of Head Teachers saidthe move away from awarding payprogression based on longevity to a systemlinking pay to performance will ultimatelyraise teaching quality and reward good andexcellent teachers.

Teachers’ organisations are, predictably,opposed. For the NUT, Christine Blowersaid: “Performance-related pay isfundamentally inappropriate for teaching,where educational outcomes are based onteamwork and the cumulative contributionof a number of teachers. The national paystructure provides a coherent framework forcareer progression and is essential to attractgraduates into the profession. To get rid of itwill certainly have an impact on recruitmentand retention.”

ATL leader Mary Bousted said: “It hasnothing to do with improving education

standards, but everything to do with savingmoney at the expense of children,” whileNASUWT leader Chris Keates said: “A highly skilled and committed professionnecessary to maintain and enhance thehighest standards of education cannot be built on a foundation of temporaryallowances, extensive discretionary payments and awards which bear little or no relationship to the breadth or weight of responsibilities teachers undertake.”

Teacher performance pay is not a newidea, but evidence of its effectiveness inmotivating teachers and school improvementis, in the English-speaking educational world,rather sketchy.

Just as Britain’s Labour government floated it a decade or so ago, the newlyelected Labor administration in the Australian state of Victoria abandoned it.

Predictably, in the USA, it has itsenthusiastic advocates and, since the fifties, a host of state-based schemes have come andgone. By the seventies, the number of schooldistricts operating such schemes had droppedto one in 20. In 1978, the EducationResearch Service recorded that they had been abandoned “for a wide range of technical, organisational and financial reasons: difficulties in evaluating personnel,failure to apply criteria fairly, teacher andunion opposition, poor morale, staffdissention and jealousy, failure of the plans to meet their objectives, changes in theschool systems’ leadership and philosophy,collective bargaining, funding shortages,overall expense of the programmes andrecognition that the merit pay bonuses didnot provide sufficient incentives to teachers.”

There has been a certain revival of the ideain neo-conservative circles and in the poorerstates of the US South, but the notion thatperformance can be simplistically linked to

pay continues to exercise an attraction to a wide range of people grappling with problems of management.

So, even though the NAHT’s endorsement is hedged about with caveatsand qualifications, it will be welcomed by the minister whose recent train of setbackshas slowed down his deeply aspirationalefforts to find favour with the people who will choose the next Tory leader.

The NAHT linked their qualifiedendorsement to relief that regional payappears abandoned, the hope that fundingwould be adequate and the hope that thescheme would be innocent of “crudetargets”, while the Association of School and College Leaders thinks it will be difficult to make performance pay work in a “climate of budget constraint”.

Although Gove is determined to pushperformance pay through, even he thinks it is a difficult project. “I am clear that thesechanges will give schools greater freedom to develop pay policies that are tailored totheir school’s needs and circumstances and to reward their teachers in line with theirperformance,” he said.

Here he reveals a glimmer of understandingthat this process is complex and depends on

ladders

M

SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

“The national paystructure provides a coherent frameworkfor career progressionoutcomes”

Performance pay forteachers is unlikely toresult in much schoolimprovement, arguesMike Hardacre



consent. There is “further work to be done”needed in devising a scheme.

The performance management framework for teachers(integrally bound up with the role of the head)entails an objective-setting process,classroom observation and the assembly ofevidence, agreement on performance criteria and timescales and continuing professionaldevelopment and support.

The nature of the monitoring and reviewprocess is critical in establishing confidence in the system, the integrity of the evidence, the assessment of the teacher’s progress against the performance criteria and the decision on pay progression.

Many Aspect Group members – advisors and inspectors, especially SIPs and experiencededucation professionals of all kinds – will befamiliar with these processes.

Much of the guidance to schools, heads and governing bodies emphasises the social,corporate, collective and cooperative nature of schooling and this goes to the heart of much teacher uncertainty about theeffectiveness of individualised performancemeasurement as a school improvementmechanism. There are real worries thatabandoning the existing pay progressionframework and instituting individual school-basedassessment will place additional administrativeburdens on tens of thousands of schools. Theoverall climate of public sector cuts and Treasury-driven austerity gives rise to the fear that theaward of pay increases will lack fairness.

These are powerful factors for caution, but school improvement professionals mustsoberly examine the case for linking reward to performance if there is evidence that it willimprove the quality of the educational experience.

The first question must be to what extent teacher performance is a key driver of schoolimprovement. It seems axiomatic. Educationprofessionals have a high regard for the professionalnature of their disciplines, but the wide range of other factors that influence attainment, thedisparity in starting points for schools drawing on widely differing intakes and uncertaintiesabout the objectivity of assessment proceduresmake for a debate clouded with doubt.

Research into performance pay in the publicsector for the Office of Manpower Economics in 2007 – the conclusions of which it is careful to specify do not reflect government views – ishedged around with qualification but suggeststhere are some beneficial effects. “There is strongevidence that teachers do respond to financialincentives. Several studies suggest that this responsedoes not universally affect all students: most of theimprovement appears to come from previouslyweak students performing better under suchschemes,” it says.

The Education Endowment Foundation,which draws on DfE funding for some of its research, is focused on breaking the link

between family income and educationalachievement. It argues that: “As the evaluations of a number of merit pay schemes in the USA have been unable to find a clear link with student learning outcomes, investing in performance pay would not appear to be a good investment without further study. There are a number of examples of unintendedconsequences of performance pay, from the USA and elsewhere, which suggests that designingeffective performance pay schemes is difficult.”

It does not dismiss the idea, arguing that:“Evaluations of the English threshold assessmentoffer a cautious endorsement of approaches which seek to reward teachers in order to benefitdisadvantaged students by recognising teachers’professional skills and expertise. However,approaches which simply assume that incentiveswill make teachers work harder do not appear to be well supported.”

It is concerned that performance pay may leadto a narrow focus on test performance and suggestthat spending on professional development linkedto evaluation of better learning by pupils may alsooffer an alternative to performance pay.

The Aspect Group is not primarily concernedwith the rights and wrongs of performance payfor teachers although, as all of us withbackgrounds in schools know, money is not the main motivation for most and morale is allimportant in fostering a culture of attainment.

However, our professional focus is on school improvement and, on the availableevidence, performance pay cannot be seen as the factor most likely to make a decisive changein the education of our children. Our experienceis that adequate funding, readily available expertprofessional support and advice and access tocontinuing professional development are morereliable guarantors of school improvement.

Dr Hardacre is a former Aspect president and represents the group on Prospect’s National Executive.

WHAT DOES THEGOVERNMENT PROPOSE?

In January, the DfE said that schools will get'more freedom' over how they pay teachersfrom September 2013.

The Government argues – from anunchallenged assertion – that improving thequality of teaching is essential to driving upstandards in schools and that pupils taught by good teachers score nearly half a GCSEpoint more per subject than pupils taught by poor teachers.

Michael Gove made great play of the SuttonTrust report, which showed that the impact of good teaching is more significant for pupilsfrom disadvantaged backgrounds.

The new system will end pay increases basedon length of service – at present, most full-time classroom teachers on the main payscale progress to the next pay point. TheGovernment wants to replicate the systemcurrently used for heads and some othersenior staff and link all teachers’ payprogression to performance, based on annual appraisals. It would abolish mandatorypay points within the pay scales for classroomteachers, supposedly 'to give schools greaterfreedom' on how much teachers are paid and retain the higher pay bands for Londonand fringe areas.

“These recommendations will make teachinga more attractive career and a more rewardingjob. They will give schools greater flexibilityto respond to specific conditions and rewardtheir best teachers. It is vital that teachers can be paid more without having to leave theclassroom. This will be particularly importantto schools in the most disadvantaged areas asit will empower them to attract and recruit thebest teachers.”

Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education

“We believe our recommendations will helpschools to recruit, retain and reward the best teachers. It will give heads freedom to manage teachers’ pay according to pupilneeds and local circumstances, within a fairnational framework.”

Dame Patricia Hodgson, Chair of the SchoolTeachers Pay Review Body

EEF: TEACHERSwww.educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/approaches/performance-pay

PERFORMANCE PAY FORREACHERS: THEEXPERIENCES OF HEADSAND TEACHERSWragg, Haynes, Wragg andChamberlainRoutledge Farmer – 2004 ISBN 0-203-35795

OME: PUBLIC SECTORtinyurl.com/cmb34jx

SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT


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Lisa Nandyinterviewed

Lisa Nandy celebrates WorldMilk Day with schoolchildren

32-34 Lisa Nandy:Layout 1 2/4/13 14:53

isa Nandy is Shadow Children’sMinister and chairs the All-PartyParliamentary Group on International CorporateResponsibility. Previously, she saton the Commons Education

Select Committee. Before becoming MP forWigan, she worked for the Children’s Societyand has acted as an adviser to the Children’sCommissioner for England and to theIndependent Asylum Commission. She was a keynote speaker at the Aspect Group’s annual conference last November.

She is interviewed here exclusively for Improvement.

You seem to have the government onthe back foot over free schools. whatis the government trying to do withthis policy?The Government said it was trying to raisestandards by allowing schools to compete for students, but we’re already seeing somechildren left out by admissions codes andcatchment areas that allow less advantagedchildren to be excluded. We were also toldthat free schools and academies were aboutallowing local communities more say, andthen had the bizarre spectacle of Govefighting parents and communities to forceschools to become academies against theirwishes. We know the policy has been veryexpensive at a time when education fundingis at its lowest level for decades, and that thefirst free schools were mainly secondarywhen we had a desperate shortage of primaryplaces. This is a government with the wrongpriorities and a complete inability to managethe school system competently.

You are on record as wanting free schools brought back within thelocal authority family. what is labour’s policy on strengtheningthe local authority role in educationand the middletier?We want schools to collaborate with oneanother to help drive up standards, throughthe expansion of previous Labour initiativeslike The Greater Manchester Challenge(which covered my constituency). During theChallenge, teachers from across Manchestercame together and said “a failing school is ourcollective responsibility because these are ourkids, they’re Manchester’s kids”. They lent oneanother staff and expertise – and it worked. Itwas innovation within a state framework – notdespite the state framework, but because of it.

It’s essential for parents that there is localaccountability and we’re looking at wherethat best lies at the moment. Regardless ofthis, the local authority should also be part of a strategy to improve children’s lives

outside the classroom. Gove focuses toomuch on improving educational attainmentby changing what is taught in the classroom,but the fact is children can’t learn if they are living in poverty and haven’t hadbreakfast or a hot meal in days. The localauthority is crucial from that perspective.

Sure Start is one of Labour’s mostimportant achievements in office.Can it survive?Yes, I hope so. But the funding threat to Sure Start centres is severe. There are 401fewer Sure Start centres since this CoalitionGovernment came into power and the grant for this upcoming financial year forSure Start and other early interventionprogrammes has been cut by 40 per centsince 2010/11. What Labour is trying to do, through initiatives like Sharon Hodgson’sLabour Friends of Sure Start, is to ensure that parents who value Sure Start speak up and show how Labour councils areworking to prioritise early years work in the face of drastic budget cuts. We are makingthe argument that the Government needs toinvest in early intervention programmes likeSure Start both because it is the right thingto do and because it makes economic senseby saving money in the long term.

Liz Truss has suggested liberalisingchildcare. what should a labourgovernment do to improve early yearsprovision and help working women?We need to consider the whole package theGovernment is giving families. Promising£750 million of childcare in 2015 is notgoing to deal with urgent childcare needsnow, nor is it going to compensate for thefact that this Government will have made£15 billion worth of cuts to family andchildcare support by 2015. Labour is stilldeveloping our childcare offer for the nextelection through the Childcare Commissionbut we know that, if we were in governmentat the moment, we would be providingimmediate help to families: firstly, byreversing the cuts to child care tax credit


“The local authorityshould also be part ofa strategy to improvechildren’s lives outsidethe classroom”

A rising star inLabour’s team, Lisa Nandy haschallenged ministersand, on occasion, herown party’s bigwigs

INTERVIEW

L



which has seen some families losing up to £1,560 a year in financial support; and secondly, extending free nursery hours. Parents are struggling to make ends meet now and they need help urgently, not in two years’ time.

One of labour’s priorities was the integration of education andchildren’s services. would a labourgovernment return to this agenda?One of the great success stories of the last Labour Government was the legacy for children and young people. The creation of one Department for Children, Schools and Families helped to drive change throughgovernment and it pushed children’s issues up the political agenda. There was a clearfocus on outcomes for children through the Every Child Matters framework. Taken together, theseactions brought about dramaticimprovementsfor many ofthe most

disadvantaged children while ensuring widerbenefits for children in general. I still believethat this holistic approach is the correct one for Labour to take. There are formerministers like Tim Loughton saying theythought the children’s agenda had beensidelined in the Department for Educationbecause of the focus on free schools andacademies. That certainly wouldn’t have been the case under DCSF.

You have made ‘looked afterchildren’ an area of concern. what can be done to improve their life chances?When you ask children what’s mostimportant to them, they say family. For most children, the adults they trust areparents or grandparents but, for children in care, it may be their foster carer or socialworker. We need to make sure that everychild has someone they trust, who iscommitted to working with them long termto support them. There’s a national shortageof foster carers and adopters, which is

a huge problem. We also need to makesure that support continues for as long as children need it and doesn’t just stopat an arbitrary cut-off point.

Michael Gove makes great play of Labour’s role inestablishing academies. How would you distinguish his policies from Labour’s?When Labour introduced academies,they were designed to improvestruggling schools – primarily indeprived areas. This has obviously been radically changed and acceleratedby the Coalition Government, focusing

attention on more affluent areas. The stated aim of the Government’spolicies on free schools andacademies is to devolve power, but in practice people can see thatit actually centralises power in thehands of the Education Secretaryand not local communities. Thepriority is about taking schools outof local authority control as quicklyas possible, and in some casesforcibly, with very little commitmentto improving state education. Theirpolicies divert resources away fromthe state sector and, in many cases,increase social segregation.

INTERVIEW

“When you askchildren what’s most important tothem, they say family.For most children, the adults they trust are parents orgrandparents but, forchildren in care, it maybe their foster carer or social worker. We need to make surethat every child hassomeone they trust,who is committed to working with themlong-term to supportthem. There’s anational shortage of foster carers andadopters, which is a huge problem”


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The Government’s proposals on early education andchildcare – More great childcare: Raising quality and giving parents more choice– are controversial. The

union’s Early Childhood Education Group is the forum where an unrivalled body ofknowledge and experience is assembled.Summarised here is its response to theconsultation exercise that Education andChildcare Minister Elizabeth Truss launched.

The Government plans to introduce two newcategories of early years specialists: Early YearsEducators, who will often act as assistants, andEarly Years Teachers, who will be graduatesspecialising in early childhood development(whowill have met the same entry requirements andpassed the same skills tests as trainee schoolteachers).

We welcome the development of furtherEarly Years Educator qualifications to increase the depth and rigour of Level 3 training. An in-depth understanding and knowledge of howyoung children learn and develop is crucial forthe Early Years workforce in raising the quality of provision and practice. However, clearpathways for Early Years Professionals (EYP) to gain accredited and specialist graduate status(QTS) need to be established.

We agree with higher qualifications and specialist Early Years Teachers, providing theyhave Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in line with their colleagues in primary andsecondary schools. Just stating that the newEYT will be seen as equivalent to QTS is not sufficient. What is essential is a QTSroute that integrates the EYP programme in working with children and families frombirth and includes assessed teaching practice as with other teachers. Specifically, we would support training that incorporates a multidisciplinary Early Childhood Studies degree covering birth to seven.

The Government makes a comparison with other European countries to argue that a more highly qualified early childhoodworkforce would allow a loosening of theratio of staff to children.

Government proposals are to increase the number of children that ‘suitably qualifiedstaff ’ can look after to four children agedunder two to each adult and to six two-year-old children to each adult.

We think that the flexibility in ratios is a different issue to the qualifications of staff.The impact of higher qualifications enhancesthe quality of learning opportunities, but doesnot impact on safeguarding, health and safetyrequirements and children’s need for physicaland emotional support. Young children stillneed that level of adult support in the earlyyears, for their wellbeing (safety) as well as their learning in terms of personal, socialand emotional development and theircommunicative abilities. We would strongly

argue that children still need the same levels of adult to child ratios as outlined in thecurrent framework to effectively support their learning and development.

In the early years, practitioners do not just work with children in their care but alsowith their families and this needs to be takeninto account when considering ratios. We areconcerned that changing ratios will impact on those children with additional needs, who require greater and sometimes individual support.

We recommend a minimum of onegraduate who is a specialist Early Years Teacherwith QTS status and Level 3 qualificationswith English and Mathematics Grade C qualifications per setting as a minimum for other staff.

We strongly oppose any increases in ratiosfor babies and toddlers to adults, irrespective of the staff qualifications – quality falls as ratiosrise. Years of research and experience indicatethat babies and toddlers’ development is mosteffectively fostered and nurtured by close,responsive relationships in war, consistentrelationships with familiar adults. This isespecially important in the first year of life. If staff are expected to be responsible for morechildren, this will inevitably adversely impacton the quality of children’s development.

The Government argues that a limitedchoice of good childcare provision, the poorstandards of many nurseries and childmindersand the shortage of teacher-led nursery classesare factors that support its proposals to make it easier for new providers to enter the marketand for existing providers to expand.

The Government says its reforms seek to benefit both society and the economy bydelivering high quality education in the earlyyears at the same time as helping parents backto work. It says this will complement its wider commitments: reforming education, so that we produce bright graduates andskilled school leavers; and reforming welfare, so that it always pays to work.

The Government proposes the creation ofchildminder agencies “to relieve childmindersof some of the burdens of setting up their

“Quality falls as ratios rise”


Elizabeth Truss wants high quality, goodvalue childcare for children, parents and the taxpayer. Will her plans deliver?

Choice andquality?

EYPS: EQUAL NOT SUBORDINATE

EYPs want genuine parity between Early YearsProfessional Status (EYPS) and QualifiedTeacher Status (QTS), with professional payfor professional curriculum leadership in a clearly defined national pay framework. They argue that EYPs already possessgraduate status and specialist training plans to introduce a further qualification are unnecessary and costly.

36-38 Early years & ECEG :Layout 1 4/4/13 15:24

own business, provide training and matchchildminders with parents”.

It wants schools to take younger children by removing the requirement on schools toregister separately with Ofsted if they wish to provide for children under three, to reform the statutory processes required of schools if they want to take children lower down the age range and to allow graduates to leadnursery classes of 13 children per adult.

Specifically, it proposes that, while notexceeding more than six children in total,childminders should have more flexibility to care for up to four children under the age of five, including no more than twochildren under 12 months.


Madonna and child with two angelsby Sandro Botticellic. 1468-1469

EARLY CHILDHOOD

EARLY YEARSEYPS DEMAND TRUSS MEETING

Early years professionals in Prospect unioncalled for a meeting with Elizabeth Truss,Minister for Education and Childcare, in thewake of warnings by Professor CathyNutbrown over plans to increase child-adultratios in early years settings.

Professor Nutbrown says the Governmenthas rejected most of the recommendations in her government-commissioned review ofearly years education.

Prospect Deputy General Secretary LeslieManasseh said: “Our members in early yearssettings agree with Nutbrown's warning thatthe youngest, most vulnerable children willsuffer if there are too few adults for too manychildren, no matter how well qualified theadults happen to be.

“This raises questions not only around thewasted cost of this consultation, but also whythe Government has chosen to ignore thefindings of the expert they appointed.

“Our message to Elizabeth Truss is that theGovernment must listen to the professionalexperts on the ground, and think again about itsplans to increase staff-child ratios – from 1:3 to1:4 for one-year-olds and under in nurseries; 1:4to 1:6 for two- to three-year-olds in nurseries;and from 1:8 to 1:13 for the three-plus age groupin nurseries – by September this year.

“The government claims it will consult, andthat means listening to the professionalsexpected to deliver, who are our members.Instead, it is once more trying to do things on the cheap, putting professionals in animpossible position and children at risk.”



The ECEG argues that there is a potentialdanger in the new proposals of creating a two-tier system, with agency-based childmindingjust providing ‘childcare’ while individualchildminders provide both childcare andeducation. Access to the full EYFS curriculumwill be in jeopardy (e.g. with its requirementsfor outdoor play) with the prospect ofincreased ratios.

Parents choose childminders because they wantthe family context (where children are nurturedwithin the family) for their children rather than a formalised ‘education’ context. Parents areconcerned about any threat to the quality andsafety of provision by any increase in ratios.

We are concerned about how the quality of the proposed new Childminder Agencies will be validated, how they will maintainstandards and quality across their networks andabout the plan not to inspect all childminders if they are part of an agency.

We note that there are no qualificationslisted as requirements for childminders to beable to work with larger numbers of children– this would appear to be an inconsistencywithin the proposals.

More schools teaching younger childrenis of particular concern. Primary teachers must be required to undergo Early YearsTeacher training, including early years pedagogy and child development, before they are permitted to teach children undercompulsory school age.

The plan to establish Ofsted as the ‘solearbiter of quality’ is a significant issue, as thiswill lead to greater centralisation and the lossof knowledge of local context and supportbased on local issues. Ofsted only makesrecommendations for improvement based onsnap shot inspections, whereas local advisorystaff provide ongoing support and ensure thatrecommendations are carried out. It is local

advisory services that provide training andmentoring support.

A policy that treats two-year-olds likethree- and four-year-olds risks leading toinappropriate pedagogy that fails to meet the needs of two-year-olds.

Changes in funding worry us. Changes to ratios will not support ‘narrowing the gap’ policies, especially now that the EarlyIntervention Grant criteria have changed.

Local Authorities have to publish theirstrategy and policy regarding the distributionof funds to support funded three- to four-year-old places, from various grants (e.g. DSG, Under 5s Block grant).Transparency is required. The assertion that £160 million funding is not distributed to provision is inaccurate.

JOIN ASPECT'S EARLY CHILDHOODEDUCATION GROUPName

Title of your current post

Local authority (where applicable)

Workplace address

PostcodeTel FaxEmail

Home address

PostcodeTel FaxEmail

Date of applicationMain areas of responsibility, enthusiasm and interest

When completed, please return to the AspectGroup membership department, Woolley Hall,Woolley, Wakefield, West Yorkshire WF4 2JR.For more information, please go towww.aspect.org/uk

ABOUT THE ECEG

The Early Childhood Education Groupcomprises senior local authority early yearsadvisers and independent early childhoodconsultants, working across the breadth andlength of England. Its work involvessupporting, advising, mentoring and trainingfor all early years managers, headteachers andpractitioners, including Professional Status(EYPs) Practitioners and Early Years Teachersacross the whole Early Years sector –maintained, private, independent andvoluntary providers. A number of the groupalso work as Ofsted inspectors. Within theunion, the Group forms the strategic lead for early years pedagogy and practice.

The Group is committed to continuousquality improvement and welcomesgovernment initiatives that are designed toraise the quality of the qualifications of theearly years workforce as it knows that this willimpact on the quality of provision for youngchildren. It believes that quality practice andprovision have a significant impact onchildren’s life chances and success in latereducation, as demonstrated in The EffectiveProvision of Pre-School Education (EPPE)project and the current Effective Pre-School,Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE16+) research.

The Group is committed to improving ratiosand is strongly opposed to any increase inratios of children to adults, as it knows theimportance of the adult’s role in the early years in providing emotional support as well as good communication models for youngchildren. Research around AttachmentTheory highlights the importance of adults in children’s lives, and anything that threatensthe quality of relationships between adultsand the children and their families is strongly opposed.

EARLY CHILDHOOD

“A policy that treatstwo-year-olds likethree- and four-year-olds risks leading to inappropriatepedagogy that fails to meet the needs of two-year-olds”

✁


BRIEFINGS


1 VIRTUALLY ANOREXIC– WHERE’S THEHARM? A RESEARCHSTUDY ON THE RISKSOF PRO-ANOREXIAWEBSITES

This research investigated the risksfrom the increasing number of pro-anorexia (or ‘pro-ana’) websites ,many of them set up and maintainedby young people who themselveshave an eating disorder. The studyexamined 126 pro-eating disorder (or ‘pro-ED’) websites and onlinecommunities and found that the sites promote a disordered view of perfection in relation to bodyimage which normalises an ultra-thin/emaciated body. There is often extreme or dangerous dieting advice, which can promote harmful behaviours.

The sites studied reinforce an ED self-identity and bullying is frequent. Thereis an increasing availability of pro-EDforums and blogs, but the nature of the sites varies according to the type of online space. The risks varyaccording to the type of content andthe frequency of visits; young peoplewho have low levels of self-esteem orwho are lacking in self-confidence areespecially vulnerable.

For people with an eating disorder,there is a problematic relationshipbetween feeling isolated from familyand friends and finding support inonline environments, which can maketreatment and recovery complex.

This study does not focus only on risks to adolescents, however.According to Mind (the leading mentalhealth charity for England and Wales),one in 100 women aged between 15and 30 in the UK suffers from anorexiaand other reports show some girls asyoung as five have weight concerns andthink about going on a diet. However,anorexia nervosa is most likely to strikeduring the mid-teenage years, andaffects approximately one in 150 15-year-old females and one in 1,000 15-year-old males.

Overall, this study provides a detailed account of online pro-anaenvironments which are openlyaccessible through a common search engine such as Google. The dataobtained details the content of websites and online forums, andincludes both quantitative and

qualitative verbatim data and associateddocuments such as photographs,images and video which weresystematically analysed into categories:Perfection, Performance, Protection and Paradoxes. These categories arediscussed in order to present the rangeof identified risks in relation to therelevant sites and online forums. Thefindings are considered in relation to theexisting literature on eating disorderedpeople and online environments.

The recommendations, with which the report ends, are groupedinto Education and awareness raising;Understanding risk and harm in relationto young people; Media responsibility;Developing a culture of respect;Warnings; and Fostering critical debate.

The conclusion from the study isthat health professionals, educatorsand parents need to be aware of pro-ana sites and the risks they may pose.However, it is important not toadvertise their existence unnecessarilyto children and young people.Educational strategies aimed atchildren and young people shouldemphasise the importance of criticalthinking around all visual images in relation to the wider context ofharmful content online.

COMMENTThis report provides a snapshot intothe world of pro-ana and pro-ED sitesand online environments which,coupled with a review of other research in this area, provides a timelyand useful tool for policy makers, healthprofessionals and educators.

It is crucial to educate and empowerhealth professionals to recognise andrespond to online risks and behaviours,particularly as a significant number ofsites are developed by under-18s withED and the popularity of user-generated images may have along-term health impact on those whoupload such content. According to theEU ‘Kids Online’ project, 10 per cent of11-16s had been exposed to pro-eatingdisorder content, which reinforces theneed to develop online resilience in allyoung people while fostering a criticalapproach to all visual images.

2 FRAMEWORK FORINSPECTINGEDUCATION INNON-ASSOCIATIONINDEPENDENTSCHOOLSEVALUATION/SCHEDULE FORINSPECTINGNON-ASSOCIATIONINDEPENDENTSCHOOLS

The Framework provides thestatutory basis for inspection,summarising the main features of inspections in non-associationindependent schools along with the general principles and processesto be applied. The EvaluationSchedule gives further guidance and grade descriptors for inspectingand making judgements about non-association independent schools in England. Both documents shouldbe read alongside each other.

The Framework and EvaluationSchedule came into force on February 4, 2013.

CONTENTThe introduction to the Frameworkoutlines the purpose of inspection of independent schools, showing howthe aim is to improve outcomes andfocusing on the needs of pupils andtheir parents and carers. It also detailsthe principles underpinning schoolinspection, plus the key features of theframework and the revised inspectionarrangements.

The Framework is then set out in three parts:

Part A – Inspection policy andprinciples starts with the legalrequirements for the inspection of independent schools and theschools to which the framework isapplicable as well as explaining which other inspectorates operatingin the independent sector. It thencovers a wide range of detailedoperational matters. Part B – The focus of schoolinspections gives a broad indicationof how key judgements will be madeduring school inspections .Part C – The process of inspectiongoes into fine detail about whathappens before, during and after an inspection.

01Emma Bond – UniversityCampus SuffolkNovember 2012www.ucs.ac.uk/virtuallyanorexic

02January 2013 32ppOfsted Reference Numbers:

090036/090049

39-44 BRIEFINGS:Layout 1 4/4/13 15:47


The Evaluation Schedule indicates themain types of evidence to be collectedand analysed in order for inspectors toreach their judgements. It sets out thedetailed criteria and grade descriptorsto be used for each of the aspects ofprovision inspected.

A small level of particular extra detailis also set out for the evaluation of thequality of boarding and residentialprovision and the quality of early yearschildcare provision.

ISSUESIt is suggested that this framework and schedule should be read alongsidea number of other Ofsted documents:

The framework for inspectingboarding and residential provision in schools;Conducting inspections of boarding and residential provision in schools, and; The evaluation schedule for inspecting boarding and residential provision in schools

3 DFE AND NATIONALSTATISTICS

The document reports decreases in two key measures of absence: the percentage of pupils who arepersistent absentees (those who have missed around 15 per cent ormore of possible sessions) and the overall absence rate.

Absence levels are substantially higherfor pupils with special educational needscompared to those with no specialeducational needs and the gap haschanged little over recent years.Similarly, absence levels are substantiallyhigher for those known to be eligiblefor and claiming free school meals and the gap has changed little.

The fall in absence levels between2010/11 and 2011/12 was larger than the fall in previous years and this wasprimarily due to the absence level inautumn term 2011 being substantiallylower than in previous autumn terms.

The percentage of pupil enrolmentsclassed as persistent absenteesdecreased from 6.1 per cent in 2010/11to 5.2 per cent in 2011/12 – continuingthe downward trend. The rate of overallabsence for persistent absentees was24.7 per cent, more than four times therate for all pupils.

Across state-funded primary,secondary and special schools,persistent absentees accounted for 25.1 per cent of overall absence, 19.5 percent of authorised absence and 48.9per cent of unauthorised absence. Thepercentage of the school populationwho were persistent absentees was nineper cent or lower in 97 per cent of state-funded primary schools and 72 per centof state-funded secondary schools.

The document includes detailedcharts showing the percentage of pupil enrolments who are persistentabsentees, overall absence rates, thepercentage of possible sessions missed and distribution of enrolmentsby length of overall absence.

A particularly useful feature is the links to additional data on local authority,regional and other more detailedstatistics including term breakdowns.

4 MASTERING SOCIALWORK VALUES ANDETHICS

Social work practice presents dilemmasto the professionals working in the field.The seeming contradictions thatroutine work with the vulnerable throws up frequently presentpractitioners with a clash betweenpersonal values and the imperatives of professional practice, institutionalorder and state diktat.

Whistleblowing conflicts, frequentlyreferenced in the pages of Improvement,are a contemporary manifestation of this process at work, but the ethicalframework in which social workpractitioners negotiate the relationshipbetween service users and theirinstitutions is a daily task.

This book, part of the Mastering SocialWork Skills series, is directly concernedwith the everyday key skills needed. Its strength is the practical focus, clearpedagogic style and practical examplesbased on real-life situations that arerecognisable to anyone working withchildren or vulnerable adults.

Mastering Social Work, Values andEthics is extensively referenced. It dealswith the complex interplay between theimperatives of the state and institutionalsystem in which they work and the valuesthat social workers necessarily deploy.

It includes a useful survey of theprofessional framework, underpinned by law and regulation, within which social workers operate and locates these within a values matrix of law, policy

and codes of practice. Through a seriesof case studies, it introduces the reader to a range of problems arising from the balancing of the ‘rhetoric behind the act or policy versus the reality ofimplementing it’.

A valuable focus is on thepersonalisation of social care – the ‘self-directed support’ that is supposed todirect service users in the direction offlexibility, autonomy and freedom.

There is a useful survey of ethicaltheory, of value to more than socialwork practitioners, which coversethical approaches (bothcontemporary and ancient) andincludes a rather relevant discussion of the utilitarian roots of the socialwork focus on outcomes.

A chapter on Changing Values in Professional Life deals with theprofessional and ethical problems that arise from what is posited as a predictable erosion of the linksbetween personal values and practice. A very useful exercise – again of value to other professions – asks the reader to catalogue and question the reasons to become and remain a social worker.

A revealing section delineates the different stages of professionaldevelopment and identifies the factors that can avoid ‘burn out’.

The section on Ethical Issues in DirectWork is necessarily practical in dealingwith the realities of both personal powerand institutional power and theproblems that arise in negotiatingboundaries between practitioner,service user and management.

There is a frank discussion of the issuesraised by the trend towards managerialismin shaping decision-making.

The chapter Tools to Develop SelfAwareness focuses on the necessity for a self-reflective practice in shapingpositive relations between social workers and service users and leads on to a discussion about the ethical (and ideological) foundations of practice that is non-discriminatory.

Finally, Ethical Issues in the Workplacedeals with the ethical issues that arisebetween managers, colleagues and thesocial work organisational framework of local authority or voluntary body.

It usefully details criteria for thecreation of an informed workplaceculture that accommodates a criticalreporting culture, grounded in justice,flexibility and a learning environment, and deals with the ethical issues that arisein team management and supervision.

03DfE: Pupil Absence inSchools in England, IncludingPupil Characteristics: 2011/12

04Farrukh Akhtar ISBN 978 1 84905 274 0eISBN 978 0 85700 594 62013 – 168pp Jessica Kingsley

BRIEFINGS



Autism and Understanding representsan unusual collaboration between theparent of an autistic boy, a doctorqualified in medicine, child and familypsychiatry and psychoanalysis and a physiotherapist and special needsteacher. All are totally committed tothe Waldon approach, promoting its value and using it in practice.

The book details the approach todealing with autism developed by Dr Geoffrey Waldon based on hisphilosophy of the development ofunderstanding and focusing on helpingchildren learn how to learn. Included is a highly inspirational, detaileddescription of Walter Solomon’s son,who was diagnosed with autism whentwo years old and labelled as ‘basicallysub-normal’. He has now made asuccess of his life, both in personal andprofessional terms. It also covers anintroduction to Waldon’s theory andworking methods, and testimonyprovided by parents and teachers whohave encountered autism and a range oflearning difficulties.

The authors’ fundamental purposeis to provide a critique of the WaldonApproach and its effectiveness inhelping children to develop theirunderstanding and their ability to do so. This, from practitioners’viewpoints, is valuable and providesadded stimulation.

Autism and Understanding involvesa three-part approach. The first fourchapters describe the actual case ofWalter Solomon’s son Robert and hisdevelopment from what was viewed by some as a seemingly hopeless caseof autism and his transformation into a positive, constructive and

contributing adult. The aim of thesechapters is to demonstrate that it was the early application of the WaldonApproach, based on the particularanalysis of child development, whichwas the essential ingredient in thesuccess story.

These chapters movechronologically through Robert’s life, describing his:

First four years: 1968-1972School years: 1972-1987 – nurseryschool through to high schoolgraduation College years: 1987-1998 – in UK and Israel Work and marriage: 1998-2011

The second part of the book focuseson the detail of the Waldon Theory of Child Development. It starts with a distillation of Waldon’s articles andpapers and continues with a series of interviews used to illustrate andelucidate the theory. The interviews are primarily with teachers who haveintegrated the Waldon Approach into their everyday work. From theseinterviews, it is clear how adapting their methods of teaching specialneeds children and adults has deliveredsignificant and substantial benefits to the learners.

Moving into the third part of thebook, the next two chapters contain a series of case studies of students on the autistic spectrum and thenstudies of students with a variety ofother physical and mental conditions.The second of these chaptersdemonstrates that the WaldonApproach is applicable to children with a wide range of learning anddevelopmental delays.

These case studies are based oninterviews with students, special needsteachers and class teachers, parents withsuccess stories and parents where successhas been limited – sometimes severely so.This gives a well-rounded picture of theorytransforming into practice.

The final chapter concentrates on the theory and practice of a specialisedorientation of the Waldon Approach,called Functional Reading. The Learning-How-to-Learn tools described earlier inthe book are critical to the deploymentof the Functional Reading methodology.

The author is not claiming that there is a ‘miracle cure’ for autism, butcertainly counteracts any view thatautism is a lifetime condition. Basically, it is shown that appropriate interventioncan assist children with autism and other special learning needs to gaingreater understanding of the world and learn how to take a constructive and contributing place in it. The WaldonApproach itself was developed in the1970s, but appears to have beenattributed with greater validation andappreciation in more recent research.

When Waldon died, a book drawingtogether his articles and papers was inpreparation but was never completed.Walter Solomon regards his attempthere to be a simplified form of thetheory which still remains true to the original. It is meant to be, andsucceeds in being, accessible to parents and teachers.

Apart from this recent publication,short clips of old videos of GeoffreyWaldon illustrating the differentlearning-how-to-learn-tools and other of his techniques are available.Chapters five and six of Autism andUnderstanding are valuable in bringingout in depth and more clearly what theclips display. Also available are longerfilms of Waldon working in a school inOxfordshire and these are very usefulfor parents and teachers aiming to usethe Waldon Approach.

The website (www.autismandunderstanding.com/index.html) helps direct those interested to what is accessible online, along with theteaching aids used in the films (whichcan be obtained from the online shop).

It is apparent that the understandingof autism and how to treat it hasdeveloped considerably since Robertwas diagnosed. Even so, this bookamply exhibits that the WaldonApproach merits further investigationand application. It is a fascinating andhighly readable publication.

Autism andUnderstanding

Autism andUnderstanding Walter Solomon with Chris Holland andMary Jo MiddletonSage Publications 2012 – 220pp£23.99

Walter Solomon on the book:www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz1KP0XDKJs

www.sageconnection.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/autism-author-spends-four-weeks-as-classroom-assistant/

Walter Solomon spentfour weeks as a volunteerclassroom assistant in fourdifferent schools withinthe Autism Resource Baseof the OxfordshireEducation Authority.Undertaking one-to-onesessions using the WaldonApproach, Walter foundthe time to be an invaluablelearning experience.

REVIEW


The main thrust of UK governmentpolicy over some 10 years has been for schools to take a stronger lead in shaping their own destiny. TheNational Strategies were a responseto concerns that too many teachersdid not have sufficient knowledge and understanding about issues such as the teaching of reading or how children learn. They were anattempt to allow every teacher tocatch up with the best teachers.However, by 2010, the programmehad run its course and somethingdifferent was required which wasdescribed in the Government WhitePaper The Importance of Teaching. It emphasised that the improvement of schools in future would restprimarily with schools themselves –not with government, local or central:

“The aim should be to create a self-improving system, built on the premisethat teachers learn best from oneanother and should be more in control of their professional andinstitutional development than they have been in recent years. To this end, a self-improving system is to be led bynewly designated teaching schools and the strategic alliances they establish with partners.”

The Buckinghamshire TeachingSchool Partnership wants to create this ‘self-improving system’ locally sothe Aylesbury schools can be at theforefront of national thinking. As theroles of the Teaching Agency and theNational College diminish, local schoolsneed to be in a position, with otherpartners such as TVSP, other teachingschools and the local authority, toshape their own future. It is worthwhileto say that we may have to achievemore against a diminished budget and we can only do this througheconomies of scale.

So what sits behind the TeachingSchool initiative?

This is described in Oceans ofInnovation (Barber, M. et al), fromwhich much of what follows isextracted. Barber describes how there is growing knowledge frominternational benchmarking of how to reform education systems. Thisknowledge about reforming wholesystems (as opposed to introducingsuperficially attractive ‘initiatives’) has huge potential. Systems in Pacificregion countries as varied as Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Chile are actively applying this knowledgeand making progress as a result.

At the school level, this is set out in three major reports* and can besummarised as:

Set high standards; Monitor whether they are being achieved; Provide excellent teachers whoimprove their teaching throughouttheir careers; Ensure well-trained, well-selectedheadteachers; and, Reorganise the system’s structure so that it becomes a dynamic driver of change rather than a staticbureaucracy – a driver of quality rather than an enforcer of compliance

The Teaching School is engaged ininitial teacher training and SchoolDirect places the responsibility forrecruiting trainees and training themwith local schools. However, it is not just about their initial training – we needall involved in teaching (this, therefore,includes TAs) to experiencea continuous programme ofprofessional development (CPD)which is matched to their needs. Wecould provide a series of courses, butwe know that the implementation oftraditional CPD is generally not costeffective. In ITT, we are exploring howto ‘wrap the training round the needs of each trainee’, which is different fromwhat has happened in the past and

presents a challenge for schoolmentors. Performance management of staff linked to personalised CPD is developing in some schools and the new modular school leadershipcurriculum exemplifies how traineesand their mentors need to explorelearning which relates directly to theirneeds and the needs of the school. The leadership curriculum is at Mastersdegree level, is organised through theThames Valley School Partnership andprovides teachers with incrementalsteps through high quality materials to develop themselves and improvetheir schools.

However, individuals still needsupport and we have appointed nine Specialist Leaders in Education(and have bid for six more) who have received training to providepersonalised support for middleleaders within their schools. Togetherwith Local Leaders in Education (LLEs),they are seen as the front line of futureschool-to-school support. We aresupporting several schools and arelearning that support is not aboutparachuting experts with all theanswers into schools (because weknow this is rarely sustainable), it isabout building school capacity for self-improvement.

This sits behind the Teaching School programme and John Hattie hasprobably done more than anyone else to summarise and make the evidencepractical**. He and others argue that, if all teachers matched the best teachersor even approached their level, pupilperformance would rise dramatically.

Though this knowledge is now wellestablished, most systems have still not applied it – partly because bringingchange across a large system requiresconsistent and courageous leadershipand partly because implementation is all-too-often not taken seriouslyenough. The driver for the TeachingSchool, however, is to engage everylocal school in a serious debate abouthow to be courageous and bring about


SCHOOLS

Think strategically,act locallyMartin Baxter sets the BuckinghamshireTeaching School in a national context

“Bringing changeacross a largesystem requiresconsistent andcourageousleadership”

Visible Learning forTeachersJohn HattieRoutledge, 2011Paperback ISBN 0415690153i

Surpassing Shanghai: An Agenda for AmericanEducation Built on theWorld’s Leading SystemsEdited by Marc S. Tucker,Foreword by Linda Darling-Hammond288 PagesISBN-13: 978-1-61250-103-1Cloth, 288 PagesISBN-13: 978-1-61250-104-8



change to improve teaching quality,which leads to improved achievementfor every child. Yes, Every Child Mattersis still important.

There is a final strand to the TeachingSchool which we must not leave out.Barber suggests that:

Education systems of the future have to structurally foster islands of innovation and scale them up – in other words, whole system reform will not be enoughWe need to find ways of promoting a systemic capacity to innovate We need to find ways to createstructures and relationships withinsystems where information and ideasflow in all directions and leaders at alllevels rise above the increasinglysterile debates of recent years

Innovation through local actionresearch is at the heart of whole systemreform. We already have a programmeto explore how to help teachers andparents to develop early writing in very young children, local SENCOs have been invited to take part in anaction research project and we havetendered to work with the MiltonKeynes Teaching School to promotesuccession planning and talentmanagement which will be led by SLEs. ASP provides the necessarycapacity for participating schools to get involved in action research to improve individual teachers,

partnership working and pupil achievement.

What we are seeking in future is forlocal schools to think of themselves like‘lean startup’ businesses that innovateto find and share the learning needs of children.

Charles Leadbeater has usefullydescribed four segments of potentialinnovation and, as the technologydevelops, systems need to fosterinnovation in each of the segments:

Improve schools through betterfacilities, teachers and leadershipSupplement schools by working with families and communities Reinvent schools to create aneducation better fit for the times Transform learning by making itavailable in radical new ways

The Teaching School is not a privateclub, but its core membership musthave the capacity to self-improve andsecure credibility by providing highquality learning. We welcome associatepartners who meet these requirementsand who can add to the overall capacity.The Teaching School is outwardlooking and has a moral purpose,described in the mission statement‘Inspiring innovation and excellence inlearning’, to support the improvement

of all local schools, constantly testingnew ideas to continuously invent bestpractices. The Teaching School is in a position to establish the basis of aforum for sharing and scaling these best practices.

In summary, Barber says: “To besuccessful in the 21st century, systemsneed not only to drive forward whole-system reform based on the evidence;they also need the capacity to innovate,to learn from that innovation andcontinuously improve the system.”

The Buckinghamshire TeachingSchool Partnership and the AylesburyStandards Project are in a strongposition to impact of the quality oflearning and create a local self-improvingsystem in which teachers learn fromeach other. We are certainly more likelyto achieve this if we work together.

Martin Baxter is a member of theAspect Group National Council and partnership manager – theBuckinghamshire Teaching School

* McKinsey’s 2007 How the world’s best performing school systems comeout on top, McKinsey’s 2010 How theworld’s most improved school systemskeep getting better and Marc Tucker’s2011 book Surpassing Shanghai, AnAgenda for American Education Builton the World’s Leading Systems.

** In his most recent book (VisibleLearning for Teachers), Hattie arguesthat expert or ‘high-value’ teachers aresignificantly different from their moreordinary peers.

“Innovationthrough local actionresearch is at theheart of wholesystem reform”



UNION MEMBERSHIP

Professionals working in educationand children’s services are facingunprecedented problems – shrinkingbudgets, vanishing jobs, burgeoningworkloads, unseasonable Arcticconditions and a pay freeze to match.We need the strength of our unionmore than ever.

Professionals working in our sectorneed individual advice and support.They need individual protection andthe collective protection that only a trade union can provide.

The union protects the interests of thousands of professionals who are playing vital roles in shaping andinfluencing the lives of millions of childrenand young people in unprecedentedlydifficult circumstances.

The Aspect Group’s range ofmembers is constantly growing andnow includes directors and managers

of children’s services, schoolimprovement and early years advisers, education welfare officers,youth service managers, early yearsprofessionals, 14-19 coordinators, socialworkers in education, heads of SureStart, social care professionals, Ofstedinspectors, specialist foster careers,parent partnership staff and self-employed consultants.

You will know many of these peoplethrough your work and professionallife. Ask them if they are a member of the Aspect Group of Prospect. If they are not, sign them up!

You are an ambassador for the unionin the work environment and individualmembers are often the most effectiverecruiters of their peers and colleagues.For those who do not immediately seethe value of membership, you can letthem know that the union’s expertnegotiators across the country are

on hand to represent them. They will be joining a union with an unrivalledpool of knowledge and experience with a pioneering track record on policy, contacts unrivalled in our sector– in government, children’s services and education – and links thoughProspect with professionals workingacross the public and private sectors.

The Aspect Group’s programme ofcontinuing professional developmentand its highly competitive professionalindemnity cover are there to lend a real sense of security.

WHAT TO DO!Recruit a member. Join Aspect Group forms are downloadable atwww.aspect.org.uk. Alternatively,contact 01226 383428 or [email protected] for a recruitment pack. Attach this to the completed application form.

Win a case of wine! Sign up a new member to the Aspect Group ofProspect and you are entered into a draw for a caseof wine. Your new recruit gets a case of wine too!

REASONS TO JOIN THEASPECT GROUP OFPROSPECT

expert support andrepresentation on salaries,contracts, conditions ofservice, workloads, pensionsand other work-related issuesaccess to the Group's free 24-hour legal helplinediscounted rates on a widerange of Aspect Group trainingcoursesspecialist career supportservicesa no-strings attached tax healthcheckInformative publications,including a quarterly magazineand regular digest of keyeducational and children'sservices reportshighly competitiveprofessional indemnity, publicliability and employer's liabilityinsurance coverindependent financial adviceexcellent package of financialservices from Unity Trust Bankreductions on gas andelectricity and hotelaccommodationa tax refund service

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Specialist help and adviceAspect Group regional and specialist officers

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INFORMATION FORLOCAL REPRESENTATIVESAND ACTIVISTSThe first issue of the newlook Report is now out. It is available to downloadfrom: http//library.prospect.org.uk /id/2013/00399

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PROFILE MAGAZINE FORALL PROSPECT MEMBERSFebruary 2013 Contents include: Politicalfund – why I’m voting yes;Technological change – areyou ready for it?; Nothingbut our best – new GeneralSecretary’s message tomembers; Private financeinitiative – bad for ourhealth; Can your employerchange your contract?

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UNION RESOURCES

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CLAIRE DENTLondon and Southern [email protected]

DAVID SANDERSHead of Professional [email protected]

ROGER KLINESocial [email protected]

NICK WRIGHTCommunications/[email protected]

45 In house:Layout 1 2/4/13 14:56


School improvement: job round upCHIEF/PRINCIPALJan 11 2013 – Blackburn andDarwen Head of Service – Qualityand Effectiveness £57,453-£61,698

Jan 11 2013 – Milton Keynes Head of Delivery – Setting andSchool Effectiveness £64,407

Feb 22 2013 – Diocesan ofSouthwark Director of Education£70,000-£80,000

Feb 22 2013 – Kent CatholicSchools Partners Chief Executive£150,000

Feb 22 2013 – Kent CatholicSchools Partners School Improvement Director£100,000

Mar 8 2013 – CFBT (Lincolnshire) Director of Education Services

Mar 8 2013 – Pembrokeshire Head of Education £92,950

Mar 8 2013 – Pembrokeshire Head of Performance andCommunity £79,300

Mar 8 2013 – Pembrokeshire Head of Inclusion £79,300

Mar 8 2013 – CFBT (Reading) UK Director

SENIORJan 18 2013 – Dorset SENManager £41,616-£46,461

Jan 18 2013 – Wokingham ServiceManager – Special EducationalNeeds £53,554-£56,738

Feb 1 2013 – Suffolk Adviser 11-19£55,287-£64,399

Feb 15 2013 – GuernseyEducation Development Officer:Primary and Early Y £46,960-£57,934

Mar 1 2013 – CambridgeshireArea Adviser £52,000-£60,710

Mar 8 2013 – Diocese of St AlbansDeputy Director of Education£42,244-£44,586

Mar 8 2013 – Norfolk AdviserInspection/Accountability£50,739-£53,554

ADVISOR/INSPECTORJan 18 2013 – SouthwarkDiscesan Board of Ed SecondaryAdviser £60,000

Feb 1 2013 – Newham LearningAdviser (Early Years) 15-19£51,406-£55,872

Feb 8 2013 – Newham SENAssessment and CommissioningLead 10-13 £42,649-£46,152

Feb 8 2013 – North LincolnshireSchool Improvement Officer -Narrowing the Gap 9-12 £41,491-£44,899

Feb 15 2013 – Blackburn DiocesanBoard Quality and EffectivenessAdvisers (x2) £40,000

Feb 15 2013 – Kingston andChelsea Principal Lead Advisersfor School Standards (x2)£54,300-£73,500

Mar 1 – 2013 Blackburn DiocesanBoard Quality and EffectivenessAdvisers (x2) £40,000

Mar 8 – 2013 Reading SchoolPartnership Advisor 24-27£57,705-£60,781

Mar 15 – 2013 HertfordshireTeaching and Learning Adviser –Primary 19-22 £49,620

Mar 15 – 2013 HertfordshireDistrict School EffectivenessAdviser – Primary 19-22 £58,741

Mar 15 – 2013 Nottinghamshire 2 x Temporary EducationImprovement Advisers 17-20£53,554

Mar 15 – 2013 Redbridge School Improvement Adviser –Primary 25-28 £58,741-£61,827

OTHERJan 1 2013 – Affinity TeachingSchool Allia BusinessDevelopment Manager 11-14£43,792-£47,269

Jan 11 2013 – Blackburn &Darwen Music Service Manager10-13 £42,649-£46,152

Jan 11 2013 – Merton Caseworkand Assessment Manager£46,908-£47,850

Jan 11 2013 – Merton TeamLeader – SEN Transitions £38,070-£40,716

Jan 11 2013 – Merton TeamLeader – Social Work Team£40,716-£43,368

Jan 11 2013 – Merton TeamLeader – SEN Team £38,070-£40,716

Jan 11 2013 – Milton KeynesImprovement Partner – EarlyYears 20-23 £53,554-£56,738

Jan 11 2013 – Milton KeynesImprovement Partner – SchoolEffectiveness 20-23 £53,554-£56,738

Jan 18 2013 – Affinity TeachingSchool Allia BusinessDevelopment Manager 11-14£43,792-£47,269

Jan 18 2013 – Wiltshire SpecialistAdvisory Teacher £21,588-£36,756

Jan 18 2013 – Wiltshire LeadProfessional for Cognitive andLearning 15-18 £44,899-£48,503

Feb 22 2013 – Aberdeen CityService Manager – AdditionalNeeds/Inclusion £57,528

Feb 22 2013 – Barnet SENInclusion Manager £43,368-£46,050

Feb 22 2013 – HampshireChildcare Inclusion Manager£43,035-£48,438

Feb 22 2013 – Kent CatholicSchools Partners Business andFinance Director £80,000

Feb 22 2013 – Redbridge TeamLeader, Early Years and ChildcareImp Team £38,961-£41,610

Mar 1 2013 – StevenageEducational Trust DevelopmentOfficer £58,000-£64,000

Mar 8 2013 – Cheshire West andChester SEN Manager £42,014-£48,200

Mar 15 2013 – EducationAchievement Service SystemsLeaders 17-23 £50,739-£56,738

Mar 15 2013 – Oasis CommunityLearning Regional AcademyDirector 0

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