implementing every child matters, family learning, PSHE partnerships
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Introducing Every Child Matters - routes through the curriculum
Tags: Citizenship and PSHE | Curriculum Development | Curriculum Manager | Every Child Matters | Learning Communities | Multi-agency working | Parental Involvement | Professional update | PSHE & Citizenship Coordinator | Subject Leader | Teaching and Learning
Dr Barbara Spender considers the key questions underpinning Every Child Matters implementation from first considerations about individual school priorities, through visibility in specific curriculum areas, to evaluation and measurement of success. Every Child Matters encompasses principles that few would argue with as being what all involved with the care and education of young people should strive for. But three years in, are schools succeeding in putting ECM into practice to full effect? This month’s Case in Point investigates. Dr Barbara Spender shows how to incorporate Every Child Matters outcomes across the curriculum, offering strategies for effective partnership working to maximise quality of delivery. One school that has thought very carefully about how to introduce ECM is Ninestiles in Birmingham. It started from the premise that implementing ECM would mean much more than just adjusting the curriculum and other individual areas of school life; it would require a complete change in culture. Dr Barbara Spender spoke to the school’s Assistant Head Terry Smith school about the innovative approaches being developed there to deliver ECM on the ground — she shares her discoveries in this month’s case study. In summarising what we, as education professionals – and as parents – want for our children and young people it would be difficult to find a more concise and yet more comprehensively ambitious set of guiding principles than those laid down in the Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda, introduced in 2003. Five core objectives
Who could argue against such obviously desirable objectives? But three years after the publication of the Government’s 100-page directive, how are these objectives being met in our schools? How have the major organisational and structural changes that have transformed LEAs into local authorities been reflected in schools and classrooms and in transforming the experiences of real young people? The Every Child Matters paper of 2003 (Stationery Office) provides an overarching framework. Individual schools and curriculum managers have had to decide for themselves on methods of implementation. They have had to assess their place in local community contexts, determine priorities and devise new ways of working with other agencies – the police and criminal justice system, health and social services among them – and with the families who send children to their school. They have had to determine the routes via which ECM can be integrated into the school curriculum. Most have seen citizenship and personal, social and health education (PSHE) as obvious starting points. Identifying the issues – listening to students Making spaces for students to be heard You could use this method to gain student perspectives on issues such as bullying or the fairness and relevance of behaviour policies and to find out how pupils see their futures. What are their aspirations for themselves, their families and their communities? Some of your local priorities will be obvious from what you already know about your school’s context. You will have access to basic statistical data that answers the key questions:
PSHE and citizenship classes and school council discussions provide openings for debate on social and personal issues – they are forums for authentic student voices. You can expand the range of opportunities pupils have to express themselves by creating informal, safe spaces for young people to say what they think away from peer and family pressures. Getting families involved A headteacher complained that, although his school was well-used by parents, whenever he looked in on evening classes and social activities run for the local community it was always the same faces he saw. And these were generally the parents of children he knew to be successful. Where were the others? An outreach worker responded with an account of how a local school had employed a single mother from a catchment estate to visit hard-to-reach parents in their own homes. She talked to them about their perceptions of the school and about what they wanted it to do for them and for their children. Because she was ‘one of us’ she was readily accepted. Parents were willing to talk to her about their ambitions and their concerns. She had taken the school to the parents rather than waiting for them to come to her. Another school, located in a deprived area offered a free taster class in flower-arranging for mothers. Because it was promoted as a fun activity rather than adult education, mothers did not feel ‘put-off’ or intimidated. They were able to take home with them something they had made — an achievement. Several came back for a full course. When they completed it, the school presented certificates to them in assembly — something they could take pride in and celebrate with their children. Some felt it was the first time they had achieved anything in school. They became more willing to engage with the school on issues to do with their children’s education. In integrating ECM into your school’s curriculum it is important to ensure that student opinion is a visible influence. Although supported by extensive structural changes at the level of local government ECM is primarily student/child driven. Changes in schools should be visible expressions of pupil aspirations. Whatever changes are given priority, it is important that they are not top-down impositions but reflect what those most affected really want. For more ideas on how to engage the student voice, see Curriculum Briefing: Partners in learning – engaging students, vol 4, no 3 (for more details, or to order a copy, contact Optimus Publishing on 0845 4506404). Key question: What informal mechanisms exist in your school that allow students to express their thoughts and opinions? Involving parents In the past schools have often been represented as places full of boundaries – the tutor group, the classroom, the school gates. Perhaps they have even been characterised as safe spaces that can only work effectively by keeping the external world – other agencies and even families – at bay. Sometimes the price for these demarcations has been alienation of families and a lack of dialogue and cooperation between school and home. Many parents have difficult and unhappy memories of their time in schools. Some find the mere experience of visiting their children’s schools unpleasant and threatening. For more ideas on how to engage parents, see the forthcoming issue of Curriculum Briefing: participating in learning – involving parents, vol 5, no 1 (for more details, or to order a copy, contact Optimus Publishing on 0845 4506404). Key question: How does your school work to engage the participation of parents? ECM in the curriculum Citizenship
Whichever route is selected, curriculum managers will need to ensure that the delivery of the citizenship curriculum itself is strong enough to underpin the newer demands of ECM. To be effective, Ofsted says that citizenship provision should:
(Citizenship in secondary schools: evidence from Ofsted inspections 2003/04, 2005) Ofsted also recommends that the core curriculum should be supplemented with practical examples of active participation and by responsible action on activity days and through the work of a democratic school council. This increases the time allocated to citizenship in the school week and gives the subject a higher profile. All of these recommendations are broadly applicable to every curriculum area but they are emphasised here because Ofsted has identified specific problems in the delivery of citizenship within schools. The success of ECM implementation may be imperilled if it is integrated into a curriculum area that is not strong in your school. You may want to begin with a review or audit of current strengths and weaknesses in key curriculum areas. Schools that choose to spread ECM issues across the curriculum are similarly advised to ‘go with strength’, identifying those subjects with the greatest capacity to provide good citizenship units as key curriculum partners. One result of using citizenship as a vehicle for ECM delivery is that the subject moves to centre stage in the school’s planning and has a real impact on perceptions of school effectiveness. More than ever, it demands rigorous delivery combined with ambitious targets and supported by a robust approach to assessment and feedback processes. A further advantage of ECM’s critical contribution to judgements of school performance is the engagement, or buy-in, it creates for both citizenship and PSHE among senior managers. Encouraging reflection A school’s PSHE department developed a ‘reflection’ sheet that offers a good opportunity for basic assessments to be made. It involves students in identifying:
The reflection sheets indicate the nature of the topic studied, the student’s views on what they have learned and what they feel about the learning. Each student makes an assessment of the learning outcomes achieved. The teacher countersigns the pupil’s evaluation of their work after discussing and agreeing what standard has been achieved. PSHE Citizenship treats at a public dimension what PSHE treats at a personal level (Citizenship in secondary schools: evidence from Ofsted inspections 2003/04, Ofsted, 2005). PSHE, also a subject that is comparatively new to schools, has suffered difficulties similar to those experienced in citizenship. In the best provision, PSHE offers a space in which students may stop to consider and reflect on their personal values and beliefs, their place in the world. This makes it an excellent vehicle for exploring personal environments, individual aspirations and the design of personalised learning opportunities that are the goal of ECM. For ideas on how to identify personal learning needs through reflection, see the end of this article. Key question: How does your school take students’ views into account when designing personalised learning? Partnership matters Ideally, PSHE should help students to develop their (self) critical skills, their relationships with others and their ability to communicate effectively. It may also offer professionals the chance to explore schools’ resources for coping with individual needs. Much of the PSHE curriculum can be taught in partnership with external agencies such as health and social services, counsellors and experts in drug and alcohol abuse. Where schools have opted to offer extended services, they have the advantage of being able to offer onsite access to a full range of facilities that students and their families want to use – for example, healthcare and play-groups. In schools that do not yet have such facilities, bringing other agencies into school for specific sessions will make them more accessible to students outside lessons. Developing these relationships enables schools to adopt a more holistic approach to student need in the manner demanded by ECM. For ideas on how to build relationships with external agencies: A school’s PSHE curriculum includes input from health services via the school nurse. The school believes that all pupils are entitled to access a full range of services and that the nurse is the perfect link to services and support. The school nurse’s involvement with PSHE includes the following:
The nurse:
Key question: Do students in your school have opportunities for private consultations with visiting agencies? People and outcomes While ECM is frequently channelled through selected curriculum areas it cannot make any real difference to student lives unless core principles are diffused through the whole school. They must become a recognised part of the school ethos, modelled by staff at all levels. There is already a wealth of convincing evidence to show that both citizenship and PSHE are delivered more effectively in schools where the responsible teaching staff are subject specialists who enjoy the support of their senior management teams. We know that this agenda is a priority for Government and that its content is of fundamental importance to students. It is essential that it becomes a visible priority for the adults who are to deliver it in schools, and that it is not seen as ‘just another initiative’. Successful implementation is about much more than improved exam and test results. Schools have been charged with a responsibility to deliver improvement under each of the five ECM headings. Measurement of success is built into Ofsted inspections and it is linked to a broad range of questions that goes well beyond subject specifications, curriculum content and GCSE grades. Key question: How much progress has your school made in meeting the targets described below? How well is your school doing? Every Child Matters — five outcomes
Be healthy — promoting healthy choices Targets and indicators
Key questions for your school
Stay safe — providing safe and stable environments Targets and indicators
Key questions for your school
Enjoy and achieve — supporting learning Targets and indicators
Key questions for your school
Make a positive contribution — promoting positive behaviour Targets and indicators
Key questions for your school
Achieve economic wellbeing — supporting economic activity Targets and indicators
Key questions for your school
Dr Barbara Spender, Freelance Writer and Researcher Barbara has extensive experience of management and governance at all levels within the education system and, most recently, worked as a writer/researcher on the Networked Learning Communities programme run by the National College for School Leadership (NCSL). For further information and resources on how to develop the curriculum to support the Every Child Matters agenda, see the DfES website on this topic, at: www.everychildmatters.gov.uk Here you will find advice on how to deliver services, covering such topics as setting up multi-agency services, the common assessment framework for children and young people, information sharing, role of the lead professional, and integrated working to improve outcomes. For advice on how to link ECM with the curriculum, and other school issues, head to the ‘Education, training, employment’ section where you will find ECM-related information on such topics as behaviour, extended schools, personalised learning, and special educational needs. Another section collates the key strategy information and governance organisations, including links to the Local Network Fund for Children and Young People, details on the voluntary and community sector, and on how to go about joint planning and commissioning, and guidance on the Children Act 2004. There are also separate sections providing targeted information for parents, and for the students themselves. This article first appeared in Curriculum Management Update - Nov 2006 What is this? What is this? These icons allow you to do one of the following: You can 'socially bookmark' this page. If you like this article and think others will be interested in it, you can add it to one of the sites on which web users share links. These are Digg, del.icio.us, Reddit, ma.gnolia, Newsvine or Furl. Add a link to your Google homepage or 'My Yahoo!' page. Search Technorati, Ice Rocket or PubSub to see if any bloggers have linked to this article.  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 
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