Childcare campaigners achieve ratio petition target

Campaigners fighting plans to reduce staff-to-child ratios in childcare have gained enough backing to trigger an official response from the government.

The Pre-School Learning Alliance’s Rewind on Ratios e-petition has amassed 10,500 signatories in the past two months, surpassing the 10,000 threshold requiring the government to respond.

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the alliance, has now written to the Department for Education demanding it address the concerns raised among parents and early years practitioners since the departmentpublished its childcare reform proposals in January.

Leitch’s letter asks for responses to five areas of concern, including the provision of evidence to back claims that higher-qualified early years providers will still lead to positive early years outcomes if staff-to-child ratios are reduced.

It also demands clarification on what qualification requirements childminders will have to meet in order to operate under the proposed ratios.

In his letter, Leitch warns the department that it needs to thoroughly address all the issues, adding the “standard, pre-prepared responses which simply reiterate the department’s previously-established stance on that particular issue” will not suffice.

He said: “Given the strength of feeling on the plans to relax childcare ratios, of which I am sure the department is well aware, such a standard response would not be well received by the thousands of parents who have voiced their opposition to the ratio proposals, and would serve to reinforce the already-widespread perception that the government is not listening to, or addressing, their serious concerns on this matter.”

Despite reaching the 10,000 milestone, Leitch said the campaign against ratios proposals would continue.

“This is not the end of our campaign. It is only the end of phase one,” said Leitch.

“Our next target is to reach 100,000 signatures [the milestone for triggering a Parliamentary debate] so that childcare ratio changes will be debated in the House of Commons.”

Source: CYPNow

Education system neglects early years values, say experts

Only two per cent of early years professionals think the education system is child-centered, fosters creativity and emphasises the importance of play, according to a survey.

More than 170 childminders, nursery and primary school teachers, head teachers, school governors, lecturers and academics responded to the poll, which suggested a disparity exists between the values teachers feel are important and what is implemented on the ground.

Conducted by the Save Childhood Movement, which campaigns on issues related to societal values and wellbeing, the results showed 67 per cent of respondents thought education should be child-centred as a matter of priority.

It also revealed that 60 per cent of respondents thought creativity should be prioritised within teaching, and 50 per cent believed that early education should emphasise the importance of play.

Source: CYPNow

Study exposes extent of ‘sexting’ among children

Primary school children view pornography and are regularly “sexting” explicit pictures of themselves to others, a study has found.

A survey of 7,000 children found that on average children first see pornography aged 11, while girls as young as 12 agree to requests from their boyfriends to send revealing pictures or photographs of themselves carrying out sex acts.

The survey, carried out on behalf of a preventative education project run by Southampton Rape Crisis, also found that boys frequently send pictures of their genitals to female pupils.

The findings have led to calls for action to tackle the issue.

Claude Knights, director of anti-bullying and child abuse charity Kidscape, said there needs to be more education projects for both children and their parents.

She told CYP Now that children can easily access hardcore pornography through mobile phones that can influence their sexual development.

“Parents must be educated about talking to their children about the issue and ensuring content filters are applied to mobile devices,” she said.

“I think sexting is something that anyone working in the area of safeguarding is worried about – it is a growing trend and is beginning to descend into primary schools.

“Young people need to be helped to understand the consequences of what they are doing, both for their relationships now and in the future.

“There is work going on to do this but it isn’t enough.”

The survey echoes findings of the NSPCC, which last month said it had recorded an increase in the number of children it supports who have been involved with sexting.

The apparent increase in sexting comes despite efforts in recent years to tackle the issue.

In February 2011, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) warned of the threat of emerging technologies, revealing it was ploughing resources into raising awareness among children about the dangers of taking revealing photographs of themselves on mobile phones.

It produced a short video, to be shown in schools, advising children of the risks.

Source: CYPNow

Government unveils plan to make children’s homes safer

Children’s homes will be required to notify local councils when children move in from other areas, under new government measures to tackle child sexual exploitation.

The changes will also oblige homes to carry out a risk assessment of their local area alongside police and the local authority to make sure children are safe from sexual exploitation, gangs and other threats.

Children’s homes could be closed down or refused registration if their local area poses too many risks.

The reforms will also require decisions on placing children in care far from their home to be made by a senior official.

The measures are a response to the Office of the Children’s Commissioner’s inquiry into child sexual exploitation in gangs and groups, which followed the sentencing last May of nine men who groomed and abused young girls in Rochdale.

The Department for Education said the measures will help develop “strong, constructive relationships” between children’s homes and the local authority area they are located in.

In addition, the DfE will review the effectiveness of children’s homes provision and test alternative ways of delivering support.

There will also be a comprehensive review of the training, qualifications and career pathways for both new and exisitng staff in children’s homes.

Ellen Broome, policy director at The Children’s Society, said last year’s parliamentary inquiry into children going missing from care identified that thousands of children were being failed by the systems and professionals tasked with keeping them safe.

“Changing these damaging professional attitudes, alongside measures to address the poor quality of care too many children receive, is key to making sure these vulnerable children are kept safe,” she said.

“We look forward to seeing more detail about the plans and working with the government and professionals to make the system better.”

Jonathan Stanley, chief executive of the Independent Children’s Homes Association, said that while his organisation is committed to “comprehensive transformation of children’s homes”, there is a need to reform the entire looked-after children system.

“We hope that these are the start of many more announcements,” he said.

“If these are all that results then it will be too little, too slow.”

The DfE will also release a data pack in the summer that will include detailed information about each children’s home in England by local authority and area.

It hopes the data will make it easier for local authorities to find good quality placements.

Source CYPNow

Treat 17-year-olds in police custody as children, court rules

The High Court has ruled that 17-year-olds who are arrested and taken into police custody should be treated as children.

In a landmark judgment, judges Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Kenneth Parker ruled that treating 17-year-olds at the police station in the same way as adults is unlawful.

Police are currently obliged to contact a parent or an “appropriate adult” to offer support and advice for young people in custody aged 16 or under.

But for 17-year-olds, the decision on whether to contact an adult is down to the discretion of the officer, unless the young person is deemed to be “vulnerable”.

In many cases parents are not told that their son or daughter has been arrested.

The judicial review, brought by Just for Kids Law, was based on the case of a 17-year-old who was held in a police station in London overnight for 12 hours on suspicion of robbery.

The boy, who had no previous convictions, was not allowed to phone his mother or offered the services of an appropriate adult.

He was eventually released without charge.

Moses and Parker said it was “difficult to imagine a more striking case” where the rights of both children and adults were affected.

Shauneen Lambe, director of Just for Kids Law, said: “A pressing concern is how this protection can be implemented to protect 17-year-olds immediately, given the court’s ruling that they have a right to be protected.

“We have asked the Home Secretary to issue immediate guidance to the police while she begins her consultation. Just for Kids Law would be happy to assist in the drafting of this.”

The Howard League for Penal Reform and the Coram Children’s Legal Centre were both allowed to make representations to the court.

Carolyn Hamilton, director of international programmes and research at Coram Children’s Legal Centre, said: “We are very pleased with the judgment and Coram Children’s Legal Centre now calls on government to rectify this unlawful, discriminatory anomaly in the criminal justice system and its codes of practice, to bring them into line with children’s rights without delay.”

Tabitha Kassem, legal director at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “Allowing 17-year-olds the right to this protection is not complicated or unduly expensive; in fact, Avon and Somerset Constabulary already provide 17-year-olds with access to an appropriate adult as a matter of course.

“We are delighted to see that the Association of Chief Police Officers has announced its support for a change in the law, and we hope that the Home Office will respond appropriately.”

Maggie Atkinson, Children’s Commissioner for England said: “I am delighted the high court has ruled today that it is unlawful to treat 17 year olds in the same way as adults when they are in police custody and that they should be considered to be children and allowed contact with parents or carers.

“I have previously raised concerns about this matter with the government and look forward to seeing what measures will be put in place to protect the interests of 17 year olds in police custody.

“I am sure today’s decision will result in better protection for all children who are arrested.  I hope it will also reduce the likelihood of 17-year-olds turning to suicide when they have been in trouble with the law.”

Across England and Wales, 75,000 17-year-olds are held in police custody every year.

Source: CYPNow

Children’s commissioner exposes extent of illegal exclusions

An average of 10 schools in every council area have sent pupils home without recording them as exclusions, England’s children’s commissioner has claimed.

Evidence about the scale of the problem, published by the commissioner today, found that schools have been illegally excluding pupils because they do not know the law.

The commissioner’s report included a survey of 1,000 teachers that found 6.7 per cent of schools had sent children home illegally and 2.1 per cent had recorded pupils as being “educated elsewhere” or “authorised absent” when the school had actively encouraged the child not to return.

When asked about the legalities of falsifying attendance records, 24 per cent of teachers said they did not know the law and 31 per cent were unaware that it was illegal to encourage a parent to educate their child at home.

Commissioner Maggie Atkinson said the majority of illegal exclusions were due to “low-level, persistent bad behaviour” and most occurred in secondary schools.

She said school governors should play a key role in ending the practice and called on the Department for Education to empower governors to challenge head teachers over informal and formal exclusions.

“When I stand up in front of a group of educationalists anywhere in the country and say, ‘does illegal, casual and informal exclusion take place in your area?’, the whole room says, ‘absolutely, yes it does’,” said Atkinson.

“Because it’s illegal, it’s hugely under-admitted to.

“Governing bodies that have uncovered illegal behaviour should have the right and the duty to sanction the head teacher to make it clear on their disciplinary record that this has been uncovered and is unacceptable.”

Atkinson’s report said local authorities and the Education Funding Agency were not doing enough to address the issue, and suggested that Ofsted increase its efforts to identify illegal exclusion practice during school inspections.

Emma Knights, chief executive of the National Governors’ Association (NGA), backed the report’s recommendations for governors.

“While some governing bodies are not willing or able to challenge head teachers, others do it extremely well – we need to equip other governing bodies to do the same,” she said.

The commissioner’s report also uncovered evidence of children with special educational needs (SEN) being illegally excluded because schools could not cater for their needs.

The teachers’ survey suggested that 2.7 per cent of schools have sent children with SEN home when their carer, classroom support or teaching assistant was unavailable.

The charity Contact a Family said the findings confirmed its own research.

“For disabled children who already need more support than their peers, this withdrawal of education is having a devastating impact on their progress and attainment, as well as their mental health,” he said.

“Parent carers of disabled children told us that illegal exclusions mean they are unable to work or are forced to take a lot of time off work.”

Source: CYPNow