Leadership

Involve Us, Respect Us: Engaging Young People In Relationships And Sex Education

This Barnardo's report is for policy makers who are designing statutory guidance on how RSE should be delivered. It is also for schools, teachers and support workers who deliver RSE to young people.

The Government has announced that Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) will be compulsory in all schools in England from September 2019. This means that all primary school children will be taught about relationships and all secondary school pupils will be taught about relationships and sex.

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Leadership Briefing issue 7.02(74)"
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      string(5600) "ResourceCURRICULUM AND QUALIFICATION NEEDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE AT RISK OF DISENGAGEMENTOriginal DocumentReview Of The Curriculum And Qualification Needs Of Young People Who Are At Risk Of Disengagement. This NFER review considers curriculum-related approaches to engaging young people in learning and curricula and qualifications used to engage young people and to facilitate their progression in education, employment or training. It explores what the best available research tells us about the curriculum and qualification needs of young people at risk of temporary disconnection from learning.KeywordsEngagement, young people, learning, curricula, qualifications, education, employment, trainingSummaryThis NFER review considers curriculum-related approaches to engaging young people in learning and curricula and qualifications used to engage young people and to facilitate their progression in education, employment or training. It explores what the best available research tells us about the curriculum and qualification needs of young people at risk of temporary disconnection from learning.The review forms one of a suite of four literature reviews that have been completed under the From Education to Employment theme and identifies the key approaches that need to be considered when devising strategies to engage or re-engage all young people, but especially those at risk of temporary disengagement from learning.Main Findings:· Consideration of curriculum and qualification needs is relevant for all learners, and especially those who are at risk of becoming not in education, employment or training (NEET).· Common themes to consider are: the need for positive teaching approaches that adapt to meet young people’s needs; supportive and informal environments to learn where young people can achieve success; supportive relationships with teachers; high quality advice and guidance; and the availability of high quality curricula and qualification options (including vocationally-related options) that give young people opportunities to progress to their choice of further learning or employment.· Much of the literature comments, to some extent, on how the curriculum and qualifications can influence young people’s engagement with learning, but rarely makes links with the segment of NEET young people who are ‘open to learning’ or ‘undecided’ about their futures but at risk of temporary disengagement from learning. This suggests that there is currently a gap in research around effective strategies to engage or re-engage those who are ‘open to learning’, or ‘undecided’ NEETs.Key Approaches:· Encouraging learners to take ownership of decision-making related to their learning.· Using flexible approaches to teaching so that all learners are engaged and stimulated.· Teachers having knowledge, skills and expertise in their subject area (particularly important for vocational subjects) as well as expertise in pedagogical approaches.· Ensuring that, especially for young people at risk of disengagement, learners develop a relationship with a trusted adult who can help them to ‘keep on track’ with their learning.· Considering the class size, as evidence indicates that smaller class sizes are particularly important to keep those learners at risk of disengagement engaged in learning.· Being alert to when learners need extra support, such as when they are not managing their workload or when they may need catch-up tuition.· Ensuring that all teaching (academic and vocational) is delivered in an appealing way that not only interests the young person but where the relevance to life (for example future careers) is drawn out.· Creating a warm, supportive learning environment where teachers show interest in learners and their learners’ work.· The development of a well-managed, disciplined learning environment conducive to learning.· Creating a work environment based on mutual respect where learners can develop an independent approach to learning.· The provision of well-informed, impartial careers information, advice and guidance (IAG) including course taster sessions. This is especially important for those who are unsure about the way forward and which career or qualifications they want to pursue.· Providing young people with a wide choice of subjects and courses to suit their interests and learning style.· Providing a flexible and personalised curriculum so young people can study the most appropriate qualification at the most appropriate place for them.· Ensuring that there are good quality vocational, applied and practical qualifications and pathways open to young people.· Having, where relevant, practical and unit-based assessments which provide the opportunity to acquire incremental progress, are flexible in terms of start and completion dates and offer the option to retake courses if needed.· Making sure that curricula and qualifications provide opportunities for learners to develop personal, social and employability skills.ActionNotesAuthorR ChimaDate CreatedSeptember 2012Enquiries to:raspal.chima@yahoo.co.uk(Authoring Unit)Month / YearPage 1 of 1©Birmingham City Council"
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Leadership

Curriculum And Qualification Needs Of Young People At Risk Of Disengagement

13 Sep 2012

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      string(5814) "This month’s ReportsChildren and young people’sviews on wellbeingThere has been a gradual shift in thelast few years away from being overreliant on objective measures of  childwellbeing towards engaging childrenand young people in defining theparameters around what constituteswellbeing. This move has revealedsome important differences in howadults and children define wellbeingand the aspects of  wellbeing thatchildren prioritise compared to adults.The following studies provide someimportant illustrations of  these points.In Ireland, children’s views weresought to inform the development ofthe set of  national wellbeing indicators(Nic Gabhainn and Sixsmith, 2005).Central to these 8- to 12-year-oldchildren’s views of  wellbeing wereinterpersonal relations with family andfriends (including pets), and positiveactivities or things to do. There werenotable differences between children’s,parents’ and teachers’ views of  whatwas most important for children’swellbeing (Sixsmith et al, 2007).The Good Childhood Inquiry(Layard and Dunn, 2009) surveyedaround 8,000 young people (14 to 16years old) across 16 areas in Englandand within school or educationalestablishments, asking them whatthey thought were the most importantthings that make for a good life foryoung people, and what, in their view,prevented young people from havinga good life. An analysis of  their repliesrevealed three overarching themeswith respect to how young peopleperceived a ‘good childhood’: thequality of  relationships they had withothers, safety, and freedom. Asidefrom these themes there were 10components identified as importantfor a ‘good life’: family; friends; leisureopportunities; school, education andlearning; their own behaviour; theirlocal (physical) environment; theirlocal community; money; their ownattitudes; and health, particularlymental and emotional aspects ofhealth.Research commissioned by thethen Department for Children Schoolsand Families (Counterpoint Research,2008) also focused on determiningchildren and young people’s own viewsof  wellbeing; and the views of  theirparents. This study highlighted thedifficulties of  reaching a consensus onwhat constitutes a ‘good childhood’ andhow it can become a highly subjectiveChildhood wellbeing: a brief overviewThe aim of this government briefing paper from the Childhood Wellbeing Research Centre is to providean overview of recent evidence in the field of childhood wellbeing. The paper provides a summary of howwellbeing is conceptualised; the domains and measures employed to assess child wellbeing within theUK and internationally; how the views of children and young people are incorporated into work on childwellbeing, and some conclusions from key studies relevant to the wellbeing of children and young people inthe UK.http://www.teachingtimes.comThis month’s ReportsOrder HOtline:0121 224A group work manual for practitioners by Berni Stringer & Madan MallBased on solution focused brief therapy, this manual presents a range of exercises, which can bephotocopied for use with groups or individuals. the exercises help children to explore their ownknowledge and perception of their difficulties and emphasise their ability to do something aboutit. Sessions cover everything from setting up a group, establishing ground rules and assessingindividual needs, to recording progress and celebrating success.tried and tested exercises developed over recent yearsHighlights specific problems whilst offering practical solutionsencourages children to become aware of the effects of their actions, thoughts and behaviourdesigned to be used by those with no prior knowledge of the techniquePrice: £27.50iSBn: 978-1898149-93-4For Postage and Packing add:£4.00 UK – £10.00 OverseasYork Publishing Services (iM Books), 64 Hallfield road, layerthorpe, York YO31 7ZQtel: 01904 431 213 • Fax: 01904 430 868  •  www.teachingtimes.co.ukmeasure. The study did reveal howeverthat the family was fundamentallyimportant to a sense of  wellbeing forchildren and young people.In Australia, researchers workedextensively with 126 children (aged 8 to15 years) in rural and urban locationsto develop wellbeing indicatorsfrom children and young people’sperspectives. The study concludedthat the three over-riding conceptsof  wellbeing as defined by childrenwere a positive sense of  self, securityand agency. Emotional and relationalwellbeing were integral to theseconcepts (Fattore et al, 2007, 2009).Conclusions from currentresearch relevant tochildhood wellbeing in the UKThe UK performs poorly in someinternational ‘league tables’ ofchildren’s wellbeing, although thelimitations of  such de-contextualisedcomparisons need to be borne in mind,as well as differences in definitions andin data availability that may penalisethose countries (like the UK) with moredata available for comparison.International comparisons indicatethat wellbeing is negatively associatedwith income inequality and positivelyassociated with spending on familybenefits and services.There is no direct associationbetween poor childhood wellbeing andthe prevalence of  ‘broken families’,and there is a close associationbetween childhood wellbeing andpositive family relationships.Issues and challengesWellbeing and childhood wellbeing inparticular, are widely used conceptsbut have a weak theoretical basis.There are also evident difficultiesin making comparisons in childwellbeing using indicators acrosswidely variable contexts.There are currently limited dataon child wellbeing and particularly alack of  data which is"
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Special Needs

Childhood Wellbeing: a brief preview

4 Nov 2010

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      string(5698) "This month’s ReportsThe report refers to the numberof  changes there have beenin patterns of  living and theincreased separation of  familiesacross miles for differentreasons. Families are becomingthin and long with morescope for intergenerationalrelationships. There is anincreasingly older populationwith more pensioners thanchildren. Children might losecontact with grandparentsthrough the separation of  theirparents.The report refers to the ‘sandwichgeneration’ who are usually womenjuggling with caring for their olderparents and their own children. Insome cases this has become the ‘clubsandwich generation’ with people inthe middle of  a four generation familywith perhaps an elderly parent tocare for, their own children needingfinancial help and grandchildren whothey provide regular support for.Greater mobilityThere is a significant increase ingenerational mobility and less contactbetween generations in communities.The recession has led to some changein this with more children opting tolive at home or study from home.However, only 5% of families havelived in their current neighbourhoodall their lives. Many older peoplereport feeling isolated, lonely andscared to go out.However, the older and youngergeneration have a lot in common.They both have the highest levelof  happiness, are heavy users ofpublic services, are at risk of  agediscrimination and have more sparetime to get actively involved in theircommunities.An increasing number ofgrandparents are looking after theirgrandchildren when children areunable to continue caring for them as‘kinship carers’, however, they needadditional support to be able to do thiswith more than a third living belowthe poverty line.Strengthening localcommunitiesIn order to strengthenintergenerational communitieslocal community spacesshould be reclaimed and localauthorities required to considerintergenerational relationships whenlooking at implementing policy at alocal level.“There is the potential to build anew form of  local communitarianismThink Intergenerational: connecting generations tosupport communitiesThis report by 4Children and supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation emphasises the importance ofintergenerational practice, the need to encourage contact between generations and the vital role that familieshave within our communities.   http://www.teachingtimes.comThis month’s Reportswith an ambition to turn our parks,public space and village halls intobusy, vibrant hubs, used by allgenerations together.”Younger and older people needto be brought together using a widerange of  projects to build trust andunderstanding. Such opportunitieshelp to address negative perceptionsand preconceived opinions.Programmes that are in placeusually fall into one of  fourcategories:1. models which involve older peopleproviding support, advice andtime to younger people and theirfamilies2. programmes that involve childrenand young people in supporting,engaging and caring for oldermembers of the community3. models that bring older andyoung people together to formpartnerships working towards acommon objective4. models aimed at building mutualinteraction often through thecreation of shared spaceSubscriptions hotline:0121 224 7578Fax orders:0121 224 7598Post:Imaginative Minds, 215 The Green House,Gibb Street, Birmingham, B9 4AACTL02/10Incorporatingcreativity and criticalthinking into yourschoolThe school curriculum ischanging! Learning, Personaland Thinking Skills are akey part of the secondarycurriculum, and cross-curriculum projectbased work is now central to teaching in primaryschools and Key Stage 3. The government wantsthe endowment of creativity and critical skills inpupils to be a core mission of schools. Creative Teaching& Learning magazine under its old name TeachingThinking & Creativity, has been providing this forschools for the past 10 years. Recognised as the mostcutting edge curriculum magazine in the country,it has championed such approaches as Philosophyfor Children, Building Learning Power, IntelligentLearning and Mantle of The Expert. The magazineinvestigates how the curriculum can be remodelledand explores how thinking skills approaches can beembedded within subject and project-based teaching.In every issue it has project resource packs whichshow how project work can be given much moremeaning and pedagogic depth.Creative Teaching & Learning magazine isdedicated to promoting critical and creative thinkingat both primary and secondary level. Packed withpractical information, guidance and jargon freeadvice, it makes education more imaginative andeffective and helps to raise the standards of teachingand learning by developing children’s thinking skills.CreativeTeaching & LearningStrategies for intergenerational workinclude:Family group conferencinginvolves the whole family in settingout a plan to provide practical helpwhere a child is considered to be atrisk.Homeshare brings together peoplewho have different sets of needs whohave something that might be ofbenefit to someone else e.g. have ahome they are willing to share butneed help with it.Transforming children’s centresinto intergenerational familycentres to embrace a wider sectionof  the community rather than beingsegmented by age.RecommendationsThe report recommends that we‘think intergenerational family’ by:maximising the potential resourcewithin the familyrecognising the caring role of■■extended families and the need forthe support of  intergenerationalcarers and kinship careincluding grandparental access aspart of  Parenting AgreementsThe report recommends"
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Special Needs

Think Intergenerational: connecting generations to support communities

13 Oct 2011

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      string(5671) "first attempt to promote this approach through theDfES Exemplar Designs appears to have taken a slightlydifferent route. The exemplars are generally consideredto be informative examples of certain leading-edgeeducational and or technical design principles, whilenot being replicable in terms of lifting the whole designBuilding Schools for the FutureBuilding Schools for the FutureBuilding Schools for the FutureBuilding Schools for the FutureBuilding Schools for the Future38 Managing Schools Today April/May 2006solution. There appears to be significant resistance tothe ‘standardised’ approach from both the architecturaland the educational communities.The benefits of this approach are the cost-efficiencyof re-using standard designs, the proven nature of thetechnical  solution, and the robustness of  thefunctional  per formance. The r isks are that  the‘standard’ solution does not meet all needs and theprocess doesn’t engage or involve the stakeholders. Iwould suggest the optimum route in this vein isanalogous to the ‘mass customisation’ movement inmanufacturing – whereby component design andproduction are standardised but assembly andconfiguration are highly customised, allowing schoolsto choose from a ‘set menu’ of designs for particularareas of need such as buildings for science or PE. Thisapproach has more benefits on new build schemesrather than remodelling projects.Ultimately if we believe that participation is essentialfor ensuring functional and motivational design of schooland community facilities, then we need to developprocesses that draw on the benefits of all of theapproaches described above. We need to engage wideparticipation by stakeholders. But the activity needs to befocused and valuable, giving tangible examples of designsolutions and practical scenarios that will feed debate andallow rapid decision making within realistic financial andtechnical constraints.For the system to invest adequate time and resourcesinto giving students, staff and community – and thediverse range of practitioners involved in the Every ChildMatters and community regeneration agendas – agenuine voice in BSF, the process needs to kill more thanone bird with the same stone. Engaging in theenvisaging, requirements, design and executionprocesses must also contribute to the schoolimprovement and transformation agenda. Specifyingthe requirements for buildings and ICT must become theby-product of a wider process of people, process andorganisation change. The participation process becomesa collective approach to ‘imagineering’ the futureworkings of our communities and community services.Schools are a component of this community future butthis investment needs to impact in the widest possibleagenda.We do not currently seem to have a consensus as tothe key ingredients and successful actualisation of aschool for the future. I therefore believe we need tocontinue to engage a range of voices in the designprocess in order to develop an appropriate solution.Design of schools should start with three questions:■What do we want our communities to be?■What do we want our children and young people tobe?■How do we want to promote and provide supportservices within our communities?The answers from the education profession tendtowards “young people and communities should havehope, high aspirations and self belief”, “communitiesshould be tolerant, curious and supportive”, “youngpeople should be skilled in communications andcollaboration skills” and “communities should beentrepreneurial, hard-working and resilient”. Generallyparents, communities, employers and public agenciesall agree. Where we need to invest the effort is inrethinking how the activities and services needed todeliver the above come together to create this future –and finally, in considering the facilities that we need tosupport this vision.Caroline Morland is a director of Learning Led DesignEdunova Ltd. She works with both public and privatesector organisations, exploring innovative designs forlearning environments.Some tips to manage the resource requirementFreeing up capacity in the existing system needs aninformed and disciplined approach. Authorities andschools need to find the time from somewhere to engagein workshops, discussion and design sessions. Informeddecision making with respect to how and where  time canbe created needs data on how time is currently deployedand where efficiency savings can be made. This data onhow staff deploy time can then be analysed. Staff cancompare differences between departments and betweenschools and share ideas on how to be more efficient.Examples of where time can be saved might include sharedplanning and preparation of common curriculumresources within departments and or between schools,automatic electronic marking for elements of assessment,and digital resources to support cover provision in librariesand learning resource centres. Strategies for releasing timemust be identified and implemented before the BSFprocess begins.The voluntary sector is active in design and communityengagement. Organisations such as School Works, CABEEducation, the Design Council and RIBA are all making toolsand resources available to schools and authorities for free.Many of these tools can be embedded into the curriculum– therefore contributing to rather than distracting fromthe learning and teaching agenda.Some innovative private sector organisations arepromoting the use of collaboration to make processesmore efficient. Blue Amber, for instance, is organisingshared market testing days. Rather"
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Leadership

Collaborate & Regenerate

1 Jan 2005