Changing Policy Landscape in Children's Services
The Head of Services for Children and Families to provide a verbal update on the Coalition Government’s proposals as they relate to Children’s Services.
Minutes:
Andy Kent, Partnership Lead – Schools, outlined the key changes in Education as announced by the new coalition government to date.
The key Changes were:
- The revised primary curriculum will not go ahead and schools are to continue with the current curriculum – but the additional INSET day for primaries in 2020/11 is maintained
- A new national curriculum will be published
- Development of the new Diplomas in science, humanities and languages, due to be introduced from September 2011, will cease immediately
- State schools will be able to offer the iGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education)
- The General teaching Council, Contact Point, and British Educational Communications and Technology Agency and Qualification and Curriculum Development Agency to be scrapped
- Budgets for the Training and Development Agency and National College to be cut.
- The introduction of the Vetting and Barring scheme and the need to register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority has been halted until a review has been undertaken
- Contactpoint database discontinued.
- The Children, Schools and families Act, which received royal assent prior to the election omitted the proposed:
- Pupil/Parent guarantees, home/school agreements and parent satisfaction surveys;
- PSHE and Sex and relationship education becoming compulsory
Enhanced role of school improvement partners
licence to teach.
The Government had also announced plans for an Academies Bill and an Education and Children Bill in the Autumn.
The Academies Bill was currently at the committee stage in the House of Lords, but there were expected to be significant amendments.
The Bill would allow all schools to apply for academy status with no requirement to consult stakeholders. These would be new forms of academy.
There were significant impacts in the way that academies would operate, including the right to set individual terms and greater flexibility around the length of school day and working year. In addition, Academies would be required to set pay and conditions including moving outside the school teachers pay and conditions document and national pay scales.
Academies would also need to provide or commission services currently provided centrally, but it was not clear whether and at what cost Local Authority Services would be available for academies to purchase. Governance arrangements for new academies were also unclear.
The Education and children Bill would:
· Give greater curriculum freedoms/slimmer national curriculum
· Reading test at the end of year 1
· Additional powers to ‘improve behaviour’
· Reformation of Ofsted
· Pupil premium
RESOLVED – (a) That the report be received
(b) That the Head of Service Children and Families be requested to produce a briefing sheet for all Members of the Committee based upon the presentation given at the meeting, particularly to provide an overview of the budgetary situation as it relates to Cheshire East.