National Literacy Strategy and Numeracy Strategy - Essay Example

The labour party is the main political party in the United Kingdom. After coming into the government in 1997, the party was recalled as the new labour party. The name was not officially changed but was generally used, just to differentiate the party from the older and traditional one. Reforming a welfare state was the major task for the new labour government. On the election in 1997, the new labour government promised to make Britain a better place and that education will be its topmost priority. According to Tony Blair the answer to all the national problem of Britain comes down to a single word “education” (Trowler, 2003). The New Labour government came up with the third way – ‘policies’ that were being developed on what works. Power and Whitty (1999) concluded that “it might be more accurate to suggest that new labour government program is based on a combination of what’s popular and what’s easy rather than what works.” The new labour party always featured education as its first most priority. The party continued coming up with new strategies and plans. For them, education was the necessity of every individual in a nation. Through proper education system, not only the standard of state is raised but unemployment can also be prevented to some extent. The government wanted to provide quality nursery education, for example by, setting up primary schools of standard, building new schools on public and private partnership, introducing the need of new technologies, hiring more skilled and dedicated staff in schools to improve teaching methods etc. These were the policies of the party in 1997 (Labour Party Manifesto, 2001). In 2001 the party manifesto was to establish more secondary schools with different missions. The subjects like Mathematics, English, Science and Information Technology were given more importance in the curriculum. Their manifesto included creating nursery for three year olds, introducing more learning at primary schools with music and sports, and arranging more state schools. The aim of the party was to polish the talent of every child and giving them more opportunities to excel in life (Labour Party Manifesto, 2001). In the first term of their government, the Labour party changed the method of teaching with establishing primary schools. In the second term, they transformed the secondary schools in accordance with the teachers and staff of schools, and formed more specialist schools with each having a unique identity. In 2005, their manifesto was to establish an education system that met individuals’ needs and also supported the parents. Further, its intent was to raise the standard of making music, art, sport, English, and Mathematics by making it compulsory in primary schools, so that every child is given an opportunity to enter secondary school; the manifesto also led to the arrangements of apprenticeship and higher education for teenagers. Adequate quantity and quality in higher education was ensured to meet the modern world’s need (Labour Party Manifesto, 2001). During the new labour party terms of being in government, the party came up with many educational policies. Its main focus was on the early year education. According to them if quality early year education is provided to all the children, not only literacy rate will be improved but, also there will be less chances of unemployment and all the children after completing their early year education will be having same standard of learning. Few of the policies that the government introduced will be discussed in this essay. NATIONAL LITERACY STRATEGY AND NUMERACY STRATEGY The National literacy strategy (NLS) was developed for the primary schools. It was introduced in September 1998 in all the primary schools of the state that were getting funds from the government. Similar to it was Numeracy Strategy that was introduced a year later. The key points of NLS were that there should be a literacy hour in daily schedule. This strategy aimed that the pupil should have a solid foundation in speaking, reading, and writing. On the other hand, teachers should develop their skills and get training so that they implement best practice while teaching. Special classes should be given to the children who need additional help in improving their skills. NLS was designed to suit the learning and teaching needs of different people around and to set high standards for the learners. The numeracy strategy was more focused on mathematics. Both the strategies were, to promote the accomplishment in teaching, to raise standards of learning, and to minimize the gaps between modern and diverse areas (Jolliffe, 2004). The evaluation of these strategies shows that NLNS has some strength and the challenges as well. The areas in which the NLNS implementation and design is strong includes the leadership, policy alignment, support and pressure, communication with the public and responsiveness; however, the strategy has some challenges and critical issues. The challenges include the difficulty faced in changing teachers’ teaching practices, training the teachers in a new way, hiring new teachers in the future who are strong in numeracy and literacy, and intense assessment of the students which is needed so that the educators and the students come to know about their progress. The professionalism is required that motivate the teachers and authorities to achieve their prescribed goals (Earl; Fullan; Leithwood; & Watson, N, 2000). The issues that are raising concerns of the public as well as the teachers are that before the implementation of NLS, the standard of learning among the primary schools was much better; the teachers used to listen to the children, which motivated them and helped them in learning. This strategy, on the other hand, only emphasizes on reading without paying attention to listening and speaking, thus making students weak at writing. After NLS, only half of the pupils are learning that is expected from their age group. Further when the teachers use different ways, the children learn more easily as the teachers come up with new innovative ideas in making a subject easier for the students; but when a same pattern is followed by every teacher the children gets fed up very quickly. The lessons taught do not remain interactive. Many dull pupils face difficulty in coping up with their class fellows as no questioning session is held. Further the whole class teaching is never effective as all the pupils do not participate in debate and discussion and this leads to gaps in matching the pupils’ needs. When every individual is treated specially and the teacher pays full attention to the children individually, it becomes easier for the children to learn (Jolliffe, 2004). Through the critical analysis of NLS, the researchers claimed that this strategy is not effective and the older scheme that was being followed from years was more productive and reliable The Numeracy Strategy was more related to mathematics, according to which, daily session of mathematics was to be held in class for 40 to 50 minutes. Its emphasis was on asking questions and letting pupils engage their brains in solving problems rather than drilling in the methods by force. The class was to have oral session as well as brain-using calculations. This strategy greatly and only emphasized on mathematics, while neglecting all the other subjects. Another issue raised about this strategy was that teacher engages students more in oral practice than in written work. Through both these strategies, the teachers were more likely to concentrate on the higher achievers than on the low ones. Both these strategies were relying more on English and Mathematics, while avoiding the rest of the curriculum (Literacy Subject area, 2010). To make legislations for the early child education and authorities’ role, the government amended the childcare act in 2006. CHILDCARE ACT 2006 The general duties of the local authorities are defined in the childcare act 2006. The duties are that the local authorities must improve the well being of young children, they must ensure that every child is given proper education, training, and recreation opportunities and they are being protected from any kind of harm and neglect. The local authorities are responsible for reducing the inequalities among the young children, based on race and ethnic values. Further it is the duty of local authorities to provide the early child services which includes early year provision, social services, and health services. The duties in relation to early child services are to make secure arrangements so that the parents and young children can easily access the services and take maximum advantage from these services. The local authorities are responsible to take adequate steps to encourage the parents to get involved in the activities which may improve the well being of young children. Local authorities must ensure that the services that are being provided by the childcare centers are free of cost. A strong relation must exist between the authorities and childcare providers and the authorities must assist them financially or in any other way (Childcare Act 2006). Childcare act 2006 ensures that every child gets the best start of his life and this is also the guiding principle of another new labour government policy “ten year childcare strategy”, but the strategies do not prove to implement the act properly. They focus more on the parent’s need than the childcare (Linsey & McAullife, 2010). The amendments in the Childcare Act in 2006 were made because the government wanted to introduce a policy that was related to the early year education. The policy is described below: TEN YEAR CHILDCARE STRATEGY: CHOICE FOR PARENTS, THE BEST FOR CHILDREN Child poverty is the most concerned issue for the new labour government. After coming into the government, new labour party’s objective was to reduce the child poverty to half by 2004/2005 but failed to achieve its objective. Later the government came up with strategies that aimed at reducing the child poverty by catering the children with the education at early stage of life and help the government in managing the economy, maximizing the employment opportunities, and improving the in-work incomes. Ten year childcare strategy is one of the strategies that aimed at reducing the child poverty by facilitating both the parents and the children (Bradshaw, 2007). Ten year Childcare strategy was presented in April 2006 by the Department of Education and Skills. The aim of this strategy was to ensure that parents get sufficient opportunity to send their children to childcare centers while they themselves can easily go to work. The key elements of this strategy were to increase the number of weeks and hours in which the young children would get free entitlement (Action plan for the ten-year Child care Strategy, 2008). Great quality education was to be delivered by the professionals who knew how to teach and help young child in getting education. This policy had the potential through which the ladies were easily motivated to come back into work. This strategy wanted to provide the children with skills needed for the compulsory education. The purpose of this strategy was to provide the parents with flexibility in managing their family and work, as well as giving early year education to children. The key elements of this strategy are to give four basic pledges to the parents, namely: quality, flexibility, availability, and affordability. The government wanted to provide quality childcare centers to the parents, located in their community, where they could send their children without getting worried. Parents were provided with flexibility in a sense that they could manage both the family life and work side by side. Thirdly, the government assigned the local authority to examine and arrange for the availability of childcare centers at every locality so that they can be approached by the parents easily. Lastly, it was to be ensured that these centers are affordable for the parents and guardians (Choice for parents, the best start for children: a ten year strategy for childcare, 2004). This policy has gained a lot of admiration from the working class of the society as they can handle the daily life matters easily. The local childcares have proved to be affordable yet available. The employers have greatly supported the policy as the parent gets the chance to concentrate both on their careers as well as on the mental and educational developments of their children. The concern raising issues are that the low income and the minorities’ ethnic families are not able to get benefit from this policy. This can be due to several factors, for instance, the parents do not qualify the 16 hours work condition to get free entitlement for their children. Other issues are that some parents have lack of information that hinders them for taking up the childcare services (Lloyd, 2008). EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE (EYFS) Early year education and care is a productive area of the new labour government. Most of their policies after their 2001 success were based on raising standards of education. In accordance to the party’s defined agenda Early Year Foundation Stage was focused not only on the education of the children but also on their well being. EYFS framework was presented in 2007 and was implemented in 2008. The aim of this framework was to provide learning, development, and care to the children form birth till the age of five. The main purpose of this framework was to provide the teachers and parents with accurate information about the development and learning capabilities of their child. It was very much reliable for the working women. It helped them in teaching children with the curriculum that is according to the child’s need, and through which the desired development could be achieved. The framework was made compulsory from September 2008. Even if the parents did not want to send their children to these centers for their upbringing, they were forced to do so. Through the evaluation of EYFS there is a clear improvement in the child’s language learning. The gap between the high achievers and the lower ones is narrowed. Improvement is being made in all the areas of learning. The results of this framework are seen statistically, but are not seen individually (Policy Statements: Department of Children, Schools and Families, 2010). The critics, however, have the view that this framework can harm the young children’s mental and physical development; the practitioners’ need additional training in order to correspond objectively. It is essential that the parents take active part in taking information in the progress report of their child. The practitioners will need to observe each child’s progress, interest, learning styles, and learning priorities and then make the assessment plan in relation to the observation (Policy Statements: Department of Children, Schools and Families, 2010). The parents will find it difficult to select the childcare center where their child is responsibly taken care of. According to the critical analysis, this would prove to be disastrous while putting off the children from learning at a very young age (Ward, 2008). The new scope defined for the EYFS can be that the authorities will have to make sure that the quality is being ensured across the sector, in ways that learning and development among the children is ensured, the children are kept happy, healthy and secure, and further the practice is successfully implemented and supported. EVERY CHILD MATTERS This policy was more concerned with the care of the child, rather than their education and training, the practice that was followed in the previous strategies. This initiative had partnered with the early schools, childcare centers, primary schools, state schools, higher education universities, and the health services. It is an important development program for children, and every thing that is related to children regarding services. This policy covers a vast group of children and young teenagers, including the disabled, ranging from the ages 19 up to 24. The aim of this policy is to disregard the background children come from and focus on the fact that despite anything, they are liable to live a healthy and safe life, and enjoy their childhood as well as teenage to the fullest while make a positive contribution to achieve economic well being (Every Child Matters at the heart of the curriculum, 2008). The aim behind this program was to give every individual full chance to achieve their goals. Under this process, the government aimed to help the parents and caretakers in bringing up the child. The policy was aimed at providing the children with the childcare and early year’s education, health, well being, education, technical training, employment, social care, and justice (Policy Statements: Department of Children, Schools and Families, 2010). ‘Every child matters’ policy has helped in narrowing the gap between the minorities and others. It has provided a new focus on the child and its social and emotional needs. The children are provided with the care and attention from the cradle to college. But still this policy has some concern raising issues. The issues that this policy has are that the data validation in this policy is very critical. This is the responsibility of the local authorities to gather the accurate and reliable data (Geering, 2010). It was also noted that the children sent to the government operated childcare centers started getting missing and the government did not even take any steps to investigate for them. The Child’s index or the Contact-Point, which contains the child’s information from home address to the parents’ details, may easily provide the hacker to kidnap any child for ransom, its amount basing on the profession and job of the child’s parents. The privacy is eventually ruined for everyone. This way the database is highly criticized for privacy and security matters. Such a policy can end up in doing harm instead of good (Shepherd, 2006). The policy is concerned not only about providing children with the early education but also with their emotional development. I believe that the improvements that can be done in this policy are that the guardians must support and guide the children to develop awareness about how to live in the community and to care for others. They must appreciate the child for what he does. Children get influenced by others very easily so the adults, parents, and the guardian must behave in a way that leaves a positive impact on the child’s mind. In this way the children will not only turn out to be educated, but also sophisticated and decent citizens. Every policy, framework or program that was introduced by the new labour government fails after a passage of time. It only appeals for a short time period and fails to appeal once it is analyzed critically. The government wants to end the child poverty by the end of 2020, for the purpose of which they always come up with new policies and programs, just to maximize the literacy rate. The new labour government provides public with the policies that are in the interest of the public. The outcomes or the effects of these policies are later felt after few yeas are passed. So I believe none of the above policies is doing well to the date. Every single policy has one or the other issue. Either the issues that arise are that of the teaching method or it relates to the minorities not obtaining the benefit. Poverty is still one big issue. Even though the government has tried a lot to create policies that solves the poverty issues but every time it fails to do so. By giving initiatives and attractive packages to the parents, they try to make their policies successful. But through all this the gap between the rich and the poor is increasing day by day. The poor are far away from taking benefits from these initiatives; they are unable to educate their children, while the rich are taking advantage of all the offers and incentives that the government offers in return to their policies. The increasing differences on the racial grounds are also eye opening. The whites and the others are not equally treated, whether it is in the childcare centers or in secondary schools. Education doesn’t depend on the state; it is an independent sector which can get funds from the government, not the frameworks and policies. Education is important to make the nation a better place and subtracting all the flaws of the state. Every private school whether primary or secondary defines its own policy. But since the end of 19th century, the state has made education its business by closing most of the private schools and constructing up their own state schools (Ward & Eden, 2009). According to Tomlinson (2001), education in the United Kingdom has been portrayed as in the state of crisis by the critics and some part of the media. Equality in education has always been argued. Elite class argues for better resources of education, while the middle class are offered new ways of education where they have to invest in for themselves in the process of learning. The disadvantaged groups face the most difficulties in getting the basic education. Teachers are asked to follow new policies, new inspection styles, and are left far away from their professionalism. Schools, teachers, and the local authorities are held not only responsible for the failure of individuals but their roles in the education procedure has also minimized. The government has emphasized more on the personal benefits than on the social equality and justice. Differences are made on the racial grounds. The optimistic feelings about education have been turned into uncertainty among the parents and the educators (Tomlinson, 2001). 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(2003) Education Policy Second Edition, Routledge Ward, S. & Eden, C. (2009) Key Issues in Education Policy, SAGE Ward, H. (2008) The aims are good, but hitting targets will be hard Read More