Every Child Matters - Literature review Example

'Every Child Matters' critical analysis Outline: A) Every Child Matters. Its framework and aims. B) Every Child Matters and children with special educational needs C) Every Child Matters criticism D) Conclusion The 2003 Green Paper, Every Child Matters was a response to the tragic death of Victoria Climbié. Neither social services, nor police or the NHS left no chance for the girl to survive. This case along with several others exposed the failure of the child care system to protect the most vulnerable children. That’s why ‘Every Child Matters’ aimed at the reformation of children's care, overall protection of children, maximization of life chances and creating opportunity to fulfill one’s potential. The legislative framework of Every Child Matters policy is the Children Act 2004. The Children Act 2004 obliges schools and children's service agencies and other agencies, such as police, prisons and NHS trusts to protect children and promote their welfare. The agenda includes everything from "maltreatment, neglect, violence and sexual exploitation, accidental injury and death, bullying and discrimination, to crime and antisocial behaviour." (Jewell, a) The areas of focus have been educational failure, ill health, substance addiction, teenage pregnancy, abuse and neglect, crime and anti-social behaviour among children and young people. The policy includes five main aims of focus - be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution to society and achieve economic wellbeing. The aims of the program have been good health (mental and physical, health lifestyles), skills development, community and society participation, economic well-being, creating Sure Start Children’s Centres in at-risk neighborhoods. (Every child matters, 2003) The Sure Start children's centre programme offers early learning opportunities for children. The program is based on the belief that high-quality play and books at early age help in further learning effort at later stages of schooling. This helps to identify early learning abilities of children and prevent any possible defects. (Lepkowska, 2006) Along with other planned activities the policy aimed to boost child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) through creation of a Young People’s Fund. The policy also targets improvement of speech and language therapy. There are also many other activities planned to boost the level of child protection and development. (Every child matters, 2003) CAMHS is supposed to help children with mental health problems or children stressed or worried. Speech and language courses are deemed to assist children with understanding or speech problems. After the launch of the program the children got better at reading, writing and maths, the results of exams have improved. (Every child matters, 2003) For example, the Medway Speech and Language Therapy Service, created for special educational needs schools and special units attached to mainstream schools in the Medway area, works successfully to help children with visual impairment, emotional and behavioural difficulties, physical disability and autism. (Every Child Matters: Change for Children in Health Services) A variety of problems at school setting from relationship difficulties to child inadequate development should be addressed through early identification and intervention model to ensure a child's wellbeing, the program asserts. (Jewell) The program supposes the improvement of information sharing and developing a common assessment framework across services for children, special educational needs, Connexions, Youth Offending Teams, health, and social services included. (Every child matters, 2003) For example, Luton Parent Partnership Service as a part of ‘Every Child Matters’ policy in Luton recruits volunteers to become Independent Parental Supporters who work with parents of children with special educational needs. Children with special educational needs are addressed not only by Parent Partnership but the school, the Educational Psychology service, Behaviour and Tuition service combine their efforts to achieve positive results. (Briggs) The idea behind this is to reduce duplication when children are cared by a single named professional who is responsible for the child care services which correspond to one’s individual needs. That’s why the policy attempts to organize child care professional into one effective team to improve well-being of children. The gap between the highest- and lowest-achieving pupils is planned to be closed by 2010, introducing in every primary and secondary school access to extended services, including study support, childcare available before and after school and during holidays, and parental support. (Not a moment too soon) All children and young people's services work more effectively as the Every Child Matters creates a statutory basis for partnership working with teachers, social care workers, youth justice workers, health visitors, the voluntary sector and others.’ (Jewell, 2006) This is a drastic change in the approach to child care as earlier children's services have been targeted by different departments inspected by separate inspection bodies. The change brought different agencies into one cohesively working body. (Jewell b) Julian Piper, director of extended schools with ContinYou believes that Every Child Matters helps to define what contributes to standards of achievement and encourages teachers to see the obstacles to learning but not giving a child more and more writing practice as it always happens. (Lepkowska) Fears of some educationalists concerning Every Child Matters interference with the job of teaching have proved unfounded. Most headteachers are confirmed that the policy gave teachers ‘the greater scope to do what they were trained to do’. The positive outcomes are evident: pupils are better engaged in education, parents exhibit greater involvement as well. (Lepkowska, 2006) The fears that the teacher would be overburdened with the tasks did not prove true. Extended services offered within the framework of the policy are beneficial according to the opinion of many headteachers. The whole community benefits from them as it gives an opportunity to establish relationship with parents along with educational benefits as children come to school ready to learn. (Follow in their footsteps) Along with the realization of benefits, many are aware of negative changes being inevitable. Guardian survey revealed that 37% of heads had reservations about the government's extended schools policy, with only 11% fully in favour. (Follow in their footsteps) The most of criticism comes from financial issues the policy challenges. The Every Child Matters policy is not new and it has already reached its one of the milestones. In a majority of councils joined-up services for children had been created, schools extended, Children’s Trusts and multi-agency working. However, the reality is not so colorful as it may seem. The evidence is around us: ‘poorly paid and trained support staff, scant time and resources, and the culture that such constraints inevitably spawn’ (Archer) The Green Paper which supposes the multi-agency teams approach means in reality new skills of the staff and different priorities for headteachers. The Green Paper is bold in its vision of the system but its transformation requires additional funding which is not mentioned in the paper. Without funding from the Government the paper is nothing more than words. (Green Paper is not child's play, 2003) On the other hand the evidence from location is that hurdles are really difficult to overcome but it’s again really possible to do it. Buildings, staffing, funding are problems to be solved. However, the funding comes from the national lottery and from the European Union. Schools own funds are also employed, cross-subsidise is sometimes available. Children with special educational needs require special attention of educators. Teachers working with these children should have reduced workload, access to resources and support services. However, special educational needs co-ordinators are extremely burdened in many settings. They cannot adopt the role of lead professionals. The issues connected with Common Assessment Framework like implementation, its timescales and training of staff are still unclear. Establishment and operation of such systems lacks consultation. Mixing together of services is a basis of the extended schools. But the plan of its implementation is hard to execute. For example, In Bolton, Jack Hatch experienced difficulties with an on-site private nursery. Staff problems are acute. Many of the care staff at St Bede's is employed in more than one role. The management of extended services is also very important and one cannot expect a person to work for an hour here and there. There should be always a person on the site but people need some rest as well. The shortage of the staff really makes a hurdle. (Follow in their footsteps) There are fears that the Every Child Matters agenda could be completely derailed unless the Department of Health rethinks its approach. Ministers repeatedly emphasized on the importance of schools in the Every Child Matters agenda. Still headteachers' organisations knew little about the PCT reforms. (Health service, 2006) Outside the NHS the handling of the reforms triggered anger and dismay. In the West Midlands, Telford and the Wrekin chief executive Michael Frater wrote a letter to his NHS counterparts complaining that the reform proposals "seem designed for the internal convenience of the service rather than to achieve better outcomes for the public". (Health service, 2006) Another question to answer is if extended schools are viable in rural areas. In Kirklees, near Huddersfield, Emley first school ‘has 200 on the roll, is cramped, and no opportunity to arrange additional services on-site’. (Follow in their footsteps) The social situation in late 90s which preceded the introduction of the program was not satisfying. A third of the country’s children were living in poverty. The effort of the government to ameliorate the negative impacts of the last two decades did not change the situation much. Every Child Matters was initiated by the Green Party which puts children at the center of policy making. At the time of 2002 election the paper could have served a good basis for promotion. NCH, UK children's charity and the largest voluntary sector provider of services to children, young people and families in England, support Green initiative. However, they point on some inadequacies of the model of change set out in the paper. It focuses mainly on the combined effort of statutory organisations. However, this is not enough to generate sustained, meaningful improvements in the system of child care. (Abrahams, 2005) NCH believes that structural change offered in the policy is unclear, ‘muddling up some critical differences between tasks that have to be done locally to provide an effective system of children’s services.’ What is really needed is to engage everyone concerned into the structure for children’s services - children, families, communities and the voluntary sector and of course the statutory agencies. (Abrahams, 2005) The concern is also about youth in their transition from children’s to adult social services, which particularly concerns disabled people or youth with mental health difficulties. These are problematic transition issues which should be considered. (Abrahams, 2005) The policy Every Chid Matters, supposed to cover all children living in UK factually, In fact excludes children subject to UK immigration control. This is a result of marginalisation of these children from mainstream processes. ECM framework with an initial intension to prevent children from any kind of abuse treats them foremost as migrants, not children requiring protection. However, the provisions of the Children Act 1989 and Children Act 2004 also do not apply to children subject to immigration control. (Crawley, 2006) Both central government and local service providers fail to provide any support to the most vulnerable and neediest children who are immigrants. Children subject to immigration control are not provided with services of the ECM framework. Along with general welcome of the paper from local government, health and education bodies the need of adequate resources to fund data integration, structural changes and staff is evident. (Green Paper is not child's play, 2003) The government having entered in legally binding contracts with lead and/or accountable bodies which in turn commissioned services to local organisations is bound to follow the set course without ‘any sudden change of tack’ unless it can be considered bad faith and a breach of the compact with the voluntary sector. This may threaten the existence of fragile community groups or lead to legal action by them. (Abrahams, 2005) So we see that the ECM framework is accepted and regarded as positive initiative to protect children. However, some professionals regard the policy with a great portion of scepticism. They have doubts as to whether the policy can ensure changes needed to improve high quality services for children. These concern the overall policy and its implementation, some criticize financial part of the policy, some are concerned with the fact that not all children living in UK are included in the ECM framework. The issue which triggered the introduction of the policy Every Chid Matters was inadequate protection children in UK. The cases of child abuse reached their turning point and the need of some transformation was so evident that there was no other way than to work out new approaches to child care. Despite some criticism, people on the spot who are directly engaged in Green Paper initiate report positive changes. The policy implemented is of help to children who need protection and care, particularly children with special educational needs. The idea of extended school and combination of several child care roles by one person is likely to bring positive results for children with learning difficulties. References ABRAHAMS C. (2 November, 2005) NCH's response to Every child matters. NCH paper. ARCHER M. The Every Child Matters agenda. Special Children Magazine http://www.teachingtimes.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=56 retr. 19 Oct. 2006 BRIGGS G. The National Position. www.luton.gov.uk/parentpartnership/ retr. 19 Oct. 2006 CRAWLEY H. (2006) Child first, migrant second: Ensuring that every child matters. ILPA policy paper. Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association and Heaven Crawley Every child matters (2003) Presented to Parliament by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury by Command of Her Majesty. September TSO Every Child Matters: Change for Children in Health Services. (2004) Supporting Local Delivery. 15, Dec /www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/HealthAndSocialCareTopics/ChildrenServices/fs/en retr. 19 Oct. 2006 Green Paper is not child's play. (2003) Times, The (United Kingdom), Sep 16. JEWELL S. (a) Children give safety top priority. Guardian Unlimited. http://www.guardian.co.uk/everychildmatters/story/0,,1892002,00.html retr. 20 Oct. 2006 JEWELL S. (b) A new focus on children and their needs. Guardian Unlimited http://www.guardian.co.uk/everychildmatters/story/0,,1892153,00.html retr. 20 Oct. 2006 JEWELL S (2006) Society: Every child matters:: Case study: The social worker. The Guardian (London) October 11, p.3 LEPKOWSKA, D. (October 10, 2006) Education: Every child matters: A national policy achieved by local initiative: It is an ambitious project but a noble one.he provision of coordinated, extended services to improve children's life chances has been a long time coming The Guardian (London), p. 2. Not a moment too soon. Guardian Unlimited. http://www.guardian.co.uk/everychildmatters/story/0,,1891876,00.html retr. 20 Oct. 2006 REVELL P. (2006) Health service weakest link. 31, March http://www.tes.co.uk/search/story/?story_id=2216467 retr. 21, Oct. 2006 Read More