Curriculum, pedagogy and assessment
A critical analysis of a recent education policy
Introduction
‘Young children are vulnerable. They develop resilience when their physical and psychological well-being is protected by adults’ (EYFS card 1.3). Now a day young children in school have become a victim of violence and harassment in schools and colleges. Such kind of violent acts make them crippled mentally and have bad impact on their career life.
The aim of this paper is to review a recent educational policy from the UK Government and provide an analysis regarding the policy’s purpose, impact and ideology. The educational policy reviewed in this paper is “Keeping children safe in education” policy, and how children’s will be taught how to keep themselves safe in education. In this essay I will be discussing and critically analyzing “keeping children safe in education” policy. Keeping Children Safe in Education 2018 came into force on the 3rd September 2018. The government had previously released a ‘for information’ version in May 2018. The final version has some additional information. Some of the key changes that have been highlighted include:
• There is clarity on schools having their own safeguarding policy – one that is relevant to specific issues particular to the school such as societal and locational issues
• Schools are now required to have at least two emergency contacts per child
• Schools should carry out a risk assessment to decide if volunteers require an enhanced DBS check
• In regard to children with SEN and disabilities, there needs to be a greater awareness that behavior, mood, and injury may correlate to abuse not just disability – therefore extra pastoral support is required
• Schools are required to have policies on behavior and children missing education and these should be included in inductions
• Children missing school should be viewed as a vital warning sign for a potential safeguarding issue, i.e. child sexual exploitation, forced marriage, etc.
The revised guidance includes a welcome emphasis on Online Safety for Schools and Colleges, highlighted across numerous related sections. In response to enquiries received, this guidance has therefore been compiled to support Schools and Colleges in addressing the online aspects of the revised statutory guidance seeks to highlight the considerable number of sections which include an online safety-related focus along with supporting advice and resources.
Keeping Children Safe in Education (often shortened to KCSiE) is a piece of statutory government guidance that sets out the legal duties all staff in education must follow to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people aged under 18 years in schools and colleges. The guidance applies to all schools and education settings, and Part 1 in addition to Annex A should be read by all staff, including teachers, head teachers, and all staff working in education settings, plus governing bodies, proprietors and management committees. The policy Keeping Children Safe in Education is organized into 5 main parts:
• Safeguarding information for all staff
• The management of safeguarding
• Safer recruitment
• Allegations of abuse made against teachers and other staff
• Child-on-child sexual violence and sexual harassment
What is keeping children’s safe in education policy (Or what is KCSIE document)?
Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) is the key statutory safeguarding guidance for schools in England, replacing ‘Safeguarding Children and Safer Recruitment in Education’ (SCSRE). SCSRE survived for seven years, from 2007 to 2014, but KCSIE has not had such longevity. Introduced in April 2014, it was overhauled 11 months later and then reissued in July 2015. And, three days before Christmas, the DfE published a consultation on further revisions. The DfE is to be commended that, for once, it does not appear that changes will be rushed into implementation. The consultation, which closed in mid-February, anticipates that a final version of the statutory guidance will be published in advance of the proposed implementation date of September 2016. So there will be time to make preparations for the changes. The changes are largely focused on parts one and two of the guidance and this do not touch core sections on safer recruitment checks and handling allegations – although further revisions to these areas can be anticipated.
Keeping Children Safe in Education 2018 came into force on the 3rd September 2018. The government had previously released a ‘for information’ version in May 2018. The final version has some additional information. The first Child Safeguarding Standards were launched over 12 years ago by a coalition of relief and development charities that later became known as Keeping Children Safe. Since then there has been a growing recognition that, as well as risks to children from staff and associates, inappropriately designed programs and poor operational management can also create the possibility of risks to children. Keeping Children Safe represents a commitment by those working in this sector to ensure that their organizations “do no harm” and that they meet the responsibilities set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to protect children from all forms of abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence. Drawing on the knowledge and experience of experts, Keeping Children Safe developed the Keeping Children Safe Standards, which was supported by a comprehensive Toolkit for implementing the Standards.
Keeping children’s safe in Education Aims, focus and objective
The aim of KCSIE policy is to provide safeguarding and child protection to pupils in education. The intent of the policy is to support the child’s development in ways that will foster security, confidence and independence and to provide an environment in which children and young people feel safe, secure, valued and respected, and feel confident and know how to approach adults if they are in difficulties, believing they will be effectively listened to.
KCSIE policy main objective is to raise the awareness of all teaching and non-teaching staff of the need to safeguard children and of their responsibilities in identifying and reporting possible cases of abuse, to provide a systematic means of monitoring children known or thought to be at risk of harm, and ensure all schools, contribute to assessments of need and support packages for those children. To emphasize the need for good levels of communication between all members of staff and to develop a structured procedure within the schools which will be followed by all members of the schools‟ communities in cases of suspected abuse.
The policy communicates that the agency is committed to keeping children safe. It makes clear to everyone that children must be protected, helps to create a safe and positive environment for children, and shows that the organization is taking its duty of care seriously. The policy is focusing and committed to keeping children safe. It makes clear to everyone that children must be protected, helps to create a safe and positive environment for children, and shows that the organization is taking its duty of care seriously. All agencies that work directly or indirectly with people under the age of 18 have a written policy on keeping children safe. All children have a right to protection. The welfare of children is always the most important consideration. It is made clear which individuals or groups the policy applies to.
History of safeguarding in education what it is and when it has been introduced?
Before devolution child protection legislation across the UK was made and passed by Westminster. Nations had their own laws but the framework set out by the different acts was broadly similar. Legislation to prosecute people accused of child cruelty has been in force since the 1880s but it has taken a series of high profile child abuse deaths and subsequent inquiries to establish the child protection system we have today.
In 2004 the Children Act 2004, informed by Lord Laming’s report, established a Children’s Commissioner in England (the last of the UK nations to appoint one); created Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards (LSCBs) in England and Wales; and placed a duty on local authorities in England to appoint a director of children’s services and an elected lead member for children’s services, who is ultimately accountable for the delivery of services. In 2006 Scotland the Minister for Children published a review of the Children’s Hearing System, entitled Getting it right for every child (Creegan, C., Henderson, G., and King, C., 2006), highlighting a dramatic increase in identified children with multiple needs. In 2009 Lord Laming’s the protection of children in England: a progress report (2009), ordered following the Peter Connelly case, makes 58 recommendations for child protection reforms.
The Safeguarding Board Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 set out the law for the creation of a new regional Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland and the establishment of five Safeguarding Panels. In 2012 Operation Yewtree was set up to investigate sexual abuse allegations against Jimmy Saville and others. In 2013 the Independent review into child sexual exploitation in Rochdale examined the council’s response to issues around child sexual exploitation. A new version of Working Together to Safeguard Children was published in England, informed by the Munro review.
In 2015 the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales (IICSA) officially launched to consider the growing evidence of institutional failures to protect children from child sexual abuse. The Children’s Services Co-operation Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 requires public authorities to contribute to the wellbeing of children and young people in regards to physical and mental health, learning and achievement and living conditions. In 2016 the Football Association (FA) launched an internal review into child abuse following allegations of child abuse. The Scottish FA announced an independent inquiry. In 2017 the Digital Economy Act 2017 extended protection from online pornography by allowing sites which display pornography to children to be blocked in the UK. In 2018 an updated version of Working together to safeguard children (Department for Education, 2018) was published for England, replacing LSCBs with safeguarding partner arrangements.
According to Children Act 2004, safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as protecting the children from maltreatment, preventing them from health or development impairment, ensuring children to growing up in safe circumstance and effective care; and enable children to have optimum life chances and successful adulthood. The main aspects of safeguarding are; minimizing the risk of harm to children’s welfare and working in full partnership with other agencies to agreed local policies (Department for Education, 2004).
Although protecting children from maltreatment is essential in preventing the impairment of health or development, they are not on their own adequate to ensure that children are breed in safe and effective care. Under Section 10(2) of the Children Act 2004 various aspects of safeguarding and promoting welfare is set out. Five outcomes are considered for children’s wellbeing including: “physical, mental and emotional health; protection from harm and neglect; education, training and recreation; making a positive contribution to society; and social and economic well-being”. In 2010 Graham Allen was commissioned by the Government to undertake an independent review, investigating how children at greatest risk of multiple disadvantages get the best start in life. In 2003, second form of early intervention is embodied in the Every Child Matters reforms. These reforms looking for increasing the involvement and contribution of different services which working with children and their families to observe and respond to their difficulties.
What dose national curriculum says about Safeguarding Children in education, how it taught children to keep themselves save, and did it achieve its purpose?
According to Children Act 2004, safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as protecting the children from maltreatment, preventing them from health or development impairment, ensuring children to growing up in safe circumstance and effective care; and enable children to have optimum life chances and successful adulthood. The main aspects of safeguarding are; minimizing the risk of harm to children’s welfare and working in full partnership with other agencies to agreed local policies (Department for Education, 2004).
According to Department for Education (2006) local authorities and schools safeguarding covers more than a child protection in relation to individual children. It also covers issues such as health and safety of the pupil, bullying, and a range of other issues, for instance school security, drugs and substance misuse, providing first aid and medical needs of children with medical conditions. To achieve the children’s protection, children must feel supported and valued by a group of reliable professionals. As stated by Department for Education guidance Safeguarding children and safer recruitment in education (2006), schools must provide a safe environment and move towards identifying and protecting children who are at risk of significant harm and taking appropriate action and making sure that they are kept safe both at home and in the education setting. Indeed, schools are responsible for preventing unsuitable people from working with children to increase safe practice and it requires that all staff should be suitably trained and be aware of action to take. Besides, schools have to work in partnership with other agencies which provide services for children. Local authorities are responsible for providing model policies and procedures on all aspects of safeguarding to ensure that schools are aware of, and fulfil, their responsibilities. For that reason, they offer advice and training for schools’ staff and governors (DfE, 2006).
Safeguarding in the curriculum, online, sex education, prevent etc.
In UK recently, relevant legislation improvements in safeguarding have been widespread such as, The Children Act, Every Child Matter and The Education. Almost all schools now give high priority to getting their safeguarding procedures right. In Ofsted’s Annual Report (2009/10), Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector wrote:
“Safeguarding ¦is an issue addressed not only with increasing sureness by those responsible for keeping children and learners safe, but one felt keenly by those most vulnerable to harm and neglect.”
Children’s welfare, safeguarding, and early intervention for children should be the main priority of Government. Government policy must enable vulnerable children to be treated as children first. The Department for Education have overall responsibility for the welfare of all children in school through promoting programs, policies and creating a safe learning environment by developing comprehensive child protection policies, inter agency cooperation, early education intervention and children’s protection training
What dose national curriculum says about safeguarding issues? How it taught to children to keep themselves safe
All children regardless of age, gender, culture, language, race, ability, sexual identity or religion have equal rights to protection, safeguarding and opportunities. All children and young people in the department’s preschools and schools will access approved child protection curriculum each year. The approved child protection curriculum will be taught by staff that has received training in its use. The approved child protection curriculum will be reviewed in response to emerging evidence about child abuse and violence prevention programs. Safe working practice ensures that pupils are safe. Helping children to keep themselves safe is practice. Another [practice is to develop partnership with parents. The schools share a purpose with parents to educate and keep children safe from harm and to have their welfare promoted. We are committed to working with parents positively, openly and honestly. We ensure that all parents are treated with respect, dignity and courtesy. We respect parents’ rights to privacy and confidentiality and will not share sensitive information unless we have permission or it is necessary to do so in order to protect a child. The schools will, in most circumstances, endeavor to discuss all concerns with parents about their children.
The School ensures that regular guidance and training is arranged on induction and at regular intervals thereafter so that staff and volunteers understand what is expected of them by this policy and has the necessary knowledge and skills to carry out their roles. The level and frequency of training depends on role of the individual member of staff and the need for them to complete risk assessments as part of their role. The School maintains written records of all staff training.
Online safety
Online now has its own section in the updated guidance to emphasize its importance. The guidance now includes specific reference to the need for filtering and monitoring to protect children from online threats at the setting. It is stressed, however, that filters should not lead to unreasonable restrictions as to what children can be taught.
Personal, social, health and educations in national curriculum
Children are taught to understand and manage risk through our personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education and sex and relationships lessons and through all aspects of school life. Our approach is designed to help children to think about risks they may encounter and with the support of staff work out how those risks might be reduced or managed. Children are taught how to conduct themselves and how to behave in a responsible manner. Children are also reminded regularly about e-safety, the risks of sharing content and images online and tackling bullying, including cyber bullying procedures.
Safeguarding special educational needs children’s (SEN)
In the last version of Keeping Children Safe in Education (2016) schools were told that they should consider the safeguarding needs of children with SEN and Disabilities. This guidance goes a little bit further and underlines what that means. There’s a concern sometimes that, for children with SEN and disabilities, that their SEN or disability needs are seen first, and the potential for abuse second. If children are behaving in particular ways or they’re looking distressed or their behavior or demeanor is different from in the past, maybe staff should think about that being a sign of the potential for abuse, and not simply see it as part of their disability or their special educational needs.
Children with SEND have a higher risk of being left out, of being isolated from their peers, and they are disproportionately affected by bullying. Schools are encouraged to make sure that children with SEN and disabilities have got a greater availability of mentoring and support. Whilst most schools do offer that, this guidance is very clear that should happen.
Development, management and implementation of the policy
When the final version of Keeping Children Safe in Education [DFE, 2018] was published and came into force on 3rd September 2018, a few additions had been made since the ‘For Information’ version published in May 2018. Everything included then remains, but there is additional information. A new version of Working Together to Safeguard Children was published in July 2018, to account for changes following the Children and Social Work Act 2017; and an update to the government’s guidance on Information Sharing, to account for the new Data Protection Act 2018, and the General Data Protection Regulation, often known as GDPR.
The new Keeping Children Safe in Education 2018 has therefore been updated to reflect this new legislation and guidance. One change from the Children and Social Work Act 2017 is the transition from Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) to local safeguarding partnerships, so references have been changed to ‘three safeguarding partners’. One concern about the new legislation is that the safeguarding partners, the local authority, police, and clinical commissioning groups, did not include schools. The section in Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 and Keeping Children Safe in Education 2018 says that schools must be fully engaged with the local safeguarding partnerships. There is an interesting change in the language of Keeping Children Safe in Education 2018, is the change from ‘professionals’ to ‘practitioners’.
When the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse began in 2014, organizations working with children were asked not to destroy records about sexual abuse that might be required by the inquiry. This new version of Keeping Children Safe in Education reminds organizations of this requirement.
Power and choice
In May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force and along with it, the Data Protection Act 2018 which superseded the previous version. Reference to this new legislation is included in this version of Keeping Children Safe in Education along with new guidance set out in Information Sharing (2018). Both these documents stress that either GDPR or the Data Protection Act 2018 prevents or limits the sharing of information to keep children safe. Paragraph 77 sets out the “Special Category Personal Data,” which allows sharing information even without consent, in some circumstances. Changes to Disqualification under the Childcare Act 2006, as amended by the Childcare (Early Years Provision Free of Charge) (Extended Entitlement) (Amendment) Regulation 2018 have been made, following a consultation into Disqualification under the Childcare Act 2006. The new legislation came into force on 31st of August 2018.
In the recent past, staff providing child care could, in certain circumstances, is prohibited from working with children because of the convictions made by someone who lives in their household. This is no longer the case. Disqualification by Association now only applies in domestic premises, not to schools. However, staff working in child care may still be disqualified because of offences committed by them. Relevant people include anyone working with children of reception age or younger and children between five and eight years old in an out of school setting (like breakfast clubs or afterschool care).
Current debate about the KCSIE policy
This government is committed to keeping children safe. All children, from whatever background and no matter what challenges they face, deserve a safe environment in which they can learn. Education department is publishing the government response to the recent Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) consultation. KCSIE is statutory guidance that schools and colleges must have regarded to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Children in this context include anyone under the age of 18. Alongside revised statutory guidance, the department is publishing revised advice covering child on child sexual violence and sexual harassment. The KCSIE consultation ran between 14 December 2017 and 22 February 2018 and receives 311 responses. Officials have carefully considered every response and we have made additional changes to strengthen KCSIE as a result.
The most significant revision to KCSIE is the inclusion of a new Part 5 to support schools and colleges respond to reports of child on child sexual violence and sexual harassment. It is an important step in protecting children to include a dedicated Part, covering this complex issue, in the statutory guidance. About 87% of respondents agreed explicitly that schools and colleges holding more than one emergency contact number for each child was sensible. Other changes include making the guidance even clearer that where staff has a safeguarding concern they should act on it immediately and providing more information about vulnerable children who may benefit from early help.
The sexual violence and sexual harassment advice has been strengthened to, amongst other things, be clear that it is relevant for all schools, to be clear that child on child abuse can take place between children of all ages, provide more details as to what sexual harassment can look like and provide additional links to specialist support. The revised advice is published today and is available immediately to support schools and colleges. As part of the government response, the publishing of the revised KCSIE for information will allow schools and college’s time to consider any changes they might want to make to their policies and procedures before the revised guidance comes into force on 3 September 2018. Until the revised guidance comes into force, schools and colleges must continue to have regard to the existing KCSIE 2016 guidance.
How likely is this policy to achieve its intended purpose?
Keeping Children Safe in Education 2018 provides clarity that schools should have its own individual safeguarding policy. This policy should meet the needs of their children in their community, with the particular kinds of issues that may be most important for them. Multi-Academy Trusts may have an overarching policy, but each school must be able to include procedures and information that is particularly relevant to them.
Potential outcomes and implications of the policy
The potential outcomes of Keeping Children safe in education policy are as follows:
• Development of Care networks and child safeguarding networks
• Managing child safeguarding risks
• Analysis of Child safeguarding risk
• Raising of awareness
• Child safeguarding orientation for new co-workers
• Developing code of Conduct roll out
• Development of Positive discipline
• Development of Protective Behaviors
• Trauma-informed care
• Child safeguarding in emergencies
• Managing child safeguarding incidents
• Child safeguarding incidents where the General Secretariat gets involved
Implementation of child safeguarding reporting and responding procedures in member associations
• E-learning on child safeguarding reporting and responding procedures
• CS investigation training
• Child safeguarding monitoring and learning
• Child safeguarding incident register
• Keeping Children Safe Level 1 certification
• Independent Child Safeguarding Review
• Child safeguarding incident analysis
• Sexual coercion and abuse involving staff as perpetrators
One of the keys to success is to be clear about how to implement the policy and what might block you doing it successfully. Are policies ‘dead documents’ that no one ever looks at? Or are they ‘live’ and helpful guides to organizational practice? Core Workshop 1 in Tool 3 – Keeping Children Safe: Training for Child Protection includes an exercise that helps you identify the ‘barriers to implementing a child protection policy’. Have a look at this before you proceed. It is helpful to think about what other policy changes there have been and how these have been introduced by your organization.
– What worked well?
– Why?
– How was it presented?
– How are things communicated across the organization?
Many policies are implemented but very few are monitored to see how successful they have been. Implementation and monitoring are essential to putting child protection standards into practice.
Implementation
The key to successful implementation is to develop an implementation strategy. This policy is implemented that is an important part of this policy is to develop the child safeguarding standards; and this is the first consideration of this policy. There are four stages of implementation of this policy that are as follows:
• Developing the policy
• Implementing the policy when, where to whom
• Disseminating the policy – how it gets to people, telling people about it
• Review and evaluation
How the KCSIE policy is assessed?
Where a concern about a pupil’s welfare is identified, the risks to that pupil’s welfare will be assessed and appropriate action will be taken to reduce the risks identified. The assessment and action will be recorded and then regularly monitored and reviewed. The format of risk assessment as to pupil welfare may vary and may be included as part of the School’s overall response to a welfare issue, including the use of individual pupil welfare plans (such as behavior, healthcare and education plans, as appropriate). Regardless of the form used, the School’s approach will be systematic with a view to promoting pupil welfare. The information obtained through this process and the action agreed will then be shared, as appropriate, with other staff, parents and third parties in order to safeguard and promote the welfare of a particular pupil or of pupils generally. Pupils’ pastoral records including consent forms are generally maintained by office staff, form tutors and heads of year on the School’s computer database and in hard copy on individual pupil files. Medical information is maintained and kept up to date by the school nurses. Confidential records about issues of safeguarding, bullying and serious sanctions are maintained electronically and in hard copy on central files kept by the Designated Safeguarding Lead(s), Head of Juniors, Deputy Head, or Head.
According to KCSIE policy there is risk assessment that can cover adults entering school who has not signed in, such as parents from other schools who are in the building or grounds to watch a sporting event. There is no expectation or requirement to carry out any checks on parents or other adult visitors in these circumstances. It is sensible to have a basic risk assessment for large sporting occasions or other school events to ensure that no unauthorized persons can find themselves in parts of the schools where they have no reason to be. The purpose of a risk assessment is to enable the school to determine what measures should be taken to comply with the duties under the relevant statutory provisions.
Conclusion
Overall, keeping children’s safe in education is a good policy which provides teachers and staff at schools with guidance on how to safeguard children’s in education.
The importance of KCSIE policy it taught schools how to respond to incidents of sexual violence and sexual harassment, emphasizing the need for effective training and policies in schools and colleges. The need for risk assessments in school is to follow reports of incidents of sexual violence or sexual harassment. It also taught staff at school the action needed to take to support victims and alleged perpetrators of sexual violence or harassment. The guidance adds further information on the management of safeguarding in a school, including emphasizing that staff needs to act immediately if they have a concern about a child. The guidance includes new or more detailed information on safeguarding issues including child criminal exploitation, children being used to carry drugs or money from urban to rural homelessness, domestic abuse, child sexual exploitation, and children’s missing from education.
What I don’t like about the policy is the lack of guidance to students and parents, as there was no information included in the policy addressed to the students its self to advise them how to keep themselves safe in education. There was also no parent’s guidance to help parents how to keep their children safe. The guidance adds further information on the management of safeguarding in a school, including emphasizing that staff needs to act immediately if they have a concern about a child. The guidance includes new or more detailed information on safeguarding issues. Keeping Children Safe in Education 2018 provides clarity that schools should have its own individual safeguarding policy. This policy should meet the needs of their children in their community, with the particular kinds of issues that may be most important for them. Multi-Academy Trusts may have an overarching policy, but each school must be able to include procedures and information that is particularly relevant to them.
References:
https://www.safeguardinginschools.co.uk/keeping-children-safe-in-education-2018-additional-information/
https://www.worldvisionusprograms.org/files/e-learning/Standards_for_Child_Protection.pdf
https://www.keepingchildrensafe.org.uk/sites/default/files/KCSTool2%20-%20English.pdf
https://schoolgovernors.thekeysupport.com/curriculum-and-pupils/pastoral-care/safeguarding/keeping-children-safe-in-education-summary/
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/741314/Keeping_Children_Safe_in_Education__3_September_2018_14.09.18.pdf
https://www.e-safetysupport.com/stories/347/how-changes-to-keeping-children-safe-in-education-will-affect-staff-in-schools-and-colleges#.XMvwrTAzbIU
https://consult.education.gov.uk/safeguarding-in-schools-team/keeping-children-safe-in-education/supporting_documents/Keeping%20Children%20Safe%20in%20Education%20Proposed%20Revisions.pdf
https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/standards_child_protection_kcsc_en_1.pdf
https://www.flicklearning.com/blog/what-are-the-key-changes-made-to-keeping-children-safe-in-education-2016
https://www.education.sa.gov.au/sites/g/files/net691/f/child_protection_in_schools_early_childhood_education_and_care_policy.pdf
http://www.poonindieps.sa.edu.au/docs/policies/Assessment_&_Reporting_Policy_2015.pdf
https://lockleysps.sa.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/AssessmentandReportingPolicy2013.pdf
http://www.oakhillschool.org.uk/uploads/5/1/8/1/51817887/safeguarding_policy_opossum_federation_2018-2019.pdf
https://schoolgovernors.thekeysupport.com/curriculum-and-pupils/pastoral-care/safeguarding/keeping-children-safe-in-education-summary/
https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-05-17/HCWS693/
https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/child-protection-system/history-of-child-protection-in-the-uk/
https://ie-today.co.uk/Article/all-change-again/
Curriculum, Assessment & Pedagogy
Summative Assessment
Critical analysis of a recent education policy
Suggested Format
• Introduction
• Description of the policy
What are the aims of the policy?
What area does the policy relate to?
Why the policy formulated? Historical background?
• Analysis of the policy, using insights from relevant theories and perspectives.
Is the policy fit for purpose?
What are the ideological underpinnings (if any) of the policy?
Are there any key issues?
Think about issues related to (these are just suggestions to set you thinking):
• access,
• SEN,
• social justice,
• differentiation,
• learner diversity (learning styles and multiple intelligences etc).
• How useful are the aims of the policy? What will be its impact?
• What theoretical perspective will you use to analyse and critique the policy?
• Who devised the policy?
• Can you identify the ideological basis of your chosen policy?
• Issues related to power?
• How does the policy reflect the interest of different groups within society?
• Who is included and who gets excluded?
• How does the policy correspond to the stratification within society?
What are the positives and negatives?
What are the theoretical underpinnings of the policy?
How will the policy impact the learners’ experience?
If it is a curriculum policy, think about the curricular framework, pedagogy, and assessment strategies.
• Conclusion
