As local authorities ride the roller coaster of Ofsted inspections, bouncing between the categories of outstanding and inadequate, why is it that we seemingly have systemic failure of public policy to address the needs of our children?
Despite the introduction of various pieces of legislation, in policy terms we continue to fail some groups of children. This serious failure is highlighted in Ofsted reports, and occasionally hits the media. As of 31 March 2022, 13 per cent of Local Authorities were judged outstanding, 39 per cent good, 35 per cent requires improvement to be good and 11 per cent inadequate.
Compliance with legislation and procedures on its own cannot develop the culture and behaviours necessary to be deemed outstanding. On a visit to Norway, I asked the Minister why their legislation to protect children was so short. They looked at me and said its “because we value, children, childhood, and family life. We don’t rely on legislation”.
The House of Lords select committee on the Children and Families Act 2014 is due to report in November and is hearing from invited contributors in public evidence sessions. The committee asks to what extent has the act improved the situation for the most vulnerable children, young people? We know that for some children it hasn’t improved at all, and we read of more children’s services struggling to manage. So, the next question is, is this because of the act itself, its implementation, or because of the challenges that have emerged during the pandemic? The committee also asks what should any new legislation include?
Are we missing something here? Does policy and legislation, and compliance with that legislation, change culture and behaviour?
Remember the days when we would jump in a car and drive off without wearing a seatbelt? Or propping up a small child on your lap in the front seat? Then came seat belt legislation. Roll forward 39 years and most of us automatically wear our seatbelt and wouldn’t dream of balancing a baby on the dashboard. Why? Do we comply simply because it is law or has our culture and behaviours changed? How did we shift public thinking into routinely strapping ourselves in? The law provided the compliance framework, but our practice changed through a change in mindset.
So how can this help the committee to shape their report? If legislation and compliance alone is not driving improvements, then what else is required beyond more legislation?
Perfectionism
The American academic and motivational speaker Brené Brown once described perfectionism as a 20-ton shield. You carry it around with you, thinking that it will protect you from failure, whereas in reality, all it does is weigh you down and make every task you set your mind to that much more daunting.
And this is where the danger of perfectionism creeps in. Why? Because a law, by its very nature, is an idealistic thing. It is a perfect standard by which to judge ourselves. It sets out dozens of articles each of which is separately and crucially important and needs to be delivered. However, the rigid and broad tenets of the law are not enough.
A great target to shoot for, then, but also one that can easily induce the paralysis of perfectionism. Especially when you have a House of Lords select committee or Ofsted to hold a report under your nose that sets out the many ways in which we may currently be falling short of their expectations.
It is important to understand the political and public salience of children. Most people would agree that children going hungry is not right but how many would agree to pay more tax to fix the problem?
There is an assumption by some those individual choices rather than social systems and context shape children’s lives and outcomes. In turn, some believe that that the government can’t and shouldn’t do too much. This foundational way of understanding the world shapes how people think about children, leading to the assumption that government shouldn’t overstep its role and do more for children.
Most adults see the family as their support unit and as a system to be the provider. In Jersey I often heard the comments “If parents can’t afford to bring up their kids, they shouldn’t have kids” and “If parents can’t afford food, then they should get a job/stop gambling/stop drinking…” These are perceptions of deservingness – this is the idea that some families and kids don’t deserve our collective support.
We create change with a new narrative, yet this can’t just tell a different story about children but must tell a different story about the broader systems that affect all of us. Pulling forward and deepening a systemic perspective on social issues will benefit the causes of all those working to advance social justice and equity. Effectively shifting the narrative about these systems means partnering with children’s charities and activists across children’s issues. Children’s advocates cannot, on their own, shift foundational public understandings of social causes and government. The long-term success of children’s advocacy is closely tied to the success of other fields and requires strong partnerships across issues.
Leadership
Effective, proactive, and visible leadership and management is also required. Values, principles, and standards lived and breathed by us all should underpin the law. It may seem self-evident to state that work practices are so named because that is what we must continually do: practise them. But in my experience, it is something that cannot be repeated often enough. Because the reality is that cultures become ingrained through repetition, and even when a legal framework is in place, the commitments we sign up to and the promises we make to improve outcomes for our children become so much harder to put into practice. This is where leadership must lead. For me, the perfect situation would be one in which all our policies and laws are bastions of children’s rights – but I am very much alive to the dangers of perfectionism. Yet the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child provides us with a full set of guiding principles – our new narrative. As with the Children and Families Act, we can use the articles of the UNCRC to continually respond to whatever the world throws at our children and young people.
The principal beneficiaries of a culture change for children beyond legal compliance will not just be those children who need extra help and care but will benefit society as a whole. Remember Norway? The right cultural mindset will mean that children and families are a policy priority. As Nelson Mandela said, “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children”.
Deborah McMillan is former children's commissioner for Jersey
