Daily roundup 2 November: Childhood trauma, online safety, and careers advice

Children who suffer abuse, violence or other trauma at home are more likely to become seriously ill as adults, a study has found. Public Health Wales research found that children who endure four or more adverse childhood experiences are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with a chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and respiratory disease in later life compared with those who have experienced none. The report concludes that in addition to learned behaviour, traumatised children also experience changes in the brain that have detrimental effects on health across a lifetime, reports the Guardian.


Children should be taught about the realities of pornography and online grooming before they reach puberty, the shadow women and equalities minister has said. According to the Standard, a report by Labour Rotherham MP Sarah Champion said that pupils as young as five need to start new age-appropriate relationship education to keep them safe from abusive relationships.


Ministers have been accused of "burying their heads in the sand" over the poor state of careers education and advice for teenagers in England's schools. A committee of MPs have warned that careers information and advice is patchy and often inadequate and that too many leave education without the tools to help them consider their future job options. The MPs say the failure to advise young people is exacerbating skills shortages and having a negative impact on the productivity, the BBC reports.


Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw has branded it a "national disgrace" that 250,000 young people leave school without a GCSE in maths and English. Speaking at the Freedom and Autonomy for Schools National Association conference today, Wilshaw said the education system is failing too many disadvantaged pupils, with poorer children not making sufficient progress in secondary schools particularly. He said the attainment gap between pupils in receipt of free school meal and those who aren't had remained at 28 per cent over the past decade.


Campaigners have welcomed the the progress of a "private members bill" after it passed its second reading in parliament. The Homelessness Reduction Bill was introduced to parliament by Conservative Harrow East MP Bob Blackman and proposes a range of measures including a stronger duty on councils to provide information and advice on homelessness and ensuring advice services are designed to meet the needs of people who are at particular risk of homelessness. Denise Hatton, chief executive of YMCA England, said: "This bill presents a crucial first step in ensuring those who need help are supported before they are faced with the very real dangers of rough sleeping."


A free online tool for schools has been launched to evaluate and monitor improvements in their careers education against eight nationally recognised benchmarks. Launched by The Careers & Enterprise Company and The Gatsby Foundation, Compass will give schools an immediate readout on how they compare so they can focus resources on the areas of their careers programmes that need developing.?