Daily roundup: Teaching, education inspection and youth opinions
Derren Hayes
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
British values to be taught in schools; Nacro's work with Neets gets good Ofsted rating; and Clegg admits party has lost support of young people, all in the news today.
All children will be taught British values of liberty and tolerance from September in the wake of the so-called Trojan horse inquiry in Birmingham, the Times reports. Education Secretary Michael Gove pledged to act as an investigation by Ofsted found evidence that several Birmingham schools had been targeted by Muslims in an organised campaign to alter their “character and ethos”. A number of the academies at the centre of the case are to have their funding stripped.
Crime reduction charity Nacro’s national education programme for young people not in education, employment or training has been judged “good” by Ofsted. The inspection report praised the confidence and self-esteem that young people get from the Nacro course as well as the care and support they receive. Nacro runs 38 education centres across the country.
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has admitted his party has lost the support of “young people who dream of a better future”. Clegg said the breaking of the Liberal Democrat pre-election pledge on tuition fees while in government had led many young people to no longer think the party is “there for us”. He was speaking as he announced a manifesto pledge to build 300,000 new homes a year, the Telegraph reports.
The government agency that funds all state schools needs to be "smarter" at spotting poor money management in academies and free schools, say MPs. The Education Funding Agency "does not spot risks or intervene in schools quickly enough", says the Commons Public Accounts Committee. The agency was set up in 2012 to ensure "efficiency, accountability and transparency" in school funding, the BBC reports.
Council officers in Stoke-on-Trent have warned that the abolition next year of a ring-fenced government grant to homelessness presents a “significant risk to services working with young people”. The £626,000 grant has helped Stoke City Council prevent 80 young people becoming homeless over the last 12 months. But the Stoke Sentinel reports that councillors have urged the fund to still be available once the grant ends in 2015.
Ofsted has launched a consultation on proposed new arrangements for inspecting residential family centres. The new arrangements are set to begin in September 2014 with the information gathered from the consultation, which closes on 10 July, used to finalise the revised arrangements for inspection.
A safe social network – designed by and for young adult carers – has been launched by Dundee Carers Centre and Abertay University. The social media site is thought to be the first dedicated to young adult carers aged 16 to 30. The site is being launched during the UK-wide Carers Week, which runs from 9-15 June.