Search Results

Found 55 results for .

Outstanding challenge for Ofsted

    Opinion
  • Monday, February 1, 2010
  • | CYP Now
Ofsted-bashing has been on the rise for several months. Cries of exasperation over the way the children's services inspectorate goes about its business have come in fits and starts from all quarters.

Class and race merit more attention

    Opinion
  • Monday, January 25, 2010
  • | CYP Now
The underachievement of white working-class children has justifiably become a cause for national concern. Plenty of schools are making great strides to tackle the issue. Nevertheless, it has led to declarations, most recently from Communities Secretary John Denham, that social class is the most significant factor in determining school achievement rather than ethnicity.

It's time to respect children's rights

    Opinion
  • Tuesday, November 17, 2009
  • | CYP Now
You wait ages for one 20th anniversary, then three come along at once. We've just marked the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 1989 Children Act. And this week it is 20 years since the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child came into existence.

Education is the antidote to racism

    Opinion
  • Tuesday, October 27, 2009
  • | CYP Now
The bear-baiting of British National Party (BNP) leader Nick Griffin in his recent appearance on Question Time did nothing to advance race relations in our country.

Cuts could enhance joint working

    Opinion
  • Tuesday, October 6, 2009
  • | CYP Now
The party conference season is over and national politics is destined for a surreal few months in the run-up to the general election. Expect plenty more short-term children's policy announcements - some even eye- catching - as the main parties try to outmanoeuvre each other to strike a popular chord. Politics in Westminster will become increasingly sensationalised and polarised.

Focus of spending must be balanced

    Opinion
  • Tuesday, September 8, 2009
  • | CYP Now
It's official: the UK spends more money on child welfare and education than the average market economy. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report out last week, we spend just over 90,000 per child from birth to 18 compared to an OECD average among 30 member countries of just under 80,000.

Inspecting home educators is fair

    Opinion
  • Tuesday, August 11, 2009
  • | CYP Now
Graham Badman's review of home education has created an unrivalled storm of protest on CYP Now's online discussion forums in the past couple of months. Scores of parents are livid at his proposals.

The joys of sex should be explained

    Opinion
  • Tuesday, June 30, 2009
  • | CYP Now
Earlier this year, the government confirmed its intention to make sex education compulsory in schools as part of the introduction of personal, social and health education to the National Curriculum.

The next commissioner needs bite

    Opinion
  • Tuesday, June 16, 2009
  • | CYP Now
The Department for Children, Schools and Families has fired the starting gun to recruit a children's commissioner for England to succeed Sir Al Aynsley-Green early next year.

After the circus, the work carries on

    Opinion
  • Tuesday, June 9, 2009
  • | CYP Now
It was Oscar Wilde who wrote: "To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness" (The Importance of Being Earnest).

Editorial: Hard work begins on 16-19 transfer

    Opinion
  • Tuesday, June 2, 2009
  • | CYP Now
The children's services arena is about to get considerably bigger. From next April, local authorities will inherit responsibility from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) for commissioning and funding education and training for 16- to 19-year-olds in a 7bn mega-transfer of funds. One of the key principles driving this reform is that provision of education and training is shaped by local demand, both by young people and by employers. The onus will be on councils to plan strategically to ensure a range of providers is set up to meet this demand.

Youth employment is key to revival

    Opinion
  • Tuesday, April 28, 2009
  • | CYP Now
The outstandingly depressing budget of 2009 has left children's services in limbo, braced for the tightest of public spending squeezes and a likely change of government.

The key to Ofsted's rehabilitation

    Opinion
  • Tuesday, March 31, 2009
  • | CYP Now
Ofsted has attracted its share of flak in recent months, much of it justified. The verdict of its Annual Performance Assessment of Haringey Council in late 2007 as "good" is now notorious.

What we need is a trusting society, Darling

    Opinion
  • Tuesday, October 21, 2008
  • | CYP Now
"What I want to avoid is getting ourselves in a position governments have done in the past where you face an immediate problem and cut back on things the country will need in the future," Chancellor Alistair Darling said last weekend.

Tory policy still needs some improvements

    Opinion
  • Tuesday, September 30, 2008
  • | CYP Now
There is a very real prospect that the next government will be a Conservative one. So it's encouraging that apart from the small matter of a global economic crisis, issues affecting children, young people and families took centre stage at the party's annual conference this week.

Editorial: Inherent dangers lurk in staying safe plan

    Opinion
  • Tuesday, February 12, 2008
  • | CYP Now
With the publication of the Staying Safe Action Plan last week, the government has been at pains not to be seen to wrap children up in cotton wool. In presentation terms, the document's front cover depicts children happily participating in watersports, climbing and running. Meanwhile, the Department for Children, Schools and Families' press notice on the safety plan leads heavily on the proposal to encourage teachers to take pupils on outdoor school trips by providing advice and diminishing bureaucracy.

Editorial: Commercialism is damaging childhood

    Opinion
  • Tuesday, December 11, 2007
  • | CYP Now
With the festive season upon us, and the avalanche of consumerism it brings, it is timely that the government's 10-year Children's Plan should include an inquiry into the impact of commercialisation on children's wellbeing.

Current filters