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Sector must influence the coalition

    Opinion
  • Monday, May 17, 2010
  • | CYP Now
They say that a week is a long time in politics. Quite. As predicted in these pages for many months, the new Tory Secretary of State Michael Gove has renamed the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) as the Department for Education.

Election result prolongs uncertainty

    Opinion
  • Monday, May 10, 2010
  • | CYP Now
At the time of writing -- on the historically uncertain afternoon of Friday 7 May -- the Conservatives were about to enter into negotiations with the Liberal Democrats about helping them to form a government.

Every Child Matters faces biggest test

    Opinion
  • Monday, April 19, 2010
  • | CYP Now
The Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS) pledged, in its annual report last week, to assess and build on the progress of Every Child Matters (ECM) for the next five years, as a policy priority for the coming 12 months. It is a good priority to hold, particularly given the uncertainty ahead.

Gove gives joint working a rude jolt

    Opinion
  • Tuesday, April 6, 2010
  • | CYP Now
Michael Gove's revelation to CYP Now that a Conservative government will remove obligations on local authorities to have children's trusts in place will come as a thunderbolt for children's services, particularly in their efforts to safeguard children and enable them to thrive.

Neet strategy is not fit for purpose

    Opinion
  • Monday, March 8, 2010
  • | CYP Now
At last week's Generation Neet debate, CYP Now aimed boldly to identify "how to solve the problem of young people not in education, employment of training (Neet)" via a panel of politicians, experts and young people. Of course, we didn't actually solve the problem.

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.

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