Archive for the ‘Education’ Category
Friday, February 17th, 2012
September 2011 saw the launch of the first 24 free schools with a further 72 set to open in September 2012. The DfE has confirmed that groups wanting to open mainstream, special and alternative provision free schools in September 2013 can now submit their detailed plans.
Free schools are proving very popular with parents with 15 of the first 24 being oversubscribed even before opening. There seems to be a gap in the education provision market that free schools have catered for, particularly for those young people in deprived areas, offering them a greater chance of establishing themselves in an increasingly competitive and difficult economical climate.
Free schools are established from scratch, therefore differing from the academies programme which requires schools to convert with the same characteristics that they have as a maintained school. However, like academies, the key principle is greater freedoms, for example the ability to vary the school day and the curriculum.
Laura Richards
0115 976 6249
lrichards@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: academies, curriculum, DFE, Education, free schools, schools
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Friday, February 10th, 2012
Ofsted’s announcements seem to becoming an almost weekly occurrence. Not content with proposals to axe the rating ‘satisfactory’ and outline plans to carry out no-notice inspections in schools, the latest plan is to target ‘outstanding schools’.
Ofsted’s chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, intends to re-examine the 1,000 outstanding schools with ‘good’ teaching standards stating that “there needs to be a clear gold standard understood by all”. These schools now face the risk of being down-graded.
Sir Michael has also said “It is important that outstanding schools should not luxuriate in their own outstandingness”. So instead of excellent school leaders being able to relax and take a moment to congratulate their staff, students and other contributing partners on their success, they should instead be on a constant vigil to find and eradicate any sign of weakness. How disheartening. Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for outstanding teaching in schools, but surely targeting schools with poor teaching standards should be the priority?
Posted by Hayley Roberts, who specialises in education law advice to schools and academies, including advice on teaching schools, collaboration models and partnership structures, school companies, and a wide range of pastoral issues.
Hayley Roberts
0115 908 4862
hroberts@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: Education, Ofsted, ofsted inspection, schools, sir michael wilshaw, teaching standards
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
The debate on the safeguarding proposals in the Protection of Freedoms Bill continued today. And, regardless of expert views to the contrary, the government refuses to accept the risk of grooming posed by people who will be able to work with children unchecked.
As the Bill stands a ‘supervised volunteer’ in a school would not be undertaking ‘Regulated Activity’ and therefore no checks would be required. This means that an individual who is barred from working with children could still volunteer with children as long as he is supervised. That cannot be right.
This ignores the fact that children see all adults in schools (and other settings) as appropriate and trustworthy. It allows an adult to build a trusting relationship during schools hours and to exploit it out of hours. In other words, to groom and then abuse a child.
Even Lord Bichard has pleaded for a change, but thus far such pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
Posted by Dai Durbridge, who specialises safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in education, social care and health settings; defending claims against education, social care and health providers.
Dai Durbridge
0115 976 6578
ddurbridge@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 10.0/10 (2 votes cast)
Tags: CRB checks, Education, local safeguarding childrens' boards, Lord Bichard, protection of freedoms bill, safeguarding, Social Care
Posted in Education, Social Care | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 8th, 2012
It was only two weeks ago that I suggested we ought to see government guidance to support schools and teachers on the use of social media .
Today we see another report, this time from Wales, regarding the inappropriate use of social media by education professionals, and the issue remains the same – a lack of understanding by the individual on how this particular social media site worked and presumably some confusion by the school on exactly what they could do.
Another factor in this case is the social media expert who, according to the news report, advises teachers to set up separate sites to be friends with pupils. Should they? Some would advocate that teachers should not be friends with pupils on social networks at all. The rights and wrongs will continue to be debated and can only be clarified by clear guidance from the Department for Education on this tricky issue. Is that too much to ask?
Posted by Dai Durbridge, who specialises safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in education, social care and health settings; defending claims against education, social care and health providers.
Dai Durbridge
0115 976 6578
ddurbridge@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: Department for Education, Education, schools, Social Media, teachers
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 8th, 2012
With more and more hand-held devices being internet enabled, the scope and frequency of cyberbullying has rapidly changed and continues to do so. ‘Beatbullying’, a bullying prevention charity, has published a study into cyberbullying amongst children, young people and teachers in the UK.
1 in 13 children experience persistent and intentional bullying. Nearly half reported the bullying started offline but continued online. Teachers can also be victims of the widespread use of social network and rating websites.
There is no doubt that cyberbullying is detrimental to wellbeing, confidence and self esteem both in and outside of school. Reluctance of victims to go to school, can seriously affect attainment. The constant and intense nature of cyberbullying means the impact can be devastating. These issues must be seriously addressed by schools in their behaviour and e-communications policies, ensuring that appropriate prevention and disciplinary measures are introduced. This also triggers discussion around how legislation such as the Harassment Act will be invoked in severe cases of cyberbullying.
Laura Richards
0115 976 6249
lrichards@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: beatbullying, bullying, children, cyber-bullying, e-communications, Education, harassment act, internet, schools, Social Media, teachers, young adults
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 7th, 2012
A Dubai based company (GEMS Education) plans to set up fee paying schools for boys and girls aged 3-18 across England over the next two years. Exact locations have not yet been confirmed but they aim to target areas with fewer private schools.
The company will undercut private schools fees that are around £16,000 per year by offering parents an opportunity to send their children to a private school at a cheaper annual price of £8,000 to £12,000. By offering the same standard of education and facilities such as on site doctors, they aim to attract parents struggling to pay the usual private school fees in the current economic climate.
The schools will be subject to the same standards and inspection process that applies to other independent schools in England. However, there is concern as to where and how these savings will be made and concern that the high standards associated with the independent school sector could be diluted by this venture.
Posted by Katie Michelon, who specialises in education law advice to schools, colleges and LEAs, including commercial advice on education sector projects such as academies, trust schools and federations.
Katie Michelon
0115 976 6189
kmichelon@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: Education, Gems Education, high standards association, independant schools, private schools, school fee's
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Friday, February 3rd, 2012
David Willets, the universities minister, has announced a rapid increase in higher education courses provided by further education colleges. This year, FE colleges will provide around 9,500 additional university places after successfully tendering for government funding for courses costing less than £7,500 a year.
This development builds on the successful model of many FE colleges who already provide higher education courses alongside A-Level, NVQ and other post-GCSE education. Last year, the government’s White Paper on higher education called for increased variety and competition amongst higher education providers. This year, the large number of FE colleges who were successful in their bids for additional funding is a significant move in that direction.
Demand for university education has dropped this year, but there will still be many more applicants than available places. The continuing pressure on the government to provide lower-cost degrees suggests that FE colleges will play an increasingly important role in the higher education sector in the coming years.
Dave Drew
0115 976 6226
ddrew@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: david willets, education courses, further education, further education colleges, government funding, universities
Posted in Education, Further Education | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
Today, a new, shorter version of the School Admissions and School Admission Appeals Codes comes into force in time for the September 2013 admissions round.
The codes make it easier for good schools to expand by removing the need to consult where schools who act as their own admissions authorities wish to increase their planned admission numbers and allow anyone to raise an objection with the schools adjudicator in a bid to increase local accountability.
The idea behind the new codes was to make them clearer, shorter and more straightforward. They are certainly a little shorter, but inevitably ambiguity and complexly remain. What the codes won’t do is reduce the number of appeals faced by schools and Academies. Oversubscribed academies could well be crippled with numerous and time-consuming questions from parents exercising their rights to appeal under the code.
This was the opportunity for the government to reconsider the point and amend the codes accordingly, an opportunity they missed.
Posted by Hayley Roberts, who specialises in education law advice to schools and academies, including advice on teaching schools, collaboration models and partnership structures, school companies, and a wide range of pastoral issues.
Hayley Roberts
0115 908 4862
hroberts@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: academies, admissions authorities, Education, school adjudicator, school admission appeal codes, school admissions
Posted in Education, Further Education | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
The current examination system is said to encourage schools to focus their teaching towards the actual exam, rather than providing a general overview of the subject.
The purpose of new league tables, due out next week, is to incentivise schools to raise standards and teaching for all pupils, instead of encouraging them to jump through hoops to avoid intervention. The revised tables will show more accurate and detailed statistics of grades, offering a comparison between the schools that take on high achievers and those that started at a lower base. They will carefully monitor the improvements made in each school.
It is hoped that this will further the government’s agenda to close the attainment gap between different backgrounds. This is coupled with the extra Pupil Premium funding to support poorer children. The theory is that in return schools should deliver the same level of achievement for all children, regardless of background.
Laura Richards
0115 976 6249
lrichards@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: Education, further education, Public Sector, pupil premium, school league tables, schools, teaching standards
Posted in Education, Further Education | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
Teachers, pupils and social media - it was only a matter of time before this became a serious issue. 43 cases before the GTCE last year may not sound high, but how many more inappropriate relationships are being formed across schools, academies and the FE sector? Which begs the questions, why have we not seen Department for Education guidance specifically aimed at helping manage staff expectations and promote a consistent, measured approach nationally?
There is evidence of big differences in approach to the use of social media amongst schools- some ban teachers using the sites altogether, some allow restricted usage and others have barely considered the issue. And it needs to be looked at not only from a ‘friending’ point of view, but also to consider issues like appropriate privacy settings and profile pictures which, regardless of friending, can be accessed by pupils, parents and colleagues alike.
I hate to press for even more guidance in our sector, but this is an area where it seems schools need help.
Posted by Dai Durbridge, who specialises in safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in education, social care and health settings; defending claims against education, social care and health providers.
Dai Durbridge
0115 976 6578
ddurbridge@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 10.0/10 (3 votes cast)
Tags: academies, allegations against teachers, Department for Education, Education, further education, GTCE, Social Media, teachers
Posted in Education, Further Education | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
David Cameron has backed Sir Michael Wilshaw’s plans to axe the current Ofsted rating of ‘satisfactory’, stating “Just good enough is frankly not good enough”. Bold plans to tackle ‘coasting schools’ and get them to switch gear have now been outlined with proposals to change the current 3,000 schools labelled as ‘satisfactory’ to ‘improvement required’. Schools will be given three years to improve, with earlier re-inspections after 12 to 18 months. If they fail to improve, they could face going into ‘special measures’.
This announcement comes hot on the heels of plans to carry out no-notice inspections to address flaws in the system after concerns were raised that in some schools poor teachers and naughty students were told to ‘stay home’ during Ofsted inspections.
Though critics have accused these changes as being part of a wider plan to force schools to become academies, there are many who see this as a welcome move to address inadequacies and strive for the best education for all children.
Posted by Hayley Roberts, who specialises in education law advice to schools and academies, including advice on teaching schools, collaboration models and partnership structures, school companies, and a wide range of pastoral issues.
Hayley Roberts
0115 908 4862
hroberts@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 9.5/10 (2 votes cast)
Tags: academies, David Cameron, Education, ofsted ratings, schools, sir michael wilshaw
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Friday, January 13th, 2012
The Government has today made a long overdue announcement following their consultation on changes to the Teachers’ Performance Regulations. The announcement confirms that the Government are going to remove a lot of the previous restrictions on schools to dismissing ‘underperforming’ teachers. The model policy that was consulted on combines performance management with capability and envisages dismissal for routine cases within a term. As part of the recommendation, the period teachers are given to improve could be as short as 4 weeks.
It will be up to individual schools to review their policies from September in light of the recommendations of the Government. Schools seeking to put this robust approach into practice should be mindful that the ultimate test is not the word of Mr Gove but that of the Employment Tribunal. Whether a Tribunal would consider the government’s timetable to be fair remains to be seen.
Posted by Heather Bragg, who specialises in contentious and non-contentious employment matters including; contractual issues, unfair dismissal, redundancy and all areas of discrimination.
Heather Bragg
0115 976 6553
hbragg@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: Education, employment, employment tribunal, mr gove, schools, teachers, teachers performance regulations, teaching standards
Posted in Education, Employment | No Comments »
Thursday, January 12th, 2012
We’ve seen a lot of publicity recently about the Government’s intention to make the adoption process easier and faster, but for the most part the focus has been on placing babies and young children.
This week brings news that the needs of older children are being forgotten and that it is a concern that deserves to be taken seriously.
Since 1999 it has be possible for children to bring claims against local authorities for failing to secure appropriate arrangements which are in Looked After Children’s short and long term best interests. Failure to do so could be the subject of long, expensive and protracted litigation – something which we are seeing a lot more of.
Posted by Sarah Erwin-Jones, who specialises in social services, the care sector, education and negotiating legal costs; advises on risk management issues including data protection matters.
Sarah Erwin-Jones
0115 976 6136
serwin@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 9.3/10 (3 votes cast)
Tags: adoption, adoption system, childrens social care, Education, fostercare, local authority children's services, Social Care
Posted in Education, Litigation, Public Sector, Social Care | No Comments »
Friday, January 6th, 2012
The dawn of 2012 brings the annual discussion about upcoming employment law developments. The following may be of particular interest to employers:
- The qualifying period for unfair dismissal is expected to be increased from one to two years in April
- Pensions auto-enrolment for larger employers begins in October
- Consultations are to be progressed on the introduction of the following:
- ‘protected conversations’ between employers and employees about employment issues
- a standard text for compromise agreements
- allowing smaller employers to execute ‘no fault’ dismissals on payment of a prescribed sum
- early compulsory conciliation of all claims
- introduction of fees to bring a tribunal claim
The government is keen to reduce the amount of red tape in employment law to support business and boost the economy. This will be welcomed by employers. However care must be taken to ensure that the changes improve the effectiveness of the current framework, and do not simply add to employers’ administrative burden.
Posted by Hayley Prescott, who specialises in employment law, both contentious and non-contentious, including tribunal claims, unfair dismissal, redundancy, policies and procedures, compromise agreements, contractual issues and general advisory work.
Hayley Prescott
0115 976 6116
hprescott@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 5.0/10 (3 votes cast)
Tags: auto enrolment, compromise agreements, employment, employment law, employment tribunals, further education, Pensions, Retail, unfair dismissal, unfair dismissal claims
Posted in Employment, Further Education, Retail | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 4th, 2012
Covering over 22,000 schools across England, Ofsted launched a new online questionnaire, ‘Parent View’, in October 2011. The scheme was launched to provide parents with a voice and greater insight as they make choices about their child’s education on areas such as quality of teaching, bullying, behaviour and levels of homework.
The aim is that the anonymous system will provide Ofsted with information about schools that will help inform their priorities for inspection. Over 9,300 parents have completed the questionnaire since its launch. Initial analysis shows just under a third of families with children at the schools where results had been analysed said they would not make recommendations about their children’s school to other parents.
Parents often go by word of mouth when making important decisions about their child’s education, so this questionnaire provides a crucial portal for them to base their decisions. However, there is a danger that the anonymous system could be abused with schools being targeted unfairly, resulting in misleading results.
Laura Richards
0115 976 6249
lrichards@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: bullying, child education, Education, Ofsted, parent view
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Friday, December 23rd, 2011
This time last year schools and other children’s organisations were up in arms over Littlegossip website – a site that lets users anonymously post gossip about educational institutions. It has been reported that comments posted on the site included threats, racial slurs, sexual abuse and other forms of abuse.
The effect of the uproar in 2010? The site closed for 24 hours only to reopen with a tick-box for users to confirm they were over 18. This was meant to appease critics. Fast-forward one year and whilst the DfE has promised it is taking steps to have the site shut down, schools cannot sit back and rest easy.
Cyber-bullying is a deepening issue. Schools need to take reasonable steps to protect staff and pupils from cyber-bullying. As a minimum, schools should have a clear e-safety policy, regular dialogue with parents and pupils on the risks of social-media sites and signed acceptable-use-policies. The DfE are stepping in, but schools need to keep up their good work too.
Posted by Hayley Roberts, who specialises in education law advice to schools and academies, including advice on teaching schools, collaboration models and partnership structures, school companies, and a wide range of pastoral issues.
Hayley Roberts
0115 908 4862
hroberts@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
Tags: cyber-bullying, Department for Education, educational institutions, littlegossip website, Social Media
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
The DfE has published a consultation on the revised statutory guidance and regulations for school exclusions. They are inviting views on its revised guidance for exclusions from schools and pupil referral units and also the draft School Discipline Regulations 2012. The consultation closes on 17 February 2012, so now is the time to review the draft and add your comments.
There are some interesting changes proposed. The main themes are the way permanent exclusions are challenged, the introduction of independent review panels, time limits on decision making and the ability for a special educational needs expert to attend an IRP. The government’s drive to reduce red tape and slim-down guidance is clear to see in this consultation – 35 pages of new guidance compared to the 80 pages in the 2008 version. We all want short, concise guidance, but we all want it to do the job too. Let’s hope size has not prevailed over quality.
Posted by Dai Durbridge, who specialises safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in education, social care and health settings; defending claims against education, social care and health providers.
Dai Durbridge
0115 976 6578
ddurbridge@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: Department for Education, draft school discipline regulations 2012, Education, education act 2011, IRP, school exclusions, special educational needs, statutory guidance
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
The government has announced that changes to the curriculum in English, science, maths and I.T. have been pushed back a year – to autumn 2014. The reason is to allow more time for interested parties to give their views so that a “genuinely word-class education system” can be created.
Critics have pointed out that as more and more schools convert to academies the proposed changes may be pointless since academies have freedom over their curriculum.
There are currently 1,463 academies open (the majority of which are secondaries) and hundreds more academy conversions are in the pipeline. In addition, the government has made it clear that poorly performing schools will be forced to partner-up with outstanding schools and become academies.
If the pace of conversions keeps up, the number of schools affected by the change in curriculum will be few and far between. The government hopes academies will voluntarily adopt the changes come 2014, but will not be able to guarantee this will be the case.
Hayley Roberts
0115 908 4862
hroberts@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
Tags: academies, academy conversions, curriculum changes, Education, government, outstanding schools
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Friday, December 16th, 2011
The need to reduce bureaucracy in further education has been highlighted in a recent National Audit Office (NAO). The NAO estimates colleges spend around £180m annually on administering funding, qualification and assurance systems.
However the report has come under fire from the Skills Funding Agency for failing to “distinguish between administrative requirements essential for good stewardship of public money and those that may be unnecessary.
The Government recognises the need to reduce red tape. Earlier in the year it launched three consultation papers seeking views on how best to simplify the system, but with no specific plan on how to get there.
This issue is high on the agenda, particularly in light of the financial concerns of some colleges. However, until we know the true cost of administrative burdens, the 25% reduction in costs suggested by the NAO is purely speculative. We will await the outcome of the Government’s fast track investigation.
Whatever the outcome, the quality of college courses should not diminish.
Posted by Richard Cox, who specialises in corporate transactions and advises colleges on numerous matters including joint ventures and partnerships, college mergers and funding disputes.
Richard Cox
0115 976 6135
rcox@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: colleges, Education, funding systems, national audit office, skills funding agency
Posted in Education, Further Education | No Comments »
Thursday, December 15th, 2011
A government commissioned independent review has suggested the introduction of a new “Master Teaching Standard” for more experienced staff. This would see the current system of rewards and standards replaced with a single “Master Teacher Standard”.
A clear set of minimum standards would be set out which would highlight any teachers that are underperforming. To attain the new “Master Teacher” grade, teachers would have to meet five new standards that require high performing teachers to have wide-ranging knowledge of their specialism, command of the classroom, excellent planning and organisational skills, amongst others.
The aim of these prospective changes is to improve teaching standards in schools to attract the very best teachers to the profession, with promotions and pay benefits. This proposal has divided opinions, especially the potential alienation of primary teachers where a specialist subject is required. The government will now consider how the suggestions may be implemented.
Laura Richards
0115 976 6249
lrichards@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
Tags: Department for Education, Education, master teaching standard, primary education, teachers, teaching standards
Posted in Education | No Comments »
