Archive for the ‘Education’ Category
Tuesday, April 10th, 2012
An initiative that makes schools accountable and responsible for the education of excluded pupils is proving a success. Under the trial scheme funding for educating excluded children goes directly to headteachers (instead of the LA) who decide how best to cater for the pupils’ needs.
Presently, many excluded pupils end up in LA-run Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) costing over £16,000 a year, compared to around £4,500 for a place at a mainstream school. Most pupils leave with poor exam results and no qualifications.
Under the scheme, schools work together in ‘inclusion partnerships’ trying wherever possible to admit excluded pupils into another mainstream school. The result? PRUs are closing as demand drops and money previously spent on funding places at PRUs has been plugged back into school budgets, (£5.4m in Cambridgeshire). This may not work as well in less affluent areas, but the DfE is watching closely. It appears to be the clear way forward and could well be the status quo in the foreseeable future.
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: exclusion, mainstream school, pupil referral units, pupils, schools
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 4th, 2012
The Guardian has asked teachers and unions what problems there are in education ahead of the teaching union conferences. Comments include budget cuts, privatisation of education, implementing new freedoms being offered and schools being toyed with as a ‘political plaything’. Other concerns include the ‘climate of fear and judgment’ in schools caused by Ofsted’s recent, numerous changes.
Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers comments that ‘teachers are being held responsible for all the ills of society’, which rings true after the outcome of the recent report blaming schools for last year’s riots. She describes a ‘reign of terror on teachers’, contrasting Sir Michael Wilshaw’s comments that these are ‘exciting times in education’.
All comments (with the exception of Wilshaw’s) make it clear that the government need to tread carefully to ensure they don’t completely disillusion teachers and school leaders and inadvertently dissuade talented people from a career in teaching.
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: budget cuts, climate of fear and judgement, Education, Mary Bousted, Ofsted, privatisation, sir michael wilshaw, teachers and unions opinions
Posted in Education, Further Education | No Comments »
Friday, March 30th, 2012
The Prime Minister provided us with an update on progress made since the “Our Public Services” White Paper (July 2011).
Despite some achievements eliminating poor performing schools and raising attainment in deprived areas remain a work in progress. The expansion of good schools and good schools taking over worse schools are actively encouraged, thereby promoting innovative school structures evolving out of academy chains and federations, progress fully supported by the Government.
As divisive as the Free Schools policy might be, the March update reiterates its importance to the government with 100,000 extra places planned in all by 2015. The £600m to fund Free Schools announced in the Autumn Statement is there to be spent.
The March update tells us little more than we already knew. Academies and Free Schools remain the cornerstones for education provision. Becoming an Academy is still the norm, Academy chains and innovative group structures are the order of the day and the delivery of the Free Schools policy will continue unabated.
Posted by Dai Durbridge, who specialises in advising schools, academies and other education providers on all pastoral matters. Recognised leader in safeguarding law, with a specific interest in the vetting and barring scheme; also defends claims made against education and social care providers.
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: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: academies, free schools, Our Public Services White Paper July 2011, Prime Minister
Posted in Education, Public Sector | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 28th, 2012
A report into last year’s riots recommends a new requirement for schools to develop policies on building pupils’ character and that Ofsted review character-building in schools. If that extra bureaucratic requirement wasn’t enough of a sting, the report recommends fining schools whose pupils leave with poor literacy skills.
Schools play an important role in building young people’s character and instilling a sense of what’s right and wrong. Many schools argue that lessons such as these are taught every day and reinforced through behaviour policies. While the report recognises other contributing factors that led to the riots (such as poverty and poor parenting) it states the way to address the problem “starts in schools”.
This is becoming the default answer – make schools responsible for every aspect of a child’s life, be it educational, social or health. Surely it’s better to leave schools to focus on teaching and attainment and for government to stop suggesting the cure for all social ills lies at the door of schools?
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: Education, Ofsted, ofsted inspection, pupil achievement, riots 2011, School Behaviour Policy, school fines
Posted in Education, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 28th, 2012
In last week’s budget the Government confirmed its intention to move away from National Pay & Conditions for teachers and make public sector salaries ‘market-facing’ in local areas, arguing that the quality of services would increase if salaries were locally responsive.
The Cabinet Office Workforce Reform team is working with departments to develop an agreed view of market rates for different locations, and the effect of this upon teachers remains to be seen. Dr Mary Bousted, from the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, predicts that this will mean a pay cut for teachers and inevitably lead to industrial action. At the very least the Government will become embroiled in Trade Union debates.
Regional pay has been discussed for some time, it is now clear that this is on the immediate agenda. Mr Gove continues to take steps to devolve power to individual schools, however, whether he will go so far as to scrap government set pay scales completely 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: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: Association of Teachers and Lecturers, Budget, Cabinet Office Workforce Reform, Education, employment, Mary Bousted, mr grove, National Pay & Conditions, Public Sector
Posted in Education, Employment, Further Education | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012
With Ofsted’s chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, amending the “satisfactory” rating for schools to “needs improvement” there has been a recent increase in attention paid to borderline schools.
Studies by the Institute of Education, University of London, and the Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, indicated schools that “just failed” are more likely to do better in the long run than schools just above the boundary, with failing schools achieving on average improvements of 10% in their GCSE results. Rather than damaging morale, schools are prompted to take corrective action leading to sustained results in the long-term.
Despite this, word of mouth and reputation are important considerations for parents when choosing a school for their child. Being labelled a “failed school” will inevitably damage a school’s reputation in its local community. Although schools may address the issues leading to their ‘failure’ and end up a success, failing an inspection itself will cause damage that will take time to repair.
Lauren Millward
0115 908 4864
lmillward@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 7.0/10 (4 votes cast)
Tags: Education, GCSE, institute of education, Ofsted, ofsted ratings, sir michael wilshaw
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Monday, March 26th, 2012
When a decision is made by a parent company that may result in redundancies, when does the subsidiary need to start collective redundancy consultation? The Advocate General’s opinion in United States of America v Nolan is, when a strategic or commercial decision is taken which compels the employer to contemplate or plan redundancies. The A-G’s opinion is not always followed by the ECJ, but usually will be.
The case of UK Coal Mining v NUM had indicated that consultation needed to start before the decision which may result in redundancies had been taken (e.g. a decision to close a site). This hasn’t been expressly rejected by the A-G’s opinion, but it appears to have been diluted, which is good news for employers.
The European law on this point has been unclear to say the least, and this opinion only helps as far as saying that consultation should not be started too soon or too late. Deciding when exactly that is might not be so simple.
Posted by Raymond Silverstein, specialising in: employment law, tribunals and hearings before the Court of Appeal; advises the public and private sectors including retailers operating nationally and internationally.
Raymond Silverstein
0207 337 1021
rsilverstein@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
Tags: Christine Nolan, consultation, NUM, redundancies, UK Coal Mining, United States of America
Posted in Employment, Further Education, Retail | No Comments »
Monday, March 19th, 2012
An inquiry led by England’s children’s commissioner Dr Maggie Atkinson has found that some schools are unlawfully excluding pupils, putting increased pressure on the government to take action even though only a minority of schools are at fault.
Come September, new exclusions guidance will be in force replacing appeal panels with ‘review panels’ which have to apply complex judicial review principles yet no longer have the power to direct reinstatement. They can however recommend the school reconsider their decision to exclude and fine the school around £4,000 for failing to do so. In addition, cases of alleged disability discrimination will be heard by the First Tier Tribunal which can direct reinstatement and award damages and costs.
It’s hard to see the government’s message in their reforms. Schools must be able to exclude but are likely to think twice (especially if the pupil is disabled) or risk a financial hit. The reforms do not appear to appease anyone; the controversy surrounding exclusions is bound to continue.
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: children's commissioner, Dr Maggie Atkinson, England, government, inquiry, schools, unlawfully excluding pupils
Posted in Education, Further Education | No Comments »
Friday, March 16th, 2012
Lord Adonis, one of the key figures in Labour’s academies programme, has stated that Labour must embrace free schools if it wishes to get back into power. According to Adonis free schools were a labour invention that has been re-badged by the Coalition.
Whether free schools are a clear vote winner is debatable but a clear stance on education will be a key part of any election manifesto. Labour’s mixed messages in recent months on free schools lack clarity.
Free schools and academies are the preferred route to new schools being provided and will remain a key component of education provision so clarity is required.
With the programme in its early stages, Labour’s decision to wait and see if free schools help in transforming educational outcomes in disadvantaged areas is prudent.
However, Labour should embrace free schools, if the evidence stacks up, as the successor to the original vision of the academies programme – a vehicle to narrow the gap between the “haves” and “have nots”
Posted by Richard Freeth, who specialises in advice to schools and local authorities on the full range of issues including special educational needs, disability discrimination, admissions, exclusions, appeals, reorganisations, governance and academy conversions.
Richard Freeth
0121 237 3961
rfreeth@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: academies, educations, free schools, government, labour, lord adonis, schools
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Friday, March 16th, 2012
The campaign hitting the headlines over the last few months is over; the DfE have stepped in and replaced Downhills Primary School’s governing body with a high-profile interim-executive board (IEB). This follows several years of underperformance and an Ofsted inspection that resulted in the school being placed in special measures.
The IEB includes the chair of the Young People’s Learning Agency, Les Walton, head of the Harris Federation, Dr Dan Moyniham, and Dame Sylvia Morris who are now consulting on whether or not the school should convert to academy status.
The power to replace a governing body has only been used three times since its introduction under s.69 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006. However, with the government determined to raise educational standards quickly and tackle failing schools this may be the first of a number of ‘take-overs’. The message is clear: if you are a governor of a failing school and resist calls to become an academy your days could be numbered.
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: academy, dame sylvia morris, Department for Education, DFE, downhills pimary school, dr dan moyniham, education and inspections act 2006, failing schools, harris fedeation, les walton, Ofstead, young peoples learning agency
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 6th, 2012
Man on a mission Sir Michael Wilshaw believes governors of struggling schools should be paid, which has divided opinion. On the one hand, governors spend vast amount of free time and energy governing schools, and with the increased autonomy schools now have under the academies programme the task is increasingly difficult. Improving governance is high on the government’s agenda; struggling schools need all the help they can get.
On the other hand, the idea raises some challenging questions. Where would this money come from? How much would governors get and who would set the rate? How will they be held accountable? Are there alternatives, such as investing in training and ensuring that governors are supported by local and central government and their employers (by being given paid time-off to carry out governor duties)? Wouldn’t the money be better-used to attract excellent head teachers? These questions need to be answered as once the government head down this path, I suspect it will be hard to back-track.
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, central government, governors should be paid, sir michael wilshaw, struggling schools
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Thursday, March 1st, 2012
A potentially divisive idea to use ‘for profit companies’ in the state education sector to raise school standards and provide additional capacity has been suggested in a report released by Policy Exchange.
Through the involvement of educationalists, the aim is to provide them with an incentive to drive progress and give them greater accountability through target specific contracts.
The public has welcomed ‘for profit companies’ in providing other public services, increasing choice and competition. A growing number of schools are already working with for profit companies especially on school improvement and SEN, yet it often goes un-noticed.
The data from other countries is limited and it remains to be seen whether further innovation will require the need for these types of organisations to be involved. Calls are now being made for a pilot system to test out the reports proposals. We will follow this with great interest.
Laura Richards
0115 908 4886
lrichards@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: additional capacity, Policy Exchange, profit companies, school system, sen, state education
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Friday, February 24th, 2012
September 2011 saw youth unemployment reach over 1 million, and with the latest gloomy figures of those Not in Employment, Education or Training (Neet), some commentators have described the youth of today as a ‘lost generation’.
Latest figures show 178,000 young people were classed as Neet, which recent press reports suggest is being blamed on the scrapping of the EMA. This is one percent higher than in 2010, and the worst since records began in 2000.
The government has fought back stating that £1 billion is being spent tackling the issue. Earlier this week Nick Clegg announced a new programme for 16 and 17 years olds aiming at getting more people involved in apprenticeships and providing skills employers are looking for.
The plan is for organisations with a track record of supporting young people to bid for contracts potentially worth up to £2,200 per individual. However, concerns have been raised that the scheme does not go far enough and success remains to be seen.
Posted by Dawn Lobley, who specialises in employment law, acting for clients on matters including unfair dismissal, redundancy, restructure, TUPE, contractual issues and discrimination, plus immigration and data protection.
Dawn Lobley
0115 976 6185
dlobley@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: apprenticeships, further education, government, neet, Nick Clegg, not in employment education or training, unemployment
Posted in Further Education | No Comments »
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 908 4886
lrichards@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
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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Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
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: 7.0/10 (3 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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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
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 908 4886
lrichards@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
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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Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
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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Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
Tags: david willets, education courses, further education, further education colleges, government funding, universities
Posted in Education, Further Education | No Comments »
