Showing posts with label learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label learning. Show all posts

Tuesday 5 January 2021

BBC announce curriculum-based learning on CBBC, BBC 2, Red Button & BBC iplayer from Monday January 11th

 


Following pressure on social media over the weekend, as the focus moved to children unable to access on-line learning durign school closures, the BBC has announced a programme of curriculum based learning.


The BBC announcement

Reacting quickly to the news of UK schools moving to remote learning, the new offer from the BBC will ensure all children can access curriculum-based learning, even if they don’t have access to the internet.

Starting on Monday 11 January, each week day on CBBC will see a three-hour block of primary school programming from 9am, including BBC Live Lessons and BBC Bitesize Daily, as well as other educational programming such as Our School and Celebrity Supply Teacher and much loved titles such as Horrible Histories, Art Ninja and Operation Ouch.

BBC Two will cater for secondary students with programming to support the GCSE curriculum, with a least two hours of content each weekday.

Content will be built around Bitesize Daily secondary shows, complemented by Shakespeare and classic drama adaptations alongside science, history and factual titles from the BBC’s award-winning factual programming units.

Bitesize Daily primary and secondary will also air every day on BBC Red Button as well as episodes being available on demand on BBC iPlayer.

Tim Davie, BBC Director General, says: “Ensuring children across the UK have the opportunity to continue to follow the appropriate core parts of their nation’s school curriculum has been a key priority for the BBC throughout this past year.

“Education is absolutely vital - the BBC is here to play its part and I’m delighted that we have been able to bring this to audiences so swiftly.”

This TV offer sits alongside a wealth of online content which parents, children and teachers can access when and where they need it:

  • For primary, BBC Bitesize online has an expanded offer of structured lessons in Maths and English for all year groups - these can be used at home or in the classroom. ‘This Term’s Topics’ also covers other curriculum subjects and curates learning content that works for the Spring curriculum. This content can be easily incorporated into a learning plan or used to explore different topics at home. Visit bbc.co.uk/bitesize, click on the year group and subject and all the content is there.
  • For secondary pupils, Bitesize is also home to two-week learning packs for English and Maths in KS3 (years 7, 8 and 9) as well as This Term’s Topics for other subjects to be used at home or to support teachers in the remote classrooms.
  • For students in Years 10 and 11, the Bitesize GCSE offer allows students to pick their exam board and subject to find everything they need to help with their studies. Visit bbc.co.uk/bitesize/secondary for details.

Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, says: “The BBC has helped the nation through some of the toughest moments of the last century, and for the next few weeks it will help our children learn whilst we stay home, protect the NHS and save lives.

“This will be a lifeline to parents and I welcome the BBC playing its part.”

Educational content for all nations will also be available.



Tuesday 29 January 2019

The Brent Council 'Cassie' safeguarding case revisited.

This story, which appears to have hit the press again, was first reported by Wembley Matters in October last year. I reprint it here as it provides a much fuller account and at the end Brent Council's response to the Review findings and recommendations,

A Safeguarding Adult Review published by Brent Council LINK raises serious issues about the service provided by the Council and bought-in providers to people with an autistic spectrum condition.
The case concerns ‘Cassie’ (not her real name) a Black woman in her mid-50s who has lived in services for people with learning disabilities and autism since she was a child. Information about Cassie was limited to her clinical classifications and records held by health and social care services, including the Independent Provider, the autism specialist residential home at which she has lived since 1990.
Cassie was found to be HIV positive in 2016 which triggered a safeguarding meeting. The Infectious Diseases Team confirmed that it was sexually transmitted at some point between 2007 and 2015 while Cassie was resident with the independent provider commissioned by Brent Council. It was confirmed that Cassie did not have the capacity to consent to having sexual relations and a police investigation was agreed. During March 2017 the Safeguarding Adults Board was informed that the police investigation had been closed. Cassie was moved to a different home that was managed by the same provider.
The report outlines the poor quality of Cassie’s provision:
It is remarkable that Cassie’s many years of residing in long stay hospitals and latterly, at the Independent Provider, reveal so little about her. Whatever the names of the hospitals she has lived in, observers and some former residents have commented on the bleak and unstimulating environments of large institutions. There were no opportunities for children with severe learning disabilities to learn functional skills, including basic communication skills, or to prepare for life beyond the institutions.
It is noteworthy that the single sign which Cassie was consistently encouraged to use was “Thank you.” 

Knowledge of Cassie is primarily based on clinical interpretation and classification and these do not help in deciphering the ways in which she engages with others or with objects. There is neither a simple nor consistent description of her. Yet support staffs’ understanding of Cassie determines how she spends her days. The challenges Cassie faces in figuring out the world are unfamiliar since so little is known of her developmental path. The records suggest only partial accounts of her behaviour or aspects of particular actions. How her interest in paper tearing is defined is critical.
During her adulthood, Cassie began to create scatterings of torn paper. The Independent Provider notes that she becomes distressed when she is required to pick up and put the pieces of paper in the bin. This prompts the question: Is this the only possible intervention? It is clear that Cassie can communicate intention. For example, she takes people to the kitchen when she is hungry and she gets her coat when she wants to go out. It is known too that she needs a lot of help in terms of her personal and intimate care. This does not preclude her having unique forms of communication, demonstrating awareness 
of others and desiring to belong and participate. For example, she enjoys her mother’s visits and she likes to sit with staff.

The records suggest that during the weeks prior to Cassie’s HIV diagnosis, her world experience appeared to be confined to her bedroom and the living room and, specifically, the sofa.
Cassie’s mother told the Review:
‘When Brent closed its day centres I was told, “We’ll make a programme for her so she can got out, meet people, walk around - we’ll put a programme together and include shopping and visiting you.” Nothing materialised...’I was told that one place Cassie could go to - the Independent Provider’s Day Centre was being “repaired.” She got a place there but it didn’t last long. I had a letter saying that Brent had cut the grant and she didn’t go back no more.  She’s bored. It was better when she went to the centre. Now they just sit in the living room with the music channel on the TV. There are only three of them and that’s what they all do.’
Naturally Cassie’s HIV diagnosis was devastating for her mother.  The HR person at the provider told her that the incident must have happened at night: ‘This is all I know. This rape, which I can’t talk about or tell anyone about, this rape happened. Cassie had no control over her body and this man takes over her body. You can’t get them to take tests because of their human rights, What chance have you got. I asked the police if they could offer a reward. They said “No” because people tend to close ranks.’
The review states that the majority of the Independent Provider’s Risk Assessment date from the months of Cassie’s diagnosis. There are many gaps in the ‘monthy reports’ and other information: ‘The notes convey only biographical fragments, The monthly reports contain a lot of repetition and evidence of “cut and paste.” This renders problematic the claim that these will be subject to “trend analysis.”
 
General Practitioners who cared for Cassie said they were shocked when the Infectious Diseases Team made their diagnosis because Cassie is ‘so very vulnerable.’ As a patient she is sometimes compliant but there are a lot of barriers to investigating what is wrong. Cassie’s cooperation depended on how calm her carers were and this varied.
There is much more on the medical history in the report but significantly it is reported that Cassie did not benefit from annual reviews with none undertaken during 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2014.  She has contact with the Learning Disabilities Community Health Team for psychiatric and a brief period of physiotherapy support and is reviewed in outpatients every 6 months.
The report summarises the ‘best interests of the person’ provisions in the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005:
·      Equal consideration and non-discrimination
·      Considering all relevant circumstances
·      Regaining capacity
·      Permitting and encouraging participation
·      Special consideration for life sustaining treatment
·      The person’s wishes and feelings, beliefs and values
·      The views of others
The report notes, ‘There is no reference to the MCA in relation to Cassie’s care and support. Although the Independent Provider cites ‘best interest meetings’ there are no documented examples  examples of any such meetings.’
 
Later it states, ‘Irrespective of the seriousness of Cassie’s HIV diagnosis, no individual or agency has undertaken to determine her best interest in relation for a achieving a consensual approach to decision making concerning invasive treatment or even essential treatment.’
In a telling passage the report says:
‘The absence of a credible life story is stark, that is one which goes beyond setting out Cassie’s likes, dislikes and challenging behaviour, for example. Without the account of Cassie’s mother and her GP’s descriptions of what they have earned from supporting her, Cassie’s life-long history of being supported by services is reduced  to a disheartening short list of home based activity. Although it is known that Cassie loves to walk and her impulse to get out is undiminished, at the provider’s centre this is given expression in her fast paced restlessness. Cassie’s life story is not known. That is to say, the relevant parts of her past and present have not been recorded. The services to which Cassie is known appear not to have any processes for eliciting stories about her and her family as a means of connecting her life to her present circumstances and the people who are significant.’
The report issues a number of challenges to Brent Council:
Since Brent’s commissioning did not ensure that the Independent Provider established the necessary conditions to support Cassie, this is an opportune time for Brent to initiate a fresh approach to the support of people with autism. What ‘autism specialism’ is Brent seeking? It cannot be credible that faith is invested in a service which advertises itself as specialist. Brent has a responsibility to identify and monitor the tasks required ti address Cassie’s considerable support needs and those of others with autism and learning disabilities, What arrangements are in place in Brent to provide support to the families of people with autism at times of transition and to ensure that workforce planning, training and retraining arrangements are effective? The test of such investment will be in the improvements they bring to the lives of people with autism and learning difficulties.
Concluding the review, Dr Margaret Ryan states that Cassie has been failed by services and that by exposing her to sexual abuse by a third party without appropriate care planning and risk assessment  was professionally negligent and possibly in breach of the duty of care: ‘The evidence suggests a possible breach of the right to respect for private and family life and potentially a breach of the right to protection from inhuman and degrading treatment.’
Dr Ryan goes on to express disappointment that the Independent Provider states that the organisation is unable to comment on the assertion that Cassie was infected as a result of sexual assault as they has ‘seen no evidence of this.’  The documentation does not support the assertion that Cassie was solely supported by women staff.
At the time of the report Cassie remained with the provider, albeit in different accommodation, and her mother is unhappy with the arrangement  and wants urgency in seeking an alternative placement. Dr Ryan states that, ‘thus far, there is no evidence of attentive external scrutiny of her post-diagnosis care plan. Since the documentation shared by the provider and service reviewer is limited it is possible that these are systemic matters.’
Dr Ryan suggest that Brent Council has to undertake a great deal of work concerning the use of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards: ‘Cassie’s health is compromised and is vulnerable to deterioration. It is not clear what “practicable steps” were taken to support Cassie’s decision-making in advance of a determination of incapacity.’
The Review’s Recommendations:
1) Since there is cause for concern and uncertainty concerning the HIV status of the five residents at the care home, Brent requests the Court of Protection to give direction in this matter 

2) Cassie should be provided with additional interim support until she moves to another service. Such support should be informed by the principles an management of care as set out by NICE guidance

3) Brent’s Safeguarding Adults Board seeks reassurance that:
·      The Transforming Learning Disability Services’ initiative of the CCGs, permits and 
establishes with Brent’s Adult Social Care an ambitious path which promotes greater attention to individual support needs which credibly involves (i) self- advocates and (ii) engagement with the families of people with complex support needs, most particularly in ensuring that account is taken of people’s life stories and their future aspirations 

·      Future changes (that result in discontinuities of personnel and functions) in respect of reviewing and monitoring long-term placements must ensure that (i) people funded by public services are better off or at least not worse off, (ii)  http://www.lawcom.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Mental_Capacity_Report_Summary.pdf (accessed on 6 July 2017)
 NICE (2012) Autism spectrum disorder in adults: diagnosis and management (CG142reviewing is annual and (iii) goals or “ends” for people receiving services are not displaced by undue attention to “means”
·      The Transforming Learning Disability Services’ initiative adopts a proactive and 
questioning approach to the scrutiny and oversight of all placements. Critical skills should be evidenced such as: collaborating with people with autism and their families; knowledge of effective care planning; knowledge of safeguarding and, specifically, how to record safeguarding concerns; identifying potential community collaborators; and because several medical conditions are significantly more prevalent among people with autism compared with people who do not have autism,ensuring that medical appointments are prioritised 

·      The operational competences and track records of specialist providers are known to service commissioners in term of the recorded outcomes realised for individual people with autism 

·      The Learning Disabilities Community Health Team and specialist providers can provide evidence that they are (i) instrumental in working with GPs in detecting health problems which would otherwise result in unnecessary suffering; (ii) make it possible for residents to develop health routines such as accessing health screening and health promotion activities; and (iii) are persistent and creative advocates for people’s improved health and health care – paying particular attention to the challenge of “diagnostic overshadowing” 

·      The Learning Disabilities Community Health Team assumes a lead role in promoting positive practice in the use of the Mental Capacity legislation 

·      The signs being taught to people with compromised communication skills include the sign for “No!” 

4) Brent’s Safeguarding Adults Board may wish to consider advising service commissioners that questions must be asked about the mechanisms in place to ensure the safety of people with limited articulacy, in particular those who are supported by male workers.
Brent Council in a statement to Wembley Matters said:
“All of the partners on the Safeguarding Adults Board, including the Council, have expressed our deep and sincere regret to both Cassie and her family.   We can confirm that Cassie is now safe and happy and is having all her health and care needs met. 
“As soon as the Council became aware of the situation the Safeguarding Adults Team took immediate action to ensure that Cassie was safe and receiving the support she needed, and further steps were taken to ensure no other person was at risk.  The matter was reported to the police, who undertook a full investigation. 
“Following these immediate actions, the Council asked the Safeguarding Adult Board to consider commissioning an independent Safeguarding Adult Review (SAR).    A SAR is a nationally recognised process, under the Care Act 2014.   The Board and the Independent Chair agreed this met the criteria for a SAR because there had been serious harm in a complex case which involved a wide range of statutory and voluntary agencies.  The purpose of a SAR is to ensure the independent consideration of the facts, and to use these facts to identify and promote effective learning across all agencies.  It is a key part of improving services in order to prevent serious harm occurring again.  The function of SARs is not to apportion blame or make judgements about negligence.
“As a result of the SAR, the Safeguarding Adults Board has a multi-agency action plan.  This will be monitored by the Board and the Board’s Independent Chair, who will ensure that the lessons have been learnt across all the agencies involved.   
“The Council has fully supported this process.  We have already delivered a range of actions to improve the support we provide to vulnerable adults in Brent, including setting up a team that specifically focuses on reviewing the quality of care and support for individuals in residential placements, and integrating the health and social care learning disability teams into a single team providing holistic support to adults with a learning disability. 
“Cassie continues to do well in her new home and we continue to ensure that she is getting the support that she needs.”
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Saturday 23 April 2016

Parents launch campaign to defend education with Michael Rosen as patron


Today's message was clear
A new campaign, ''Parents Defending Education' was set up this afternoon at a well-attended meeting in London addressed by several parent groups. The campaign was launched in reaction to the Government's White Paper on education which includes the forced academisation of primary schools and removal of parent governors, and increasing parental concern over the impact on children of high stakes testing.

Speaking for the NUT, Deputy General Secretary Kevin Courtney, said that the NUT had not always 'got it right with parents' in the past but wanted to work with them in the current crisis. It was nonsense that parents had no democratic say in whether their children's school should academise or in the decision about which academy provider to was chosen if academisation went ahead.

He stressed that any parents' campaign should be completely independent of teachers and should not be directed by them.  It was clear to me that the angry and articulate parents who spoke at the meeting would be fiercely independent.

The launch statement made an initial five points:
  • No forced academies - no privatisation
  • No more 'high stakes' testing - take the pressure off our children
  • No more cuts - don't impose austerity on our children
  • Ensure a good school place for every child - with a properly qualified teacher
  • Defend parents; democratic rights - in schools and at local government level
It was announced that children's author, Michael Rosen, Professor of Children's Literature and a parent would be the campaign's first patron.

This is the full launch statement:
The recent publication of the education White Paper has lifted the lid on government plans for education. The plans concealed from us before the election are now menacingly clear. We have had enough! We want out children to enjoy and love learning. So we want to rescue our schools from the grip of a series of policies which have affected every aspect of education, from testing to funding, from nurseries to post-16. We also want an end to privatisation and austerity in schools.

Our schools don't belong to the government. And our schools don't belong to the trusts, charities and academy chains. They belong to our children, to the community, to the parents, to the teachers and support staff and future generation.  We recognise government has an important role but it cannot impose its vision on our children without our consent.

Therefore, we are launching a 'Parents Defending Education' campaign today in order to reassert the rights of parents and engage in the debate about what sort of education we want for our children. None of the plans outlined in the White Paper were put to the electorate at the last election. The government has no mandate. Accordingly we intend to campaign to defeat the White Paper and other key aspects of the government's education policy. Parents need to stand up for education, stand up for themselves and stand up for our children.

Initially we have five main points:
  • No forced academies - no privatisation
  • No more 'high stakes' testing - take the pressure off our children
  • No more cuts - don't impose austerity on our children
  • Ensure a good school place for every child - with a properly qualified teacher
  • Defend parents; democratic rights - in schools and at local government level 
We know there are other very important and connected issues, such as the impact on children with Special Educational Needs and from economically and socially disadvantaged families. We will work with parents to develop a response to these areas of concern.

We intent to create a delegate based steering committee which will help us unite and focus our campaigning work together to maximise its impact across the country. We also intend to broaden the basis of our campaign as quickly and widely as possible. We want to work with all groups and organisations who share similar objectives. We will also discuss plans for a national campaign conference for parents and the possibility of a national demonstration.

We are delighted to announce that children's author, Professor of Children's Literature and parent, Michael Rosen, has agreed to be our first patron. We urge parents in every school, in every village, in every town and in every city to meet, discuss and get organise din the next 4 weeks. We will provide resources to support this as quickly as possible via our Facebook page.

For further information about this statement and to register for the steering committee on 21st May pleas email: parentsdefendeducation@gmail.com  Facebook: Parents Defending Education

If you can help, please contact us.
Meanwhile a parent campaign for a children's strike on May 3rd is receiving much support on social media.

Sunday 1 December 2013

Can Brent provide for vulnerable young people amidst the cuts?

Local councils, faced with savage Coalition cuts to their funding, have often promised to make sure that the most vulnerable residents are protected. This is becoming more and more difficult, whatever the political complexion of the council. Alongside this councils are reducing the range of services to the core services required by statute. I have argued before on Wembley Matters that this may mean that services which are very beneficial to residents, and based on the council's recognition of a local need, may end up being cut: non-statutory doesn't mean not valuable or not needed. In addition, out-sourcing of some statutory services, muddies the water in terms of direct democratic accountability.

The December 9th Executive will be making decisions on a number of items that will have repercussion for services to the vulnerable.

They will be making a decision on procuring an Advocacy service for the following safeguarding 'clients'  to ensure they are safe from abuse:
  • older people with physical disabilities
  • young people (14-25 years old) with physical disabilities
  • adults with mental health needs
  • adults with learning disabilities
I am concerned that  'price' makes up 60% of the evaluation strategy for this procurement.

Another item is a change of provider for the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.  They propose to decommission services currently provided by Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.  In a key passage they state:
Information has been sought from other boroughs to determine what they commission. This work makes it very clear that while some boroughs do commission elements of training and systemic or early help provision, they do not fund direct therapeutic interventions. The proposed new provision,detailed in section 5 below, is therefore in line with that provided by other Local Authorities.
I hope the Executive will investigate that a little more. Rather than reduce services to match those of other boroughs, shouldn't Brent assess the value of direct therapeutic interventions?  I certainly found those useful for pupils and their families when I wa a headteacher and such interventions may save money in the long run. Officers argue that it is not possible to continue expenditure at current levels without jeopardising other services.

The proposals would reduce expenditure on children with disabilities by £50,000 to £146,000 and Looked After Children by £230,000 to £107,000.

Officers state:
The proposed change in the service could lead to an increase in support required through Care at Home and Direct Payments, and there is also the potential for some of these children/young people to become LAC. However, such pressures will be contained as the current service is supplementing a service already commissioned by the CCG and existing users will be able to access support from the CCG.
Clearly the first statement needs some discussion in terms of its implications for the individuals concerned. There is a possibility that too much responsibility is being shifted to the relatively untested CCG (Clinical Commissioning Group).

The report admits that there may be longer waiting time for Looked After Children requiring appointments but suggests that this will be dealt with by a requirement for the service to prioritise this group of young people. When I was familiar with this service several years ago waiting time was already a problem so I am sceptical that a notional prioritisation will address the problem.

More worrying also is a statement in the Equalities Impact Assessment that consideration had been given to consulting with users but that this was felt 'not to be in their interests to do so as it it would cause unnecessary anxiety'. The Assessment says it is intended to get views on the new service through the Care in Action forum for adolescents but it is not clear whether this will be before or after the changes are implemented.

A report on Higher Needs Student Eligibility is also tabled for November 9th.  This refers to educational provision for young people between 16 and 25 with a learning difficulty and/or disability. Arrangements have changed through new legislation and the local authority has to allocate appropriate provision:

The report states:
Council therefore needs to have processes in place to support this change and ensure that the allocated budget is not exceeded.
Funds allocated are about £18,000 per head for an estimated 140 people  next year.

The council will need to carry out a Learning Disability Assessment on young people who:

 Will be leaving school aged 16-19 and
• Is going on to further education, higher education or training and
• Is likely to need additional learning support to access education or training opportunities
• New children arriving from abroad who do not have a statement and have a learning difficulty or disability
• Children in mainstream schools that are supported by school action and school action plus support

Talks will be take place with further education colleges and other providers about provision whcih will enable 'young people with disabilities to live active, independent and fulfilling lives in the community.'

It will be important  to monitor the progress of young people and the quality of provision to see if fulfils these aims.

Sunday 25 August 2013

When Schools Become Dead Zones of the Imagination - Henry Giroux




Copyright, Truthout.org. Reprinted with permission   LINK

At the forthcoming Green Party Conference I will be moving a motion to start a revision process of the Party's Education Policy in the light of the enormous changes being brought about by Michael Gove. There will also be a panel discussion on academies and free schools

This interview with Henry Giroux and the full article LINK take the argument about the neoliberal approach to education much further than most commentaries and analysis.

These are ideas that should inform our debate.


Friday 20 February 2009

LET CHILDREN ENJOY LEARNING AGAIN


The Cambridge Review of the Primary Curriculum is a chance to expel Big Brother from our classrooms.

The Review’s recommendation that schools should be freed of SATs and league tables is in line with Green Party policy on education. We want children to become eager, empowered learners who are given the chance to explore their own individual needs and interests. As a primary school headteacher I strived to promote learning but had to constantly battle the dead hand of government targets and league tables. This 'Big Brother' presence in the classroom narrowed the curriculum and turned teachers into stressed target chasers and children into passive recipients of lessons geared to maximising SAT results and the school's league table position.

Research for the report has been extremely thorough and I was pleased to meet up with its authors, alongside other local headteacher, some time ago. Its recommendations have been backed by teaching unions and major educational organisations. The government must take notice and return the encouragement of a love of learning to its vital place in primary education.