Tag: Sarah Teather

Thank you, Philippa.

And also a big thank you to everyone here today for the fantastic work you do, day in, day out, making life better for our most vulnerable children – whether you’re a head teacher or a teaching assistant, occupational therapist or educational psychologist.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – we are extremely fortunate to have so many talented and committed professionals working with our children who have disabilities and special educational needs, helping them to fulfil their potential.

And I’d like to congratulate the Trust on the launch of your research project findings, and set of six guidance booklets. The findings offer enormously important insights into the new generation of children with complex learning difficulties and disabilities – taken from a solid research base involving 90 special and mainstream schools, including 15 international schools.

Your web-based tools, such as the Inquiry Framework for Learning, and Engagement Profile and Scale offer much forward-thinking, imaginative and practical guidance on how teachers might systematically engage children in their learning.

Professionals who support our most vulnerable children, whether in mainstream or special schools, will find these tools an invaluable support to their work – and they cost nothing to download.

Many of the insights that developed from your research have already fed into our Green Paper. For example, we know that the profile of disabled children and children with special educational needs is changing. Medical advances mean that babies who were born extremely pre-term, and who previously would not have survived birth, are now entering school.

Ten per cent of babies born at less than 27 weeks , have very severe cognitive difficulties.1

Nearly a million families in the UK today have a child with a disability.

Children with rare syndromes, who in the last century would not have survived, are entering school for the first time.

And teachers are reporting that they increasingly have to deal with mental health needs in children. So it’s clear that today there are many new challenges and opportunities for teachers – and for us in government – to face as we work out how best to support children with special educational needs and disabilities.

It is equally clear that the way ahead is to focus on more child-centred services. The starting point has to be the child, and services should be able to adapt to the child, rather than the child having to adapt to the service.

In our Green Paper we use the example of six-year-old Lucy, whose compulsion to put paint and other substances in her mouth, meant she was unable to do art activities in school. But by analysing how Lucy could engage, teachers were able to test strategies that meant she was eventually able to paint directly on paper, without touching her mouth.

We know that the system as it stands is letting children and young people and their families down.

For a start, services just aren’t joined up enough. Parents describe how they are passed from pillar to post as they seek the support they need. They face bureaucracy and frustration at every step. The Council for Disabled Children reports that, on average, a disabled young person will have been assessed 32 times as they’re growing up.

So we’re very clear that what we need is a new system with a new approach – a much more streamlined approach. And the Green Paper is our vision of a radical new approach. The plans we set out are informed by professionals like you, and by parents. In fact, of the 1800 responses we received in our call for views, 40 per cent came from parents.

We propose a system that puts parents and children right at its heart. And where services work together, alongside families, to provide early and effective support. It will be very much in keeping with the philosophy of the Trust’s own research – child-centred, practitioner-led and evidence-based.

First of all, we want to make the system less stressful for all concerned by introducing a more coordinated process for assessment and care. And one of our most radical ideas is to replace the statutory SEN statement with a new single assessment process, supported by an Education, Health and Care Plan.

This single, straightforward plan will be reviewed regularly to reflect the changing needs of the child right from birth to age 25: it will have the same statutory status and will include a commitment from all agencies to provide services required by the child.

To make sure we get it absolutely right we will be setting up local pathfinders to test the best ways of achieving this. Many local authorities are already coming forward with interesting and innovative plans, and I hope that more will put themselves forward.

Second, we plan to make information about the system and the provision of services clearer and more easily available for parents. This will enable parents to have real choice over their child’s education, and control over support for their family. We propose a change to the law so that parents of children with statements or single assessment plans will have the same rights to express a preference for any state-funded school, be it a special school or mainstream. And they should have their preference met wherever practical.

Third, we want parents to be confident that their child’s school will have the capacity to meet their needs. Having a special educational need or being disabled shouldn’t mean low expectations or poor quality education and support.

It’s crucial that teachers and college staff are well-trained to understand and overcome the barriers to learning that these children experience. The Pupil Premium gives schools additional funding and flexibility to support individual pupils, but teachers also need to be able to identify the right help for those children.

SSAT’s online guidance will go a long way to helping teachers understand how to engage children with complex learning difficulties. In addition, we’ve asked the Training and Development Agency for Schools to commission online training materials about profound, multiple learning disabilities and severe or complex learning difficulties.

We’re offering free training resources on specific conditions such as autism, dyslexia and speech and language needs. It will form nationally recognised training for teachers that can be used for accredited professional development.

We’re proposing to fund scholarships for teachers to develop their practice in supporting disabled pupils and pupils with special educational needs. And we want outstanding special schools to apply to become teaching schools, so they can share and develop expertise among their own staff and throughout their network of schools.

Finally, I want to emphasise that this Green Paper is a consultative document – so I urge you to keep telling me your thoughts and ideas. We’ve set a four month period for this because we want to hear from as many people as possible. This is a really important issue and we are determined to get it right – so if you haven’t already done so, please read it, scrutinise it – then tell me what you think.

Thank you.

1. EPICure study of pre-term babies – Marlow et al, 2005
2. Blackburn et al, 2010

Readers will know how committed this Government is to the early years – giving every child, regardless of their family circumstances, the opportunity to thrive and flourish.

You will have seen at first hand the impact high quality early education can have on children’s life chances, but particularly for the most disadvantaged. It’s just not good enough that children from poorer families are still much less likely to access good quality early education and childcare than their wealthier peers – even though they stand to benefit the most.

Evidence shows that less than half of all children who live in the most deprived areas achieve a good level of development at age 5 compared with nearly 70% of those living in the least deprived areas. That is why we have protected funding for free early education for 3- and 4-year-olds and have secured additional funding to provide free early education for the most disadvantaged 2-year-olds – despite the tough economic climate.

It’s no accident that extending the free entitlement to the most disadvantaged 2-year-olds is the first clause in the Education Bill. We’re clear how important it is to the future prospects of so many children that we get this right.

We moved a step closer to realising this ambition recently as all parties welcomed the extension of the free entitlement during the Education Bill Committee debate.

In delivering this free entitlement, I know that many providers are doing an excellent job within the funding they receive, and we want to work with the sector to enable others to learn from their example.

While funding levels are a matter for local authorities, we have made provision for 2-year-old places to be funded at a higher rate than 3- and 4-year-olds to reflect the higher ratio requirements for this age group.

I know that some providers have concerns about the levels of funding they receive from their local authority. We are listening to those concerns and we are taking action to support providers:

• All local authorities will introduce the early years single funding formula from April. This is a first step in improving efficiency and transparency in the way funding is distributed to providers in all sectors.
• Later this year we will be consulting on the future of early education funding in the long term as part of the school funding review.
• We are working to reduce burdens on providers who deliver free early education, minimise prescription from central government and allow more discretion at a local level. We will be working closely with colleagues from across the sector to streamline the code of practice and childcare sufficiency guidance.

Funding for free entitlement places is just one part of a broader package of public support that providers can access. Many receive training and other assistance from their local authority to support improvements in quality and secure sufficient childcare provision.

I hope that many providers will continue to choose to be part of the free entitlement scheme, offering a fantastic service to all families. But I accept that – for some – delivering the free entitlement may not fit within their business models and they may decide to opt out.

During the Education Bill debate we reinforced our commitment to a universal entitlement to early education for all 3- and 4-year-olds that is completely free to parents. For the avoidance of any doubt, we do not see top-up fees as an answer to the concerns that some providers have expressed.

The work to slim down the Code of Practice will not change the position on top-up fees, which are effectively prohibited by primary legislation. It is, however, a good opportunity to make sure all providers and local authorities fully understand the principles of the free entitlement – including what they can and cannot charge parents for. It is legitimate for providers to charge parents for lunch, additional activities or for additional hours outside of the free entitlement, but it is unacceptable for parents’ access to the free entitlement to be made in any way conditional on the purchase of these extras.

We’re absolutely clear that making parents pay to access their free entitlement would be an insurmountable financial barrier for many families. It would mean that the very children who have the most to benefit from free provision would be unable to access it at all. As a government committed to tackling social inequality and supporting the most disadvantaged families, this isn’t something we would support.

Thanks Mark for that introduction and thanks to the FPI for inviting me along this morning.

And thanks Mark for reminding us that families come in all shapes and sizes and Government absolutely has to take account of that.

And it’s wonderful to see this event so full, with so many people from across the sector.

I’d also like to say, that it was a pleasure to meet Dr Katherine [Rake] recently. While in opposition, I had great admiration for her in her time at the Fawcett Society, and she has brought the same energy to families.

And I’d also like to pay tribute to the Family and Parenting Institute. For ten years now, by spreading effective practice and through managing the Parenting Fund, you’ve supported hundreds of voluntary sector organisations and tens of thousands of practitioners. And you’ve enabled them to deliver help that’s made a real difference to parents and families across the country.

And of course, to all those other organisations here today – who provide vital support to our parents, grandparents, and children – to our babies, toddlers and teenagers – and to the most vulnerable in our society.

I am truly honoured to be able to work alongside all of you. And I hope that in the months and years ahead, we can make a positive difference for some of the great challenges this country faces.

And let me assure you, from the outset, that the renaming of our Department does not represent a shift in priority away from working with you and away from our children or families – in fact, in many ways, family policy has taken on greater priority in Government because of the Prime Minister’s Task Force, which I’ll speak more about later.

And it’s so important because we all know the scale of the challenge we face. Despite the best intentions of the previous Government, and despite all the hard work that you, and frontline staff up and down the country do every day, our society is still deeply unfair.

A fairer society

In this country, over two million children live in poor housing, in crowded rooms and squalid conditions.

Out of every five children, one is living in poverty.

Just 21 per cent of children in care achieve 5 or more A to C grades at GCSE – compared to an average of 70 per cent.

And, young people from poorer backgrounds are less than twice as likely to go to university than those from richer backgrounds.

I see it for myself in my own constituency, just a few tube stops away in North London, where the consequences of that inequality, with wealthy and poor families living in the same area.

I’ve seen how some families have struggled to cope with the recession, and the rising anxieties about young people and their future.

And it is absolutely unacceptable that a child from Harlesden, in my constituency, is expected to die more than ten years before one born in nearby Kensington.

Now these are shocking facts and statistics. And we have a moral duty to do our utmost to change this situation, to narrow the gaps between rich and poor and to work as hard as we can to make our society fairer.

But sadly, today we also have another moral duty, which has to be a priority for this Government.

We have a responsibility to all our families to deal with the deficit now, and not let our children shoulder the burden for past mistakes. So we need to reduce the deficit and return this country to a sound financial position.

But it makes no sense – economically, socially or morally – to abandon poorer children along the way. To abandon families in need. To abandon hope for a better future.

So as a government, we are committed to working with you to bring about sustained improvement and to make this country fairer.

That’s why we’ll be refocusing Sure Start, ring-fencing its budget for this year and introducing extra health visitors, dedicated to helping the most disadvantaged families.

That’s why we are introducing the Pupil Premium – money targeted specifically to disadvantaged school pupils, to offer them that little bit of extra help for them to fulfil their academic potential.

And that’s why we’ll be extending free child care for three- and four-year-olds to 15 hours a week and we’ll fund early learning for more than 20,000 of the most disadvantaged two-year-olds.

So we remain committed to improving the lot of those in need in our society and dedicated to a vision of a country that is fair, free from debt and family friendly.

Removing barriers for families

And we are doing this because we understand just how important families are. They are the bedrock of our society.

Evidence shows that the family setting has the biggest impact on children and their outcomes.

And we believe that families need the freedom to live their lives as they see fit. They don’t need Government to burden them with regulation after regulation, and restriction after restriction.

Government’s role, we believe, is to help foster the right environment in which families can thrive – to empower them and help reduce the pressures and stresses they may face.

And we know that families consistently say, that friends and neighbours are the essential support. We know that informal support, and informal networks are just as vital – and Mark, you mentioned intergenerational support, which is absolutely vital too.

And that’s why the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister have set up a Childhood and Families Task Force. To tackle the barriers that prevent a happy childhood and a successful family life.

The Task Force will be meeting for the first time, this week, to agree its programme of work so I don’t want to pre-empt that. But to give you a flavour, the Deputy Prime Minister identified the sort of issues it could look at when he announced the Task Force a few weeks ago.

For example, parents often say that they don’t have enough time to spend together as a family. Many feel they still don’t have their preferred working arrangements, and some are concerned that asking to work flexibly may have an adverse impact on their career.

We’re already committed to looking at a system of shared parental leave and extending the right to flexible working to all.

We have work to do in terms of relationship support – helping families going through breakdown and supporting them in times of need. And also to support families with a disabled child. I know that the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister have a strong commitment to look hard into these challenges.

So from the very top of Government, we are committed to tackling those barriers and restoring the culture of community and responsibility that is so crucial to the safety and success of our children and families.

Working with you

But of course, we know that Government alone cannot solve all of society’s ills.

And the Report Card published today, shows that clearly.

It shows the importance of the neighbourhood and of the experience families have in their area, and is an example of just how important voluntary sector organisations are in boosting family relationships in the community.

Because we cannot tell families how to lead their lives.

And in this time of financial strain, we need to find creative methods to achieve our ambitions.

So, we need to work even closer with our partners. We need to learn from your experience, your ideas and your expertise.

We need to make it easier for those local experts and voluntary organisations which already do such great work, to play a bigger role, to work together with statutory agencies and make even more of a difference to families around the country.

Because you here represent the very best of our vision for a Big Society – a society in which more people play their part and take responsibility for each other.

So we recognise the need to work with you and to really, honestly, listen to your experience and your ideas.

Conclusion

So I very much look forward to working with all of you in the months and years ahead, and I particularly look forward to reading the report FPI will produce as a result of this conference, and which they have promised to forward to me soon.

I hope that together, we can see some real change for the better and create a fairer, stronger, safer society. Where those gaps we all talk about are narrowing, not widening. And where our families can prosper, even in difficult times.

So in closing, let me say thank you for having me here today. Thank you once again for all the good work that you do for children and families in this country. And thank you for listening.