Every Child Matters and Educational Outcomes - Essay Example

Introduction Changing the school setting from traditional methods of teaching to newer implementation is based on several dimensions. The environment, agenda, and curriculum for teaching are all considered for teachers, administrators and children receiving an education. The need to offer more to students and to monitor learning activities is currently being implemented through the Every Child Matters agenda, also known as ECM. The implications of this program are based on providing more opportunities for children of diverse backgrounds. The main policies and trends in this policy are being furthered by changing school settings and community values for education. Understanding the provisions and benefits of teaching under this agenda also provides a deeper understanding of how teachers and administrators can alter teaching styles according to the newer methods and requirements. The ability to incorporate the Every Child Matters agenda will alter the way in which teachers focus on enhancing education among children. The research paper will provide an understanding of the Every Child Matters agenda as well as how it is changing school systems, families and individuals. There will be specific insight into how it is altering the way in which children with Down’s syndrome apply to the agenda which has been created. Defining the Every Child Matters Agenda The Every Child Matters initiative began with the governmental decision to change educational programs and attention for children in 2003. In 2004, the Children Act became a law of the government, which focused on a formal approach to assisting children. The main act resulted from the death of Victoria Climbie, a child who was not able to receive proper care because of her socioeconomic status. The focus in the beginning was to provide the same level of education to those that were considered as disadvantaged. The agenda includes early year assistance, health and well – being, education and training, social care, youth programs and strategies for schools. The objective of the program is to provide a radical reform for children and their families by having higher outcomes within the educational systems. The program is focused on relating to both the educational initiatives of different ages, combined with better outcomes for the lifestyle of those that are in need (ECM, 2010). Current, the Every Child Matters agenda is building the main policies and programs through the Children’s Plan, which was developed in December of 2007. The main focus is to provide a ten year strategy to make England the best place for children to grow up in at a global level. The families are at the heart of the plan, specifically because children only remain in the school for 25% of the day. Activities, family based planning and the implementation of higher education and value of life for families are encouraged through the policies of the plan. By 2020, the government expects to achieve goals such as reducing child poverty, reduce offending rates among children and to improve a child’s health and educational outcomes. For educators, this begins with the Sure Start Children’s Centre for education and development and develops into school systems that offer better value of life through the education that is provided (ECM, 2010). The implementation of the program is built not only on basic policies but also on the ability to combine efforts with alternative agencies. One agency which is designed to provide inspection for students who are at risk with health is the Ofsted Centre, also known as the Office for Standards in Education. The focus under the agenda set by the government was to safeguard children while ensuring their health was at a higher level. Before the ECM was initiated, many of the teachers complained because of disruptions in class as well as difficulties from students. More important, the centre found that there were common problems with misdiagnosing children because of the infrequency of assistance provided. Since the act, the policies for the Ofsted Centre have been forced to change for better care and for provisions that work with school systems. The Ofsted reports are also now required to examine how the classrooms are functioning and where the schools can continue to improve not only for education, but also for the well – being of children (Wilby, 2007). Another implication that is beginning to change the national agenda with the Every Child Matters is through the Laming Review which has been reported. The current functions of the ECM are based on associating with different corporations that can provide support while reviewing where children are in terms of health and safety. The Laming Review is used as an annual commitment to begin improving on the systems used for children while safeguarding them within the school system and at home. The current status from the Laming Review has been based on inspections, regulations and leadership at both the local and national levels. The review is able to find the gaps that are currently present while creating a new action plan to assist in making England a safer place by the year 2020. The current challenges are to change the intervention process without waiting until there is a problem, but instead working to protect and safeguard children before a complex problem arises. There are also challenges in redefining the needs of specific types of children with new levels of support from those who are working at a regional level. The current challenge is to create a system which makes it easier for children to receive support before problems arise (HM Government, 2010). School Settings and the ECM With the implementation and agenda of the Every Child Matters program are also other concepts that are associated with the new developments. For teachers and administrators in school, are specific policies and programs that are working into the school system. Teachers are now required to change the curricula offered in the school while administrators and others that are looking after children are required to overlook the health and safety while the children are on the premises. Teachers and administrators are further required to link directly to the communities and families to ensure that all children are receiving the same care from families and those in the community. External and internal services are slowly becoming a part of the school setting, specifically because extra monitoring and quality assurance is needed for both educators and for the safety and well – being of children. The school settings are creating different responsibilities and alternative environments for children of all ages (Cheminais, 2-17, 2006). For the agenda of the Every Child Matters to work within school settings, new programs and development of communities become the heart of learning. A new relationship with educational systems and programs are at the basis of development needed for children. Local initiatives and new energies that are enforced through families and the community and to the administrators is the only way for the agenda to become a part of the school setting. Accountability for both students and families will need to be furthered with the agenda, specifically by creating and monitoring new databases while causing teachers and administrators to become more involved with children. For accountability to be available, teachers will need to take a more active role, since they are the individuals who have primary contact with students. An established network for students will need to be provided in relation to this, which allows teachers to work within the community so children can be provided with the assistance they need. Data and information systems and school profiles need to combine with the agenda to ensure that each student is cared for within the school system (Miliband, 2-3, 2004). Personal experience with the Every Child Matters Agenda is currently being implemented in the school I teach at. The administrators are creating links to different services that administer health and safety among children. There are also agencies that come into evaluate and inspect every classroom. New recommendations and evaluations are made with the program to individual teachers. More important, the teachers are required to move into intervention methods with children to make sure they receive assistance. Instead of only focusing on the basic agenda of teaching, there is now a set of requirements for teachers to report to administrators or institutions if a noticed problem arises. Continuous checking points and evaluations are now being implemented to tighten the Every Child Matters, which is creating a change in how I am able to respond to students as well as what is required for the teaching initiative. The head school teacher of the school is supportive of the policies and agenda, which is creating a large impact with the amount of change required for the school setting. For instance, when new health initiatives were being taken for each child, the head master began to move forward with the agenda. Disrupting classes, changing schedules and making sure that the standards were met at a national level were all placed as a priority agenda. The initiative was communicated to students and parents continuously to make sure that participation and a positive response was given over the new initiative. Even though this is to comply with national standards, it sometimes hinders the teaching process and ability to offer academic levels to students. The interference is often overlooked, specifically because of the initiative that is desired at both a national level and through the head master. Meeting Needs of Individual Children and Families within the School Setting The agenda that is a part of the Every Child Matters will initially create a response from both families and children. For the agenda to be compliant with the initiatives of the government, individual children’s needs should be met first. The way that this can be seen best is through personal examples coming from the third year class setting at the school I am teaching in. The main initiative is to create new initiatives in the school. Integrated services, including health care, community meetings and extra programs will initiate the needs of students. Psychology services and new requirements for children to receive care for lifestyles and basic education can further the individual needs of children. The school setting connections that need to be established not only include basic options in the school but also expand to initiatives within the community, such as links to multi – agencies which provide services for children. At the same time, the outside agencies and the new initiatives in the school should be combined with feedback from individual children that shows individual needs have been met (Farrell et al, 2, 2006). For the class 3 level, the responses have been to move into the extremes of the services. Every day, new health care systems are being initiated. Families are now required to come to community meetings, usually which don’t have a specific agenda. While some programs are trying to be implemented in the school, there are gaps in the ability to continue teaching the children in the third grade class, specifically so the initiatives can be set. Families and parents are also showing responses by the problematic schedules and requirements that are now in demand. While the agenda is providing more services in need, there isn’t a balance with the need to continue with basic education. Even though there are currently gaps in the system, the third grade class is still being built on initiating the programs needed within schools by 2020. These are based on strengthening both protection and prevention services. Individual responses for children will be created by providing resources which educate children and families first. The actions that children take as a result, which include getting help for either protection or prevention, will show the conduciveness of the programs. Levels of intervention can be applied for individual students. For the same third grade class, this is providing new services for those in need. However, the school setting has to include levels of systems that are a part of the program. Currently, the classes are confused about where they should go for protection and prevention and are overusing the programs because there aren’t any clear defined rules for prevention. The students need to know when to respond and which resources to go to with different concepts. The problems will then be identified by professionals who can respond to individual children’s needs. While there are several options that are being built for the students, the lack of communication at the third grade level is creating specific gaps. For this to comply at a national level, the process to be used for individual children is accumulation, monitoring and exchange of information. Each level used will help children to get assistance through protection and prevention. After this, school systems can monitor how the individual child changes and responds to situations. Exchanges of information include the progression of students at every level for their education, health and well – being (Parton, 976, 2006). More important, a new balance has to be initiated which create specific responses from children while allowing them to use the programs at the right time with defined concepts that are a part of the school system. For instance, some of the students in the third grade class are led to believe they need protection or prevention, but aren’t aware of what services to go to or why they need the assistance. The wrong assistance is given, attention is drawn in the wrong place and the system is unable to work. More important, it continues to take away time that should be drawn toward teaching the students within the classroom. The systematic response of schools for individual children can easily be implemented with knowledge, exchange and monitoring. The teacher of the third year has responded to the confusion by trying to consolidate the resources while showing children what they need to do to respond to the resources. However, the effectiveness of the program is reliant on the family and the responses in which they give. Families need to be incorporated into the main system while gathering the same knowledge as children. Most families are still being introduced and educated into the program and are uncertain about its effectiveness. While most comply with the meetings, there isn’t the ability to reach all families and have families come to activities. The gap is furthered by a lack of communication and knowledge, specifically which is the responsibility of the teacher and which the teacher sometimes is unaware of. Gaps families, specific types of students and the lifestyle situations are then not allowing the right type of assistance to be available. To alter this, school systems need to implement all – inclusive programs for each family and for children. Families need to be aware of the program and implementation of services within the school. There is also the need for the systems to crate databases and information for children that link to families and the specific needs in the household. The school system can then move in to assist families who have diverse situations. More important, the system used can monitor families for the same prevention and protection. Since the heart of the agenda is for families, it is essential to naturally include family communication and monitoring in the fulfilment of the agenda (Chand, 7, 2008). A challenge that school systems need to look into is through the family involvement and opposition to programs. If a child goes through a protective or preventative program in the community, then the sole responsibility is on the family. Currently, the school system of the third year is providing resources and telling students they are available. However, the school system not only needs to provide family involvement and communication, but also needs to create awareness among families for the available programs. Interactions between families and students through the system created with the Every Child Matters agenda will strengthen the programs and prevents gaps from being in the system. More importantly, psychologists, multi – agencies and the school board will have an extra responsibility of informing and communicating with parents at a different level. Currently, the teachers and students are both finding that information, communication and awareness are not readily available for use. While the administrators are implementing new programs, there isn’t the need to meet specific needs for students. Since several professionals and services are being implemented in combination with the children, family involvement is a primary concern. Most parents should have enough education on the programs to determine whether it is an effective measure for their children while providing deeper understandings of how the programs will enhance the overall family and school system (Squires et al, 343, 2007). Children with Down’s Syndrome The school that is used as an example for the Every Child Matters can take a specific example of the gaps through a child in the class with Down’s Syndrome. The child is a third year student and comes from a family that has lived in the community for a long time. The family is in the lower middle class with both parents working for a living. Most of the students don’t respond to the child because of the severity of the syndrome which makes it harder to communicate. The child also is placed in the special education courses which separates the child from others in the school. The child is currently involved in the main associations for Down’s Syndrome, specifically to help with the complexities of this disability. The Every Child Matters that is a part of the program has provided basic health measures, protective options and preventative measures for health. However, the resources to the student were already available because of the other organization in which the child was involved in. More important, the protective measures aren’t looking into the lifestyle situation and extra needs of the student. There is a gap in understanding what the child needs, specifically because the response is based solely on the requirements of providing resources and basic interventions. The child is provided with more resources; however, these are congruent with what was already a part of the main initiatives because of the specialized needs of the student. For the child with Down’s Syndrome to take advantage of the initiatives, personalized observations and responses from both the teacher and the family should be provided which show which needs are applicable to the student, instead of providing generalized options for the student. Evaluation of ECM The Every Child Matters agenda is focused first on the home and family, as well as the well – being of children. However, the agenda also involves teaching and learning procedures available to students. The responsibilities for teaching and learning under the new agenda increase with the responsibilities of the teacher and within each classroom. The teaching and learning that is incorporated begins with the pupil response and the participation levels in the classroom. If the education of every child is to be met, then the initiative for teaching and learning needs to focus on meeting the individual needs of students. The participation that creates responses from every student shows that the needs of every child are met. The teaching style should incorporate the several dimensions of learning for students while incorporating the individual needs of students into the curriculum of the classroom. The result of this approach to teaching is that professional intervention can easily be taken for children with active roles from teachers that define both protective and preventative measures (May, 29, 2005). Educational policies that provide new resources and means for students are furthered through the way in which teachers focus on the classroom. To get full participation of every student, a teacher is required to alter the teaching and learning for students. The problem with this is based on the several students in one classroom as well as the psychological component required for teachers to meet the needs of every individual. The programs currently have a large gap between the available resources and the needs of families, students and teachers. The educational context developed through the main curriculum and through the environment is required to alter so students feel safer and are willing to utilize resources outside of academic needs (Baxter, Frederickson, 87, 2005).. However, the connection between academic needs and basic health care of pupils is not being matched. The lifestyle and interactions with students are not being met, with most of the intervention programs based on the basic requirements that are initiated first at a federal level. Another aspect that affects the teaching and learning through the protection and prevention is based on the new educational requirements through the agenda. With the expectations for health and well – being, as well as the educational changes, are other parts of teaching which are eliminated. My personal teaching has suffered from a lack of time which would be enhanced by teaching with creativity, flexibility and the ability to teach according to experience of what works best among diverse groups of students. These characteristics are slowly becoming eliminated for the factors of the agenda. The national educational policy statements and requirements are redefining the classroom and what is expected for teaching among those that are a part of the reform. For teachers, this eliminates what can be done within the classroom. More important, the focus on children who are at need or in trouble is taking primary concern over the ability to teach creatively and at different levels. For teachers, new curricula for learning has to be developed which includes creativity, flexibility and the ability to reach the requirements of the agenda for student assistance and participation (Hall, Thompson, 5, 2008). Teachers moving into the classroom for a professional career are required to re-examine teaching methods. At one level, continuous participation for students is required, not only for learning, but also for protection and prevention from the new requirements of the agenda. The second part of the curricula is one that has to develop into the requirements of the educational policies of the ECM first. Teachers have to examine requirements first while keeping flexible teaching styles, individual methods and personal desires for creativity and flexibility as a secondary component. My personal teaching style is now being reflected in the time and efforts required for children who need extra assistance. The multi-agency policy, implementation of alternative school systems and the levels of protection that are moving into school systems will directly affect how students learn. Providing resources as a primary part of teaching, as opposed to reaching higher academic levels, is now a part of the teacher expectations. The preventative measures are combined with the necessity to change the way in which certain topics are looked into, specifically because of the time restraints and need to incorporate new factors in for the agenda and policy. For my teaching, this is creating new problems with what can be taught and is changing the agenda in the classroom which doesn’t provide options for academic subjects and is instead based on meeting the new policies of the ECM. Conclusion The Every Child Matters agenda set forward by the government of UK was designed to support the health and well – being of every child. While the agenda directly focuses on the family, it has incorporated school systems to provide effective measures for assistance. Individual students are incorporated into the system through more resources and available options for assistance and protection. Families are also involved in this through the new implementation of systems and the communication required for the agenda to take full effect. The responsibility of the teachers, through this specific program, has changed from basic academic skills to alternative teaching styles. The teaching styles are designed to reflect the agenda first so children can receive assistance, while leaving behind older methods that incorporate creativity, learning styles and teaching through personal styles. For teachers to be effective under this agenda is the need to change the curriculum and available methods so all students can be incorporated not only through academia, but also with the personal needs from the family. 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