NEWS


GTCE reassured over plans for regulation of teachers


by Pete Henshaw


The outgoing chief of the General Teaching Council for England (GTCE) has sought to reassure teachers about the impending changes to professional regulation. The closure of the GTCE was


one of the first announcements to be made by education minister Michael Gove after the election. The body will be handing over


its regulatory functions to the Department for Education in April 2012, from which time Mr Gove will become accountable for cases


of teacher misconduct and main- taining the list of those barred. The changes were outlined in


the recent Education Bill, which is currently being scrutinised by Parliamentary committee. Concerns had been raised


about the lack of detail over how the government will manage the regulatory process and the amount of control the plans could give to Mr Gove over deciding the fate of teachers. However, speaking to SecEd


two days before his departure, Mr Bartley said that a policy state- ment tabled by schools minister


Study offers help on coping with ‘emerging’ SENs


Teachers should learn from parents about how to deal with previously unseen complex disabilities and special needs. The call follows a two-year


research project on Complex Learning Difficulties and Disabilities conducted by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT). The government-funded


research, which involved around 100 schools, said students are now entering education with spe- cial needs and disabilities that have never been seen before. This includes increasing num-


bers of severely disabled young people who now survive to school age because of advances in medi- cal treatments, as well as students with emerging types of complex SEN and disabilities, such as those suffering from the consequences of foetal alcohol syndrome. Professor Barry Carpenter, an


associate director at the SSAT who led the research, said: “There are children who in the past would not have survived to school age, while increases in alcohol abuse have led to more children with foetal alcohol disorders. Rare disabilities and other conditions are on the increase. There are also more and more children with mental health problems.” He added that 50 per cent of children born prematurely are now diagnosed with ADHD. The number of children with


disabilities has risen from 700,000 in 2004 to 950,000 in 2009. During the same period, the Department for Education says the number with profound multiple learning diffi- culties increased by 30 per cent.


The study calls for training


courses to be systematically intro- duced in all schools for SEN and disabilities. Extra support is needed for teaching assistants too because they play a “crucial role” in helping young people. The study also says that teach-


ers can learn a lot from parents about how to support students. It states: “Families of children with complex learning difficulties and disabilities are charting new care practices, therapeutic inter- ventions and education pathways. We recommend that profession- als learn from these families and apply their knowledge and insight to personalise programmes.” Prof Carpenter added: “This is


not just an issue for special schools. Teachers in mainstream schools need to be aware of these trends because they are increasingly likely to encounter children with prob- lems they have not seen before. “There is a vast amount of


promising practice going on in schools at the moment. But we need urgent action to alert teach- ers across the system to this fast- growing trend and prepare them for it. Without proper training teachers will struggle to cope with these new challenges.” Briefing packs on a wide


range of newly emerging disabili- ties have been produced for both special and mainstream schools to help teachers. They include foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, attachment disorder, mental health problems, and the effects of drug use during pregnancy, and of pre- mature birth. Visit www.ssatrust.org.uk


Nick Gibb during a hearing of the Parliamentary scrutiny committee last month had offered “quite a deal of reassurance”. The statement sets out the gov-


ernment’s intention to delegate the responsibilities for teacher regula- tion to the new teaching agency that was unveiled in last year’s Education White Paper. It sets out a system of filtering


teacher referrals from the public, schools, police and the Independent Safeguarding Authority, and of con- ducting public hearings for appro- priate cases. Bans will be the only sanction available to such hearings.


It also promises a 12-week public consultation on the plans. Mr Bartley said: “The Bill as


it started out had no information about how the secretary of state was going to enact these powers, but in that statement there was quite a deal of reassurance.” He added: “We are reassured by the extent to which the expertise that rests in the GTCE is being brought in to help fashion the working processes that go on after the GTCE.” Mr Bartley’s successor as chief


executive, Alan Meyrick, echoed this view. He told SecEd: “We are seeing evidence of the government


having listened to us in the more detailed model set out. Adjudication being public, a balance between lay input and professional teacher input.” However, the GTCE is still con-


cerned that the proposals in the Bill apply only to misconduct, and not incompetence. Chair of the GTCE, Gail Mortimer, has already raised fears that the new system will mean teacher competence is no longer regulated nationally. She told SecEd in February:


“Mr Gove has said he will regu- late conduct but not incompetence. Individual schools will be left to


determine what is incompetent and there is no framework set, and some schools or headteachers will be unsure of what the national standard is to be required.” Elsewhere, Mr Bartley also


issued a warning to Mr Gove that the scale of his ambition for policy change needs to be matched with clear research. He said: “The scale and ambition is quite remarkable and if I have a concern about that it is that I do not see convincingly set out the research and evidence that suggests some of the direction will work. That’s not to say they cannot or they won’t but I am yet to see it.”


Kate Nash aims to inspire future female songwriters


Stardom, stage nerves and her inspiration for writing songs – these were just some of the subjects singer-songwriter Kate Nash talked about when she visited a Dorset secondary school last month. The star is so determined to


address the under-representation of female artists in British music that she has started a national campaign to inspire more girls to write songs. She also wants to boost the number of women in the music industry. As she was in Bournemouth


for the first gig of her current tour, she chose the town’s all-girls Avonbourne School to launch her initiative – which is called Kate Nash’s Rock n’ Roll For Girls After-School Music Club. Around 200 pupils at the


school, all either studying music or involved in extra-curricular music, attended the session. The star, whose debut album,


Made of Bricks, reached number one in 2007 and led to her being named best female artist at the 2008 BRIT Awards, told them how she


started out in the industry. She gave them tips on writing songs and performed a song called I Hate Seagulls. “I was shocked and annoyed


when I found out that only 14 per cent of song-writing royalties go to women,” she said. “I want to do something about this huge imbalance.


Write on: Singer Kate Nash with students from Avonbourne School in Bournemouth “There is still this ridiculous


image in the music industry that women cannot be serious artists. I want to change that and the best way of doing this is to encourage more girls into the industry. “What I want to do is start after-


school clubs, not just for perform- ers but also for women behind the


scenes, such as techies, manag- ers and those wanting to work for record labels.” The singer is being supported in


her campaign by US music educa- tion organisation Music Unites and The Co-operative. For further details, email afterschoolclubforgirls@gmail.com


Call for an alumni careers advice service


A petition has been launched to government after students backed proposals for a national alumni careers advice service. It follows two polls commis-


sioned by Future First of 510 16 to 19-year-olds and 1,033 adults. The survey asked about the careers advice they received in schools and how it had helped them. A third of the students said that they feel ill-prepared for work, while 64 per cent of the adults felt the advice they received was “not important in helping to advance their career”.


The students in the survey


backed an idea to create an alumni careers service model in every sec- ondary school in England. The idea would see employees


returning to schools to give careers guidance to students. Future First, a social enterprise that works to provide careers advice, says that 10 million British adults are willing to volunteer at their old schools. The survey highlighted prob-


lems of “connections” in certain careers. It said that 39 per cent of students in state schools do not


know anyone in the career they would like to enter. The report states: “Ninety-one


per cent of current state school stu- dents would prefer the Future First model of alumni networks to the traditional system of relying solely on in-school careers advisors. “Eighty-six per cent of 16 to


19-year-olds feel the model we deliver would be helpful to them specifically. “And those who have already


left school say they would be 15 times more likely to choose an


alumni-based model than the in- school provision they received.” It follows claims by the


Association of School and College Leaders last month that two million students may go without any careers advice following the government cuts to Connexions services. A new all-age advisory service will be up and running in September 2012, but the union is worried about a gap in provision until the new service is running. For more information visit, www.futurefirst.org.uk


Universities in Scotland defend their record on widening access


Scottish universities have defended their record on widening access, which is the worst in the UK, and argue that the problem has to be tackled at school age. Just over a quarter of students


in Scotland come from the poorest backgrounds, against a UK aver- age of 30 per cent, according to figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency. It is the lowest total since 2002.


4 Scottish universities also have


the highest drop-out rates in the UK. About 3,000 students who started university in 2008/09 have left prematurely – 9.3 per cent com- pared with 7.9 per cent for the UK as a whole. Liam Burns, the National Union


of Students’ Scotland president, said: “We need to see a greater political priority put on widening access. This is about increasing


financial support for the poorest students to encourage them to come to university, but it is also about changing the system. We believe it is time every institution was set tar- gets on fair access with considera- tion of financial penalties for those that consistently under-perform.” But Universities Scotland,


which represents university princi- pals, said the problem took root at an earlier age and fines would fail


to improve the situation. Director Alastair Sim said: “Targets and fines would be a crude, unproduc- tive and unsuccessful way to try to widen access to universities. The main barriers of aspiration and attainment start many years before entry to university and have to be tackled at school age. That’s why it’s important that schools, colleges and universities continue to work together on this.”


The Scottish Funding Council


(SFC) said that as Scottish uni- versities recruit high numbers of students from elsewhere in the UK – and relatively few of them from lower socio-economic groups – the figures are misleading. Universities had improved participation from poorer areas in Scotland in the last few years, it said, adding that in future it will ask universities to spend more of the money it gives


them on targeting specific groups who are at risk, such as young males, rather than on general poli- cies.


All universities offer widen-


ing access schemes where bright pupils from non-traditional back- grounds can experience university life before they start. Those who join academic programmes can win a place even if they fail to get the grades usually demanded.


SecEd • April 7 2011


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