Monday, December 29, 2008
Have Your Say. December 2008
We have selected some UK government consultations running this month on the future direction of education as well as a wide range of opportunities and free resources.
Ofsted plan to include the effectiveness of a school in contributing to children's well-being as part of the assessment during an Inspection. But how to measure contribution to well-being? In establishing the criteria to be followed by Inspectors, Ofsted is running a consultation asking for suggestions of indicators of a school's contribution to the well-being of its pupils. Ofsted has written a proposal paper outlining suggesting two kinds of school-level indicator: indicators relating to quantified outcomes over which schools can have significant influence and indicators based on the perceptions of pupils and parents, relating to the ECM outcomes themselves and the school's contribution to them. The paper also suggests that no extra work should be required by schools in demonstrating their contributions to well-being against these indicators.
To read the proposals in full and add your own views and suggestions, click here.
The UK National Lottery grants money to voluntary and community projects through its BIG Lottery Fund and is revising its criteria for the period 2009-2015. Schools and Educational projects have received significant funding through the BIG Fund with over £100 million going directly to schools since it was launched in 2004.The National Lottery are running a public consultation on what types of project it should fund in the future. To take part, click here.
Plans to introduce School Report Cards for all UK schools were announced by Ed Balls in the Autumn in the same package as the abolition of National testing at age 14, but received less attention. The proposals are for quantitative and comparative data for each school in England to be stored on the Report card enabling parents, local communities as well as government agencies to access information easily. To read the proposals in more detail and/or to take part in the Consultation, click here.
The UK government has put down on paper how it plans to achieve it's ambition of making England the best place to grow up and be educated in the world. "21st Century Schools: a world class education for every child", outlines the government's vision for all schools. A consultation was launched on December 8th and will run until March 3rd. Click here to take part.
The latest initiative from The School Food Trust is designed to raise awareness of the value of school meals across the world and to support the UN World Food Programme. The Really Good School Dinner initiative is asking UK children to donate 10p for each school dinner during the week January 26th to 30th. All the money raised will be used by the WFP’s school feeding programmes in countries such as Kenya, Cambodia and Guatemala, to provide pupils with a nutritious meal, for many their only meal of the day. Poster packs and other resources are available free to schools to help prepare for the event. Click here for more information.
School Councils UK is a really useful, interactive website designed to support and encourage the effective use of school councils in UK schools. The website has a forum and discussion area where you can use the Ask a Question facility to post a question for others to vote on. The numbers of voters and the results are then shown on the site. Currently, there is a vote on, Can social networking sites be useful in schools? (So far, 70% have answered, Yes.)
The site also offers free resources and services to schools. Schools can also join the national network of Schools Councils through the site. To visit, click here.
The website of the office of The Children's Commissioner, 11 million, has a range of consultations asking for the views of young people on educational issues and initiatives. This is a safe place to encourage and support children and young people in learning how to give and share views and to play their part in decision-making. The site shapes its consultations to the age of participants, with the wording and options changing depending on the age of users. For example, there is a Dreamcatcher Consultation, asking children to share their ideas about what makes children happy and for very young children the option is given to use shapes to create a picture about How You Feel Today. All consultation pages are age rated with some such as the page on Gun and Knife Crime carrying clear warnings that they may not be suitable for young children. Click here to take part.
The Youth Citizenship Commission was set up by the UK Government to examine ways of developing young people's understanding of citizenship and increasing their participation in politics. The commission is currently running a consultation on lowering the Legal Age of Entitlement to vote from 18 to 16. The website goes through arguments and evidence for and against the proposal and hosts a discussion and vote on the issue. Click here to take part.