Contemporary Service Provision For Children And Young People

This essay will give information about different pieces of legislation including Education Act (1944), The Mary Warnock Report (1978), and ‘Every Child Matters’ (2003). The essay is also going to discuss The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) 2007. In May 1940 Britain had been at war and shortly after Neville Chamberlain who was conservative Prime Minister was forced to resign due to the lack of confidence in his party. He was later replaced by Winston Churchill.

In October 1940 Herwald Ramsbotham who was president of the Board of Education, met with senior officers to discuss the Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s ideal of; “establishing a state of society where the advantages and privileges which hitherto have been enjoyed only by the few, shall be far more widely shared by the men and youth of the nation as a whole” (Taylor (1977) cited in Gillard, 2011, p2). After discussions with Winston Churchill the board’s proposals became known as the ‘Green Book’ this was then formed a piece of legislation which is now known as The Education Act 1944.

It was later discussed that there should be three stages of education which would be primary, secondary and further. Which is still in place in today’s society (Gillard, 2011). This is good because children are now taught through stages however it is also a bad idea because not all children develop through the stages, some children will understand one topic more than another or there may be a child who was to have a learning difficulty and then this would mean that the child will develop when they are ready and it may not be in stages they may take longer or they miss a stage and jumping to the next stage .

Once this was brought out they then ended the existing differentiation between elementary and secondary (Gillard 2011). In 1941 Rab Butler who was president board of education introduced free secondary education which happened for the first time in the UK (Parliament UK, 2012). Since the 1944 act has been brought out this has been reviewed three times since and there are now three Education Acts in place. Before the war there was no free secondary school education you had to pay and only the upper class families were able to pay for the facilities (Aldrich, 2002).

However after the war the society had changed and the government wanted to try and make life better for everybody (Lowe, 1988). They did this by introducing free secondary education, and they also introduced council houses so that the lower class families were able to have a stable home for themselves and their children. The government also introduced free health care, so that if the children or adults needed any medical attention they were able to get this free of charge. At this time, the government introduced the 11 plus test.

Most of the time the children who came from a richer background ended up in the private fee paid schools, and the children that were in the lower class families ended up in the less advantaged schools (Lowe, 1988). The 1944 Act recognised that children’s education should be based on their age, talent and ability. However, as Childs ( 2006) points out: “the 11 plus came to be seen as a test that discriminated strongly, if not deliberately, against the working class” (p. 93) From discussing the Children Act this essay is now going to go on to discussing the Warnock Report.

Mary Warnock was involved in Special Educational Needs (SEN). She is now known as Baroness Warnock. The Warnock report looked at the statementing of children and also looked at whether children with a SEN could be taught in mainstream schools. Putting this in place made it so that there was small specialist school provision available. This report highlighted that children who had a special education need, were more likely to be bullied in a mainstream school. However this isn’t always the case as not all children with an educational need will get bullied in a mainstream school.

If the child had behavioural difficulties then there is a longer time for the statement process. However when the report was renewed in 2005, Baroness Warnock stated that statements aren’t a good idea and should only be retained as a safety net (Douglas Silas Solicitors, 2012). From discussing the Mary Warnock Report this essay is now going to talk about the Green Paper Act which is also known as ‘Every Child Matters’. Every Child Matters Green paper (2003) was published shortly after the death of Victoria Climbié and was put in place to change children’s services.

This legislation has five key outcomes that will help children in child hood through to later life. The five key outcomes are making sure children: stay safe, enjoy and achieve, be healthy, achieve economic well-being and making a positive contribution. The framework made sure that the multi-agency partnerships such as health visitors and social services were put into place so that it gave children the best opportunity to succeed to their full potential and bring out the best in children. From the Every Child Matters Green Paper legislation this then led to the creation of Common Assessment Framework which is also known as (CAF).

By bringing this in it made sure that all of the agencies working with children understand the individual needs for the children. CAF forms led to meetings which brought together the agencies which made sure the Ever Child Matters plan is met and followed (Department for Education, 2012a). Following on from the Green Paper this essay is now going to start discussing the Early Years foundation stage. The Early Years Foundation Stage was introduced in 2007 and was made compulsory from 1st September 2008.

This was then revised in 2012. The aim was to set the standards for learning, development and care for children from the ages of birth to five years. This piece of legislation is in place to help children achieve the five ‘Every Child Matters’ outcomes which were listed above. The EYFS does this by setting the standards and making sure that all children are achieving whilst they are in the care of the setting and makes sure that the children make progress and that no child gets left behind (Department for Education, 2012b).

The EYFS addresses equal opportunities by making sure that every child is included and not left out because of their: ethnicity, culture or religion, gender, home language or family background and any learning difficulties the child may have or their ability. The EYFS aims to create the framework for partnership working. They do this by working with the children’s parents and professionals and they pass on information between the settings that the child attends.

The EYFS also improved the quality and consistency for children by getting rid of the existing frameworks, and providing the basis for the inspection and regulation regime. Finally they laid a secure foundation for future learning, this meant that the child care practitioners were planning to meet the individual needs of the children. They also carried out regular observations on the children so that they were able to recognise if there are any changes in the child’s development. It could be suggested that these outcomes have a big impact on the way the setting is run.

Without these outcomes the nursery setting wouldn’t know where they are at with assessments. However it could be argued that there is some degree of difference between settings and practitioners as to how well the planning and assessments are carried out. The EYFS is a central part of a ten year childcare strategy that was bought out in 2007. This shows that legislation isn’t always going to work and sometimes will need reviewing so that it can be made better and more up to date. However sometimes they don’t change anything it is just a review to make sure that everything is still being run the same.

Within the EYFS the work for all practitioners are grouped into four distinct but complementary themes which are: a unique child, making sure the children have positive relationships, having enabling environments which means that the nursery has to have bright displays up and look welcoming and also making sure that the children are learning and developing at the right stage of their development. Since the Early Years foundation stage has been introduced it is now known that children enjoy and learn more when learning through play (Pramling-Samuelsson and Fleer, 2009).

It is important that the children are able to make their own choices and left to explore by themselves as long as they are safe this is how most observations are done, during the child’s natural free flow play. By this you are then able to see how the child interacts with other children, what they enjoy doing, the way in which they explore and also what they found out from playing/exploring. From this the practitioner is then able to plan and implement from this to encourage the children to learn.

“A good free play session offers a rich play and learning experience for children. It allows each child to progress at his/her own pace, it gives children practice in choosing, and in dealing with the consequences of choice, and it encourages a more flexible and open-ended use of the group’s resources. Like all genuine freedom, however, it takes a lot of effort” (Henderson 2010, cited in Lewis, 2011, p 1). However some children are more advanced and would prefer learn at a faster speed doing written work rather plan playing.

On the other hand it is good because it does give children chance to explore and learn at their own stage rather than them feeling like they are being rushed along. Which means the child will learn to be strong and independent which will be learnt through loving and secure relationships with parents/carers. Children also look at displays within the setting to support their development This essay discusses how The Education Act (1944) has made an influence on today’s society. The Education Act brought in the three stages of education; primary, secondary and higher.

These are still in place in today’s society, it also brought in free education and changed the way children learn. The children went from not going to school unless they could afford to pay to now being able to go to school free of charge. In today’s society they don’t take into account your welfare and background which is a good thing as children don’t have anything in the way which could affect them from learning. In 1978 The Mary Warnock report was introduced which influenced on how children with a special educational need was assessed and it was then later reviewed in 2005.

Another piece of legislation that has been discussed within the essay is Every Child Matters this piece of legislation looks at all frameworks working together so that children; stay safe, enjoy and achieve, be healthy, achieve economic well-being and making a positive contribution. Finally this essay has talked about The Early Years Foundation Stage which was brought out in 2007, and made compulsory in 2008. It is still in place in today’s society and has been revised in 2012.