Why is every child matters important in schools

A version of the green paper for children and young people. Care Matters: Time for Change. A white paper Critique — the problem of Every Child Matters Every Child Matters was, in many respects, a positive social policy programme that was the catalyst for a radical reform of the ways services were provided for children, young people and families in England.

At one level it could be thought ridiculous to consider criticising Every Child Matters — how could anyone argue that not every child matters? One immediate, practical concern is that the Children Act and Every Child Matters relate only to the local authority areas in England — no parallel legislation has been put before the Welsh or Northern Ireland Assemblies, nor the Scottish Parliament.

This raises various issues, including:. Children, young people and families who move between England and other states of the United Kingdom experience different entitlements and differing service delivery arrangements. For example, Councils in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland — and their partners and other bodies — are not required to re-design and integrate services to enable children and young people to make progress against five key outcomes.

However, at a deeper level Every Child Matters is a language game or discourse — a favoured way of thinking that is imbued with the full weight, authority and power of the English state. While they create a way of seeing and suggest a way of acting, they also tend to create ways of not seeing, and eliminate the possibility of actions associated with alternative views of the world. Morgan, , p For example, the whole question of spirituality is not mentioned anywhere in the outcomes framework.

A further set of questions surround the extent to which the processes and procedures associated with the Every Child Matters agenda seriously invade and undermine the rights of children to privacy set out under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In addition, it has drawn a range of practitioners including many informal educators into the formal surveillance process. There has been a fundamental cost to this.

Children and young people are being denied spaces to explore feelings, experiences and worries away from the gaze of the state. A visit by a child or young person to a third sector advice agency, for example, to talk about sexual activity can quickly trigger police intervention. A hard driven focus on improving outcomes requires, as we have seen, the social professions and formal and informal educators to continually assess — and make judgements and decisions about — the development, behaviour and circumstances of children, young people and their families.

In the context of such monitoring and scrutiny, we need to recognise that norms inherent in Every Child Matters — and within which we make assessments and decisions — are socially constructed. Berger and Luckmann suggest that human interactions are maintained by conscious and unconscious patterns we acquire, internalise and revise as children in our families, and during our education and schooling, our training, careers and day-to-day lives. Yet, English social policy is referenced against particular realities and norms, which reflect white, middle class, patriarchal, heterosexual, Christian, able-bodied ideals Hughes, , p.

Inherent in Every Child Matters is a collection of specific and particular social, cultural and moral norms that provide an underpinning framework for policy and practice about work by local public services to improve outcomes for children and young people. That is, between their thinking and decision making about the development, circumstances and behaviours of children, young people and their families, and the constraints of organisational contexts where such thinking and decision making occurs.

In practice, situated moral reasoning means that the services offered to children, young people and their families may be an outcome of peripheral and contextual factors, not simply the assessments by formal and informal educators about children and young people, and their development, behaviours or circumstances. Which from the full range of possible services, will be delivered or commissioned by which of the partner organisations, for which groups of local children, young people and their families, in what places and at what times?

The resources of local public services budgets, and the time and skills of teams and staff are fixed. So, in what ways will the totality of resources available across the local partnership be combined, utilised and targeted to continue providing, and further develop, an appropriate menu of services to meet the identified needs of local children, young people and families? How will collective decisions be made by partner organisations about whether services and teams are effective in improving outcomes, and evaluate whether the effectiveness of a service or team is in proportion to what it costs?

How will children, young people and their families be able to access their entitlement to different services from the menu of available services:. Where are different services to be located — in the neighbourhoods where children, young people and families live which would enable ease of access , or in different parts of the town, city or region.

How will managers and staff be actively supported to implement changes in their working practices, and engaged in conversations about the implications of such changes for their terms and conditions of employment? For example, arguably the numbers of children on a local child protection register reflects the resources available the number of social workers available to carry out assessments and hold cases rather than the extent of abuse, harm and neglect experienced by children and young people in local communities.

In what ways will managers of multi-agency teams gain support to effectively coach, lead and manage formal and informal educators in their team who are from disciplines in which they have no practice experience?

How will staff be consulted, engaged and informed about changes that will impact on their ways of working with children, young people and their families?

How will staff differentiate between and prioritise the circumstances, needs and behaviours of children, young people and their families? Will staff have the space, time and permissions to talk in solution focussed ways about the opportunities, tensions and challenges in implementing common processes to support multi-agency, early intervention with children, young people and families?

However, Every Child Matters is only one of the imperatives and change programmes to which Councils and other public services are required to respond by government. Local public services are subject to extensive programmes of legislation and guidance, which requires them to juggle competing and conflicting priorities, and:.

The moral imperative immanent in Every Child Matters effectively enables politicians and civil servants to centralise credit to themselves for driving forward a grand vision, whilst simultaneously diverting any blame for failures in the delivery of that programme onto local Council services, their partners and other local bodies.

Every Child Matters is, in some ways, a refreshing and radical reform in the ways public services are expected to work with children, young people and families. Formal and informal educators and their managers in public services are in the beginnings of wrestling with both the challenges of working creatively and effectively with each other and with children, young people and families who experience and present a range of social, emotional, financial and behavioural circumstances — and simultaneously with their personal challenges, fears and anxieties: for their survival and their identity within the scale and pace of the changes required of them by Every Child Matters.

The demands all of this places on formal and informal educators and on managers throughout public services erodes opportunities for reflective and creative dialogue about the challenges we face and opportunities available to us. Inherent in Every Child Matters is a seductive and powerful potential to enmesh formal and informal educators in an obedience and passivity that may run contrary to our vocation and calling: to participate in a favoured way of thinking that glosses over, or institutionalises the invisibility of deep structural inequalities in contemporary English society.

In engaging with the information and critique offered in this article, my hope is for formal and informal educators to be reminded of their active choice in how we operate in our roles and in our practice:. It is regularly updated, and includes links to related government and non-governmental web sites. Mansoor Peppers Professional. What are positive outcomes for children? Achieve economic well being- by children having positive attitudes about learning and developing self confidence, independence, creative thinking, risk taking and flexibility will help young people in the world of work.

All practitioners strive these outcomes for all children and young people. Silvio Ileni Explainer. What is the aim of every child matters? The Government's aim , it was stated, was for every child , whatever their background or their circumstances, to have the support they need to: be healthy; stay safe; enjoy and achieve; make a positive contribution; and achieve economic well-being. Tohami Pliner Explainer. What has replaced the Every Child Matters framework?

Achievement was only one of the original five ECM outcomes, and the other four have now been dropped. R De Angel Explainer. What are the key points of the Children's Act ?

Children's Act Maka Schuhle Pundit. Which department published every child matters? Every Child Matters , although based in the Department for Education and Skills, requires co-ordination and joined-up working with other Government departments —especially the Department of Health and the Home Office.

Shantay Corpa Pundit. Who wrote every child matters? Every Child Matters : Cm. Monika Groothus Pundit. What is every child matters called now? Ensuring that the people working with children are valued, rewarded and trained. Yanitsa Agasaroff Pundit. What is the difference between Children's Act and ? The Children's Act provides a comprehensive framework for the care and protection of children. The Children's Act supplemented the Act and reinforced the message that all organisations working with children have a duty in helping safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

Discover a wealth of interesting, entertaining and informative stories in each issue, delivered to you six times per year. Written by award-winning Indigenous author Monique Gray Smith , this magazine, which is based on the Seven Sacred Teachings, is aimed for students in grades 5—12 and is available in both English and French. Each chapter teaches children about residential schools, Treaties, and the historic and current relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

Accompanied by supplementary educational resources, the magazine is both a guide and a journal for young people as they explore their feelings, build confidence, and foster greater respect and empathy throughout their reconciliation journeys. The activities are intended to encourage student inquiry and investigation, while also supporting action-based learning. Each lesson is based on one of the seven teachings, reminding all of us that love, truth, wisdom, humility, courage, respect, and honesty truly matter.

It is our hope that these lessons help you and your students live out these teachings, in your classrooms, in your actions, and in your everyday lives. We would like to thank all of the contributors and advisors who have shared their work and contributed to this important project.