Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will revise the changes made to the Final version of the Specification for Mandatory Qualifications for specialist teachers of children and young people who are deaf between 6 and 13 October 2015.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Our aim is always to ensure that the Mandatory Qualifications (MQ) continue to be a high quality qualification that is flexible in its content and in its model of delivery in order to meet the needs of the sector.
We work closely with the National Sensory Impairment Partnership (NatSIP) as representatives of the sector. We ran a consultation with the sector to make sure that the MQ remained current and reflected changes in policy. As a result of the consultation we made a number of changes to the MQ specification. We published the revised specification on 7 September 2015 on GOV.uk.
After publication, we responded to advice from NatSIP and made a further amendment to the specification making it clearer that the specification reflects the minimum skills required to be a teacher of the deaf.
We have no plans to make changes to the final version of the specification; we will keep the specification under review and continue to engage with the sector through NatSIP.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has for consistent monitoring of the emotional, social and physical development of children in their early years, after the Early Years Foundation Profile becomes non-compulsory in September 2016; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
It is important for parents and teachers to know how well a child is progressing. As such, communication and language, physical development and personal, social and emotional development are set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework as prime learning areas for children from birth to age five.
As part of the wider reforms to the accountability system for primary schools and the national curriculum we have introduced the reception baseline assessment for the 2015/16 academic year.
The reception baseline forms one part of a teacher’s wider assessments in reception and we will expect early years practitioners to continue to carry out the appropriate ongoing, formative assessment of children of reception age.
The EYFS statutory framework will also still require early years practitioners to carry out a progress check against the three prime areas of learning at age two, and we are improving this check for parents by bringing it together with health visitor checks in the form of new Integrated Reviews.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will implement the recommendations of the report published by the NSPCC in June 2015 entitled Achieving emotional wellbeing for looked after children, on the mental health needs of children in care.
Answered by Edward Timpson
In March my Department and the Department of Health published joint statutory guidance on promoting the health and well-being of looked-after children. This emphasises the importance of emotional well-being and mental as well as physical health. Support to vulnerable groups, including looked-after children, was also a focus of the work leading up to the publication of Future in Mind.
This report makes a valuable contribution to the development of policy and practice around how to improve the emotional wellbeing and mental health of looked-after children and care leavers. Promoting the emotional wellbeing and mental health of looked-after children is a key priority for this government. We look forward to discussing with the NSPCC and others the findings it presents and what more can be done to improve emotional and mental health outcomes for this vulnerable group.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to tackle cyber-bullying.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Government believes that internet providers, schools and parents all have a role to play in keeping children and young people safe online.
All schools must have a behaviour policy which includes measures to prevent all forms of bullying, including cyberbullying. The ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education' guidance outlines the importance of tackling cyberbullying, which can be found online at:
http://www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/schools-the-wider-sector/cyberbullying.aspx
Schools have the flexibility to develop their own measures to prevent and tackle bullying, but are held to account by Ofsted.
The Government recognises that educating young people about online safety is key to tackling cyberbullying. As part of changes to the new computing programmes of study which will be taught from September 2014, e-safety will be taught at all four key stages. This will empower young people to tackle cyberbullying through responsible, respectful and secure use of technology, as well as ensuring that pupils understand age-appropriate ways of reporting any concerns they may have about what they see or encounter online.
The new curriculum also offers opportunities to tackle the underlying causes of bullying; for example the new citizenship programme of study sets out a requirement for pupils to be taught about the diverse national, regional, religious and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom and the need for mutual respect and understanding.
The Department for Education is providing £4 million of funding over two years from 2013 to four anti-bullying organisations: Beatbullying, the Diana Award, Kidscape and the National Children's Bureau consortium. While this funding has been awarded to specific projects to reduce bullying in general this can, and does, include work to tackle cyberbullying.
The Department has produced case studies showing good practice in how to manage behaviour and bullying. These include a case study about how a school deals with cyber-bullying. Also through funding provided by the Department the Anti-Bullying Alliance has produced specific advice on cyberbullying for children and young people with special educational needs and or disabilities. We provide a link to this in our own advice on preventing and tackling bullying.
Government ministers have regular meetings with internet providers, social media platforms and search engines on matters related to internet safety, including cyber-bullying. Ministers from the Department for Education, Home Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport also co-chair the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) which brings together a range of experts across government, law enforcement, industry, academia and charities to consider the best ways to minimise the risk of harm to children when online.
In July 2013 the Prime Minister announced measures to support parents to install free and easy to use internet filters which can block access to harmful websites. The Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have now rolled out easy to use filtering to all new customers and will confirm that, by the end of 2014, 95% of all homes with an existing internet connection will be required to choose whether to switch on a whole home family friendly internet filter. The filters are constantly being refined and updated by the ISPs to keep families as safe as possible in the fast changing digital world. The ISPs have also announced a new £25 million internet safety campaign over 3 years that will reach out to millions of parents on how best to protect their children and make good use of filters.