Statement on Children's Plan

11 December 2007

The  Professional Association of Teachers (PAT) - which incorporates the Professional Association of Nursery Nurses (PANN) - has commented on the Government's Children's Plan and review of the primary curriculum announced today (11 December 2007).

PAT General Secretary Philip Parkin said: "Children face many, often conflicting, pressures in today's society - from the school curriculum, from the media, from their peers, from commercial interests, from parents.

Curriculum

"The curriculum is over crowded and too prescriptive. Children are over-tested so more flexibility on the curriculum and testing would be welcome. The Government needs to step back from the target-driven and over-tested regime that is the reality in our schools and let professionals use their judgement and skills. 

Staffing in schools and nurseries

"There needs to be a commitment to real, continued  investment to enable us to recruit the necessary levels of staff and to increase and improve the skills of the current workforce so that  we can look forward to a high level of support for the delivery of the Children's Plan and the ongoing delivery of the Every Child Matters agenda.

Social issues

"Many will share the Plan's laudable aspirations. However, a Plan cannot magically transform the situation for children without the support of families, education and childcare professionals, the media and commerce.  The Government needs to listen to the concerns of those who care for and educate children. It cannot just issue a grand plan and tick the box and say 'children, sorted'.

"Schools can play a key role at the heart of their communities, offering a wider range of services for pupils and parents, but if this is to work in practical terms, the funding, training and staff have to be there and practical concerns must be addressed.

"There is a real danger of overburdening schools and allowing their focus to move away from education to social issues. Both are important, but schools cannot solve all of society's problems or take on the responsibilities or roles of parents. Education can provide a refuge and opportunity for disadvantaged children, but their education must not be interrupted by the proximity of teams from other agencies.

"Time spent in education is an opportunity for children with social and family pressures in their lives to leave them behind, albeit for short periods. We must guard against increasing those pressures by making children immediately available to those concerned with other areas of their lives. We need to value education in its own right and see the acquisition of skills and knowledge as a way out of social deprivation not as a tool for further social engineering.

Security

Opening up school sites to a variety of other agencies beyond education has implications for security and the health, safety and welfare of pupils and those who educate them.

"If schools are to provide a 'one-stop-shop' for families' welfare needs, this must not impinge on children's education or jeopardise the safety of pupils and staff by allowing unrestricted access to a school site by adult relations who will not have been checked or vetted and who may be in difficult or estranged relationships with other family members.

Children

"Children are individuals who develop at different rates and have different, individual needs.  This Plan will only succeed if the system recognises this and treats them as, and allows them to be, individuals, not part of a group that must meet certain targets by a specified time. The Plan should be a framework that allows and enables children to succeed and flourish not yet another plan with a set of targets."