UPDATE NO 433 11 December 2020

Speak for Change report published by the Oracy APPG

The Oracy All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) has released an interim report which highlights that young people have unequal access to opportunities to develop their oracy skills in schools in England. It emphasises the importance of developing students’ confidence and competence in spoken language, particularly as the disruption to children’s education over this past year is widening the already stubborn language gap.

The Oracy APPG is calling for better support for teachers to embed oracy in their classrooms and raised expectations for pupils’ entitlement to quality oracy teaching, in order to harness the untapped potential of oracy to address educational inequality, improve employability and support children’s wellbeing as we emerge from this crisis.

The full report is here

The Oracy APPG is supported by Voice21 and 17 other organisations in the Oracy Network

A systematic review of early years degrees and employment pathways

EPI has published A systematic review of early years degrees and employment pathways. 

The Education Policy Institute and the Plymouth Institute of Education (University of Plymouth) have published a new report on early years degrees in England, funded by the Nuffield Foundation. While degree-qualified staff have been identified as contributing to the quality of early years education, very little is known about the content or structure of degrees, or if graduates go on to work in early years education.

The report examines the full range of early years degrees in England along with the employment trajectories of early years graduates. 

The full report is here

It finds:

• A fragmentation in degree choice, content and age of specialisation. Prospective early years students must navigate between as many as 320 different degrees on the UCAS application system, while early years degrees cover a range of subjects, but with no obvious common core.
• Practical elements of degrees (work placements) are not always strong or uniform
• Clear differences between early years students and the broader student population in relation to degree choice and employment opportunities
• Little financial incentive for completing an early years degree, especially if staying in the early years sector for employment
• Graduates mostly stay in the early years sector, but there is a localised workforce, with little movement between pre-university residence, location of study and employment.

Future dates for Network meetings

AD Safeguarding: Friday 5 March 2021 –  for more information from Mark Evans (contact details below)

QA Network: Wednesday 10 March 2021. Confidential documents have been posted on the QA restricted pages – access to these pages and more information from Diane Williamson (contact details below)

Fostering Network: 10.30am Thursday 28 January. More information from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

SEND SE19: More information from Tracey Maytas (contact details below)

Data Benchmarking: More information from Alastair Lee (contact details below)

AD Education: Friday 29 January 2021 – 1.30pm – 3.30pm – more information from Chris Owen (contact details below)

Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board: Tuesday 19 January 2021. More information from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

School and college staff wellbeing: report

DfE have published a literature review examining evidence on school and college staff wellbeing in England, the UK and comparable sectors. Key themes include:

1. engagement from senior leaders
2. implementing whole school approaches
3. provision of support, mentoring and training
4. fostering resilience and mindfulness
5. promoting healthy and active lifestyles
6. ensuring a positive work environment.

Following the launch of the DfE’s Teacher Recruitment and Retention strategy, an expert group was created to advise DfE on the wellbeing of staff in schools and colleges.

This literature review was commissioned to support the work of the expert advisory group to examine recent evidence on school and college staff wellbeing in England.

The main aim of this review is to establish the effectiveness of the existing support available to enable and promote staff wellbeing in schools and further education (FE) colleges in England.

This literature review was written in 2019 prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The full report is here

Applying behavioural insights to increase female students’ uptake of STEM subjects at A level

The DfE has published research into increasing the number of young women choosing STEM subjects at A-level using a parent-focused approach. 

This research reviews ways to overcome the barriers that young women are up against to increase the uptake of STEM subjects at A level.

This research will be of interest to:

• academics
• education policy professionals
• others interested in diversity in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM)

The research contributes to developing the existing evidence base on what works to improve STEM uptake, particularly for girls.

The full report is here

Children in Care NHS Partnership Project

Following last week’s meeting of DCSs and Lead Members in the South East, the Children in Care NHS Partnership Project has published three new documents.

For further information, contact Andrea King (details below)

Mental Health Ambition

Roles and Responsibilities

South East – Children in Care Emotional/Mental Health Tariff