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Every Child Matters: Opportunities and Challenges for Teaching Assistants
The origin and development of Every Child Matters
Every Child Matters (ECM), and the Children Act of 2004, was prompted by the tragic death of Victoria ClimbiƩ, and the many other children in England and Wales, who are at risk of, or die as a result of, abuse and neglect. Every Child Matters aims to protect, nurture and improve the life chances and well-being outcomes of all children and young people, in particular, of those who are the most disadvantaged and vulnerable. Table 1.1 outlines the development of Every Child Matters policy and legislation.
Children and young people cannot learn effectively if they do not feel safe or if health problems create barriers to their learning and well-being. Inclusion, ECM and educational achievement go hand in hand, and TAs as valuable members of the schoolās Childrenās Workforce team, play a crucial role in supporting teaching and learning, and removing barriers to learning and participation, in improving outcomes for all pupils, but particularly for those who are not succeeding in achieving the ECM outcomes.
The principles of Every Child Matters
Ten principles underpin the Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme.
- children to fulfil their optimum potential;
- early intervention and prevention through improved service provision;
- safeguarding and protecting children from harm, neglect and poverty;
- a well-trained, skilled, knowledgeable and flexible childrenās workforce;
- improving information sharing between agencies;
- better coordinated joined up integrated front-line services;
- greater accountabilityāimpact of provision on outcomes for children and young people;
- children to voice their views and inform decision-making in relation to personalised services and personalised learning;
- safer communities providing recreational and voluntary activities for children and young people to participate in;
- improved access to advice, information and services for parents, carers and families on positive parenting, family learning, childcare, adoption and fostering.
Table 1.1 The development of Every Child Matters
The Every Child Matters five outcomes
The five Every Child Matters outcomes are interdependent and show the important link between educational achievement and well-being. They were identified by children and young people during consultation. The five outcomes that are key to well-being in childhood and later life are to:
- be healthy: enjoying good physical and mental health and having a healthy lifestyle;
- stay safe: being protected from harm and abuse;
- enjoy and achieve: getting the most out of life and developing the skills for adulthood;
- make a positive contribution: being involved with the community and society and not engaging in anti-social or offending behaviour;
- achieve economic well-being: not being prevented by economic disadvantage from achieving their full potential in life.
Each outcome is underpinned by five specific aims for children and young people, followed by a statement identifying the support needed from parents, carers and families in order to achieve those aims.
Key messages of Every Child Matters
Every Child Matters is all about improving the life chances of all children and young people, from birth to the age of 19, reducing inequalities, and helping them to achieve better outcomes.
The Every Child Matters five outcomes provide a deep moral basis for change for children in schools related to personalisation. This entails tailoring and matching support, teaching, learning and personalised services to meet individual needs, interests and aptitudes, in order to enable every child and young person to succeed within an education system fitting for the twenty-first century.
Every Child Matters (2003) and the governmentās Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners (2004), both set high aspirations for children and young peopleās outcomes in the future. The Five Year Strategy reiterated many of the key themes of Every Child Matters:
- a stronger voice for children, young people and adults in the development of policy and the design of services;
- services and learning designed around the needs of the individual and available at a time and place and in a form which suits their needs, with no artificial distinctions made between good learning and childrenās well-being;
- better advice and information to enable people to make choices;
- better support and incentives, particularly where financial barriers would work as a disincentive to participation;
- high minimum standards for everyone, irrespective of who they are or where they live.
- (DfES 2004b: 13ā14)
Every Child Matters clearly relates to, and underpins other key developments in education, as outlined in the DfES Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners (2004), and summarised in Table 1.3.
The key ECM messages in the transformation of the standards and quality of education and training, and services for children and families as identified in the Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners (2004) are to:
Table 1.2 Every Child Matters outcomes for children and young people
Table 1.3 Five-year strategy for children and learners and ECM outcomes
- achieve and sustain world class excellence in every part of the system;
- move further towards early intervention and work to prevent problems;
- create services which are truly personalised around the needs and aspirations of every child, young person and adult; and
- put learningāand the high quality workforce and institutions needed to provide itāat the heart of successful communities and local and regional regeneration.
- (DfES 2004b: 11:16)
In the follow up to the Five Year Strategy (2006f) the government remarked:
Personalised learning, the reform of 14ā19 qualifications and provision, the development of the childrenās centres and extended schools ā¦ and the revolution in childrenās services following Every Child Matters and the Children Act 2004, have all pointed the way forward. These programmes have reconfigured services across traditional boundaries to create provision that is shaped around the userās needs.
(DfES 2006f: 33:81)
The DfES in the same document referred to a new framework for āsustaining successā, which builds on the Every Child Matters five outcomes, in setting objectives and expectations for good high quality services for children and young people.
Figure 1.1 A framework for sustaining success in achieving the Every Child Matters outcomes.
Implications for teaching assistants in schools
The implications of Every Child Matters on the role of the teaching assistant supporting pupils learning and well-being in schools, can best be summarised in Table 1.4.
Table 1.4 ECM and implications for teaching assistantsā roles
Opportunities for TAs supporting learning and ECM outcomes
In the context of the Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme and personalised learning, the role of the TA necessitates reconfiguration and reconceptualisation, in order to better equip teaching assistants fully to meet the new and exciting opportunities in schools of the future.
Figure 1.2 illustrates comprehensively the new opportunities for the TA role.
Figure 1.2 The teaching assistantsā role in supporting the ECM outcomes.
Challenges for teaching assistants and Every Child Matters
Teaching assistants supporting teaching, learning and pupil well-being in schools in the twenty-first century will need to acquire new knowledge, skills and understanding to enable them to:
- support children and young people who may be less passive and biddable as learners of the future;
- become fully conversant with, and confident in using leading edge technology to support pupilsā learning and promote self-directed learning; ā¢ refocus support to enable pupils to know how to learn, how to use their brains and become more effective learners;
- support pupils to become more active learners, taking greater ownership and responsibility for their learning, providing opportunities for them to talk about their learning and well-being;
- prepare for the role of a pupil ālearning guideā and advocate, who understands pupilsā learning needs in the wider context, and establishes and reviews their learning needs, and monitors their progress;
- understand how children and young people develop, being aware of the adverse peer group and societal pressures they face, and help them to manage these competing pressures and their own emotions;
- help pupils develop āsoftā ECM skills: reliability, punctuality and perseverance; how to work wi...
