In this essay I am going to be looking at the Every Child Matters and Youth
Matters green papers.
Firstly I will start off by summarising the two green papers and highlighting
the key points and challenges that come from these two papers. Secondly I will
introduce the focus which I am going to look at in more detail. I am going to
look at the role of the school in relation to these green papers. More
specifically that of the extended schools agenda and what the implications are
for youth workers, as well as discussing the theory of formal and informal
education. Thirdly will put forward some of my thoughts on the hidden agenda of
extended schools. I will then conclude this essay by summing up some of the key
points.
Schools have a large role to play in both the Every Child Matters and Youth
Matters green paper. I am unable to discuss the subject as a whole and therefore
will not be looking at the role of the school when it comes to 14-19 education
and information, guidance and advice.
The Every Child Matter green paper starts off by accounting for the past
failing to protect vulnerable and recognizes that this has not just been a one
off incident with Victoria Climbie. It highlights the problems of poor
information sharing between key services; no one key person to take
accountability; it was the face to face workers that were coping with inadequate
management, poor training and not enough staff to cover the work load.
The paper talks about the improvements that have occurred and goes on to
identify improvements in education, the reduction in children living in
household with low incomes, a reduced number of young offenders re-offending and
conception rates in under 18’s had dropped. The introduction of Sure Start and
Tax Credits benefits will only be able to be seen in the future.
The paper also acknowledges that there are still areas that need to see
improvement, such as truancy, 16-18 not in education or training, educational
success for children in care, inequalities in achievement for those from
different economic backgrounds.
After consulting children, young people and families five outcomes were decided upon to focus the vision of future outcomes.
The government are going to build on these outcomes by Sure Start centres, extended schools services, Young people’s funds, improvements in child and adolescent mental health and speech and language therapy, addressing homelessness and revamping the youth justice system. To make progress developments are going to be aimed at four key areas:
The Youth Matters green paper came as response to the Every Child Matters
five outcomes. This paper recognises that for many young people the transition
known as adolescents comes with many challenges and is often dealt with well by
most teenagers, for some this period proves much more difficult. It is during
this period in life that young people become cut off from school and take up
habits, such as smoking, drinking or drugs. For some this will escalate further,
leading to anti-social behaviour and crime. The paper moves onto state that
there is a balance to be drawn between the rights and responsibilities of young
people.
The approach being taken by the paper acknowledges the influence that parents
have in their young people lives but realises that other services have a
distinct role to play in the support and activities offered to young people.
The paper highlights four key challenges that it aims to address;
The first challenge the paper looks at is that of young people in control of where they want to go and the things they want to do. The idea is to give the young people some financial control by;
The second challenge focuses on how to engage more young people in assisting
in projects that are taking part in their community. As well as this the
challenge also aims to raise the idea of peer mentoring, volunteering throughout
their education and the rewards that can be offered to those young people who
engage in these activities.
The third challenge sets out guidance on the support that young people should
be receiving at key transitions in their education. It put the emphasis on
schools to be offering quality advice to their student that the school should be
held to accountable for. This advice should enable each student no matter what
their need reach their full potential.
Finally the fourth challenge looks at those young people who have serious
problems. It talks about the importance of a lead professional who will
co-ordinate the support that is given to that individual young person. The
establishment of Children’s Trust here will see the government providing funding
that the trust will then use to tackle problems more holistically (Dfes, 2005).
I am going to explore of role of the school in these two papers and where
youth workers fit into this, in relation to extended schools. Both green papers
talk about extended school services, but there is much more of an emphasis on
the schools role in the Every Child Matters paper than Youth Matters. These are
not first government paper to look at the role of schools and services in
connection to young people’s development. The 'Fairbairn-Milson' Report 1969 saw
Fairburn looking at Youth Work, Schooling and Higher Education and Milson
looking at Youth Work and it’s relation to the ‘adult community’. Fairburn
wanted to see youth work located in community school’s, whereas Milson was
unsure how these schools were going to be able to offer the full range of
services required by the community (Smith, 2003). The Social Exclusion unit has
highlighted the benefits of extra-curricular in the reduction of truancy.
Engaging young people in “after-school clubs, study support, vocational
learning, work experience and education-business-community links” helps them to
stay motivated in school (Social Exclusion Unit, 1998: 7).
Chapter two of the Every Child Matters paper titles section 2.20 “Integrating
services through extended schools and clusters of schools”. The government wants
to see services such as health, social care and education joined up to act as
the ‘hub’ for services to the community. Their aim is to see schools going
beyond their main purpose of education. The aim is by 2010 that all children
should be able to assess a wide range of activities outside of the normal school
day. This also includes secondary school which are expected to be opening it
doors from 8am to 6pm with a variety of activities been offered throughout the
year.
Youth Matter links services and school for those young people who have issues as
a means of intervention and getting them back on track. This focuses on the
young person in need of fixing and that is to be done by those who have the know
how. Smith, 2005 describes this as ‘Deficit/Medical model referring to a focus
on individuals behaviour and what can be done to stop them in anti-social
behaviour. He argues that there is a much greater need to look at the increasing
divide between rich and poor, racism and political isolation of young people and
their families. This is where I believe youth worker can contribute
significantly to the development of young people which I will discuss later.
There is also a lot of emphasis put on study support, catch up lessons and
booster classes. I can see problems arising from this; if it is the school who
are delivering this then teacher are the most likely to be expected to do this.
This in its self can bring problems, if the teacher has had a rough day and then
has to face delivering more lessons as many of their colleagues are going home,
would they be in the right frame of mind? The style that many teacher adopt in
the class room may be the reason the young person has got behind in their work
and staying back for booster class in the same style my be of no benefit.
Alternatively partner organisations may well face difficulties too, as different
approaches to formal teaching can be seen as second best and be looked down upon
by the school. The agenda here looks very much like raising the schools
performance and reaching educational targets set by the government rather than
focusing on the individual and their tailored needs. The Dfes feel that the
study support is going to be able to help attendance, behaviour, motivation and
self-esteem. I am concerned that the study support will be used as consequence
of not working hard enough in school, and therefore turn out to be far from
helping but make the situation worse. I would also be interested to see how
voluntary the participation is in the study support activities.
Extended schools open up some great opportunities for youth work as well as
the possibility for some difficulties. Many youth workers have been given the
opportunities to work in schools with differing approaches and space proving to
cause problems of varying degrees. There are those in the education system who
do not understand the role of a youth worker and will not see the value of
having youth workers in school. We live in a diverse world where we cannot put
young people into a homogenous group and expect them all to respond to it in the
same way. Youth workers could be involved in providing services both during
schools hour as well as out of hours. These services can be varied and
compliment the formal education that schools are best known for. There is of
course some who would disagree with the benefits of informal education during
the school day. Youth Matters is very much focused on activities that are
offered outside of the school day and health and social service during the
school day. I believe that informal education can be used effectively in what
would be seen as core subjects in school as well as those which would be seen as
more informal.
Teaching has very much been seen as a role of imparting information into the
learner. The teacher has the knowledge/power and leaner is there to listen and
absorb what is being taught. There is a clear structure and an expectation of
how the learner is to behave and respond. The learner has no control over the
subject being taught and only learns what the teacher wishes to teach, as they
are in control of what the chose to deliver. The flip side to this is one where
the teacher and learner are equal. Neither have any more power that the other.
There is recognition that the roles can be changed throughout and that both have
knowledge that can benefit each other. There is a relationship of trust and
respect. There is no fixed learning that must take place, learning starts from
where the learner is. The learning develops through the conversation and as
questions are posed the learner can work through the process in way to benefit
them (Rossiter, 1987).
Looking at these to approaches the first I will refer to as formal and the
second informal, it is clear to see in some school subjects the formal approach
is of some benefit. There is however many that would benefit from an informal
approach even in subjects that would be classed a core subjects. Maths jumps to
mind, budgeting/problem solving is a key life skill. Giving the young people the
opportunity in Maths to work out the cost of taking their class on an
educational trip looking at the transport cost, entrance costs and discounts
available for group booking will incorporate many mathematical skills. This sort
of exercise focuses on informal learning it puts the learner in control of their
learning with the support of the teacher to assist in some of the skills they
will need to work out the figures. For those young people who find sitting and
listening styles of Maths difficult a practical exercise that results in
something is likely to be of much more benefit. Person, social, health and
citizenship education (PSHCE) is a subject where I believe youth worker can be
of huge benefit in the extended schools agenda. PSHCE is a subject where an
informal education approach could be used effectively. Starting with what the
students know and then journeying with them to help move them on in there
understanding and learning; acknowledges where they are at and the seeks out
what they already know and opens up learning opportunities to fill in the gap.
It may be that those gaps are filled in by their peers as they work in groups or
by the youth worker as issues are discussed. This style of working gives the
young person the chance to challenge what is being discussed and think or take
action. For many teachers a young person challenging then is threatening and is
seen as a challenge to their position and authority. For a youth worker it is a
process that is used to more a young person forward in their journey through
life.
Extended schools is not just looking at services working within the school
day but outside it also. Every Child Matters talks about more services being
offered on school ground where as Youth Matter mentions this, but also
acknowledges that not all young people will what to go to activities that take
place on school premises and put the emphasis on schools to signpost them to
other services. Here is the second good opportunity youth worker have. They can
either offer activities on the school premises or off the school premises.
Offering services off the school ground removes some of the restrictions that
may be put into place by the school.
I feel that there is a hidden agenda behind extended schools. The fact that
child care is being offered from 8am till 6pm gives the government the chance to
push the agenda of getting more parents out to work. This is likely to put most
pressure on lone parents who have chosen to stay at home and look after their
child or those who don’t want to work. Although lone parents cannot be forced to
go out to work it will be the case that through the ‘support’ offered through
government services this agenda will be pushed as the preferred option and will
offer better financial benefits than that for staying at home to care for your
child. Having extending schools also appears to keep young people off the
streets and therefore keeps them out of trouble. It puts the emphasis on
purposefully activities which then implies that they can only be undertaken if
an adult is present to supervise. Hanging about on the street or at the park
with your friends is not on the agenda. The services and interventions in school
aim to reduce anti-social behaviour and get those young people back on track to
become good citizens who end in paid work and contributing to the economy.
Having young people with drug habits or who have mental health problems puts
communities under strain. As I have mentioned before it misses the roots causes
of why some young people engage in theses behaviours. The papers do not talk
about educating young people politically about the structures that are in place
to prevent then from striving forward. It does not address the hegemonic
ideology that is current in today’s society. To do this would take a major
reworking of the government policies and thinking of those in positions of
power. Neil Thompson discusses this further in his book Promoting Equality. He
talks about the effect that structure can have on the way we see thing. He
discusses how the Person Social and structural ideologies can impact on how we
see our position in society as well those around us.
In conclusion, the role of the youth worker in supporting the extended school
agenda has a number of benefits. It gives the worker the opportunity to work on
the schools ground which for some youth workers may not have been possible
before. Youth workers are able to offer activities off site which may engage
young people who would not normally consider staying behind if the activity was
on school premises. There is the potential for youth workers to get involved in
the more formal process of learning but I feel this will be restricted to those
students who are seen as failing in the formal classroom setting rather than it
being a choice for all students. The paper imply to me that youth work is best
set outside of the formal school day which can place less value on the
activities that are on offer. It comes across in the Every Child Matters paper
that extended schools and services are very orientated to primary schools and
sure start centres. Youth Matters does talk about secondary extended schools and
services but it comes across as second in line to primary and again focuses on
young people who have more serious problems rather than intervening before the
problems get to that stage. I think that there is a whole group of young people
who are living on the ‘bread line’ and are just getting by, they are behaving in
school so they get over looked but would benefit from some of the support
offered through the extended schools agenda.
HM Government. 2005. Youth Matters. Norwich: The Stationary Office.
HM Government. 2003. Every Child Matters. Norwich: The Stationary Office.
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Rosseter, B. Youth Workers as Educators. In: Jeffs, T and Smith, M., ed. 1987.
Youth Work. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press.
Smith, M K. 2003. Youth and community work in the 70s, the encyclopedia of
informal education,
http://www.infed.org/archives/gov_uk/yc70_contents.htm
Smith, M. K. 2005. 'Background to the Green Paper for Youth 2005', the
encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/youth work/green_paper.htm.
First published; March 20, 2005.
Smith, M. K. 2005. 'Youth Matters - The Green Paper for Youth 2005', the
encyclopaedia of informal education, www.infed.org/youth work/green_paper.htm.
First published; March 20, 2005.
Smith, M. K. 2004, 2005 Extended schooling - some issues for informal and community education', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/schooling/extended_schooling.htm.
Social Exclusion Unit. 1998. Truancy and School Exclusion. Social Exclusion
Unit.
Thompson, N. 2003. Promoting Equality. Basingstoke: Plagrave Macmillan
Copyright 2007 Hiede Coates