Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire"
Welcome to Issue 93 of Quest News. We have 13 hours of off-the-job training for apprentices in care and education to read and learn.
Significant Events
Jul 10 - Don’t Step on a Bee Day 2023
Jul 10 - Martyrdom of the Báb
Jul 11 - World Population Day 2023
Jul 12 - National Simplicity Day 2023
Jul 15 - World Youth Skills Day 2023
Legislation of the week
Legislation/Regulation of the week – Children and Families Act 2014
The Children and Families Act 2014 is an Act of the Parliament of the UK. This is a landmark and wide-ranging Act designed to fully reform services for vulnerable children by giving them greater protection (paying special attention to those with additional needs), and also by helping parents and the family as a whole
Approx. 60 mins
Video of the week
Video of the week – Joe Swash: Teens in Care
Over the years, Joe Swash’s magnetic personality has endeared him to millions of TV viewers, but now he is delving into something more serious, and more personal.
This documentary follows Joe as he explores the stories of teens in care over the age of 16, the largest-growing cohort in both child protection and care. His motivation to make this documentary is deeply personal. It’s an issue that is close to his and his family’s heart, as his Mum Kiffy has been a foster carer for over 15 years.
Joe wants to spend time with teens across the UK, who live in foster care, in residential children’s homes, and some who left at 18 and are trying to make it alone, to show what growing up as a teenager in care is really like. His journey of discovery follows the long-awaited publication of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, which promises a ‘once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the children’s social care system’. But can it really get to the root of the problems facing teens in care?
Through this experience, Joe also sees at first hand the work of foster carers and the army of frontline workers dedicated to helping teens in care, as he seeks to find out how some of the issues they encounter in the care system might be tackled better.
Approx. 60 mins
Event of the week
Event of the week – World Population Day 11 July
Did you know...?
Since the middle of the 20th century, the world has experienced unprecedented population growth. The world’s population more than tripled in size between 1950 and 2020.
Reaching a global population of eight billion is a numerical landmark, but our focus must always be on people. In the world we strive to build, 8 billion people means 8 billion opportunities to live dignified and fulfilled lives
https://is.gd/BuEnqD
Approx. 60 mins
Safeguarding & ED & I
#WakeUpWednesday: What Parents and Carers Need to Know about Rumble
Big names, challenging opinions and comparatively lenient censorship Rumble is a video-sharing platform which has achieved stellar growth in recent years – as well as drawing a similarly eye-catching amount of criticism for the views of some of its best-known account holders.
As our #WakeUpWednesday guide this week explains, young users of the app (even ones who are over the recommended age limit) may encounter hazards including political bias, potentially harmful misinformation and inappropriate content if they stumble across Rumble.
Approx. 30 mins
Home to school travel
The Department for Education (DfE) has updated its statutory guidance on the responsibilities of local authorities when making home-to-school travel arrangements for children of compulsory age in England. The statutory guidance has been updated to help local authorities perform their functions in relation to home to school travel.
Approx. 30 mins
Children’s rights
KidsRights has published its annual index looking at children’s rights across the world, including the UK. The Index looks at five domains including a child’s right to protection which looks at child labour; adolescent birth rate; and birth registration.
Approx. 30 mins
Youth work with schools
The National Youth Agency has published a report on the impact of youth work in England. The report includes a survey of schools and youth work organisations and external research. Findings show youth work in and out of schools impacted young people’s health and wellbeing as well as their attendance, behaviour, and attainment. Recommendations call for: dedicated, stable and joined-up funding; an enhanced Ofsted inspection framework; and a joined-up approach for training and workforce planning between schools and youth work.
Approx. 30 mins
Cyberbullying
The Association for Child and Mental Health Professionals (ACAMH) has released a podcast episode on cyberbullying which focuses on different coping strategies in adolescents.
Approx. 30 mins
Youth violence
The Department for Education (DfE) has published reports from its serious youth violence programme in England co-led with the Youth Endowment Fund. The report explores how systems of support may protect or expose children and young people to involvement in serious violence. Key insights include: children and their families are not always aware of the services available to them; access to services such as children’s social care and mental health is limited by capacity constraints; and involving children and young people in decisions about the support they receive helps develop their decision-making skills and may increase engagement.
Approx. 30 mins
Youth justice
The Chief Inspector of Probation has published the 2022 annual report summarising findings and recommendations from inspections of youth justice services across England and Wales. The report highlighted positive overall findings but noted concerns around education, training and employment. The most common recommendations made following inspections in 2022 related to case practice with children, primarily around children’s safety and wellbeing and the risk of harm they presented to others.
Approx. 30 mins
How to Manage Emotional Impacts - Education Support
In the past few decades the role of educational professionals has shifted significantly. It now encompasses not just teaching pupils the things they need to contribute to society, but also to make sure they're safe and emotionally well at school. It is hard to overstate the importance of being in tune to pupil's mental wellbeing in education. It can be easy to sometimes think that teaching should simply be about constructing well-planned lessons. But if a student's mind is elsewhere then their learning outcomes will be decreased. However, approaching your pastoral role as an educator can be hard to get a handle on. Over at Education Support they've published an hour long seminar on this topic. If you're interested then follow the link below
Approx. 60 mins
Countering Sextortion - National Cyber Security Centre
Over the past few years there has been an evolution in online scamming. This relatively novel phenomena involves attempting to extort internet users by claiming to possess compromising recordings of said user. The user will be threatened with the release of alleged indecent material, which will only be avoided through paying a ransom via bitcoin. The emails can be highly convincing, written in language designed to convince the recipient that the perpetrator that they have an advanced command of computers. Persuading the recipient of the credibility of the threat. This form of scamming can be highly successful, relative to other more easily detected scams. To find out more on what to do to prevent yourself becoming targeted, please follow the link below for advice from the National Cyber Security Centre on what to do.
Approx. 30 mins
Five-Year Ofsted Inspection Data – OFSTED
Data is very important to informing decision making at an executive level within educational establishments. It helps us make better choices, allows us to see where things have gone wrong and apply lessons from elsewhere to our own institutional management practices. At the tail end of last month Ofsted released their inspection data from the past five years, covering Early Years, Further Education, Non-Association Independent Schools and State Funded Schools. The data makes for informative reading, and if you're interested please follow the link below:
(Reading this can be counted towards your 20% off the Job learning – Approx. 30 mins)
Understanding Mandatory Reporting - ThirtyOne Eight
The UK Government is currently running a consultation on how a legal duty to report child sexual abuse, would affect the educational sphere. The consultation follows a recommendation from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and will be open until 14th August 2023. Over at Thirty One Eight, they've published a page to explain the context behind the consultation and what you can do to get involved. If interested, please follow the link below:
Approx. 30 mins
Health 7 Safety
Managing DSE remotely and trends in health problems post pandemic
SHP hears from Adam Clarke, Managing Director of Consulting at Praxis42 on display screen equipment (DSE), possible health issues from the increase in remote working and steps for organisations to avoid this.
https://is.gd/AjCCjp
Approx. 30 mins
Four-Day Week Study Delivers Resoundingly Positive Results
Trials of a four-day week involving around 2900 staff reported a reduction in employee stress of 39%, according to The results are in: the UK’s four-day week pilot, published earlier this year by Autonomy Research Ltd.
Approx. 20 mins
The UK government's plans for regulating AI
In March 2023, after some delay, the UK government published its White Paper – 'A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation', which sets out a framework for the UK's approach to regulating AI. The government has decided not to legislate to create a single function to govern the regulation of AI. It has elected to support existing regulators in developing a sector-focused, principles-based approach. Regulators including the ICO, the CMA, the FCA, Ofcom, the Health and Safety Executive the MHRA and the Human Rights Commission will be required to consider the following five principles to build trust and provide clarity for innovation.
Approx. 30 mins
Children’s health and safety put at risk at nursery
Children’s health and safety was “put at risk” at a Borders nursery, inspectors have found
Approx. 20 mins
The Seriousness Of Long Covid
We speak to occupational medicine consultant, World Health Organization adviser and long COVID-19 sufferer Dr Clare Rayner about how the disease can affect the health – and safety – of any organisation.
Approx. 30 mins
Wider Curriculum
Sharon Shoesmith: how social workers can get their professional pride back
The former director vilified - and unlawfully sacked - over the Peter Connelly case discusses why social workers are so often the focus of media and public blame - and what they can do about it.
Approx. 30 mins
‘Substituted parenting’ risk used to justify removing children without evidence base, finds study
Councils use concept to refer to parents with learning disabilities receiving extensive level of support that is harmful to their children, but research finds it is raised in care proceedings without specific evidence of concerns.
Approx. 30 mins
The key challenges facing practice educators today
Staff shortages, ongoing remote working and meeting students' diverse needs are among the difficulties practice educators face day to day. But the role remains a rewarding one, says Sally Scott
Approx. 30 mins
Lack of social care workforce plan ‘a missed opportunity’
Our review of the week in social work includes concerns over the state of child protection, an obituary for a pioneering social worker and the government ditching its planned human rights overhaul
Approx. 30 mins
