What does Labour"s school meals policy mean for families, teachers and politicians?

Jeremy Corbyn’s announcement of a £1bn plan to introduce a VAT tax on private schools to pay for free school meals for all primary children has divided opinion.

The Labour policy was greeted warmly by many health, welfare and education experts, while others pointed to potential pitfalls in its logic. Politically, it seems the Labour leader may be on to a winner, but how has the plan been greeted by families, teachers and politicians?

Families

The extension of free meals to all primary school pupils would certainly boost attempts to tackle poverty, lifting thousands of children above the breadline, providing financial respite for hard-pressed parents and removing the social stigma endured by many pupils who qualify already.

An estimated 1.2 million children in England living below the poverty line missed out on free school meals in 2013, according to research by the Children’s Society. Half of these were simply not entitled to support under eligibility rules that restricted entitlement to pupils whose parents were unemployed or earning less than £16,200.

The impact of this eligibility “cliff edge” can be dramatic: while 70% of children on free school meals ate a school canteen lunch regularly, take-up slumps to 20% among the children of poorer parents who are in work, suggesting many parents struggle to meet the £450 annual cost per child.

The coalition’s introduction in 2014 of universal free school meals to all children in the first three years of primary school meant an estimated 200,000 children in poor working families qualified for a free lunch. Extending eligibility to all would help even more of the offspring of the “just about managing”.

Interestingly, about 700,000 families who were eligible for free school meals did not claim them, the Children’s Society estimated. This was possibly because of the stigma attached, especially in schools where children who took up the benefit were segregated in separate lunch queues or required to pay with special tokens.

Universalising free school meals will always raise objections among those who believe it is a poor use of public money. Supporters say richer pupils are not expected to pay for books so why are they for school food? Patrick Butler

Children’s health

Anti-obesity campaigners and experts are clear: free school meals are a weapon in the war against ill health. Whether they are from affluent or hard-up families, many children eat packed lunches that are full of saturated fat and sugar, comprising crisps and cake, chocolate bars and cola.

School lunches, however, have to meet government nutritional standards, including one portion of fruit and one of vegetables every day, a dessert containing 50% fruit at least twice a week and a variety of fruit and vegetables – three different types of each in a week.

Other healthy foods must also be on the menu, such as oily fish at least once every three weeks, wholegrain varieties of starchy food once a week and water, low-fat milk and limited amounts of fruit juice to drink.

There are problems, though, that the new policy would have to address. Children already entitled to free school meals do not always get them. There are forms to fill in, which parents may find difficult if English is not their first language, and there are cultural barriers to signing up. Teachers may be charged with following up those who are eligible, but may be short of time. Sarah Boseley

Teachers

The announcement will be met with mixed reactions from the private and state school sector.

Private schools justify their exemption from VAT and other tax breaks by offering scholarships and bursaries to children from disadvantaged backgrounds, and by partnering with state schools to share facilities and teachers. They claim the imposition of a tax would force some independent schools to close, putting pupils back into the already stretched state system.

According to experts, one in five households with privately educated children earn less than £50,000 a year, suggesting some may struggle to meet a 20% price hike. But only 7% of the UK’s schoolchildren are educated privately – one in five of that number is not very high.

Private school fees have also been increasing at a faster rate than inflation, reaching an average cost of £16,119 a year. For boarding schools it’s over £30,000.Some argue middle class parents are already being priced out.

Others, including former Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw, support the VAT but say the money raised could be better spent because the most disadvantaged children already receive free school meals. Labour and the teachers’ union say at a time when more families are affected by cuts to benefits, and in-work poverty is soaring, the cost of school lunches can be prohibitive.

Were Labour to roll out a universal policy, they would also have to create a benchmark to measure the performance of the most disadvantaged pupils, as free school meals status is used to identify students that require assistance. Nadia Khomami

Politics

Universal free school meals, paid by higher taxes on free schools, has major political advantages as a policy for Labour. First, it’s catchy and easy to understand, crucial for any policy to have cut-through with voters.

Second, it’s hard for Tories to explicitly oppose without looking heartless or out-of-touch, especially when former Tory education secretary Michael Gove has said he supports adding VAT to school fees.

Speaking in Nottinghamshire at the launch of the Conservative local election manifesto, Theresa May was pressed on whether it was a good idea – and she didn’t knock it. Instead, she dodged the question and claimed Labour “would bankrupt Britain … Schools would find themselves in a parlous condition if Labour were in government because of the way they would be running the economy.”

If the prime minister is reticent to directly criticise a policy that quite literally takes from richer parents to pay for the less well-off, that could mean Corbyn is on to a winner.

The main criticism of the policy is that it will help middle-class kids rather than the poorest, who already receive free school meals. That may be true, but that is unlikely to have significant political cost. No party ever lost votes by being too kind to middle-class parents.

When Nick Clegg introduced free school meals for five- and six-year-olds in the coalition government, the government faced criticism for failing to anticipate the extra costs to schools because of the increased demand.

Corbyn will be hoping to head this off with the VAT announcement, but Ed Miliband – who could easily have come up with something similar himself – was relentlessly attacked for policies like the mansion tax, which commentators said were the politics of envy. Whether Corbyn can avoid a similar criticism will become clearer over the next 24 hours. Jessica Elgot

What does Labour"s school meals policy mean for families, teachers and politicians?

A moment that changed me: a teacher’s acceptance of my silence | Phoebe-Jane Boyd

Selective mutism wasn’t a diagnosis in common usage among teachers back in the 1980s when I started school; at least, no one ever used the phrase around me. I didn’t hear it until I was an adult, when suddenly it gave a name to “the thing that stopped me speaking for around 25 years of my life”.

It certainly doesn’t feel selective if you’re stuck in it. As described on the website ispeak, selective mutism (SM) is “a severe situational anxiety disorder … [which] generally starts in early childhood but can, if not treated early enough, continue into adulthood. Children and adults with SM are often fully capable of speaking … but cannot speak in certain situations because they are phobic of initiating speech.”

I was just a quiet kid at first – very shy, very jumpy – and I can’t remember exactly why that turned into just not talking any more. There often isn’t a specific reason SM children stop talking; it just happens. I stopped on one of my first days at school, when I mimed colouring a finished picture with a crayon for about an hour, because I couldn’t make myself speak to the teacher. The pretense continued until she realised that no child takes that long to perfect a daffodil.

Physically, I was able to talk. I was fine speaking to my family at home, as soon as the front door closed, but life away from those safe spaces became almost silent, and silent kids who stare wide-eyed at the floor just creep people out after a while. Especially teachers. “She’s very shy” turned into “She won’t answer me”. “She’ll certainly never go to university” in year 2 became “She frequently has a pained expression and does not communicate” in year 5.

‘Selective mutism a lot like being frightened all the time and waiting for the next bad thing to happen that you won’t be able to stop.’ Phoebe-Jane Boyd (centre) with her brother David and sister Tammy.

The problem was, as one of those kids that cared deeply about what adults thought of them, and genuinely valued good behaviour, not speaking was an Ironman challenge of self-destruction. Whenever a new adult with a wavering smile waited expectantly for me to answer them, I’d be torturing myself: “I need to answer her now – I have to, because she’s so uncomfortable, she’s worried. Stay still and she’ll leave.”

It’s difficult to explain the feeling of selective mutism to someone who’s never been trapped in it. It’s a lot like being frightened all the time and waiting for the next bad thing to happen that you won’t be able to stop. It’s not being able to force a decent voice out, even when you desperately try – a tiny whisper will emerge instead, and it hurts. For the kids at school it meant they could press their forearm against my throat in a hallway between classes if they were having a bad day, and it would be OK; they knew I’d just freeze and wait it out. Yelling, punching, stealing, touching – I’d hear my name being whispered as I went to classes, contorting me into a seven-hour school day cringe, adrenaline always raging.

Teacher after teacher would take me aside to gently ask if there were problems at home, did I get on with my parents, had anything changed recently? I’d fume, inside: “You just watched the class dipshit bounce my head off a wall because he doesn’t understand what you’re teaching him, and you’re asking me if the problem is at home?” What would struggle out was a hoarse “No” and I’d mentally file the teacher away as an idiot. Every year, every subject: “Phoebe works hard but never asks for help”, “Must try to discuss ideas more freely”, “If she were not so shy … ”

On a year 10 parent night schedule, I angrily scrawled this note for my mum: “I hate oral work, tell him to be more gentle on me when we do it! Tell him what we did with The Merchant of Venice was stupid and pointless! I get really upset and worried about performing in front of the class! Please tell him!” But teachers are there to prepare you for the world, not protect you by letting you skip reciting Shylock when it’s your turn. The message they’d instilled in me about what would happen outside, after school, had sunk in deep: I was not OK. Until I received a different message, at 17, from my English literature teacher, Mr Pearman.

He had a blank face that showed no concern about whether his classes were taking in the lesson or not. He’d calmly insult kids he didn’t like with words he knew they wouldn’t understand, and enjoy the confused look he’d get back. He told us, while turning on the overhead projector and leaving it empty, about a fun game he liked to play of turning the projector on with nothing on it to see how long the class would stare stupidly at the wall.

“I hear your other teachers saying you don’t talk,” he told me one day, after I’d been in his class a few weeks. “It’s not a problem. I’ve read your work – it’s good. So, it doesn’t matter to me what you say or don’t. You don’t worry me.” He shrugged, and calmly gazed at me; quiet.

Thank you. “Thank you, thank you,” I whispered quickly, mind whirring: “How can I sum everything up to him – he knows already though, doesn’t he? But I want to tell him. I can’t, but I want to do that for him.”

I couldn’t yet. But that was the start.

A moment that changed me: a teacher’s acceptance of my silence | Phoebe-Jane Boyd

Children"s mental health services are struggling. Can teachers help?

When you train as a teacher, one thing you rarely consider is what you’d do if you were confronted with say a confused teenager convinced they were a religious prophet, or being on a school trip and finding a student carving the word DIE into their forearm. Any job that exposes you to the great stream of humanity will force you into proximity with the misery that runs through it. And the problem is, as a teacher you’re expected to do something about it. Few, in my experience, do.

Are mental health problems among the young getting worse? In 2014 the Commons health committee reported that data was so out of date that those planning and operating child and adolescent mental health services (Camhs) were operating in a fog. Some indicators, like 2016 reports by NHS Digital of self-harm rates among 16- to 24-year-olds increasing between 2007 and 2014, might suggest things are getting worse. Others, like UK suicide rates, which have been decreasing for the last 30 years especially in the young [pdf], might suggest things are getting better.

Maybe, as Dr Stanley Kutcher, an expert in adolescent mental health and leader in mental health research in Canada, puts it, “we’re tending to confuse mental distress … with mental illness”.

As a lone teacher, your personal experience will vary from your colleagues. I worked with mental health services three times in one year, while the teacher next door didn’t. Whenever I’ve needed them, they’ve been fantastic, but because funding is so scarce at a local level for this kind of provision it usually takes something dramatic before a school will lift the phone. And in many ways who can blame them? Identifying, assessing and treating mental illnesses are some of the most specialised, highly trained professions imaginable. This isn’t an area for amateurs, however well-meaning. We only usually notice when students have gone beyond struggling. Even then, it isn’t easy to tell.

As a teacher you can feel so helpless; what pupils need is so much more than just a teacher who cares. They need specialist help, and there are very few ways we can spot and help students in advance of the chronic phase of a mental illness. One of the best, sweetest students I’d ever taught, sank into a depression. He was rational, and good as ever, but the world had no colour for him, and watching him drift out of his studies when he had been so alert, nerdy and fascinated by everything broke my heart, mainly because I could do nothing.

What can schools do? There are no simple solutions to a complex, society-wide problem. We find it just as hard to spot mental health problems in school as we do in society at large. Teacher training is often cited as good place to start, but from experience I know how packed that is. Certainly, some basic awareness of early signs, strategies and procedures would be useful. Schools usually funnel these issues through their child-protection officer, a designated and trained adult responsible for communicating with external agencies. Any training needs to be focused on that role.

Sadly, I’ve never seen a school intervention based on wellbeing, positive thinking and self-esteem demonstrably improve matters for staff, long-term. That’s because the pressures on teachers are real, not a matter of self-belief. The Scylla and Charybdis are workload and behaviour management. Crazy in-school policies on book marking have made things even harder for teachers. But one of the ways we could reboot this battlefield of bruised ghosts would be through a report I’m working on right now with the DfE: finding and sharing best practice on how leaders create calm, civil school cultures. Many schools do amazing work to protect the dignity and safety of all of their members. And when children are less anonymous, subtle warning cues can be caught rather than missed.

Schools could use more robust research into this field, commissioned by the NHS to better understand the real needs of the school community, and a requirement that only trained professionals be allowed to work with pupils and staff in this misunderstood field. Few schools retain a nurse anymore, but perhaps we should look into mental health visitors as an intermediary device to facilitate better communication between providers and need.

Changing societies is a long game. But real change for the better takes time.

Join the Healthcare Professionals Network to read more about issues like this. And follow us on Twitter (@GdnHealthcare) to keep up with the latest healthcare news and views.

Children"s mental health services are struggling. Can teachers help?

Disharmony in British yoga community over moves to regulate teachers

Last year, while attempting an advanced yoga move, Chris Flack ruptured a muscle in his back and slipped a disc in his neck. He had set himself a challenge – to achieve the scorpion pose, an advanced position that involves balancing on your hands or forearms, then arching your back and legs over until your toes touch your head, scorpion-like.

“I wasn’t listening to my body. It was a good lesson to me, to slow down. I had come out of some inversions [headstands and handstands] quite badly a few times, and came crashing down on to my neck. It was just irresponsible practice.”

For six months, Flack was in and out of hospital with pain management appointments, and taking morphine. The eventual cure happened shortly before he was due to have a guided cortisone injection, and was less orthodox. After staying off alcohol for months because of the injury, he got a little tipsy at a wedding, and was on the dancefloor at 2am when an elderly woman – “a drunk auntie,” he says with a laugh – jumped on his back and all but fixed him.

He still has to manage the injury, which involves daily physiotherapy and a fortnightly deep tissue massage. As for his yoga practice: “I don’t practice inversions any more. Here in the west we want to push ourselves. It’s a competitive culture where we want to win, to achieve, to be the gold medal winner of the yoga Olympics. I think for me yoga’s a lot more about letting go and being comfortable with just being. It’s quite hard to get that balance. I think it’s dangerous if you’re not really aware.” As a yoga instructor, he says, “I teach very carefully, I don’t want to push people, but the odd thing was I was pushing myself.”

Which goes to show even conscientious yoga teachers can get it wrong when it comes to their own practice. But it’s the ones who encourage their students to go too far who are currently under scrutiny. Now the British Wheel of Yoga has begun a year-long consultation with a view to regulating yoga teachers and introducing National Occupational Standards. Is there really a problem with bad, even dangerous, teachers? “We think so,” says Paul Fox, the organisation’s chair, which won’t be a surprise to anyone who has ever taken a dodgy yoga class (in my first class in a south London leisure centre, the teacher encouraged me to do a headstand).

In a now infamous (among the yoga community) excerpt from science journalist William J Broad’s book The Science of Yoga: the risks and rewards, he highlighted how yoga had been linked to knee, back and shoulder injuries and even strokes. Others have reported repetitive strain injury, torn ligaments, and damaged wrists and hips caused by yoga.

But there isn’t really any evidence to suggest yoga is more dangerous than any other physical activity.

Fox concedes most of the evidence is anecdotal, but says good teaching will minimise any risks. “If you’re going to take members of the public through a set of yoga poses, you do have a duty of care towards them. You do have to do a risk assessment, and know how to modify postures and how to deal with people who have lower back pain, arthritis, high blood pressure or any number of common ailments. Many good yoga teacher training courses will cover that.”

In gyms and leisure centres, yoga teachers have to join the Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs), in the same way spin and aerobics instructors do, but privately anyone can set themselves up as a yoga teacher. And the problem with REPs, say many within the yoga community, including Yoga Alliance, which represents and accredits instructors, is that its standards are so low. The new proposal is to improve standards, but it has been criticised as needless bureaucracy and financially beneficial for the bodies involved, the BWY among them. Yoga Alliance describes it as “a cosy little arrangement”.

Is it a money-making scheme? “I think it’s the opposite,” says Fox. The BWY trains teachers, which takes a minimum of 18 months; some courses take three years. “Because it’s unregulated, a lot of people run [sub-standard] teacher training courses and charge pretty much what we charge. They’re the ones making a lot of money out of it.” But people within the yoga community are not happy. At the recent first meeting, says Fox, the mood was “rather un-yogic”.

The problem is that it’s not entirely clear what yoga is. For a start, there are a variety of disciplines. Then there are some who believe it’s a spiritual or religious practice (and probably one that should not be taught by western instructors to white people in designer gymwear) and as such shouldn’t be regulated. Or that it’s a creative art and can’t be controlled.

“The other school of thought,” says Sarah Shone, a chartered physiotherapist who is also a yoga teacher, “is that yoga is more of a physical practice and physical practices do run the risk of having a negative effect on the body. There is a risk of injury with any physical activity that any of us undertake.”

In yoga, she says, the most common injuries are often to do with overstretching and that can apply to any joint of the body. “People who are put into poor alignment can overstretch ligaments and tendons and can flare up problems that are already there. Yoga is a very safe form of physical activity for the vast majority of people, and as long as they are sensible and take responsibility for their own practice and always make sure the yoga instructor is aware of any pains and injuries so they can take that into consideration.” She is undecided on whether it needs more regulation.

“Anybody can call themselves a yoga teacher because there isn’t a central governing body. But then is there a governing body for every other form of exercise? And there isn’t.”

Disharmony in British yoga community over moves to regulate teachers

Selling yoga back to its teachers is pure neocolonialism | Swami Ambikananda Saraswati

This week began with the proverbial storm in a teacup as the British public were warned we were in danger from … yoga. On Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday, the British Wheel of Yoga’s chair, Paul Fox, claimed that teachers without sufficient training are giving yoga classes. What has since emerged is that the British Wheel, one of the wealthiest yoga organisations in the UK, has agreed to provide Skills Active, a quango, with funding to develop a National Occupational Standard for Yoga – to protect and keep us all safe in down dog.

As I listened in the Radio 4 studio, it was clear that this misrepresentation of what is happening in most yoga classes is a pretext for a kind of neocolonialism. When powerful organisations seek control, they always say it’s to “protect the public” and “keep them safe”. Are these not the claims put forward by any group seeking to impose its authority and undermine all other groups existing alongside it? A meta-analysis of studies on yoga by Dr Holger Cramer of the University of Duisburg-Essen confirms that it is as safe as other physical movement disciplines.

In the days of the British Raj, when Britain’s economy depended on commodities such as cotton, Indian cotton growers were forced on pain of imprisonment to sell their cotton yields to Britain at prices determined by the buyer. The raw cotton was sent back here, to our “satanic mills”, and Indians – who had been weaving cotton for centuries – were then prohibited from weaving their own and forced to buy woven cotton back at prices determined by Britain. That wouldn’t happen today – would it?

The art and science of yoga, which began in India, has become big business all over the world. According to Ibisworld, in the UK alone Yoga is worth about £790m a year. Nonetheless, yoga continues to be the ancient path of Hindu mysticism, and its first how-to manual, called the Katha Upanishad, dates back between 2,000 and 3,000 years, and forms part of sacred Hindu texts. In it a young man encounters Death and a dialogue between them ensues. Death is asked about the meaning of life and offers yoga as a way of understanding it all. A National Occupational Standard dismisses this spiritual connection and replays the cotton trick: giving the British stamp of approval to a particular brand of yoga and then – under the guise of health and safety – selling it back to the teachers who are already teaching it.

The financial penalty for not complying is a tax that will hit self-employed teachers, most of whom are women

Of course, yoga teachers, like all teachers, always need to improve on their training, but this proposal is just a way of paying a bureaucracy to ensure a two-tier system: some teachers get the stamp and others don’t. It won’t improve the training, but it will make it much more expensive and limit who can afford it. The financial penalty for not complying is a tax that will hit self-employed teachers, most of whom are women. A better use of resources might have been to finance research into exactly what areas of further training are needed.

A number of years ago yoga teachers formed the Independent Yoga Network to ensure that teachers applying to get on to the Register of Exercise Professionals had an acceptable level of training. The IYN undertook this without any financial compensation and in support of the diversity of yoga schools.

While yoga is part of their religion for over a billion people, it is not so for all those practising it in the UK. Many people do yoga for a sense of wellbeing – for aching backs, or muscle tension from a pressured week, or just a break from a 24/7 agenda. None of us has to change our religion – or even have one – to enjoy the benefits it offers. But nor should anyone try to misappropriate and redefine another’s religion in order to enjoy a bigger slice of yoga’s financial pie.

Is yoga dangerous? Absolutely! Here’s what it did for me: I was a young mum suffering from crippling postnatal depression that disengaged me from life when I encountered yoga. It changed all that and taught me, because I needed to learn it again, how to become a fully participating human being. Becoming engaged always makes us dangerous – we become participators rather than merely spectators – and we see very clearly when the cotton is being pulled over our eyes.

Selling yoga back to its teachers is pure neocolonialism | Swami Ambikananda Saraswati

Teachers to be qualified to aid women at chance of female genital mutilation

Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg will set out a string of measures to try out to cease female genital mutilation. Photograph: Derek Peters/Demotix/Corbis

Teachers, medical professionals and social workers will be given extra coaching to identify and help ladies who may well be at threat of becoming victims of female genital mutilation (FGM).

The measures will see new guidance for professionals grow to be part of compulsory instruction in public sector organisations.

The deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, will set out a package deal of measures to tackle FGM at a summit on Tuesday.

The prepare will involve supporting a tiny network of “community champions” to motivate volunteers who want to supply assist in places affected by FGM.

Clegg will inform the Woman Summit: “Female genital mutilation is one particular of the oldest and the most severe approaches in which societies have sought to handle the lives and bodies of generations of youthful ladies and girls.

“We’re presently failing 1000′s of ladies and have to act now to assist place a end to FGM.

“Central to tackling it are the doctors, nurses, teachers and legal specialists who require to be outfitted to recognize and assistance younger women and ladies at risk of FGM.

“They agree that, with out the proper understanding, expertise and experience, individuals come to feel like they never have the cultural understanding and authority to even talk about this practice honestly, never ever thoughts intervene when they are concerned an individual is vulnerable.

He will say the United kingdom government will be introducing new instruction and advice for frontline public sector employees to assist recognise the indications of FGM abuse and prevent a lot more women and women acquiring lower.

Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal University of Nursing (RCN), explained: “Controlling the lives and bodies of young women and ladies via FGM has no spot in contemporary Britain and the government’s function to put a cease to it is to be commended.

“Nurses have a important position to play in ending this practice that impacts the lives of thousands in the Uk and past.

Louise Silverton, director for midwifery at the Royal College of Midwives, stated: “These are positive methods and ones that will contribute to stopping this terrible practice.

“Nonetheless, all these items have to be backed up with resources and dedication across public services, such as making certain personnel have entry to the necessary training.

“Midwives are one particular of the essential frontline healthcare professions in detecting and assisting to avoid female genital mutilation. As this kind of, we need to make sure that they have time and assets to be capable to do this efficiently.”

Teachers to be qualified to aid women at chance of female genital mutilation

Teachers left to select up pieces from cuts to youth psychological well being servicess | Mary O"Hara

As the headteacher of big primary college in the west of England, Joan Cunningham is accustomed to the demanding aspects of managing an intake from a mainly disadvantaged region. Even so, for the past couple of years, she says, one situation has escalated so significantly that it is practically at crisis point. “There is so much much more pressure on colleges and teachers to deal with children’s mental health and behavioural issues,” she says. “We supply as a lot support as we can but, with fewer sources obtainable and a enormous improve in want … the strain has been amazing.”

Cuts to mental health and other services for youthful people indicate teachers are more and more possessing to fill the gap, even however schools do not always have the sources or instruction to offer the extra support pupils with mental or emotional issues may possibly need to have.

“It was presently difficult to access the appropriate providers prior to cuts but its getting worse,” Cunningham says. “Teachers … are not psychological well being experts, and now there is a vacuum in the solutions we have [historically] relied on. Social companies departments are under far more stress due to cuts, Certain Starts … have vanished, [and] in numerous situations the voluntary organisations we utilised to be in a position to turn to are disappearing. Signal-posting households to where they can get help is significantly more difficult because of all of this.” At a time when families are below better fiscal strain and “even quite youthful kids” are underneath stress to achieve academically, she concludes, the require for assistance is “expanding extremely quick”.

Child and adolescent psychological health solutions (Camhs) have been notably tough hit. These professional solutions assess and treat youngsters and younger individuals with mental, emotional or behavioural problems. Usually, when schools can’t offer the help of their personal counsellor, or when a child has specifically serious issues, they will seek out out their local Camhs for help.

In a lot of cases, local authorities commission and fund these services, and the impact of council budget cuts on Camhs in some locations has been extreme. In accordance to study by the charity Youthful Minds, two-thirds of councils in England have lowered their Camhs budget because 2010. And when the charity asked NHS trusts and councils about other mental health spending targeted at children and younger folks, such as youth counselling or distinct providers for colleges, a lot more than half had lower budgets – some by as significantly as thirty%.

The cuts imply neighborhood authorities’ Camhs investing is increasingly redirected towards more serious circumstances of psychological unwell-wellness, at the expense of early intervention solutions. “Draining funds from early intervention services is brief-sighted and just shops up difficulties for the potential,” says Sarah Brennan, chief executive of Younger Minds. “The result is Camhs feels it is getting asked to respond to an huge variety of issues and colleges really feel Camhs has left them higher and dry.”

Chris Harrison, national executive member and former president of the NAHT, says part of the dilemma right up until lately has been that targets in schooling have allowed children’s wellbeing to slip down the agenda. “The concern of psychological well being [in schools] has been coming to the fore over the previous 4 or 5 many years there is a real groundswell of curiosity, but it isn’t yet a priority in schools. We require to accept that planning for lifestyle is about far more than academic results.”

Investigation by the Teacher Assistance Network, a charity focusing on teachers’ wellbeing, exhibits around half of teachers feel pupil behaviour is worsening. Its survey of more than 800 teachers also found virtually two-thirds have been stressed as a consequence.

The cuts to Camhs mean schools are struggling to supply specialist help on site. Some have set aside income from the Pupil Premium to shell out for a normal counsellor. Andy Bell, deputy chief executive at the Centre for Psychological Health, says that an “ad-hoc” method of support relies as well heavily on the initiative of person heads or teachers, and is undermined by unsatisfactory and arbitrary access to funds. “We see raising awareness of this issue as a significant priority,” he says. “When we carried out study on little one behavioural difficulties we identified that three-quarters of mother and father asked teachers for support … Nevertheless, some colleges are greater outfitted than other individuals. A lot of have practically absolutely nothing by way of [specialist] assistance, whilst other people have full-time counsellors.”

Inadequate and underfunded providers mean undue tension is being put on teaching workers, who might feel they are not educated or competent to tackle numerous of the emotional or mental well being issues that come up.

And with anecdotal evidence suggesting the number of youthful men and women experiencing psychological wellness difficulties is increasing, the crisis in Camhs is set to get worse. In 2004, the last year that government statistics were centrally collected on the prevalence of psychological ill-well being between children and youthful folks, 1.3 million youngsters have been deemed to have a diagnosable mental illness. The economic downturn, coupled with government austerity and exam stress, implies this figure is now possibly a lot increased. And with NHS England estimating that only a quarter of youngsters and youthful people with a problem are ever noticed by psychological well being solutions, the figures are just the tip of the iceberg.

Politicians are getting to be far more conscious of the scale of the problem. The health choose committee has begun a parliamentary inquiry into Camhs, which campaigners hope will push psychological overall health in colleges higher up the agenda when it is published this year. “What we need to have is a constant, nationwide method that is accountable. What we need to have is for Camhs to be transformed.” says Bell.

Harrison says more requirements to be accomplished to guarantee heads and colleges have accessibility to effective help solutions. “Colleges and heads are battered at the second. We want the government to search at the proof. It truly is widespread sense. There is mind-boggling evidence that college students understand much better and are far more effective in environments in which they are supported and their teachers are supported.”

For now, charities and campaign groups are possessing to support colleges themselves. Younger Minds offers guidance on its internet site for teachers and is about to pilot a helpline for school staff, whilst the anti-stigma campaign Time to Adjust is working a task advertising pupil wellbeing and supplying practical guidance for educating staff. “Pupils are under a lot far more stress these days and so are employees, however teachers don’t have instruction in mental wellness – or spare time,” says Moira Clewes, lead teacher on health at Sandwich technologies school, Kent, a single of the colleges piloting the task. “We are breaking down misconceptions close to mental sickness. College students are opening up. Teachers are grateful for suggestions. You’d be amazed at the influence this is possessing.”

A Division for Training spokesperson factors to a selection of initiatives, which includes the MindEd site, launched in March, created to support men and women working with children, like teachers, “to recognise when a youngster wants support and how to make sure they get it”. The Division of Overall health says it has a “priority” target on children’s mental health and, among other things, has put additional cash in to “speaking therapies”, incorporating that it is liaising with the DfE to enhance links among colleges and Camhs.

For Cunningham, although any help is welcome, she is adamant that “nothing at all quick of a clear, coherent and correctly funded approach nationally will operate for colleges and for kids”.

• Some names have been modified

Teachers left to select up pieces from cuts to youth psychological well being servicess | Mary O"Hara

Ofsted inspections and targets harming teachers" psychological overall health, finds survey

Teachers are juggling ‘unacceptable workloads’, Mary Bousted, head of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, will warn at her union’s conference this week. Photograph: Luke Macgregor/Reuters

A relentless inspection regime and culture of target-setting is damaging teachers’ mental well being, with many reporting anxiety and exhaustion, a survey by a teaching union has found.

Much more than half (fifty five%) of individuals questioned by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) say operate pressures are obtaining a detrimental impact on their psychological wellbeing, even though virtually 4 in ten have noticed a rise in mental well being troubles amongst colleagues over the previous two many years.

Of those teachers who did really feel their task had broken their mental overall health, a lot of reported encountering pressure (80%), exhaustion (69%), disturbed rest patterns (66%), nervousness (57%) and headaches (47%). Nearly a single in 3 stated it had impacted their appetite.

The survey is released as the ATL starts its annual conference in Manchester, in which the union’s standard secretary, Mary Bousted, will warn that teachers are juggling “unacceptable workloads”.

“Schooling specialists do much more unpaid overtime than any other group and are put beneath continual extreme pressure to meet targets, with excessive observation, modifications in the curriculum and Ofsted inspections,” she said over the weekend.

“There are in-college pressures brought on by Ofsted – pressures place upon teachers by college leaders to make sure that students show progress. There are demands for data, demands for lesson preparing – it really is as though practically nothing is done except if it’s written down.”

The stigma connected to mental overall health issues means several are afraid to inform their colleges, says the survey. More than two-thirds (68%) of teachers who reported experiencing psychological overall health issues explained they decided to hide it from their employers. Teachers will warn on Monday morning that 1 of the major triggers of anxiety in colleges – Ofsted – has misplaced practically all credibility. Robin Bevan, headteacher of Southend Boys’ Grammar, will tell the conference that the organisation “is no longer just disliked, now disdained” and propose a movement calling for an inspection charter for the regulator, exactly where all judgments are subject to a nationwide programme of dependability sampling.

“The whole discourse around Ofsted has altered,” stated Bousted, who is also expected to criticise Ofsted in her closing speech on Wednesday. “The company can no longer sail by means of insouciantly pretending that there’s no difficulty with the high quality manage of its inspections, nor with its methodology.”

The ATL did not take component in the most current strike action but says morale amid its members is minimal. A lecturer from a university in Manchester advised the survey: “Perform eats into every factor of a teacher’s existence …Teachers are above-worked, stressed and unhappy. The occupation is full of sick-well being and tiredness.”

Ofsted inspections and targets harming teachers" psychological overall health, finds survey

Teachers say tension is leading to rise in mental overall health problems

The survey, which questioned more than 900 college and school staff, discovered that of the 55 per cent who think their occupation has a unfavorable effect on their mental well being, 80 per cent mentioned they have been stressed, 70 per cent stated they have been left feeling exhausted by their perform and two thirds mentioned it disturbed their rest.

The union warned that a stigma connected to mental wellness problems meant that numerous men and women had been afraid to inform their employers if they have been suffering. The poll located that 68 per cent of people with a mental overall health issue chose to hold it a secret from bosses. Only 38 per cent kept a physical health concern to themselves.

Dr Mary Bousted, the standard secretary of ATL, said she was shocked at the rise in mental overall health problems.

She explained: “Teachers, lecturers, assistance staff and heads are now so overworked that it comes as no shock that so numerous suffer from tension, depression and other mental-wellness troubles.’’

Dr Bousted extra: “They require to be supported greater, with schools and colleges producing adjustments to jobs and functioning conditions exactly where needed.’’ The poll questioned 925 schooling workers functioning in state and private colleges and colleges in England, Wales and Northern Ireland last month.

Teachers say tension is leading to rise in mental overall health problems

Now There is A Davos Of Schooling And A $1 Million "Nobel Prize" For Teachers

The International Education and Expertise Forum convened its 2nd annual conference in Dubai from March 15 and 17th. The forum brought globe leaders, heads of state, global ministers of schooling, innovators, and specialists searching to aid solve a “global training crisis.”

It was a fascinating occasion, total of pleasure, large production quality, and brilliant thinkers. It provoked me to take into account training from a international viewpoint that had heretofore evaded my pondering.

The Global Training and Abilities Forum was complete of big identify headliners. Bill Clinton presented a keynote to the conference during which he explained, “Intelligence is evenly distributed. Willingness to work is evenly distributed. Hunger to find out is evenly distributed. Possibility and access are not.” Tony Blair spoke about the importance of creativity and “open minded training.”

Organized “in partnership in between UNESCO, the UAE Ministry of Training, GEMS Schooling, the Varkey GEMS Basis and Dubai Cares, in help of the United Nations Secretary General’s Global Training 1st Initiative,” the occasion targeted on discussing “the global problems of a growing younger population, a large education funding gap, the changing nature of abilities and function as properly as profound technological adjustments.”

Prior to the occasion, Vikas Pota, CEO of the Varkey GEMS Foundation, mentioned: “This forum will challenge the world’s leaders to discover actual solutions to the most crucial situation of our time: education. We encounter a ticking time bomb of an total generation getting uneducated or unprepared for a new globe of perform. There is no time left for speaking outlets we require to consider selections that result in actual &amp speedy alter.”

During the conference the large themes have been education technologies, girls’ schooling, and an  ongoing essential exploration of the part organization must play in reforming and fortifying school programs.

The occasion concluded with Sunny Varkey announcing a $ one million Nobel-like teacher’s prize which will operate under the patronage of Dubai’s ruler: His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Envision that, $ one Million for a great instructor. If you know one–and we all do–make the nomination. Or, motivate your little ones teachers to nominate themselves. Tell them that what they do for your little ones is really worth a million bucks. Check out http://globalteacherprize.com/ for much more information.

The prize is an attempt to deliver a considerably needed attitude of prestige to an otherwise undervalued profession. “We want to inspire kids from far-flung villages, towns and cities close to the world to say  ‘I want that prize!’” Mentioned Varkey, “How numerous little ones say they want to be a reality Tv star?  Let’s get them aiming to be the greatest teacher in the world.”

Bill Clinton (who holds the position of honorary chairman of the Varkey GEMS foundation) echoed Varkey’s sentiment, saying, “Attracting the best individuals to teaching, developing and supporting their capabilities, and holding our teachers in high regard — all are critically essential to attain excellence, the two in educating and learning.”

For the duration of the conference, I was pleased to hear that almost all of speakers emphasized that schooling needed to generate empowered individuals. The emphasis was on inspiring creativity, essential thinking, and expressive youth voices rather than greater test scores, or enhanced quantified assessments. The acquainted buzzwords of the college reform and training debates in the U.S. had been sparse.

I also encountered a extremely different conversation about edtech than the 1 I’m employed to. In the U.S., there is an ongoing discussion about the positives and negatives of edtech. There is a romantic, probably nostalgic, almost preservationist enjoy of paper–a enjoy that is expressed through a fear of screens. But I quickly learned that it is a privilege to worry about these issues. In several spots about the planet, inexpensive flip phones are currently being employed to educate rural adults basic literacy skills. Linked screens provide an reasonably priced and scalable choice to make learning content obtainable in locations exactly where it hasn’t been.

Likewise, our edtech conversation in the U.S. often gets to be a polarized discussion in which outdated will get positioned in opposition to new. No doubt this is the fate of a culture that’s founded from revolution innovation is usually tantamount to conquer and seldom observed as iteration. Hence, we use phrases like ‘disruption’ rather than ‘supplementation.’ Consider our obsession with the notion that we require to throw out 20th Century instructional strategies in favor of 21st Century ones. At the forum, I discovered a more thoughtful large image frame of mind. Particularly amongst the speakers from the United Arab Emirates, there was a smart mindset in which the strengths of new technologies had been blended with the conventional.

Here is the video of the edtech panel, “Leveraging mobile technology, social media, and gaming to boost training.” Moderated by Jeff Dunn (co-founder of edudemic.com), the panel consists of H.E. Dr. Mahmoud Aboelnasr (Minister of Schooling, Egypt), H.E. Mohammed Gheyath (Director General of Wise Finding out Plan, UAE), Benjamin Berte (CEO, Socrative, USA), Vicki Davis (Instructor, USA), Hayley McQuire (UN GEFI Youth Advocacy Group, Australia).

Want to know how the video games of the previous shaped the conscious attitudes of the present? Jordan Shapiro is author of FREEPLAY: A Video Game Manual to Maximum Euphoric Bliss. “A guide like ‘Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance’ for a generation raised on Pac-Man &amp Space Invaders.” For info on Jordan’s upcoming books and events click right here.

Now There is A Davos Of Schooling And A $1 Million "Nobel Prize" For Teachers

Female genital mutilation: pressure on Gove to inform teachers of practice

Fahma Mohamed, the 17-12 months-previous face of the Finish FGM campaign, says she is overwhelmed at the support. Photograph: Patrick Hoeschler

The Division for Education was below increasing pressure last evening to publish to all teachers informing them of the horrors of female genital mutilation, as a petition urging Michael Gove to intervene gathered 70,000 signatures in its first 24 hours.

The End FGM campaign, supported by the Guardian, noticed men and women signal up at the charge of two a 2nd to a document that asked the education secretary to publish to every single teacher to inform children and parents about the practice.

Ministers held a cross-government summit yesterday to announce a series of measures to tackle FGM, despite the fact that they fell brief of meeting the campaign’s crucial demand. Government figures say 20,000 British ladies are considered to be at threat of becoming cut ever year. Fahma Mohamed, the 17-yr-old face of the campaign, mentioned she was overwhelmed at the help.

“It is totally remarkable that we have currently received so a lot of signatures, it genuinely shows how many men and women are behind this – we all feel the same issue, that schooling is key to ending FGM,” she explained.

But she added: “Our goal is even now to get Michael Gove to send a letter to all schools and attain out to teachers and mothers and fathers. Today’s announcement does not tell us what action they will actually consider. So we are going to maintain on fighting.”

Norman Baker, the House Workplace minister, who is responsible for heading up government policy on FGM,  mentioned he would be creating to Gove – whose voice was conspicuously absent from the day’s announcements – to draw his focus to the Guardian’s campaign.

“I’m delighted that a information organisation like the Guardian is operating this kind of a higher-profile campaign, which will only include to efforts to defeat this appalling practice when and for all,” Baker explained.

Ministers from the departments of health, training and worldwide development met to make a series of policy announcements, such as:

• Mandatory collecting of information of victims in hospitals for the first time.

• A Home Workplace review into the prevalence of FGM.

• £250,000 of European money to advertise a nationwide NSPCC helpline and give education to frontline pros.

• A redrafting of the current safeguarding guidance note for colleges, which will in long term consist of guidance on FGM.

Speaking right after the meeting, held on the United Nations day to mark zero tolerance of FGM, Baker said it marked a stage modify in government policy. “It sets out a real statement of intent, and a very robust message tying in each division into the campaign to end FGM. We are not saying that this will deliver an finish to FGM, but it is undoubtedly a valuable constructing block.”

Lynne Featherstone, the international growth minister, stated: “We have come a lengthy way, and we have significantly further to go, but every thing is on track to end FGM inside a generation.”

It also emerged that the Crown Prosecution Support is investigating ten circumstances of FGM in the Uk, following setting up a network of 13 expert prosecutors, and is “hopeful” that a case involving an grownup female will be brought to court within months.

“We are really stepping up what we are performing on FGM, as even though there has been a whole lot of great practice becoming created up in London, this is not a problem special to London,” stated Alison Saunders, director of public prosecutions.

She extra: “We are nevertheless considering circumstances in London, every one bringing its very own legal hurdle which we are trying to conquer. I am actually hopeful that we will have a situation to progress by way of the courts in the subsequent couple of months.”

The shadow property secretary, Yvette Cooper, mentioned the training department had to go additional and provide both teachers and mothers and fathers comprehensive coaching about FGM. “Receiving the police and well being experts to do far more to support younger ladies and avoid the mutilation is specifically appropriate. But as the Guardian’s campaign makes clear, education is critical to ending this brutal crime in Britain.

“I hope Michael Gove will listen to the voices of the females and girls major the Guardian campaign and consider action.”

Efua Dorkenoo, lead on FGM at Equality Now, a campaign group, who will advise on the revision of the safeguarding advice in colleges, stated the day was a watershed second for campaigners, who last but not least felt that they had been currently being listened to.”We have been fighting for a extended time for measures like these, and now we have acquired the government dedication across the board. It is the best news we have had on FGM for a lengthy time,” she said.

Debbie Ariyo, of the charity Afruca – which operates amongst the African diaspora in the United kingdom and last yr obtained funding to carry out FGM education in communities – explained Fahma Mohamed would show unattainable for ministers across the government to ignore. “For numerous children from these communities the only time they can get support is at school. Teachers in schools want to know the dangers that these children are exposed to.”

The Division for Schooling stated safeguarding advice for colleges was currently being redrafted to make certain it was “clearer, simpler, and directs colleges to the most current specialist suggestions on troubles such as FGM”.

It additional: “Female genital mutilation is unacceptable. It is kid abuse and a criminal offence. It is an issue that schools need to take really significantly. If a school is concerned that a pupil may be about to undergo FGM or could have been subject to it, they need to get in touch with their neighborhood authority safeguarding group instantly.”

Female genital mutilation: pressure on Gove to inform teachers of practice

Female genital mutilation: strain on Gove to inform teachers of practice

Fahma Mohamed, the 17-year-outdated face of the End FGM campaign, says she is overwhelmed at the help. Photograph: Patrick Hoeschler

The Division for Schooling was below growing pressure final night to compose to all teachers informing them of the horrors of female genital mutilation, as a petition urging Michael Gove to intervene gathered 70,000 signatures in its first 24 hours.

The Finish FGM campaign, supported by the Guardian, saw people signal up at the rate of two a 2nd to a document that asked the education secretary to create to every single instructor to inform youngsters and parents about the practice.

Ministers held a cross-government summit yesterday to announce a series of measures to tackle FGM, even though they fell brief of meeting the campaign’s essential demand. Government figures say 20,000 British women are thought to be at chance of becoming minimize ever yr. Fahma Mohamed, the 17-year-old face of the campaign, said she was overwhelmed at the help.

“It is completely wonderful that we have presently got so numerous signatures, it actually shows how several folks are behind this – we all feel the very same thing, that training is crucial to ending FGM,” she said.

But she added: “Our objective is nonetheless to get Michael Gove to send a letter to all schools and attain out to teachers and mother and father. Today’s announcement isn’t going to tell us what action they will really consider. So we are going to keep on fighting.”

Norman Baker, the Residence Office minister, who is accountable for heading up government policy on FGM,  said he would be creating to Gove – whose voice was conspicuously absent from the day’s announcements – to draw his consideration to the Guardian’s campaign.

“I am delighted that a information organisation like the Guardian is operating such a higher-profile campaign, which will only include to efforts to defeat this appalling practice after and for all,” Baker stated.

Ministers from the departments of wellness, education and global growth met to make a series of policy announcements, such as:

• Mandatory collecting of data of victims in hospitals for the first time.

• A House Office examine into the prevalence of FGM.

• £250,000 of European income to advertise a national NSPCC helpline and give coaching to frontline experts.

• A redrafting of the current safeguarding guidance note for colleges, which will in potential incorporate guidance on FGM.

Speaking soon after the meeting, held on the United Nations day to mark zero tolerance of FGM, Baker mentioned it marked a stage change in government policy. “It sets out a real statement of intent, and a really powerful message tying in every division into the campaign to end FGM. We are not saying that this will bring an finish to FGM, but it is certainly a useful building block.”

Lynne Featherstone, the global improvement minister, mentioned: “We have come a prolonged way, and we have much more to go, but every thing is on track to finish FGM inside a generation.”

It also emerged that the Crown Prosecution Service is investigating ten circumstances of FGM in the United kingdom, following setting up a network of 13 specialist prosecutors, and is “hopeful” that a case involving an adult girl will be brought to court inside months.

“We are actually stepping up what we are doing on FGM, as while there has been a good deal of excellent practice being built up in London, this is not a issue distinctive to London,” stated Alison Saunders, director of public prosecutions.

She extra: “We are even now taking into consideration situations in London, every one particular bringing its own legal hurdle which we are trying to overcome. I am really hopeful that we will have a case to progress by means of the courts in the following couple of months.”

The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, mentioned the schooling division had to go more and provide the two teachers and dad and mom extensive education about FGM. “Getting the police and well being experts to do far much more to support youthful ladies and stop the mutilation is exactly appropriate. But as the Guardian’s campaign makes clear, training is vital to ending this brutal crime in Britain.

“I hope Michael Gove will listen to the voices of the females and ladies leading the Guardian campaign and take action.”

Efua Dorkenoo, lead on FGM at Equality Now, a campaign group, who will advise on the revision of the safeguarding advice in schools, stated the day was a watershed minute for campaigners, who lastly felt that they were being listened to.”We have been fighting for a lengthy time for measures like these, and now we have got the government dedication across the board. It is the very best information we have had on FGM for a prolonged time,” she said.

Debbie Ariyo, of the charity Afruca – which operates between the African diaspora in the Uk and last year received funding to carry out FGM training in communities – stated Fahma Mohamed would prove impossible for ministers across the government to disregard. “For a lot of young children from these communities the only time they can get assistance is at college. Teachers in schools want to know the dangers that these kids are exposed to.”

The Division for Education stated safeguarding advice for schools was becoming redrafted to ensure it was “clearer, easier, and directs colleges to the most recent expert suggestions on concerns this kind of as FGM”.

It extra: “Female genital mutilation is unacceptable. It is child abuse and a criminal offence. It is an concern that schools ought to consider extremely significantly. If a college is concerned that a pupil may be about to undergo FGM or could have been topic to it, they need to speak to their local authority safeguarding crew instantly.”

Female genital mutilation: strain on Gove to inform teachers of practice