GTC Scotland do not have a policy position on reading

 The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) held its second `Excellence in Professional Learning Awards` in September. It looks like they are here congratulating practitioners for `nurturing North Ayrshire`. It`s a pity they pay so much attention to how practitioners `nurture` and yet do not give much attention to how teachers are taught to instruct learners to read.  

Given the focus in Scotland on `adverse childhood experiences` (ACEs) one thing seems to be overlooked: a lifelong inability to read is one of the most devastating experiences a child could possible undergo; and yet, as the Clackmannanshire study has shown, is well within the grasp of primary teachers to do something about. Yet as the GTCS reveals there still remains a cavalier approach to the teaching of reading.
 

Here is an important tweet  from Anne Glennie, Scottish primary teacher and literacy consultant and trainer, who quotes:
 

"GTC Scotland would like to advise its readers that it does not hold a policy position on teaching children to read. We aim to publish a wide range of articles in `Teaching Scotland` offering different viewpoints. This is to inform our readers about current practice in education. Publication of a particular point of view does not mean that we endorse it."
 

There are several comments following the tweet:

___________________

 

 

"What is the point of the GTC in that case?"
___________________

 

 

"GTCS functions include: Setting the Professional standards expected of all teachers."

"Accrediting programmes leading to the award of GTCS Standards, including Initial Teacher Education programmes at Scottish universities."

"How can they hold teachers in Scotland to professional standards but not hold policy positions on the science behind reading?"
___________________

 

 

Debbie Hepplewhite Retweeted Anne Glennie
 

"This is utterly unaccountable - extraordinary - unforgivable. What have 'views' to do with the science of reading instruction? Such irony as the Clackmannanshire research is important - supported a move in England towards official systematic synthetic phonics."

_____________________________

The letter from Alison Taylor that prompted the GTC announcement that they do not have a policy position on teaching reading is here:

"Dear Editor, 

 

I was disturbed to see an article in Teaching Scotland no 75 about Reading Recovery. This `intervention` has been withdrawn in many English speaking countries because it does not tackle the core of the literacy problem, and yet here in Scotland we are promoting it."

"To Raise Attainment for All and Close the Gap, Scotland must improve the teaching of beginner readers, so it is essential to educate all our primary teachers in the science behind reading and evidence based methods to use. We are not taught the complexities of the English Alphabetic Code at university so can end up using a mixture of effective and ineffective approaches."

"About 21 months ago I was introduced by Anne Glennie `The Learning Zoo to teaching decoding through systematic synthetic phonics (SSP)` which is part of the Big Five for teaching literacy. This started my reading journey of the science behind reading. In the schools I work in, we now use evidence based methods to teach literacy, both universally and for PEP interventions. This has had a huge positive impact on developing the literacy skills of our pupils."

"In my experience many pupils are included in intervention groups (such as Reading Recovery) that encourage pupils to `guess` words using multi-cueing (use the picture, first sound or context clues - when what they really need is systematic and explicit teaching of the Alphabetic Code from simple to complex code. They then require practice, little and often, in decoding and encoding using the letters and sounds. Schools need decodable books as a resource to do this. Many schools teach phonics but do not have this vital resource to enable children to practise the letters and sounds they are learning. All beginner readers need to be taught the same skills and knowledge. Some children including those with `dyslexia` need lots of extra practice to retain their learning of sound to print."

"Many poor readers are relying on memorising words for decoding and have no other strategy to use when they come across new words. Teach them to decode using SSP and they have skills and knowledge that will stay with them forever. Get them to practise to mastery and we help all pupils. `Reading` is a life skill and we must not let the children in Scotland down. Let`s get it right from the start."

______________________________

 

Last year`s ceremony:

 

 

The politicisation of gender identity

"The targeting of traditional ideas and forms of interaction between boys and girls has gained momentum in recent years throughout the western world. The politicisation of trans-cultures serves as a medium for distancing children from adopting the gender identity into which they were born. In Scotland, teachers have been informed by the Government that they should allow children to change their gender without informing the parents."

"Guidelines endorsed by the Scottish government state, that school kids as young as three `should be supported to explore and express their identity`. The guidelines assume that it is the teacher and not the parent who ought to possess the authority to provide the conditions that allow children to transition to another sex. From this perspective parents are perceived as a problem, who might prevent their child from transitioning. Hence, keeping parents out of the picture is seen as essential to the well being of the transitioning child."
"If Scottish parents object and oppose their child changing their sex, teachers and school staff should report them to the local authorities."

"The Scottish Government has also made it clear that if parents object and oppose their child changing their sex, teachers and school staff should report them to the local authorities. What this means is that if you are a parent who is not 100 per cent delighted that your 4 year old boy Johnny has decided with the school’s help to become a 4 year old girl, Mary – you will be reported to the authorities. Welcome to a world where Big Brother has helpfully assumed control over one of the most fundamental aspect of the development of the child."
https://disidentia.com/a-war-that-begins-in-the-nursery/

Police will watch `resilience documentary`

Ayrshire Police Division are being encouraged to see all social problems as a consequence of the `early years.`



"Today, 20 February 2018, Ayrshire’s Divisional Commander, Chief Superintendent Paul Main, has announced that Ayrshire Police Division will soon become a ‘Trauma Informed Division’ aiming to improve awareness, among all police officers and staff in the division, of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)."

"ACEs are stressful or traumatic events, including abuse and neglect, witnessing domestic violence or growing up with family members who abuse alcohol or drugs. Each ACE increases a child’s likelihood of being a victim of violence, committing violence or being incarcerated at any point in their lifetime."

"The first stage of becoming 'Trauma Informed' will be to provide all 840 officers and staff time to watch the Resilience Documentary, which provides an overview of ACEs. Over 50 officers and staff from Ayrshire Division have already seen the documentary as part of a roadshow during the latter half of 2017."

https://www.facebook.com/AyrshirePoliceDivision/posts/2075239399417245

Improving lives for workless families

"A total of £30m has been set aside to boost the life chances of children in disadvantaged families by resolving conflict among parents, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced. The government wants to improve the quality of parental conflict provision across England."

"The money will go towards launching proven parental conflict provision in more local areas and improving the quality of family services already in place."

"Meanwhile, all local areas will be helped to train frontline practitioners in identifying parental conflict and referring families on to appropriate services."

"... An estimated 300,000 workless families are potentially affected by the issue. [There is no measure of the number of working families who are potentially affected by  the same issue and it must be wondered why !]

"The new initiative, set out in the government policy paper Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families... will work alongside the Troubled Families Programme to support local areas across England to improve the effectiveness of their family services..."

"The DWP said it will shortly be launching an opportunity for organisations to bid to deliver evidence-based work to reduce parental conflict in order to increase the supply of quality services available to local commissioners. ` Successful bidders will deliver help face-to-face for workless families using interventions which have been shown to make a difference to the quality of inter-parental relationships, and parents' ability to collaborate,` the policy paper adds." [Jobs for the boys]

http://www.cypnow.co.uk/cyp/news/2003446/government-launches-gbp30m-bid-to-improve-childrens-life-chances

As for resolving conflict between parents it will go the same way as the Troubled Families Programme: a great deal of opportunity for Social Services involvement and their partnerships, who take children away from their families, and little positive result for children who have been taken away :

"The report saw teams of intensive, low-caseload workers in the best position to help families ‘be converted to a new way of life’, much like being ‘turned around’ today. Despite this support, the report remained sceptical of cost-effectiveness, dwelt on the problems of defining ‘problem` families and the stigmatisation for families labelled as ‘inferior citizens`.."

"Despite numerous impressionistic local evaluations and the expansion of problem family policies across the country, it was only with the ‘rediscovery of poverty’ in the mid-1960s that they fell out of fashion."

"Unproven, anecdotal and written by advocates, ‘problem family’ evaluations are the clear precursor to the policy-based evidence which underpinned the ... Troubled Families Programme."

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-trouble-with-the-troubled-families-programme-repeating-the-failed-attempts-of-the-past/

Where is early intervention going ?

"Dr Jan Macvarish, associate lecturer and researcher at the Centre for Parenting Culture Studies, University of Kent, delivers a short lecture followed by responses from Sue White, professor of social work, University of Sheffield; and Tim Loughton MP (Conservative), chair of the All Party Group for Conception to Age 2. The chair is Ellie Lee, director, Centre for Parenting Culture Studies."

See Youtube  Can neuroparenting save the family?

In the last twenty years, Macvarish believes we have moved from seeing the family as being under attack from outside sources to the idea that no family can be relied upon to raise children safely. Risks to children now take place within the family.

Even David Cameron, former British prime minister, made a speech on life chances in which he stated that what parents needed to do to improve their children`s life chances was to engage in `baby talk` and make `silly faces`. This extraordinary statement, and others like it in recent policy domains, are made because parents are believed to be the architects of their babies` brains and the impact of what parents do in the early years lasts forever.

===============

This is in complete contrast to what neuroscientists have to say about brains which is that brains are plastic and that plasticity remains throughout the lifecourse.

============

At 48 minutes into the video, Dr Stuart Waiton, well known campaigner against the Named Person scheme in Scotland, is seen to make a request from the audience: "I wonder if you could elaborate more on this thing called early intervention."

Another member of the audience says that there is a growing industry in mental health with the idea that `We are all mentally ill in some way and we need state intervention`.

Indeed, that is where all this seems to be going: psychologising everything. Lots of little private industries are popping up and getting paid for by the state to intervene in everything about us and our emotional lives. It`s localism, Big Society, the third way.

It`s surveillance and control.

Enhancing the gene pool while cutting future spending

"School officials in Palo Alto have unanimously voted to rename two middle schools that bear the names of leaders in the eugenics movement."

"The Mercury News reports the Palo Alto Unified School District Board of Education voted Friday 5-0 to rename Jordan Middle School, which is named after David Starr Jordan, and Terman Middle School, which is named after Lewis Terman."

"Terman was a former Stanford psychologist and Jordan was an accomplished scientist and Stanford's founding president."

"Both were members of the Human Betterment Foundation, a group that believed the human race could be improved through selective reproduction including forced sterilization."

"Pressure to change the schools' names started after a seventh-grade student at Jordan Middle School wrote a book report on Jordan and shared what he had learned about the school's namesake."

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/03/17/palo-alto-eugenics-controversy-spurs-school-name-changes/

"7,000 men, women and children determined by social workers to be feeble minded or promiscuous were sterilised usually without their consent and it was perfectly legal..."

"Their reasons were based on a scientific theory called eugenics which became popular in the 1920s. Eugenicists believed that poverty, promiscuity and alcoholism were inherited traits. It was a simple theory with a radical solution. Sterilize those the state would have to take care of, and improve society`s gene pool."

"It began as a way of controlling welfare spending on poor women and men but over time shifted focus targeting more women and more blacks than whites."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nshj9rCTPdE

You know, there is something deeply familiar about the idea of controlling future welfare spending by intervening early. I`ve also seen that Eugenics image somewhere before.
 

Yes. Same concept as the Mindfulness Scotland logo from the organisation that is going to enhance the wellbeing of the people of Scotland.

I think we need to reflect on the meaning of the word `enhance.`

 

Paving the way for GM humans ?

"Human life could soon be replicated in a laboratory after scientists at the University of Cambridge successfully created artificial mouse embryos."

"Scientist developed a mouse embryo structure using stem cells grown in the lab. The cells grew into primitive embryos that had identical internal structures to those that emerge during normal development in the womb."

"The purpose of the research is to gain deeper insight into an embryo`s development just prior to implantation."

"It marks a significant step forward, as previous attempts to grow embryo-like structures using only embryonic stem cells have only had limited success..."

"If carried out on human embryos, the experiment could reveal the cause behind miscarriages and infertility, as it shows how genetic activity varies the way mammals grow right after conception..."

"However researchers said although the artificial embryo closely resembles a natural one, it is unlikely to develop further into a healthy mouse fetus. This would require a yolk sac, which provides nourishment for the embryo and where blood vessels develop."

"Experiments are currently carried out on leftover human embryos from in Vitro Fertilization (IVF), but these are often insufficient and can only be held for a maximum of 14 days under legal frameworks."

"The outcome of the experiment has also been criticized by some concerned that it may pave the way for genetically modified (GM) humans."

https://www.rt.com/uk/379335-human-cloning-embryo-cambridge/

Of course one reason for spontaneous abortion is that it is nature`s way of eliminating an embryo which is not developing properly but the scientists fail to mention that.

New Zealand conference on Positive Education

The New Zealand conference follows on from the World Governance Summit which is promoting Positive Education. The World Governance Summit`s report features Professor Martin Seligman, the guru on positive psychology who is author of Authentic Happiness and who was the keynote speaker at a conference in Glasgow (2003) `Towards a Confident Scotland.`

Positive psychology, from  the Centre of Well-being and Confidence in Glasgow, was criticised by Carol Craig some time after :

"Positive psychology was originally a breath of fresh air – a welcome attempt to round out psychology and make its tools and practices more helpful to those seeking respite from mental health problems as well as those interested in improving mental well-being. "

"But in recent years positive psychology has become increasingly grandiose – convinced of its unique ability to solve the problems of the modern world by boosting the subjective well-being not only of those in well-heeled, democratic countries but also developing countries such as China and India."

 http://www.centreforconfidence.co.uk/information.php?p=cGlkPTQwMQ==

In becoming so grandiose, she believes, positive psychology forgets the fact that its toolkit is extremely limited and it also ignores the structural elements that restrict individual and community well-being.

In other words, there is no recognition that politics, economics and government policies are responsible for the real life constraints that impinge on human flourishing.

Why is this important?

Can I suggest that we look at the Scottish government`s Named Person policy and their well-being indicators? A focus on well-being that is supposed to be there to prevent problems escalating some time in the future is ignoring the same factors that the positive psychology movement is doing  - politics, economics and government policies.

Can I also suggest that it is grandiose to think that the Scottish government/world government will solve the problems of the modern world by tweaking a few procedures in the nursery?

Pupils undergo an early intervention programme in Glasgow

They might not get equal educational opportunities but pupils in deprived areas are proving to be a useful resource:

"A school in one of Glasgow's most deprived areas is training parents, pupils and staff in how to cope with stress."

"As part of the pilot, all S4 pupils at St Paul's High School in Pollok were assessed before the programme began."

"About 40% showed high levels of anxiety and depression, well above the national average."

"This dropped to about 20% by the end of the programme which aims to intervene early to prevent longer-term problems."

"Across Scotland, one in 10 adults is currently being prescribed an antidepressant."

"Almost half of all adults with mental health problems developed them before they left school."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-39067388

I`m always in two minds about this kind of thing because I wouldn`t want to deny anybody a stress-busting class. But I still think this is not the role for schoolteachers.

Schools themselves create an awful lot of the stress.

It looks like the focus on wellbeing, engagement and fun learning - the GIRFEC approach - is not working. The figures quoted in the article are quite shocking.

No, this is data mining, experimentation and mental health on the cheap. And not a thought about patient confidentiality.

Useless Girfec scheme still threatening families

New Zealand abandoned a Girfec-like scheme after branding it `useless` according to the Scottish Express in August of last year.

They quoted the disastrous attempt of the Isle of Man to successfully implement such a scheme and how even UNICEF had expressed concerns over the plans to rate every newborn child with a risk score to predict future abuse for officials to keep an eye on.

Moreover, the Supreme Court had ruled that the data sharing provision of the Named Person scheme to be rolled out in Scotland was unlawful

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/697358/New-Zealand-

But it looks like these ideas are not so easy to shake off and are deeply entrenched in research establishments as the report on childhood forecasting illustrates.

"A detailed analysis of the lives of nearly a thousand people from birth to age 38 shows that a small portion of the population accounts for the lion’s share of social costs such as crime, welfare dependence and health-care needs as adults..."

"The researchers found they could have predicted which adults were likely to incur such costs as early as age 3 based on assessments of 'brain health,' giving them hope that early interventions could avoid some of these social costs..."

"The research group wanted to test the 'Pareto principle,' which is also called the '80-20 rule.' Italian engineer and social scientist Vilfredo Pareto observed a century ago that 80 per cent of wealth is controlled by 20 per cent of the population. This principle has subsequently been found a useful rule of thumb when applied to phenomena in computer science, biology, physics, economics and many other fields..."

"'The digitisation of people’s lives allows us to quantify precisely how much a person costs society and which people are using multiple different costly health and social services,’ Professor Moffitt said. 'Apparently, the same few clients use the courts, welfare benefits, disability services, children’s services, and the health-care system. These systems could be more joined up...' "

"Professors Caspi and Moffitt stress that this ability to identify and predict a person’s life course from their childhood status should be an invitation to intervene, not discriminate."

Paper reference: Caspi, A et al (2016) Childhood Forecasting of a Small Segment of the Population With Large Economic Burden Nature Human Behaviour DOI: 10.1038/S41562-016-0005  

In Scotland, councils are being regularly accused of ignoring the Supreme Court ruling.

Read about: Mum exasperated by unlawful info sharing and ‘Named Person knows best’ attitude

Are mice and rat studies showing the way?

Epigenetics, like brain science, sometimes runs away with itself:

"Epigenetic studies in mice and rats...  are showing that factors such as parental nutrition and care, social stress, and chemical exposures can influence gametogenesis, gestational development, and early growth, as well as create later-life health problems that may even be inherited by subsequent generations... Although it remains unclear whether similar epigenetic dynamics operate in humans, preventive prescriptions about how to avoid human epigenetic health risks and ‘optimize’ human reproductive health are proliferating in scientific reports, media, and public health outlets..."

"[They] often focus on parental behavior as the key to preventing illness in their descendants... For example, a popular parenting website recently posted an article entitled ‘Epigenetics, you, and your kids’ that cautioned against overeating during pregnancy on the basis of ‘research [that] has shown a mother’s diet can influence the structure of her unborn child’s epigenome."

"Two factors could make such prescriptions ripe for misinterpretation and exacerbate ethical concerns for these populations. First, individual and familial decision making about childbearing and child-rearing enjoys a ‘sphere of privacy’ in our society that is fervently protected against state influence, making directive messages about personal reproductive behavior ethically contentious, even for public health goals... [?] Second, to the extent that socioeconomic and sociopolitical forces, over which parents have little control, determine environmental exposures, diets, and stressors, shifting the expectations for prevention to parents unfairly targets the most socially vulnerable within these groups, creates the potential for social blame, and even exacerbates environmental, social, and intergenerational injustices."

DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2014.08.001
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265853557_Serving_Epigenetics_before_Its_Time

Governments are more than willing to talk about intergenerational disadvantage (passed from parent to child)  but they are less inclined to talk about environmental, social and intergenerational injustices passed on, say, through policies like austerity.

Again, if epigenetics works in humans as it does in mice then insisting that families have their benefits sanctioned for the flimsiest of reasons, forcing children to depend on food banks and an inferior diet, could have genetic consequences for the third generation. In other words, it is not an intervention that is going to reduce intergenerational disadvantage at all.

Governments need to take care of the scientific theories they use to justify the dogma of early intervention. It could backfire.
 
See also http://childmyths.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/blinding-them-with-science-epigenetics.html

Troubled families programme has not proved its effectiveness

"The Public Accounts Committee report says that Government has not proved the effectiveness of a programme to support troubled families."
"The Committee also concludes the Government overstated the programme's success through its use of terminology and the method used to estimate financial savings to the taxpayer."

"Families were considered `turned around` on the basis of short-term outcomes rather than `long-term, sustainable change in families' lives`, says the Committee, while £1.2 billion of claimed savings was an overstatement."

"An official evaluation of the programme was `unable to find consistent evidence` the Troubled Families programme had any significant impact."
"The first phase of the Troubled Families programme was launched in April 2012 with initial central government funding of £448 million between 2012 and 2015."

"It followed a commitment in 2011 by the then Prime Minister, David Cameron, to `turn around' the lives of the 120,000 most troubled families in England by 2015."

"The report describes the delay of more than in year in publishing the phase one evaluation, commissioned by the Government to assess the programme's impact, cost-effectiveness and implementation, as `unacceptable`."

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-accounts-committee/news-parliament-2015/troubled-families-report-published-16-17/

Dartington Social Research Unit: a social enterprise facilitator

According to the Dartington Social Research Unit (DSRU), it is an independent charity that brings science and evidence to bear on policy and practice in children's services.

Among their trustees is Naomi Eisenstadt CB who happens to be poverty advisor to the Scottish government. This independent charity has burrowed its way into the heart of government. The proposition is that evidence-based prevention and early intervention will eradicate poverty. It is a gross misrepresentation of the current economic situation. People need jobs that offer a living wage, not early interference in their parenting.

https://firstminister.gov.scot/poverty-advisor/

Regardless, the Dartington Research Unit has some wonderful things to say about itself. "We have a reputation for being represented by intelligent, provocative, nice people who are passionate about improving the well-being of all children... Our staff and trustees exude our values for innovation based in science, high quality evidence and logic."

When they write about science they are referring to data obtained from very dubious surveys and when they use the term innovation they show that they are prepared to use trial and error studies on whole populations of children and families.

"In 1999 we published Prevention and Early Intervention with Children in Need. This book encouraged policy makers and commissioners to learn from the US and to invest in what works, and made the case for higher quality evaluation, particularly more randomised controlled trials (RCTs). This was not a popular position to take."

No, and neither was the Evidence2Success survey popular that was inflicted on the children of Perth & Kinross Council, using their place based reform approach. Asking fourteen-year-olds if they ever carried a knife to school or if they had anal sex during the previous 30 days was not considered nice at all by protesting parents whose informed consent was not required. Read Dee Thomas`s first hand account. She makes the point that Evidence2Success underpinned the planned Named Person scheme and it is true that had the Supreme Court not ruled against the data sharing aspects of the Children and Young People Act, then the Scottish population was ripe for data mining.

But there is more going on than simple data mining and the clue comes from the Dartington Research Unit itself. It tells us that it has a product focus, turning ideas into things that policy makers, practitioners, children and families can use..."We help charities, social enterprises [see previous post] and children’s services agencies to design, test and refine services."

In other words, while they obtain public funding for their ventures, they are designing products for social enterprises and charities. This is the third way, Big Society and the fragmentation of the welfare state. Since it will be mainly volunteers who man the frontline services - think of Childline - it will be the managerial class who soaks up taxpayers money.

"We were thought to be maverick and very much on the periphery of children’s services research and policy. It was hard to imagine that by 2015 our views would have become mainstream, that there would be six ‘What Works’ centres in England, and that RCTs would have their proper place in the evaluator’s toolkit."

Oh it has been on the cards for a long time I would say, but see how nicely they feign surprise. I think they have had a little help from their friends.

"While we value the huge contribution of the US prevention scientists, we are increasingly looking ‘East and not West’. Thanks to support from the European Commission, we are collaborating with centres across Europe to recognise smart, robustly tested European innovations."

 And no thanks to these nice people for turning Scottish schoolchildren into guinea pigs. It is time to stop collaborating.

https://www.dartington.org.uk/inc/uploads/DSRU%20Annual%20Report%202015%20WEB-SINGLES%20HR.pdf

Tracking children from birth to age 5

It isn`t just happening in Scotland:

"At Early Excellence, we argue for more data and more information. This is why we have spent the past two years building a new assessment system known as the Early Excellence Assessment Tracker. This allows for the ongoing collection of information of children, from birth to age 5, and will produce the rich levels of data we require to build effective teaching techniques. It will also allow use over time to monitor the success of key government interventions such as the pupil premium, as well as allowing researchers to identify gaps in attainment by using data on demographics, gender and ethnicity."

"The debate around the role of data in early years is about much more than on-entry assessment. To truly understand the effectiveness of early years we need a complete, continual approach that documents a child’s progress from birth to 5 years."

"With the increasing government interest in early years, the free childcare pilots and our new prime minister’s emphasis on meritocracy, this is a vital opportunity for the early years’ sector to work together and secure the funding and political support required to develop a system that truly delivers for all children. Theresa May says `I actually look at the evidence, take the advice, consider it properly and then come to a decision`. In this context, having data on children can only be a good thing."

http://schoolsweek.co.uk/we-need-to-document-a-childs-progress-from-birth-to-age-5/

13 charities will mentor vulnerable young people

"Some of Scotland’s most vulnerable young people will be given the chance to build positive, supportive relationships with caring adults thanks to a new fund from Scottish Government and Inspiring Scotland."

"The intandem programme will support 13 Scottish charities to mentor children aged 8-14 who live at home and are subject, through the Children’s Hearing system, to local authority supervision."

"Intandem was co-created by Scottish Government and Inspiring Scotland and launched by John Swinney, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education earlier this year. The programme will offer young people a chance to build a relationship with a volunteer adult mentor who will support them as they deal with difficult experiences and challenges."

http://www.inspiringscotland.org.uk/news/latest-news/vulnerable-young-people-offered-chance-of-unique-supportive-relationship-through-new-fund

Learning for the 21st century is about skills and competencies as much as it is about knowledge and understanding. Just like digital badges, this mentoring project fits in with the idea that learning - in its broadest sense - can take place anywhere in the community and most adults are teachers.

How far this Big Society agenda is going to be pursued it is difficult to say, but there are warning signs from the United States that it could be the beginning of the end of traditional education.

===========

The Great Ormond Street experiment

"Great Ormond Street Hospital and University College London are facing questions over whether they had the consent of parents or guardians before conducting brain experiments on vulnerable children from scandal-hit charity Kids’ Company."

"Documents obtained by Heat Street under Freedom of Information laws show that between 2007 and 2009, a total of 123 separate procedures were conducted on 10 young people who were clients of Camila Batmanghelidjh’s now-defunct charity."

"The children were given small sums of money for taking part in the experiments."

"The tests, including MRI scans, tried to prove a link between mistreatment in childhood and violent tendencies in adulthood."

"But the research proved inconclusive and was never published."

"It was part of a joint venture between Great Ormond Street Hospital and University College London carried out by the Institute of Child Health, which the two organisations co-fund."

http://heatst.com/life/new-questions-over-kids-company-brain-experiments/

Dr Liz Davies, Emeritus Reader in Child Protection, quotes Professor Fonagyy, a psychologist at University College London on the topic of brain scans.

`by using brain scans, rather than studying how children behave, we will be able to spot those who are in greatest need of intervention. This system ought to be more accurate than current methods of diagnosis, such as questionnaires and observation… infants cannot articulate neglect or abuse, but their brain images can’ (Carlowe [2007] ‘My Brain Mapper’. The Times. 12th May).
 
Worried by the implications of experimenting on children`s brains Dr Davis attended conferences and heard the many arguments based on neuroscience in support of early intervention.  She concluded that: "the philosophy probably had an influence on the promotion of the fast track adoption policy and risked serious over-intervention by the state in family life."

https://lizdavies.net/2016/11/02/child-victims-of-neuroscience/#more-3442

Note that Professor Fonagyy did not entertain the idea of examining the brains of policy makers who came up with these projects, many of whom have psychopathic traits. Some might suggest that it would be more beneficial to society to weed out these low empathy individuals, using brains scans, rather than targeting their victims.

But then again, since government policy is to slyly influence society, why would they not want to study these effects, and why would they not choose the most vulnerable to begin their experiments?

http://alicemooreuk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/the-tavistock-institute-and-mind-control.html

Neuroparenting

According to Dr Sandy Gluckmann who tries to turn childrearing into a matter of brain chemistry: "Every moment when a parent interacts with his or her child is an opportunity to promote a healthy brain chemistry, just as the NeuroParenting techniques do."

On the other hand, opponents have this to say about the consequences of this type of so-called expert advice:
 
"Parents are deprived of the authority that depends on their moral
autonomy. Children are regarded fatalistically as the products of
objective circumstances, as their subjective agency is also implicitly disparaged. Parents lose their true parental status and are redefined as professional caregivers. The wider community of family and neighbourhood, and other sources of informal support and guidance, are dismissed (as much too risky)."

Read the `Expert Invasion of Family Life`:

http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/the-expert-invasion-of-family-life/18889#.WAvbj-kzXIV

The Named Person scheme in Scotland has the same debilitating effect.

The social determinants of health

"The relationship between poverty and health inequality has been clearly established and well documented (Hirsch, 2005; Roberts, 2002). Children born into low-income households are more likely to experience developmental and health problems from birth, and to accumulate health risks as they grow older (Roberts, 2002)."

https://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/default/files/jrf/migrated/files/2301-child-poverty-costs.pdf

The Scottish Government`s answer is to pay particular attention to the early years of life.

"We have always known the earliest years of life are crucial to a child’s development. However, it is increasingly evident that it is in the first years of life that inequalities in health, education and employment opportunities are passed from one generation to another. The early years framework signals local and national government’s joint commitment to break this cycle through prevention and early intervention. In short we aim to give every child in Scotland the best start in life."

http://www.gov.scot/Resource/Doc/215889/0057733.pdf

 

A report into the `Glasgow Effect` which is often extrapolated to the `Scottish Effect` explores a wider range of social issues which depress communities. Its conclusions draw doubt on the wisdom of the Scottish Government`s focus.

Although Glasgow shares many socioeconomic characteristics with cities like Liverpool and Manchester, the health inequalities are greater. Certainly poverty will weaken any community but the `Glasgow Effect` cannot be explained simply in terms of poverty or deindustrialisation; there must be other factors too.

One of those factors was the establishment of new towns in the greenbelt like East Kilbride and Cumbernauld which took a large proportion of young people, particularly families, from the decaying city. Investment was channelled into the new towns but little was available to bring new jobs into Glasgow.

Overcrowding has always been a serious problem in the city which has very serious health consequences. Part of the answer was to build high rise flats - hardly suitable for children - and huge housing estates on the periphery. These estates had few amenities, no jobs and hardly a bus out of the place after a certain time at night. They became dumping grounds full of demoralised people. That in itself has health implications. Meanwhile the city dressed itself up along the Clyde so that visitors could enjoy going into its new shopping malls.

The point is that these decisions were taken at the macro-level. The individuals who were at the receiving end of these policies had little to do with decision making. Any government that focuses on the first few years of life as if that explains everything about poverty and health is reneging on its responsibilities.

It is nonsense to blame parenting. The cycle of deprivation has higher order explanations.

Read the report: http://www.gcph.co.uk/assets/0000/5586/History_politics_and_vulnerability.pdf

Buzzwords to simplify the story

From Words that change minds:

"FrameWorks Institute helps nonprofits rethink their messages to simplify complicated ideas, move issues through Congress, and influence public opinion. Next month FrameWorks expects to release a report, sponsored by the Open Society Foundations, that aims to change the conversation about school discipline - part of a larger long-term project on education that`s drawn support from 10 major grant makers."

"You may not have heard of FrameWorks Institute, but you probably know its work and the vivid buzzwords it`s created to help charities, researchers, advocates and philanthropists translate complicated concepts to policy makers and the public."

`Climate change` is a catchy phrase that they had to come up with quickly when `global warming` would no longer do the job. It does not describe any specific processes and so it can mean anything at all related to the climate. As a term to encapsulate something significant about the weather it is useless.

`Toxic stress` is another of their phrases that conveys how trauma and instability can disrupt a child`s development. It should be noted that it is not a medical term and is often described by pseudo-neuroscientists in terms of the stress hormone cortisol; but since this pathway is also part of normal development the term is more hype than science. Nevertheless it is used by policy makers as a justification for early interventions.

In contrast to Ben Goldacre who believes that members of the public are capable of taking part in scientific discourse but do need open and transparent data on which to base their decisions, the Frameworks Institute is for packaging ready made solutions in catchy slogans.

"The entire notion that early [childhood] matters, and that we can invest in those ways, is all part of a new approach that has happened because scientists talk to policy makers in a different way," says Susan Nall Bales, the institute`s founder. "And I think that FrameWorks` research is at the heart of that."

Well we have been warned.

http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/assets/files/PDF/chroniclephilanthropy_wordsthatchangeminds_2016.pdf

Has information been shared unlawfully?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7leLd9UGpg

"Bill Alexander talks about the Highland Practice Model, Integrations and Preventive and Early Years Services."

The model involved quite a bit of restructuring and established a Named Person following requests by parents for a single point of contact, or so the story goes.
 

Actually it is more likely that Named Persons were conveniently put in place to coordinate the data along the pathway for the joined up services and early interventions.

"Those family teams will also provide enhanced capacity to support children in the early years... having seen the benefits of early intervention and having been influenced by inspirational figures such as Bruce Perry," says Bill Alexander.

On display is the inspirational photograph of the two 3-year-old brains derived from Bruce Perry which, along with the exaggerated notion of the importance of the early years, has been rubbished often enough.

 

Stuart Derbyshire calls the image a crude but iconic representation in the video below, as he criticises the emphasis in social policy on the early years.

Since Highland Council was the original pilot for the Named Person scheme we have to wonder if early years practitioners have been encouraged to share data about children`s and families` wellbeing, unlawfully ?

Given some of the information in the comprehensive and integrated practice guidance, the answer is, most probably.

When consent has not been given, but there is a need to know, legislation assists the practitioner to decide whether sharing should take place. If information is to be shared to prevent harm, to prevent or detect serious crime, to improve the well-being of individuals or groups, or for public protection, and if the information to be shared is relevant and proportionate, then it should be shared.

http://www.forhighlandschildren.org/5-practiceguidance/high-pract-model.pdf