The impact of ECM

on
the FE Sector

By prince anim Baabu

Aim of the ECM
 Every Child Matters is a comprehensive programme of
reform for children’s services
 Ensure a more closely integrated frontline delivery of
educational, health, social and specialist services;
 Ensure earlier intervention to provide support before
problems become serious;
 Ensure closer working between professionals who might
be involved with the same child or young person;
 Promote greater involvement of children, parents and
carers in the development of services.

Source: The Victoria Climbié Inquiry Report 2002/3

 Background
 Eight-year old Victoria Climbié died from hypothermia on 25
February 2000 after months of sustained abuse at the hands of her
foster-carer and Great Aunt, Marie-Therese Kouao and her partner
Carl John Manning.
 An independent statutory review led by Lord Laming of Tewin was
commissioned to look into the circumstances surrounding her
Victoria’s death and to make recommendations to prevent similar
cases arising in the future. The report of the inquiry team was
published in January 2003, and made over a hundred
recommendations for action.
 Lord Laming’s report concluded that Victoria’s death had been
entirely preventable—12 key occasions were identified where
services could have successfully intervened to prevent Victoria
coming to further harm. In each case the opportunity was missed.

Source: The Victoria Climbié Inquiry Report 2002/3

Systemic problems
The inquiry team identified systemic problems which
had militated against successful intervention.

These included:
 Low standards of professional practice;
 An absence of a person or persons with
accountability;
 Poor managerial support for front line workers;
 Failure to share information within and between
agencies.
Source: The Victoria Climbié Inquiry Report 2002/3
Impact on FE
Service planning and delivery (curriculum) to be focused on
five outcomes:

 Be healthy
 Stay safe
 Enjoy and Achieve
 Make a positive contribution
 Achieve economic wellbeing

Rita Cheminais (2009)

 Impact on FE
 Teachers and colleges to work more closely young people, parents
and carers in the design, delivery and management of services.
 FEs must provide a more integrated delivery of front line services:
multi-disciplinary teams of professionals—including those from
health, education and social services.
 More integrated processes available across children’s services:
Hence protocols for the sharing of information about individual
learners; a computerised ‘child index’ containing basic data about all
children; common assessment and referral procedures for
identifying and addressing need; joint training with common core
standards.
 Integrated inspections, with Ofsted as the lead agency, will assess
how well services work together to improve outcomes for children
in local areas
Source: The Victoria Climbié Inquiry Report 2002/3
The Children Act 2004
 Many of the reforms proposed in Every Child Matters
—including the establishment of a Children’s
Commissioner for England—required amendments to
statute.
 Consequently, a Children Bill was presented to
Parliament in March 2004 and subsequently received
royal assent on 15 November 2004. The Children Act
2004, as it now is, provides the legal ‘backbone’ for
the programme of reform.
 You could be braking the law if…..

Source:www.legislation.gov.uk
Questions or Contributions

Sources: www.chahali.com
The guardian www.guardian.co.uk
Sources
 The Victoria Climbié Inquiry Report: Sixth Report of Session 2002–03 House of Commons Health
Committee http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmhealth/570/570.pdf
 The Victoria Climbie Inquiry report of an inquiry by Lord Laming
http://
www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/documents/digitalasset/dh_110711.pdf
 Dr Barbara Spender (2006), Introducing Every Child Matters - routes through the curriculum
http://
www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/introducing-every-child-matters-routes-through-the-curriculum-1
423
 Children Act 2004 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/31/pdfs/ukpga_20040031_en.pdf
 Kulikoni: (picture) http://www.chahali.com/2011/05/100s-of-kids-being-abusedaccused-of.html
 The Guardian - Climbié inquiry; http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/climbie

 Rita Cheminais (2006), Every Child Matters: A Practical Guide for Teachers, David Fulton
Publishers
 Rita Cheminais (2009), How to Achieve the Every Child Matters Standards: A Practical Guide,
SAGE Publication
 Gianna Knowles (2009), Ensuring Every Child Matters, SAGE Publication