Teachers cannot always prevent the “horrific” abuse of children and should not be “criminalised” if they are unable to do so, a conference has heard.

Speaking at the ATL teaching union’s annual conference in Liverpool, teacher and union member Niamh Sweeney said she could not “excuse or explain” the “horrific stories” of children such as Victoria Climbié, Jessica Chapman and Daniel Pelka.

She said: “I cannot tell you why some people abuse, manipulate, exploit and kill children. Although I would like to prevent it from ever happening again I know that unfortunately it will and that I can’t.”

Ms Sweeney said that prime minister David Cameron’s threat to criminalise teachers for failing to report concerns about child sexual exploitation would actually increase risks to children.  

“If [David] Cameron goes ahead with his knee-jerk response to these awful crimes, which is to effectively criminalise teachers, it will leave children and young people more vulnerable, not less,” she said.

Ms Sweeney’s comments come after prime minister David Cameron announced this month that teachers who failed to report concerns about child sexual exploitation could face up to five years in prison. 

Ms Sweeney said the rise in referrals to children’s social services in the wake of the Baby P case had left the services “near breaking point”.

“In far too many schools the role of safeguarding is falling on a distinct approachable few,” she said, adding that these teachers were “overburdened”, “out of their depth” and “burned out”.

During the same debate, Helen Porter, an ATL member based in Berkshire, said the government’s measures “could not make us want to protect [children] more than we already do”.

However, she warned: “The threat of criminalisation might frighten and confuse [teachers], especially if we haven’t been adequately trained.”

She added that the move would “further deepen the teacher recruitment crisis”.

Teachers also used the conference to raise concerns about the government’s demand for schools to promote “British values”.

Robin Bevan, head of Southend High School for Boys, said the demand was an act of “political posturing”.

He urged teachers to distance themselves from the order, saying: “When it comes to the new requirement of promoting fundamental British values, including the role of law, here is one law that I would actively encourage you to disengage from.”

Under the reforms, introduced in the wake of the Trojan Horse scandal last year, Ofsted must assess whether schools promote “fundamental British values”.

However, Mr Bevan said: “”If these fundamental British values change with time, then they are hardly fundamental. And let’s face it, they have changed with time. We now allow women to vote. We no longer chemically castrate homosexuals.”

Mr Bevan later said: “Even more extraordinary is the notion that Ofsted will somehow be the agent of micro-fascism in assessing the extent to which schools actively promote these fundamental British values.”

Calling on delegates to back a resolution asking ATL’s executive to monitor how British values are being policed, Mr Bevan said: “There is the well-publicised issue of the radicalisation of a very small number of students.

“But the solution being proposed is totally out of proportion. It’s the wrong approach, at the wrong scale, with the wrong model of learning and the wrong method of assessing its effectiveness.”

A Labour government would carry out “far-reaching reform” of Ofsted, shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt has said.

Speaking at the ATL teaching union’s conference in Liverpool today, Mr Hunt said the inspection system had begun to “choke” the “joy, wonder and beauty of schooling”.

Instead, he said, inspections should be “supportive” and “light-touch”. They should be led by the profession and centrally moderated and peer-reviewed, he added.

His comments came after Ofsted’s national director for schools, Sean Harford, said he would support moves towards a major long-term overhaul in whichschools would inspect other schools.

Ofsted’s role would be to “moderate” judgements and to make sure the system was rigorous rather than being based on “cosy fireside chats between colleagues”, Mr Harford told the Association of School and College Leaders’ conference this month.

Mr Hunt said today that Ofsted had been “an extraordinarily progressive force for improving this country’s educational outcomes”, but that it had reached a “tipping point”.

He said the “increasingly byzantine demands” of inspectors and the “frazzled, insecure interpretation of those demands by some headteachers” were stifling education.

“I want to see an inspectorate that moves beyond box-ticking and data-dependence…I want to see an inspectorate that is free from even the merest suspicion of politicisation and political interference,” Mr Hunt added.

He criticised what he described as “absurd misallocations” of inspectors, such as when further education experts were sent to inspect primary schools.

He also used his speech to accuse the government of a “deplorable, hostile, almost militaristic rhetoric towards the profession”. Mr Hunt said his party would give the profession the “respect from [the] government that you expect and that you deserve”.  

The shadow education secretary also gave his backing to Ofsted’s Sir Michael Wilshaw. Asked whether he had confidence in the chief inspector, Mr Hunt said: “Absolutely. I think he’s been a progressive force for good. He’s a headteacher’s headteacher.” Mr Hunt added that he believed Sir Michael understood the need for the regulator to “evolve and change”. 

 All academic research should be free for teachers and pupils to access, a higher education body has said.

The Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) launched a report this week arguing that a new national licence should be created which allows access to the latest academic journals to anyone who wants to read them.

The report states that teachers and A-level students would be among those to benefit from such a move.

Teachers would be able to use the latest education research to inform their pedagogy, and subject specialists could keep up to date with the most recent developments in their fields, ensuring that A-level pupils are well-prepared for university, it adds.

Nick Hillman, the director of Hepi, said: “The UK is a world leader in academic research. Yet access to the latest work is severely restricted. For those outside universities, including public-sector workers, it is not easy to find out what is happening at the forefront of knowledge.”

Some research journals currently offer “open access”, allowing non-academics to access articles for free. Most, however, require a hefty subscription fee, usually paid by universities on behalf of their staff.

The national licence would allow any UK resident to access the latest academic journals for free. Hepi staff cite teachers, as well as teacher-trainers and policymakers, as among those who would benefit.

Sarah Chaytor, co-author of the report and head of public policy at University College, London, said that open-access publishing would bring “social, cultural and economic benefits to us all”.



 В г. Вяземский прошло заседание Координационного совета по введению и реализации ФГОС в детских садах и школах Хабаровского края.

 В заседании совета пронимают участие представители 17 городских округов и районов края.

 Итоги мониторинга районов по подготовке к внедрению ФГОС за год рассказывает замначальника управления общего образования Юлия Зотова.

 Согласно ФГОС, к 2018 году в 100% детских садах должны реализовываться образ-е программы дошкольного образования.

 В Хабаровском крае внедрение обр-х программ в детских садах идет по графику.

 Главная задача стандарта- обеспечить равные возможности для развития каждого ребенка в период до 7 лет, независимо от состояния здоровья.

 Для этого необходимо повышать квалификацию педагогам и узким специалистам, работающих в детских садах.

 Всю информацию по ФГОС дошкольного образования педагоги найдут на сайте Федерального института развития образования.

Затем, заседание Координационного совета переместилось в школу N2 г.Вяземского.



 Начальник управления образования адм-и Вяземского р-на Марина Савченко рассказывает о деятельности по введению ФГОС общего образования. В районе уже две школы реализуют программы федерального стандарта общего образования.

 Во всех школах имеется хорошая материально-техническая база, в т.ч. мультимедийное оборудование.

 В Вяземском районе утвержден план поэтапного повышения квалификации всех педагогов до 2018 года.

Особое внимание уделяется духовно-нравственному воспитанию школьников.

 В рамках работы инновационной площадки “Я -гражданин страны” 3 апреля в школе села Аван открытый урок проведет Митрополит Игнатий.



 Таких симпатичных домовых подарили гостям ученицы Вяземской школы N2. Все поделки они сделали на внеурочных занятиях.