Commenting as the DfE release plans to create a register of
children not in school, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of
school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “NAHT has long called for a
register of children not in school, so this is a move we welcome.
“Previously there has been no legal obligation for a parent to
provide any notification to a school about the withdrawal of a
child to be home educated. While it may only be a small sub-set
of individuals who choose, for a variety of reasons, not to
engage with the authority, from a safeguarding perspective this
could obviously put a child at risk, with neither school nor
local authority knowing for certain what has happened to that
child.
“Without an officially maintained register, there is a potential
risk of children becoming lost in the system. Our members have
also raised concerns about children being moved across local
authority boundaries without notice – it is vital that
information can be shared to ensure that young people do not slip
through the net. Having a national register should ensure that
information sharing can occur quickly and accurately, helping to
better safeguard children and young people.”
On plans to create new guidance for schools on tackling
behaviour, Mr Whiteman said: “We need to remember that
in the vast majority of schools there are no major issues when it
comes to behaviour, and that schools already have strong systems
in place for supporting good behaviour.
"The government’s current obsession with being seen to ‘talk
tough’ on behaviour is frankly unhelpful. There is little need
for much in the way of additional guidance at this point in time
as schools are already highly skilled in this work. Instead, what
the government should be focusing on is making sure that vital
support services are available to support schools and pupils when
they need it. It is important to find out if there is an
underlying cause for an individual child's behaviour, whether it
be mental wellbeing, undiagnosed SEND, or problems at home.
On the specific suggestion of banning mobile phones in
schools, Sarah Hannafin, senior policy advisor for
school leaders' union NAHT, who gave evidence to the House of
Commons Science and Technology Committee during its inquiry into
the impact of social media and screen use on young people’s
health, said:
“Mobile phone bans work for some schools but there isn’t one
policy that will work for all schools. Outright banning mobile
phones can cause more problems than it solves, driving phone use
‘underground’ and making problems less visible and obvious for
schools to tackle.
“Ultimately, schools work to prepare young people for the outside
world, giving them the awareness and strategies to responsibly
monitor their own screen use and the ability to identify and deal
with any negative impacts or problematic content they encounter.
“So we’re pleased to see the Education Secretary stating that
individual schools are best placed to make their own rules when
it comes to mobile phones in schools, according to what works
best for their own communities.”
