Shifting Landscapes: Children’s Security
For many children living today, the realities of modern life can at best be challenging and at worst deeply distressing (Cawson, 2002; Colverd and Hodgkin, 2011; MacBlain, 2014). Childhood has become increasingly complex and continues to grow in its complexity. While most children grow up in stable environments that offer love and security and prepare them for adulthood, many do not. Cowie (2012, p. 2) commented as follows in relation to the UK:
Today’s young people seem to face severe stresses that were unknown a generation ago. Suicidal thoughts are common among young people, as are feelings of hopelessness and futility … There are disturbing statistics on the number of children and young people who run away from home or care … These amount to around 100,000 episodes each year in the UK, with around a quarter running away before the age of 13, and one in ten running away before the age of ten.
Cowie has gone on to indicate how in 2012 the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) found itself dealing with some 30,000 cases, amounting to 0.25 per cent of the population. In a review undertaken by the NSPCC (Cuthbert et al., 2011), it was estimated that in 2010 some 19,500 infants under the age of 1 year in the UK were living in a home with a parent who was a user of Class A drugs, and that around 93,500 infants under the age of 1 year were living in a home with a parent who was a problem drinker. Such statistics are worrying and challenge the often popularly expressed view in the media that childhood is a time characterised by freedom and fun, security and stability and a carefree existence with little, if any, responsibility.
Points for Discussion
Take time to view this excellent YouTube video clip of Sir Al Aynsley Green, entitled ‘Should the Nurture of Children be Everybody’s Business?’, at www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqYSS1nx0eA, in which Sir Al makes the case for a new and more collective approach to securing the best prospects for all children in the UK today. Then consider the following:
How might practitioners in early years settings and primary schools work to develop environments where all children feel nurtured? What personal, as well as professional, qualities might practitioners need to do this effectively?
There are significant numbers of children growing up today who are forced to witness physical abuse in their homes, often as early as in their first months. It has been recognised (Walker et al., 2009), for example, that domestic violence accounts for around 14 per cent of all violent incidents in England and Wales. Elsewhere, it has been reported (Cawson, 2002) that 6 per cent of children receive maltreatment at the hands of their parents or carers, with 7 per cent of children experiencing serious physical abuse. An estimated 6 per cent of children have been the subject of serious absence of care throughout their childhood, with the same percentage of children experiencing frequent and severe emotional maltreatment (Colverd and Hodgkin, 2011). Many children, then, entering early years settings and primary schools will have already internalised models of behaviour from those whom they should be able to trust, that fall well short of what can be considered to be stable and nurturing. It is with these internalised models in place that children then commence their education and begin relating to those adults outside of the home who will then be largely responsible for their education and learning and their social and emotional development.
Multiculturalism
The nature and cultural make-up of many schools and early years settings and, therefore, the experiences of children have been changing dramatically over the past few years as many ‘new arrivals’ enter the education system across the UK. This has been exacerbated in more recent years and months by the repositioning across Europe of large numbers of migrants escaping conflict in the Middle East.
Prior to the Coalition Government in the UK coming to power in 2010, there were some 856,670 pupils learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) in England, representing 15.2 per cent of the primary school population and 11.1 per cent of the secondary school population in England, with an estimation of over 200 languages being spoken (DCSF, 2009). In inner London, it was further estimated at this time that 54.1 per cent of pupils were learning English as an additional language (DCSF, 2009). In 2012, the National Association for Language Development in the Curriculum (NALDIC, 2012) reported on its website how the results of the annual school census in January of that year had shown that:
one in six primary school pupils in England – 577,555 – do not have English as their first language. In secondary schools the figure stands at 417,765, just over one in eight. Once special schools and pupil referral units are taken into account, the total rises to just over a million at 1,007,090. These figures have doubled since 1997.
In other parts of the UK, the picture has been similar. Northern Ireland, for example, has, over the last few decades, seen much inward migration, which has had a marked impact on schools across the region. Statistics from the Department of Education Northern Ireland (DENI, 2010) indicated a six-fold increase in what was termed ‘newcomer children’ between 2001/2 (1366 children) and 2009/10 (7899 children) across schools in Northern Ireland, with over 50 per cent of these children being in primary schools in 2009–10 (DENI, 2010). Such a development has had significant implications for teachers preparing to enter the profession (Skinner, 2010) and for the continuing professional development of experienced teachers across the region (DENI, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009b; ETI, 2005; NISRA, 2009). One particular challenge facing many teachers has been the increased numbers of children entering schools with little, if any, English. In 2012, for example, the National Association for Language Development in the Curriculum (NALDIC) again reported on its website as follows:
There are more than a million children between 5–16 years old in UK schools who speak in excess of 360 languages between them in addition to English. Currently there are 1,061,010 bilingual 5–16 year olds in English schools, 26,131 in Scotland, 8674 ‘newcomer’ pupils in Northern Ireland and 30,756 EAL learners in Wales.
Clearly, such an increase brings with it both benefits and challenges.
Inclusion and Children With Additional Needs
In September 2014, the Children and Families Act came into effect in England and was followed in January 2015 by a new Code of Practice. This Act, and the subsequent Code of Practice, will, some would argue, change the face of special educational needs and/or disability education. Of note is the fact that the Act encompasses health with education and social services and places particular emphasis on the legal obligations on local authorities and professionals to view their interventions with children and young people aged 0 to 25 years. Most importantly, the Act pla...
