Reviewing The Care Inquiry Document: The Children’s Plan
The recent report by the Care Inquiry highlights various deficiencies with the Children’s Plan:
"We recommended that a Children’s Plan should be published which included SMART objectives. We note that a Children’s Plan has been published covering the period up until 2023. This is a brightly presented document which makes a number of important high-level commitments to the island’s children and young people. It is not however a truly SMART document which delivers objectives which are Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic and Time–related. "
"It is not clear from the published document how the laudable objectives are to be delivered and within what timescale nor what resources are to be applied. We are unsure that any member of the public reading the Plan would know whether and when it had been implemented and what difference it had made. In reality, children and young people do not need a document as much as they need the outcome of the plan in terms of the improved resources, services and life experiences it delivers. "
"Members, managers and frontline staff need to be sure of how they will know that the plan’s objectives have been achieved. We commend the amount of planning and policy work to date but recommend that more specific objectives, outcomes and timescales should be published, alongside clarity as to where responsibility for delivery lies "
This is sadly true. Reviewing the plan, which I had not done before, there are a lot of aspirational goals, but no fine details, no timetable. It looks more like a wish list than a plan. For example, under how we want to make a difference:
Alongside each of these are various statistics, for instance “30% of children in Years 8, 10 and 12 agree that their school would act on their ideas”. There is no indication of how this has been measured, which is a key factor in determining if there has been any improvement.
There is no indication of how this is to be achieved, although the “key insights” does mention “Not all schools have a school council”, “No existing standards to inform school council”, “Schools already under curriculum pressure”, “Youth Service key source of expertise”.
The recent report by the Care Inquiry highlights various deficiencies with the Children’s Plan:
"We recommended that a Children’s Plan should be published which included SMART objectives. We note that a Children’s Plan has been published covering the period up until 2023. This is a brightly presented document which makes a number of important high-level commitments to the island’s children and young people. It is not however a truly SMART document which delivers objectives which are Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic and Time–related. "
"It is not clear from the published document how the laudable objectives are to be delivered and within what timescale nor what resources are to be applied. We are unsure that any member of the public reading the Plan would know whether and when it had been implemented and what difference it had made. In reality, children and young people do not need a document as much as they need the outcome of the plan in terms of the improved resources, services and life experiences it delivers. "
"Members, managers and frontline staff need to be sure of how they will know that the plan’s objectives have been achieved. We commend the amount of planning and policy work to date but recommend that more specific objectives, outcomes and timescales should be published, alongside clarity as to where responsibility for delivery lies "
This is sadly true. Reviewing the plan, which I had not done before, there are a lot of aspirational goals, but no fine details, no timetable. It looks more like a wish list than a plan. For example, under how we want to make a difference:
- Reduce the number of children being bullied
- Reduce the number of pupils who are recorded as persistently absent from school
- Increase the number of Year 6 pupils who are a healthy weight
- Increase the number of children who believe their community would act on their ideas
Alongside each of these are various statistics, for instance “30% of children in Years 8, 10 and 12 agree that their school would act on their ideas”. There is no indication of how this has been measured, which is a key factor in determining if there has been any improvement.
There is no indication of how this is to be achieved, although the “key insights” does mention “Not all schools have a school council”, “No existing standards to inform school council”, “Schools already under curriculum pressure”, “Youth Service key source of expertise”.
The links between these and improvements is suggested implicitly, but there is no clear timetable to implement any changes, and there is in fact no real data on how many schools have a school council, and how well (for example) this correlates mathematically with Increase the number of children who believe their community would act on their ideas.
There is a supplement giving “Work produced by children and young people in Jersey for the Children's Plan” which gives some insight into what various children think, but there is no data to show that this is somehow representative of specific schools, island wide, or merely a self-selecting series of suggestions from children.
The “Proposed Government Plan 2020-23” does a bit better.
It says that “Longstanding systemic challenges to progress in partnership working are being addressed in a revised Children’s Plan, which sets out shared priorities and outcomes with key agencies, including better joint planning and joint working across Government departments and with the voluntary and community sector.”
And then it goes on to say:
“We will develop and publish a performance framework by January 2020. We will use it to monitor and maintain progress against the outcomes and service improvements set out in this plan, making our performance transparent to all. “
And lists these measures:
% of children reaching developmental milestones at age two
% of reception children achieving / exceeding expected level of development
% of pupils assessed as ‘secure’ in reading, writing and maths at end of KS1
% of pupils assessed as ‘secure’ in reading, writing and maths at end of KS2
% of pupils achieving five or more standard GCSEs
% of pupils who progress to take a Level 3 qualification
% of children aged 7 to 11 who are aware of their rights under the UNCRC
Number of children aged 10-17 who enter the youth justice system for the first time
Children under 18 who are victims of crime
% of children reporting being bullied at or near school in past 12 months
% of Year 10 and 12 children who have been involved in bullying others using mobile phones, tablets, online games, social media etc
Number of children excluded from school
% of children who have a repeat child protection plan within 2 years
This at any rate is a start, as long as the means by which measures are counted are also transparent. Some are pretty basic such as “% of pupils achieving five or more standard GCSEs” but some may be harder to measure in any objective manner, e.g. “% of children aged 7 to 11 who are aware of their rights under the UNCRC” or “% of children reporting being bullied at or near school in past 12 months”
I look forward with interest to some detailed measures and plans that are more than merely aspirations and have some measurable outcomes, and hopefully a proposed timetable as well.
There is a supplement giving “Work produced by children and young people in Jersey for the Children's Plan” which gives some insight into what various children think, but there is no data to show that this is somehow representative of specific schools, island wide, or merely a self-selecting series of suggestions from children.
The “Proposed Government Plan 2020-23” does a bit better.
It says that “Longstanding systemic challenges to progress in partnership working are being addressed in a revised Children’s Plan, which sets out shared priorities and outcomes with key agencies, including better joint planning and joint working across Government departments and with the voluntary and community sector.”
And then it goes on to say:
“We will develop and publish a performance framework by January 2020. We will use it to monitor and maintain progress against the outcomes and service improvements set out in this plan, making our performance transparent to all. “
And lists these measures:
% of children reaching developmental milestones at age two
% of reception children achieving / exceeding expected level of development
% of pupils assessed as ‘secure’ in reading, writing and maths at end of KS1
% of pupils assessed as ‘secure’ in reading, writing and maths at end of KS2
% of pupils achieving five or more standard GCSEs
% of pupils who progress to take a Level 3 qualification
% of children aged 7 to 11 who are aware of their rights under the UNCRC
Number of children aged 10-17 who enter the youth justice system for the first time
Children under 18 who are victims of crime
% of children reporting being bullied at or near school in past 12 months
% of Year 10 and 12 children who have been involved in bullying others using mobile phones, tablets, online games, social media etc
Number of children excluded from school
% of children who have a repeat child protection plan within 2 years
This at any rate is a start, as long as the means by which measures are counted are also transparent. Some are pretty basic such as “% of pupils achieving five or more standard GCSEs” but some may be harder to measure in any objective manner, e.g. “% of children aged 7 to 11 who are aware of their rights under the UNCRC” or “% of children reporting being bullied at or near school in past 12 months”
I look forward with interest to some detailed measures and plans that are more than merely aspirations and have some measurable outcomes, and hopefully a proposed timetable as well.
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