Children’s Rights

1. Children’s Rights Legislation Y Quaintrell 2008

2. Legislation relating to children • UNCRC • Children Act (1989 & 2004) • Childcare Act (2006) • Education Act (1993) – Code of Practice • ‘Every Child Matters’ and Children Act (2004) • Human Rights Act (1996) • Carers and Disabled Children’s Act (2000) • Special Education Needs and Disability Act (SENDA) 2001 • Disability Discrimination Act (1995) and Disability Rights Commission Act (1999) • Race Relations Act 2000 • Early Years Action & Early years Action Plus • Data Protection Act (1998) • Protection of Children Act (1999) Y Quaintrell 2008

3. Activity • In small groups, look at the list of legislation and discuss what you think each piece is concerned with. • What are the main points? • What is each trying to change or affect? Y Quaintrell 2008

4. UN Declaration of Human Rights • After the second world war international laws for human rights were seen as necessary. • ‘The 1948 UN Declaration of Human Rights asserted for the first time that everyone had rights due to them…simply because they were human.’ (Burr & Montgomery 2003 p137) This therefore also includes children • Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration without distinction of any kind. (ibid., p330) • Article 26: everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages (Burr & Montgomery 2003 p139) Y Quaintrell 2008

5. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) 1989 This was drawn up in 1989 and gives young people under the age of 18 special rights, the UK became a signatory of the convention and it became official in 1991 (Tassoni, 2006) J Westcott 2007 Y Quaintrell 2008

6. Significant articles from UNCRC Article 2 – protected from discrimination Article 3 - best interest of the child to be the primary consideration Article 12 – right to be heard Article 13 – freedom of expression and exchange of information Article 23 – children with disabilities and learning difficulties must have their rights protected Article 28 – right to an education (Tassoni, 2006) J Westcott 2007 Y Quaintrell 2008

7. The Children Act 1989 The Children Act 1989 covers the following: • reforms the law relating to children; • makes provision for local authority services for children in need and others; • amends the law with respect to children's homes, community home, voluntary homes and voluntary organisations; • makes provision with respect to fostering, child minding and day care for young children and adoption, and for connected purposes. • Part X sets out requirements for child minding and day care for young children such safeguarding children, registration and inspection of settings Y Quaintrell 2008

8. Children Act 2004 The Children Act 2004 does not replace or even amend much of the Children Act 1989. Instead it sets out the process for integrating services to children so that every child can achieve the five outcomes laid out in the Every child matters green paper: • be healthy • stay safe • enjoy and achieve • make a positive contribution • achieve economic well-being Y Quaintrell 2008

9. Children Act 2004 • This Act updates the legislation on physical punishment by making it an offence to hit a child if it causes mental harm or leaves a mark on the skin (section 58) Y Quaintrell 2008

10. Every Child Matters The five outcomes which mattered most to children and young people were: • Being healthy: enjoying good physical and mental health and living a healthy lifestyle. • Staying safe: being protected from harm and neglect • Enjoying and achieving: getting the most of life and developing the skills for adulthood. • Making a positive contribution: being involved with the community and society and not engaging in anti-social or offending behaviour • Economic well-being: not being prevented by economic disadvantage from gaining their full potential in life. (Every Child Matters Summary) Y Quaintrell 2008

11. Childcare Act 2006 • A pioneering piece of legislation, it’s the first act that is just about early years and childcare. • The act will help change childcare and early years services in England pushing forward some of the key commitments from the Ten Year Childcare Strategy, published in December 2004. • Local authorities must: • Improve the five Every Child Matters outcomes for all pre-school • children and reduce inequalities in these outcomes • secure sufficient childcare for working parents • provide a better parental information service • The act also simplifies early years regulation and inspection arrangements, providing for a new integrated education and care quality framework for pre-school children and also for the new Ofsted Childcare Register. Y Quaintrell 2008

12. The Education Act • The Education Reform Act of 1988 is widely regarded as the most important single piece of education legislation in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland since the 'Butler' Education Act 1944. (Wikipedia 2008) Y Quaintrell 2008

13. The main provisions of the Education Reform Act • 1. Grant Maintained Schools (GMS) were introduced. Primary and Secondary Schools could, under this provision, remove themselves fully from their LEA and would be completely funded by central government. Secondary schools also had limited selection powers at the age of 11. • 2. The Local Management of Schools (LMS) was introduced. This part of the act allowed all schools to be taken out of the direct financial control of Local Authorities. Financial control would be handed to the head teacher and governors of a school • 3. The National Curriculum (NC) was introduced. Y Quaintrell 2008

14. The main provisions of the Education Reform Act • 4. ‘Key Stages' (KS) were introduced in schools. At each key stage a number of educational objectives were to be achieved. • 5. An element of choice was introduced, where parents could specify which school was their preferred choice. • 6. League tables, publishing the examination results of schools, were introduced. • 7. Controls on the use of the word 'degree' were introduced with respect to UK bodies • (Wikipedia 2008) Y Quaintrell 2008

15. The Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 • The Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 is a 2000 Act of Parliament in the relationship between Carers and disabled children. This includes: • The Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 gives local councils the power to supply certain services direct to carers following assessment. There is also a new right to a carer's assessment even where the person cared for has refused an assessment for, or the provision of, community care services. • Persons with parental responsibility for a disabled child (parents or other carers) also have a right to ask for an assessment. • (Wikipedia, 2008) Y Quaintrell 2008

16. Early Years Action - School Action This is the introduced when the normal differentiation of the curriculum has been tried out, but staff still remain concerned about meeting the child’s needs. Early Years action is in house support from the setting. This means that the SENCO worker and the Early Years practitioner will talk to the parent and the child. Individual Educational plans will then be drawn up showing the strategies and resources that will provide more support for the child. The plans will then be monitored and reviewed to see if this level of support is effective. J Westcott 2007 Y Quaintrell 2008

17. Early Years Action Plus – School Action Plus This is the next step means that other professionals outside of the setting will be contacted, with the prior agreement of the parents/carers. The Individual Education Plans will still be used, but other professionals are likely to contribute ideas and strategies to make them more effective. The setting will continue to review and monitor the child’s progress and will still be expected to differentiate activities or resources to suit the child. To trigger Early Years Action the setting will have to provide evidence of IEP’s and strategies used. J Westcott 2007 Y Quaintrell 2008

18. DataProtection Act (1998) This Act applies to all of us, in different situations. For example, your information that is kept at your GP’s has to be kept safe, and cannot be passed to anyone else, except for medical purposes. Children’s records must be kept safe and confidential. Child protection records must be kept separately from their other records and only certain people must be allowed access to these. Y Quaintrell 2008

19. Reference List • Tassoni.P., (2006) BTEC National in Early Years, London, Heinneman Educational Publishers • Burr.R., Montgomery.M., (2003) Children and Rights in Woodhead.M., Montgomery.H., (2003) Understanding Childhood, Milton Keynes, Open University, Chichester, John Wiley & Sons • Ibid cited in above • Wikipedia, 2008, Carers and Disabled Children’s Act available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carers_and_Disabled_Children_Act_2000 accessed 21/4/08 • Wikipedia, 2008, Education Reform Act 1988 available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Reform_Act_1988 accessed 21/4/08 • DfES (2003) Every Child Matters Summary available at: www.everychildmatters.gov.uk accessed 21/4/08 Y Quaintrell 2008

20. Activity • Now consider how these effect or are implemented within your setting. Y Quaintrell 2008