13learning January/February 2009
HE, FE AND WORK-BASED
Sarah Dodds,
of Burnetts
looked-after children do very badly; no
mention that nationally Ofsted found one
third of serious case reviews conducted
since April were inadequate; and too few
questions asked of other services,
including health and the police.
Certainly nowhere was there any
mention that social work requires a
professional qualification, currently a
three-year undergraduate honours
degree or a two-year Masters degree in
social work approved by the General
Social Care Council (GSCC).
UCLan has a well-established tradition
of social work education with links with
local and regional employers who help
shape the range and content of
programmes offered. For example, the
BA (Hons) Social Work eegree consists
not only of structured academic
learning, it includes 200 days of learning
in practice settings. Students who
successfully complete the course are
eligible to register with the GSCC.
The university also offers courses in
child care at postgraduate level,
including a postgraduate certificate in
safeguarding.
These qualifications equip social
workers to meet the hugely complex
demands placed upon them.
But in the wake of the Baby P case,
questions also need to be asked of Ofsted.
It gave Haringey a "good" rating in a
report published just after Baby P's
death but was highly damning in a
subsequent report.
The chief inspector blamed the flawed
first report on inaccurate data supplied
by the council. If Ofsted could get it so
wrong about Haringey, what confidence
can there be about its other judgements?
"Every Child Matters" (ECM) is a new
approach to the well-being of children
and young people. It requires
organisations involved with providing
services � from schools and hospitals, to
police and voluntary groups � to team up
in new ways, sharing information and
working together. The ECM reforms are
creating integrated children's services.
What now needs to be done is to
ensure good practice is standard practice
in every agency and in every local
authority.
What must not happen in the wake of
the Baby P case, itself extreme in its
awfulness and, thankfully, rarity, are
hurried changes based on this or any
other individual case that would send
professionals scurrying back into silos.
Safeguarding children is the job not
only of social workers but of every
professional who seeks to serve children
and young people.
`What must not happen
are hurried changes that
would send professionals
scurrying back into silos'
done my GCSEs and I was all set to go
into sixth form really but I got a call
from the careers service and they said
there was an apprenticeship going. I had
to go down to do an aptitude tests.
"I always said I wanted to go into
engineering and I had already looked
into different kinds like chemical
engineering, mechanical and electrical
engineering. So I was going to do maths,
physics and chemistry.
"But after the aptitude test I was
invited to go for an interview and then a
second interview. Eventually two of us
were taken on as Young Apprentices."
Apprenticeships are back on the
CONTINUED ON PAGES 14&15
`I was all set to go into
the sixth form but then
I had a call from careers'
Trouble-shooting: David and staff member Ronnie Nanson
People skills: David talks to Dave Wallace, one of a team of eight engineers which he manages
SPONSORED ARTICLE
Burnetts provides nationally
recognised, specialist legal advice to
schools, colleges, universities and
other education providers. To find out
more visit www.burnetts.co.uk
Colleges must
pursue creditors
A
new story about the credit
crunch is in the news daily
these days and it seems that
no one is immune, even the
education sector.
To date, a college has not gone
bust but there is concern that as
the financial situation worsens
more colleges will become
stretched and forced into mergers
in order to survive.
As businesses begin to struggle,
they are releasing fewer staff for
Train to Gain and have less need
for new recruits, reducing student
numbers and college income.
In the recession of the 1990s
adult learning numbers increased
as people re-skilled in the face of
unemployment. However, the cost
of accessing further education for
adult learners is now more
expensive and it may be that the
unemployed will not be able to
afford to engage in training.
Added to this expected drop in
numbers is the huge amount of
debt that colleges have built up
because of the massive rebuilding
scheme of the past few years.
Collectively colleges now owe in
the region of �1 billion. This
combination of dropping income
and increasing debt is seen as a
risk to the financial health of
colleges.
The National Audit Office says
that the number of colleges
considered to be financially weak
has increased to 89, from 61 in 2005-
2006, with the smaller colleges
most at risk. However, many still
consider the risk to be more
theoretical than real, with the
Department for Innovation
Universities and Skills dismissing
fears and commenting that "the
Learning and Skills Council has a
good, well-established procedure
for helping colleges through with a
financial recovery plan".
Although the existence of a
college is unlikely to be at risk,
mergers and other emergency
plans may become more
commonplace. Therefore it is more
important than ever for colleges to
pursue money that they are owed,
whether from students or other
sources, in order to maximise and
maintain their income.
`Financial health of
colleges is at risk
during the downturn'

Page 1Page 2Page 3Page 4Page 5Page 6Page 7Page 8Page 9Page 10Page 11Page 12Page 13Page 14Page 15Page 16Page 17Page 18Page 19Page 20 Produced by PageSuite