House of Commons - The Armed Forces Covenant in Action? Part 3: Educating the Children of Service Personnel

The Armed Forces Covenant in Action? Part 3: Educating the Children of Service Personnel - Defence Committee Contents

2 The provision of education for Service children

Background

6. Different Government departments and many other bodies have a role in the provision of Service children's education. Advice from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to parents in A guide for Service Families UK Education Systems, explains the four education systems across the UK. A summary of the guidance on UK and overseas education is given in Box 1.

Box 1: MoD Guidance on UK education systems and education overseas

In the UK, responsibility for the making of education law and guidance has been devolved to the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh and Irish Assemblies. In England, legislative responsibility for education continues to lie solely with the UK Parliament at Westminster.

Structural and other differences between the four 'home' countries have existed for a long time but the more recent formal devolution of statutory responsibility for education law to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has not only emphasised existing differences but continued to establish further ones.

Service families moving around the U.K. often find themselves in confusing situations resulting from these differences. These differences may relate to a number of factors:

differences in age ranges of phases of education
different examination and assessment systems
different curricular structure and content
different admission systems
different statutory approaches to meeting children's special educational / additional support needs
higher education funding routes and arrangements

And for education overseas the guidance is as follows:

If you are offered an overseas posting you will have to look carefully into the education available for your children.

The type and quality of education available will differ from country to country and often from one part of a country to another. Remember that what is right for one child is not necessarily right for another and the age and ability of your child will have an effect on your decision. The opportunity for a child to be educated in a different system and different culture can have tremendous advantages but you will have to weigh up carefully the advantages and disadvantages.

Education overseas can be roughly divided into four different types. There are areas where we have our own MOD schools provided through Service Children's Education, countries that are predominantly English speaking, countries that are non-English speaking but where you have access to English speaking International schools and non-English speaking countries where the only option is to attend the local school.

Source: Ministry of Defence[5]

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

The Directorate Children and Young People

7. Within the MoD, the Directorate Children and Young People (DCYP) is responsible for:

Children's Education Advisory Service

8. The Children's Education Advisory Service (CEAS) is:

THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EDUCATION AND THE DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION

9. The Secretary of State for Education is responsible for providing education services in England.

LOCAL AUTHORITIES

10. Local Authorities amongst others are responsible for provision of state education:

DEVOLVED ADMINISTRATIONS

11. The Devolved Administrations are responsible for education matters in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. We invited the Devolved Administrations to contribute to this inquiry and clarify their commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant. We were encouraged by the positive responses we received from the Devolved Administrations, who were clearly aware of the challenges Service families and their children face.

On school admissions, the Welsh Government said:

The Welsh Government told us:

The Scottish Government told us:

The Northern Ireland Executive told us that:

Standard of education

12. The Armed Forces Covenant says that the children of Service personnel should receive the same standard of and access to education as any other UK citizen in the area in which they live. Service children attend Local Authority schools in England or their equivalents in the Devolved Administrations, independent schools, state boarding schools, MoD schools overseas-which are run by Service Children's Education (SCE), part of the MoD, or other schools overseas. The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is responsible for inspections of all state schools, including SCE schools abroad, and oversight for some private schools. Other private schools are inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate.[14] Ofsted said:

13. Ofsted plays an important role in inspecting and evaluating schools to ensure all meet the required standard. Ofsted told us:

and

14. Responses to our on-line survey included some concerns about the quality of education in SCE schools overseas including:

"Service Schools overseas were a mixed bag in terms of quality of teachers, school facilities and attitudes of other children." Service parent, Army

Comments on the standards of SCE schools from the RAF Families Federation's included:

Lieutenant General Berragan, Adjutant General, said that the MoD had a system for sharing best practice and for developing continuous improvement to raise standards across the whole organisation, and, as the Army drew down from Germany, the MoD was keeping its best teachers.[19]

15. Ofsted told us that for the first time since inspecting SCE schools overseas, it had identified a problem in an inspection of one overseas school (the Haig Primary School, Gutersloh).[20]

We asked the MoD what steps it was taking in response to this Ofsted report, and were assured that the issues were being addressed. General Berragan advised us that a new head teacher had been appointed, the school had established an executive committee to support and challenge the school, and a primary consultant had also been appointed to the school.[22] The MoD is taking steps to ensure that the school is given the additional support it needs to reach a 'good' standard.

16. We note the MoD's commitment to maintaining high standards in SCE schools. We are satisfied that the procedures in place, including Ofsted inspections, ensure the standard of teaching in schools attended by Service children is at least 'good', or that where weaknesses are identified they are addressed.

Levels of achievement

17. The Department for Education (DfE) analysed the educational attainment of Service children and their characteristics and published a report in July 2010.[23] That report found that, on average, Service children performed better than non-Service children. The report also found that mobile Service children did not perform as well as their non-mobile peers.[24]

18. DfE statistics also show that Service children were found to be less likely to be deprived than non-Service children, and less likely to be identified as having a Special Educational Need (SEN), though similar proportions of Service and non-Service children were seen to have a SEN statement.[25] Service children all have at least one parent in full time employment and are brought up in the disciplined environment of Service life. The DfE report suggested that Service children could be expected to perform even better than they do:

19. The Families Federations' view is that Service children do very well considering the difficulties they face. Such difficulties include issues of mobility, the absence of a parent or parents on deployment, and the other emotional demands of Service life. Bill Mahon, from the RAF Families Federation, said:

Could they perform better? Absolutely. I am sure that they could if more schools, teachers and support organisations had a better understanding of the issues that the children face in all the things that we have discussed: getting them into the school that is right for them and that parents want them to go to; understanding the impact that it can have on the child, both educationally and emotionally; and understanding mobility and deployment issues.

And Kim Richardson, from the Naval Families Federation, said:

20. It is encouraging to note that Service children's progress is broadly in line with other pupils even though they face considerable challenges. However, mobile Service children do not perform as well as non-mobile Service children. With greater recognition of their needs and focused additional support, Service children could do even better. The Government should ensure that these children are given every opportunity to maximise their potential.

Access to education

21. Getting a place in the school of their choice can be a problem for Service families as they may not get sufficient notice of a move to get their child or children into the most popular schools, which are often oversubscribed. Service families may also be moved part way through the year, causing difficulties in accessing places in schools. The Rt Hon. Mark Francois MP, Minister of State for Defence, Personnel, Welfare and Veterans, said:

22. We heard evidence about the levels of mobility some Service families experience. Catherine Spencer, Army Families Federation, said:

Kim Richardson added:

Students at the Wellington Academy told us that they had attended "six or seven schools"[32] and a parent said that "my son is now in his ninth school".[33] This was confirmed by responses to our on-line survey:

23. Respondents to our on-line survey said that families may be given short notice of a move:

24. We are pleased that our predecessor Committee's recommendation that local authorities and schools accept a notice of posting as evidence of address has been accepted, allowing parents to apply for a place ahead of their move.[36]^,[37]However, families may not have a home address until much closer to the date of the move, and, in some locations, Service accommodation covers a wide geographical area. In such cases, parents may not know which will be the nearest school until much nearer the date of their move. Catherine Spencer said:

25. The MoD is undertaking a review of Service personnel terms and conditions of service, called the New Employment Model (NEM), to include career structures, pay, accommodation and training.[39] The MoD told us that:

Gavin Barlow, MoD Director of Service Policy, said:

However, the MoD said that implementation of the NEM will take some years:

26. It is clear to us that the Covenant commitment that "the children of Service personnel should receive the same standard of and access to education as any other UK citizen in the area in which they live" cannot be met without special arrangements in favour of Service families to gain access to schools as indicated in the Covenant:

However, we heard that this proposal is itself divisive. Catherine Spencer considered that:

27. The nature of Service life means that families have to be mobile if they are to accompany the Service parent. That moves can be made at short notice, or during term-time, means that parents may not have time to research the schools in the area, and may not get a place in their preferred school, as places in high performing schools are unlikely to be available either at short notice or part way through the school year. It is clear that there is a contradiction at the heart of the Covenant, in that Service families' mobility makes it difficult for parents to get places in the schools of their choice. The timescale for the implementation of the New Employment Model will not help those children currently in education. The MoD needs to consider further how it can assist parents to gain access to their preferred choice of schools.

Conflict with the School Admissions Code

28. The Armed Forces Covenant says that Service families should have special arrangements to support their access to schools if necessary. The Schools Admissions Code, the statutory guidance from the DfE, details the arrangements for admission to schools to ensure fairness, including the timings for application and offers.[45] The Code, which has the force of law, says that school places must be allocated and offered in an open and fair way.[46] The Armed Forces Covenant and the Schools Admissions Code appear to be in conflict with each other.

29. The Schools Admission Code requires that applications for school places have to be made in October for secondary school and January for primary school, and places are allocated in March for secondary schools and April for primary schools.[47] It is often the case that schools perceived to be the best are oversubscribed, so will not carry any vacancies.

30. The Schools Standards and Framework Act of 1998 limited the size of infant classes to 30 pupils per teacher. Amendments to the Act in 2012 permitted children to be admitted as exceptions to this infant class size limit.[48] The Schools Admission Code says:

Infant classes (those where the majority of children will reach the age of 5, 6 or 7 during the school year) must not contain more than 30 pupils with a single school teacher. Additional children may be admitted under limited exceptional circumstances. These children will remain an 'excepted pupil' for the time they are in an infant class or until the class numbers fall back to the current infant class size limit.

The excepted children include children with SEN, looked after children, children admitted after an appeal, children who move into the are outside the normal admissions round for whom there is no other suitable school place, twins, and:

However, we heard that this exception can cause problems. Susan Raeburn, a primary school head, said:

and

31. The Government should explain how it intends to resolve the conflict between the Armed Forces Covenant, which says that Service children may need special arrangements to access school places, and the Schools Admissions Code which sets out a strict timetable for admissions, to ensure that Service families can access the schools of their choice when they need them.

Funding of school places

PUPILS MOVING MID-SCHOOL YEAR

32. At our evidence session at the Wellington Academy, head teachers of schools with a large Service population told us about difficulties they experience with funding. Schools are allocated their funding once a year, the allocation is based on the numbers of pupils on the school roll one day in the first term. Susan Raeburn said:

33. No account is taken of additional pupils joining the school later in the year, or the additional demands a high turnover of pupils cause for staff in schools with a mobile population. We heard from these head teachers that the school roll can increase significantly during the school year. Susan Raeburn said that three or four pupils had joined her school every week since the start of term.[53] She said:

Andy Schofield, Principal of the Wellington Academy, said:

34. The problem is exacerbated if significant numbers of Service families move at the same time. Susan Raeburn said it was difficult when a whole regiment was moving on or out at the wrong time.[56] The situation is more difficult still if a child with Special Educational Needs joins the school. Susan Raeburn said:

THE MOVEMENT OF LARGE NUMBERS OF FAMILIES

35. Martin Bull said the DfE was planning for the move of significant number of Service pupils, in advance of the withdrawal of forces from Germany:

36. We are concerned about what will happen when the re-basing programme commences and withdrawal from Germany gathers pace. These movements could lead to a greater concentration of Service children in some areas, for example Salisbury Plain, leading to additional pressure on local schools. The MoD said that it prepared for large scale moves of Service pupils by generating accurate figures for the DfE in advance of moves from Germany back to the UK.[59] Martin Bull said:

Olivia Denson, from the CEAS, confirmed they have had similar discussions with the Devolved Administrations:

37. Availability of school places will be a significant issue as large numbers of Service families are re-located as a result of re-basing and the withdrawal from Germany. We seek reassurance that there will be sufficient places for the children moving as part of major re-basing moves and the withdrawal from Germany. The Ministry of Defence must provide information promptly to allow the Department for Education to liaise with Local Authorities and the Devolved Administrations to ensure that the right number of places and adequate funding will be provided in advance of major moves.

38. Schools with significant numbers of Service children on their roll experience additional challenges, including a lack of the appropriate level of funding throughout the school year and difficulties caused by high levels of admissions through the school year. The Government should work with Local Authorities to ensure that appropriate funding is available. Where there is competition for places between Service children and the resident population, and both have equal merit, we question who will provide the funding for additional school places. One option may be for the Ministry of Defence to fund additional buildings, if needed, and the Local Education Authority to pay for staff and on-going maintenance costs.

Advantages of Service life

39. We heard extensive evidence of the disadvantages of Service life for children, but it must be noted that some witnesses drew attention to the advantages of this life. Students who gave evidence at the Wellington Academy said:

Susan Raeburn said:

A Service pupil's response to the Army Families Federation Annual survey of the opinions of families was:

40. While we acknowledge the challenges facing Service children we must not forget the advantages of Service life for children of Service families.

Service children with Special Educational Needs

41. It is unclear how many Service children in the UK have Special Educational Needs (SEN) or have been formally assessed as to their needs and the educational resources to meet those needs—a Statement. The MoD provided figures on the current number of Service children with SEN in Table 1.

Table 1: The current number of Service children with Special Educational Needs

Service Number of children

Army 1545

Royal Air Force 435

Royal Marines 32

Royal Navy 216

Civil Service 32

Total 2260

Notes: (a) Of these some 850 have Local Authority (LA) statements and of them 14 have joint funding agreements to enable them to attend specialist boarding schools.

(b) Our records show that there are 34 LAs who have statemented children on our register (although some remedial work needs to be done on this as not all children with statements indicate which LA has produced it. The information will be on the file, but this will involve checking some 700 files)[67]

Source: Ministry of Defence

42. Martin Bull said that the SCE had a database of children with SEN of some 2,000 children.[68] The MoD told us:

The figure of 2000 reflected only those registered with CEAS; RN and RAF parents are not required to register their children, and some Army parents elect not to do so. CEAS/SCE track SEN numbers accurately overseas, where MOD has statutory responsibility for doing so, but within the UK this responsibility remains with the DfE and devolved equivalents.

The range of figures provided suggest that the number of Service children with Special Educational Needs is somewhere between 2,260 and 8,165 (925 with a statement and 7,240 with SEN but without a statement).

43. The lack of clarity about the number of Service children with Special Educational Needs is disturbing. The Ministry of Defence and the Department of Education should liaise with the Devolved Administrations to establish how many Service children have Special Educational Needs across the UK so that the scale of the problem is known.

44. In its 2006 Report, our predecessor Committee identified a number of difficulties that Service children with Special Educational Needs and their families faced, including delays in getting children assessed by an educational psychologist for Statementing purposes and the consequent delays in the provision of support to those children. It recommended that

the DfES and the MoD consider introducing, as a priority, a system whereby Service children with Special Needs are given a Statement of educational needs which can be taken with them as they move between schools, and is accepted by schools as the basis for support which they will provide. The Statement should be time-limited and reviewed regularly.

45. Our predecessor Committee also recommended that the feasibility of a 'statementing passport' for Service children with special needs be explored.[70] In a 2011 report on Children in Service Families, Ofsted drew on our 2006 report and identified similar shortcomings in provision in schools and local authorities in England, noting particular difficulties with the transfer of statements of Special Education Needs.[71] Ofsted told us:

46. Evidence provided by parents to our on-line survey confirmed that the transfer of information for children with SEN is still a problem:

Respondents also commented on schools sometimes failing to properly assess children upon arrival in their new school. This was particularly worrying for parents of gifted children or those with special educational needs:

47. In written evidence submitted on behalf of Service Families, the Army Families Federation told us that, for those families choosing not to use the CEA (Continuity of Education Allowance) system to help deal with their child's SEN, the effect of mobility on an SEN child can be more severe. Comments on the problems of moving a child with SEN are given in Box 2 below.

Box 2: The difficulties of moving a child with Special Educational Needs

Life is difficult enough when you have children who find just existing in the world a difficult task. Adding extra stress to the family trying to sort out support for your children, in addition to separated and operational tours is not good for anyone. There has to be some way of Service children having an SEN Passport of some sort that can move from LA to LA and at least give a starting point. The last thing our children need is gaps in their provision. Moving will almost certainly cause some regression in their learning patterns and ability to cope with life and stopping provision altogether or changing it significantly will not help. Usually we as parents have already fought hard to put provision in place, we know that it works for our children and we don't need someone else saying... 'We have to re-assess before you can have that provision again.

We are moving to Dorset. One of our children has SEN. We have fifteen hours on the current statement but Dorset LA has said that a child needs twenty hours to qualify for support.
Frequent moves have meant that my son (who is in Year 6) has possibly slipped through the net, as he is currently awaiting diagnosis for Asperger Syndrome. If there had not been so many school moves, we feel this could have been diagnosed sooner. When he has entered a new school, and we have had issues, it has been blamed on the changes or his dad's occupation.

Source: Army Families Federation[74]

48. The MoD and DfE told us that they were still looking at the issue of transfer for England.[75] The Devolved Administrations have their own systems for dealing with SEN children. The MoD said that regional representatives from CEAS were engaging with the Devolved Administrations.[76] We are dismayed that there has been no appreciable progress on the provision of a Special Needs transfer document since the recommendation in 2006. The Minister said:

49. Service children with Special Educational Needs are spread across the English local authorities, the Devolved Administrations and SCE schools overseas. The number in any one local authority or administration is likely to be small. We consider that, with the will and support of Government and engagement with the Devolved Administrations, it must be possible to make things easier for those families in this difficult situation. It is unacceptable that no progress has been made on our predecessor Committee's 2006 recommendation that Service children with a Special Educational Needs should be given a statement which would be accepted by all schools. We welcome the Minister's commitment to resolving the issue, and expect to see prompt action.

CHILDREN AND FAMILIES BILL

50. The Children and Families Bill in the 2013-14 session of parliament amends legislation relating to children and young people with Special Educational Needs (SEN). The Bill makes provision for identifying children and young people with SEN and assessing their needs. The Bill requires local authorities to have regard to the wishes of the child and their parents, and to enable them to participate in as fully informed way as possible in decision-making, with a focus on achieving the best possible educational and other outcomes.[78] The Bill requires a local authority to prepare a personal budget if asked to do so for a child or young person for whom it maintains an Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan or for whom it has decided to make a Plan.[79] The provisions extend to England and Wales, but most of the provisions will operate mainly or exclusively in England.

51. The Children and Families Bill has no specific clauses relating to the needs of those children of Service personnel who have Special Educational Needs. It is disappointing that the Government has not taken this opportunity to incorporate the commitments made in the Armed Forces Covenant into this new legislation. However, we hope that the provisions of this Bill will ease some of the difficulties faced by Service families who have children with Special Educational Needs.

DEVOLVED ADMINISTRATIONS

52. We were encouraged by the Devolved Administrations' responses to our request for information about Service children with Special Educational Needs. The Welsh Government told us:

The Northern Ireland Executive told us:

The Scottish Minister told us:

and

53. We urge the Government to work with local authorities and the Devolved Administrations to reach agreement that Service children's SEN statements are recognised by all, without exception, across the UK, demonstrating the country's 'moral obligation' to this very small number of children and their families, who deserve our full support.

Transfer documents

54. Our predecessor Committee's 2006 Report identified problems with the transfer of pupils' information to new schools. During our inquiry the Committee heard evidence that the general transfer of information between schools when Service children move continues to be a major difficulty for Service families, and for staff at the receiving schools. Head teachers from primary schools who gave evidence to us at the Wellington Academy said:

We do rely on paper, handing envelopes over and chasing records and all that. We do have what is called a CTF, which is a common transfer file, which is an electronic transfer of children's data, but[...]schools do not have one system, [...]but when that child transfers [all the receiving school] will see is their year 2 SATs result. So we do get children where this common transfer file comes through, we open it up and there is no data on there for the child whatsoever.

55. The MoD told us about a project to produce draft guidance for schools on transferring information quickly and directly between schools, including across the Devolved Administrations, which is being funded by the £3 million Support Fund for Schools. Olivia Denson said:

and

56. The Devolved Administrations emphasised the need to work closely with the MoD to ensure minimal disruption to a child's education. The Welsh Government told us:

In Wales, there is a statutory duty on schools to send an electronic file of Common Transfer information to a child's new school within 15 school days.[89] The Scottish Government told us it was:

The Northern Ireland Executive told us:

General transfer of information between schools when Service children move is a recognised problem here. Feedback from the local Services Children Forum suggests that schools would welcome a consistent format for the transfer of documentation.

57. We are concerned that the transfer of records will deteriorate with the increased volume of moves as the Army withdraws from Germany, the plans for re-basing take effect, and when RAF and Naval bases are consolidated.

58. Susan Raeburn and Karen Ward, primary school head teachers, said that data provided by the SCE schools overseas was not recognised by the DfE.[91] Karen Ward added:

Martin Bull said that there 'was a glitch in the data in one particular year when this happened', and that the 'problem has been resolved and will not happen again.'[93] We are satisfied that the DfE has taken action to resolve this problem.

59. We are dismayed that no appreciable progress has been made on the transfer of pupils' records since our predecessors' 2006 report. Service children and their families deserve better. Only now is work being undertaken to develop a Service children's transition document. We are pleased that the Devolved Administrations are broadly supportive of a common approach to the transfer of information. We recommend that the Government liaise with the Devolved Administrations, local authorities and others to reach a UK-wide agreement on a transfer document for Service children and a process for ensuring it is used, to resolve this issue once and for all.

5 MoD website www.gov.uk/childrens-education-advisory-service Back

6 Ev 69 Back

7 Ibid Back

8 Constituency work: school-related matters, Standard Note SN05396, House of Commons Library, 4 June 2013, http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN05396 Back

9 Constituency work: school-related matters, Standard Note SN05396, House of Commons Library, 4 June 2013 http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN05396 Back

10 Welsh Government, Welsh Government Package of support of the Armed Forces Community in Wales, 2011 www.armedforceshealthpartnership.org.uk/media/1809773/welsh_government_package_of_support_for_the_armed_forces_community_in_wales.pdf Back

11 Ev 94 Back

12 Ev 92 Back

13 Ev 92 Back

14 http://www.isi.net/home/ Back

15 Ofsted website www.ofsted.gov.uk Back

16 Ev 89 Back