Refuges for runaway children

Children who run away from home are to be given better protection, including a national network of safe places providing overnight shelter.

Guidance for local authorities about how to help runaways, and the introduction of specially trained police and council workers have also been proposed by the government.

At present, there are just nine refuge beds in the UK, according to the Children’s Society, who have campaigned for better provision for runaways.

TA concerns about lost childhood

Teaching assistants have raised concerns about a ‘loss of childhood’ affecting primary children today, in the biggest enquiry into English primary education for over 40 years.

They also highlighted the ill-effects of technology such as play stations, the internet, television and mobile phones in allowing children access to material ranging from ‘unsuitable’ to the ‘pernicious’.

In the survey by the independent, Cambridge University-based Primary Review, 64 teaching assistants were interviewed, of a total of 750 children, teachers, parents and others.

Teaching assistants generally felt that school stress, family breakdown, and consumer and media pressures was leading to a loss of childhood.

They made comparisons to being allowed to play freely outside unsupervised without the fears common today such as strangers and traffic.

Concern was also expressed about children using bad language, a loss of mutual respect, and a sense that ‘society doesn’t function as well as it did’.

In the classroom, teaching assistants said they would most like to see teaching concentrating on the basics of literacy, numeracy and ICT, without ignoring the need for life skills such as communication.

In the survey children said they suffered stress about exams and anxieties about modern life.

Climate change and terrorism were frequently cited, as well as the gap between rich and poor.

In addition children worried about traffic, knives, guns, strangers, and other personal safety issues.

The authors of the report say the line of questioning at the sessions was open, not leading, and that responses were very consistent although the sessions were held in very different regional venues, and people often referred to specific local issues to illustrate their views.

The Primary Review

"Nearly all" children have been victims of a crime

Nearly all children have been the victim of a crime, according to a new report.
A survey of children in primary and secondary schools found that 19 out of 20 pupils had been the victim of a crime at least once.
Nearly half said property had been stolen from them at school, and one in six had experienced a theft between school and home.
Nearly three quarters of children in the survey had been assaulted.
Children mostly told only friends and family about what had happened. Only one in three had told the police or teachers.
The survey was conducted by the Howard League for Penal Reform . More than 3000 children across the country were surveyed over seven years.
"These crimes are often not reported as children think adults will not listen to them, or the crime will be viewed as too small to bother with, said the Howard League's director Frances Crook.
Most of the incidents were low level crimes taking place in schools and playtrounds but "to children these crimes are serious enough, and do matter".
She said it was ironic that children are most commonly victimised at school - "the very institutions where children should feel safest, set up and patrolled by adults".
Children as victimes: child-sized crimes in a child-sized world.

Probe into video games harm to children

A ‘call for evidence’ about potential harm to children from video games and the internet was launched today.

Anyone with an interest is invited to respond to questions about the risks from exposure to inappropriate material, such as violent video games.

Clinical psychologist Dr Tanya Byron has been appointed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to head the independent review.

“New technology is giving kids opportunities to learn, have fun, be creative and communicate in ways that previous generations could only dream of,” she said.

“But many parents still feel ill-equipped to help their children navigate this technology safely.

“I want to start a debate about how Government, industry and society as a whole can support parents to guide our children into the virtual world, with the same confidence as when we show them how to stay safe in our local community.”

Byron Review

Scotland beats England on education

Quality of life for Scotland’s children has been ranked among the lowest in an international league table. Scotland came near the bottom in almost every category, particularly for child poverty.

But in education Scotland fared better. It was ranked eighth out of the 31, with the UK in 11^th place.

Children’s charity Barnardo’s Scotland were behind the report, which compares Scotland with 31 other countries worldwide, and have now called on First Minister Alex Salmond to improve life for Scotland’s children.

The director of Barnardo’s Scotland, Martin Crewe, said: “This report highlights that urgent action needs to be taken to improve the wellbeing of children in Scotland.

“We need long-term investment in children’s futures, particularly in the development of preventative services.

“We need to learn the lessons from the relatively good performance in education and use that to improve outcomes for children in other areas.”

Index of Wellbeing report