The growth in free schools and academies, together with cuts in the number of education welfare officers (EWOs) are critical factors behind children missing out on education, said UNISON, the UK’s largest union today.
The comments are in response to today’s Ofsted report, which finds that some local authorities are failing in their statutory duty to ensure that children receive a suitable education.
A UNISON survey of EWO’s in August this year, found that the burgeoning number of free schools and academies had resulted in a negative impact on co-operation between schools (69%) with (60%) reporting a negative impact on pupil attendance. The survey also found that 78% of EWOs experienced staffing cuts with 69% saying that fewer resources were being spent on prevention.
Helga Pile, UNISON National Officer for Care and Welfare Services, said:
“These children are some of the most vulnerable and schools and local authorities have a duty to ensure that they are in school where they belong.
“Our survey found that academies are tending to go for budget options – cheaper less qualified attendance officers ordrastically reduced hours, this is bound to have an impact on monitoring pupils’ attendance.
“It is also very frustrating for EWOs because they cannot check academies’ registers and ensure proper recording as they don’t have to report on school attendance to the Local Education Authority, which restricts what measures they are able to take.
“All children and young people deserve the best possible start in life and education is key to that. It is clear that academies and free schools need to be brought into line and made to work more closely with education welfare officers. It is also clear that this is not going to be possible unless the cuts in their numbers are reversed.”
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