Story thread · 2 reports / 1 sources

How to make sure that no child is left behind | Letters

theguardian.com · 2hShare

Readers respond to Alan Milburn’s recommendation that primary schools may be able to spot children at risk of future unemployment Alan Milburn suggests that primary schools should be asked to spot children at risk of future unemployment ( Primary schools to be told to identify children at risk of future unemployment, 7 August ). Intervening early makes sense. Children who miss a lot of school do tend to drift away from it later, and waiting until someone is 18 and out of work is obviously too late. But there is a difference between spotting what a child needs and deciding what they will become. An 11-year-old should not end up with a label attached to their name – “likely future Neet” – because poverty, absence or a difficult home life puts them in the wrong council or government file. Use those signs to offer tutoring, mentoring and proper support, by all means. Just record the help a child needs, not the failure we expect from them. Continue reading...

First report: Could you predict which children will be Neets? No – and it’s unfair to ask that of teachers | Daisy Christodoulou — theguardian.com, 1d