3.3 Responding to these initiatives
A key implication of both initiatives is greater interagency working, which necessitates more engagement of school staff with other professionals.
The DfES notes in Extended Schools: Providing Opportunities and Services for all that schools will need to work in partnership with other groups and agencies to enable:
-
more diverse activities that involve parents, community members and local groups;
-
a ‘joined-up’ approach to local services by involving the local authority, local agencies and partnerships;
-
services that require specialist skills, such as healthcare or social services;
-
sustainable programmes where activities and services are not over-dependent on the skills and time of a few key staff;
-
opportunities for services that have a different ethos from school activities and present themselves as ‘teacher-free’ zones.
Explore how your school is responding to one of these intiatives in Activity 4.
Activity 4
It is outside the scope of this course to suggest you draw up an action plan for implementing your school's response to the government's initiatives. There are , however, core questions that you can address:
-
What are you doing already?
-
What's possible?
-
What are your local community's needs?
-
Who needs to be consulted?
-
What agencies will you need to work with?
-
What funding is available?
-
What data will you need? Where can you get it?
Using one of the analytical tools identified in Section 3, assess your school's response to the Extended School's initiative or any other pertinent initiative. Where does this leave you?