Children and Technology in Cambridgeshire

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1 Children and Technology in Cambridgeshire CYPS Framework for ICT

2 Children and Technology in Cambridgeshire Children and Young People's Services Framework for ICT Technology has become a dominant force in our working lives and beyond work too. For most children and young people it is a crucial part of the daily landscape. The purpose of this document is to provide a coherent picture of the part technology will play in the repertoire of those who work for children and young people in Cambridgeshire. The framework is aligned to four key County Council priorities. It aims to put Cambridgeshire s children and young people at the centre by identifying the entitlement we believe they should expect from us. 2

3 Children and Young People s technology entitlement When I need it, Staff I can use technology to improve my learning wherever I am use technology to help make my learning as successful as possible Adults understand I how technology can help me achieve success at school and at work Technology is My used to improve the systems that support me learn how technology works and how to use it responsibly, confidently and safely personal information is used and protected properly 3

4 Priority 1 Helping people to live independent and healthy lives Improve learning and health outcomes for every child and young person Implications for schools Technically and pedagogically, we will need to prepare for greater diversity in the devices used by learners and for a growing proportion bringing their own equipment. We will need network systems which make it easy and safe to incorporate these devices and we will need to ensure as far as possible that no children are disadvantaged. We will still need to provide a range of equipment, both basic and specialised, but the growth of bringyour-own-device (BYOD) may ease some funding pressures. We can expect a shift of spending towards cloud computing and managed services, with a reduced need for our own staff to look after the systems and equipment we use. Reliable broadband connectivity with adequate capacity will be needed to underpin these developments. We will need to design a curriculum which ensures that our pupils develop the digital capabilities they need for learning now and for their future education and careers. Attainment in ICT should compare well with other subjects, and from the start we must ensure that children are able to learn about technology and develop programming skills in an appropriate and enjoyable way. Professional development will be a continuing priority to ensure that our staff have up to date skills and understanding and that no one sees ICT as optional. This will include the effective use of technology in all areas of the curriculum and the analysis of pupils performance data to monitor their progress and plan appropriate provision for individuals and groups. Implications for CYPS and its partners By engagement with local high-tech businesses and with regional and national professional networks, we will help schools and settings to benefit from the latest thinking about current and future technology and its use. Where new schools are planned or existing schools extended, we will continue to ensure that the design reflects good practice in provision for ICT. While recognising that spending decisions are made at a local level, we will endeavour to ensure that good quality support for ICT is offered to schools and settings, including through the Education ICT Service. We will continue to explore ways of using technology to provide more 4

5 flexible in-service training and meet the needs of staff in schools and settings. Through the Cambridgeshire Public Service Network (CPSN) and our regional broadband consortium (E2BN) we are ensuring that reliable and affordable broadband connectivity is available to schools. Our new education portal will provide efficient communication facilities for local authority teams and the people in schools that they support. Teams in the Learning Directorate need a shared understanding of ICT development and its contribution to school improvement. Professional development will be a continuing priority to ensure that our staff have up to date skills and understanding and that no one sees ICT as optional. From an early age ICT extends the boundaries of learning, of what, when and how children can learn. Different ways of using technology should be part of every teacher s repertoire. With the growth of mobile and personal devices we can expect more learners to bring their own equipment into schools. Digital literacy and creativity are key attributes for most areas of learning and employment, and not enough school leavers are qualified for specialist computing courses in higher education or for the high tech industries. Technology has opened up immense opportunities for communication and collaboration beyond the classroom, for involving parents, and for supporting and challenging learners, whatever their needs and talents. More than ever, practitioners need the tools and expertise to enable them to track and analyse pupil performance for individuals and groups. 5

6 Priority 2 Developing our local economy for the benefit of all Narrow the gap in learning and health outcomes for vulnerable children and young people Implications for schools An ongoing professional development programme will help all our staff to maintain the skills and knowledge of ICT needed to support disadvantaged and vulnerable children fully. We need to ensure that the most appropriate resources are available to learners with the greatest needs. Our staff must also be equipped to use management information tools effectively to highlight the progress, attainment and potential of vulnerable groups and individuals. We will continue to seek the most suitable ways of providing for children who do not have regular access to ICT outside school. This may include providing facilities at school for priority children, loaning equipment for home use, and working with charities like the e-learning Foundation to improve personal access to learning technology for all our children. Some of our young people may need suitably located online access points for sensitive and personal information, with their privacy respected. And all secondary-age children should know about Cambridgeshire s Youthoria website. By using an online learning platform we encourage anytime anywhere learning by all our pupils, and we aim to provide some continuity for children whose schooling may be disrupted. We should regularly review the most effective communication channels for helping the parents of vulnerable children to support their learning. Implications for CYPS and its partners All Cambridgeshire libraries provide free internet access to children and young people. Community Access Points located across the county have broadband connections to the Internet. We will continue to seek cost effective ways of providing access to ICT, 6

7 including internet facilities, for all our looked-after children, and to support and monitor their academic progress through our virtual school. We aim to ensure that staff and foster carers are equipped to support young people s learning with ICT. We need to build on our experience of supporting distance learning for travellers, excluded pupils and other groups to make it easier for some vulnerable children and young people to sustain their engagement in education. Library Learning Centres offer a complete package of information, advice and courses in a friendly and informal environment at a pace that suits the learner. Free support is available to young people to help decide the right course, the right provider and how to progress to further learning and employment options. We need a coordinated approach to the information and services we put online for young people to avoid confusion and wasted effort. We want as many staff as possible to recognise the value of our Youthoria website ( especially for vulnerable young people. We will review the Voices4Us website which we provide for the children we look after and, if appropriate, we will create an alternative online space where they can get information and express their views. Our online application website will make it easier for teenagers to find and sign up for post-14 and post-16 courses which match their interests and needs. We will ensure that our online information on special educational needs is comprehensive, accessible, up to date, and responds to parents needs. Moving information about children with special needs, looked-after children and other vulnerable young people into the OneVision system will improve our ability to keep track of them and to provide useful information for parents and carers. The social care information and planning (SCIP) database will improve the information provided to families with a disabled child. We need these systems to be accessible to support teams in as many locations as possible. The use of e-learning toolkits such as the Inclusion Development Programme (IDP) and the Targeted Mental Health in Schools (TaMHS) will help us to improve the capacity of the children's workforce to promote emotional and mental health. It is widely recognised that use of ICT out of school can boost educational participation and success. Finding ways to make this possible for vulnerable children plays an important part in narrowing the gap. Specialised resources can help children with specific needs to follow an appropriate curriculum or to catch up if they have fallen behind. These can include dedicated hardware devices and software, customising standard software and operating systems to meet individual needs, and online resources which can be used in or out of school. Online information and services can be attractive to hard to reach children and young people and to those not attending school, helping them to enjoy learning, make better choices and find support from peers and professionals. Parents and the wider family can become more engaged too. 7

8 Priority 3 Supporting and protecting vulnerable people Keep children and young people safe at home and in their communities Implications for schools Acceptable use agreements for learners and staff are in place in many of our schools. We need to review and develop them regularly to ensure that they address emerging risks and reflect current thinking about the best way to promote digital safety. We need to ensure that our anti-bullying and safeguarding programmes and policies embrace digital safety rather than treating it as something separate. Schools provide a relatively controlled technology environment where ICT use can be regulated and monitored. Children and young people need to learn to act safely in the less controlled environments they will encounter outside school. E-safety is an ongoing concern for parents and carers, and guidance from schools is generally welcomed. A partnership approach with families has benefits for everybody. With so much sensitive information about children and their families held in our computer systems, we must take robust measures to keep it secure. This will involve ensuring that only properly authorised people, including technical support providers, have access to our systems, and that up to date policies are followed by our staff so that procedures for sharing information are safe and comply with current regulations. As our staff make greater use of mobile devices for work purposes, we need to keep information security under review. 8

9 Implications for CYPS and its partners We must continue to commission e-safety advice for schools, settings and support services, and ensure that appropriate training is available for those who work with children, young people and their families. We need to ensure that the professional expertise of our e-safety specialists is kept up to date. We need to ensure that our arrangements for information sharing are secure and manageable and backed up with appropriate guidance and training for staff. The Local Safeguarding Children s Board will benefit from our ongoing support in the area of digital safety, and at the same time will help our own teams to be better informed. We should continue to offer advice and guidance to other partners, especially the early years PVI sector. Technology is at the heart of so many aspects of work and home life, and we need responsible and confident young citizens who will make it a force for good. Our young people are likely to relish innovation and the use of new technologies; we need to encourage this while helping them to engage safely. In the digital age, information security is a challenge and a priority for everybody. Staff who work with children and young people need to share and analyse sensitive information about them; they must understand the risks as well as the benefits. 9

10 Priority 4 Support change to enable Children and Young People s Services to achieve benefits for our children and young people Develop an effective, efficient and motivated workforce Implications for schools Technology should be relieving the burden of routine tasks for classroom and office staff. We need to review their needs regularly and provide appropriate training and support so that they get maximum benefit from the tools which are available to them. Online booking for parents meetings, cashless catering, automated attendance and library systems are all examples of convenient solutions which are already in place in many schools. Effective communication with families leads to better engagement. A range of electronic channels are available to supplement face to face contact without replacing it. We need to be confident that we are communicating with families in ways which suit them. Where electronic communication is used, we need clear protocols to ensure that both staff and parents expectations are appropriate and manageable. 10

11 Implications for CYPS and its partners Technology should be relieving the burden of routine tasks for all our staff. We need to review their needs regularly and provide appropriate training and support so that they get maximum benefit from the tools which are available to them. Competent use of technology can not be seen as optional and, recognising the importance of affordability, we need regular evaluation of systems and procedures to ensure that technology is implemented in ways which improve rather than impair our efficiency and effectiveness. We will continue to explore ways of using technology to provide more flexible in-service training to meet the professional development needs of CYPS staff. School-facing staff and those working directly with young people need up to date knowledge of the part that technology plays in their clients world and of the systems that their clients use. They need to know how to work safely online themselves. Equipment used by CYPS staff, especially those who work regularly away from CCC premises, needs to be easily interoperable with the systems and infrastructure provided in schools and settings. Technology should help us to implement the Government s Positive for Youth policies, which urge local authorities to give young people a voice locally, to publicise the local offer of services to them, and to enable them to audit the quality of this offer. We will continue to seek the most effective ways to reach children and young people, allowing for variation in the technologies they and their families use. Our Families Information Service will continue to focus on a familyfriendly information strategy. For communication with staff in schools the redevelopment of our education portal will help us to ensure that information reaches the intended audience directly and in a timely fashion and we will explore the possibility of extending it to other settings. In organisations everywhere, technology can release staff for higher-order tasks and free up time for more productive contact with the people they support. It can help us deal with routine tasks more efficiently if implemented well; we should also expect other benefits in our work. Not only should we be able to do things more quickly and easily; new and improved services for children and young people become possible through innovative use of technology. Thoughtful use of technology for both internal and external communications can result in better engagement, understanding and participation especially when it takes account of people s preferences and the systems which they regularly use. This applies as much to communication with our colleagues and partners as it does to contact with the children and families we are working for. 11

12 How will these aspirations be realised? Schools and settings Consider the framework and agree which statements you can sign up to. Incorporate them into your development plans. Identify where you will need information or support to help you implement your plans and who can provide it. Monitor and review the progress you are making and its impact. Teams in CYPS Consider the framework and agree which statements are relevant to the work you do. Incorporate them into your work plans. If you work with children and families, set out your team s contribution to the children and young people s entitlement. If you work with schools and settings, identify support you can offer to help them realise the entitlement for their pupils. Identify where you will need information or support to help you implement your plans and who can provide it. Monitor and review the progress you are making and its impact. This document was produced by The ICT Service in collaboration with services across Children and Young People s Services (CYPS), Cambridgeshire County Council published November Contact: The ICT Service Tel: info@theictservice.org.uk