Making children count: issues and challenges facing schools in implementing the ECM agenda

Aims and Objectives of the Research This project aims to develop an effective response to the challenges currently faced by schools and other agencies in meeting the requirements of the principles underpinning the Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda. It is intended that the research findings will contribute to the development of a framework or toolkit designed to support schools in their delivery of the ECM agenda. The research project also intends to explore how schools and external agencies are currently working together to deliver this agenda and to highlight areas of good practice as well as potential areas of conflict. These above aims raise the following core project objectives: • To identify aspects of ECM agenda that schools are currently finding challenging via an audit process (questionnaire). • To evaluate current practice within schools and other agencies • To propose ways in which these specific aspects may be addressed. • To support schools in piloting approaches to meeting these aspects. After the initial audit process has been completed and specific areas in need of review and/or development have been identified, the project steering group will work to develop a set of best practice standards/exemplar materials/links to the National Curriculum framework with a view to ensuring all schools can benefit from the findings. The long-term goal of the project is to increase the number of schools involved with a view to contributing to the LPPG conference.