(UK) Leading doctor blames govt for failing SPED children

Oct 23, 2018, Guardian: Britain has created a crisis in childhood, says former children’s commissioner https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/oct/23/britain-crisis-childhood-former-childrens-commissioner-al-aynsley-green-book Childhood is being ruined in the UK, and the education system under Theresa May’s government is largely to blame. That is the central message of a new book, The British Betrayal of Childhood, published this week by the former children’s commissioner for England, Sir Al Aynsley-Green. “Is there a crisis in childhood in Britain? My answer is an unequivocal yes,” says Aynsley-Green. “Mrs May’s government is not doing enough for children, especially in education.” … This is a damning indictment by a man who spent more than 40 years caring for children, first as a children’s physician and lecturer in paediatrics at Oxford, then as a professor of child health and the director of clinical research at Great Ormond Street hospital. In 2000, he was appointed as the first national clinical director for children in the Department of Health, and in 2005 he became the first independent statutory children’s commissioner for England. He was knighted by the Queen for his services to children and young people in 2006. … And Aynsley-Green knows exactly who is to blame. “I don’t think May is doing enough. She needs to have a joined-up cross-government view of what childhood is all about. This is about political will.” There has been a failure of effective advocacy for children in this government, overseen by a prime minister who has lost sight of the purpose of education and an education minister accused of covering up school cuts with misleading figures, he says. “What does the May government want for our children? Apart from competing with China through league tables?” … The facts bear him out: there is a shortfall of 30,000 classroom teachers and Ofsted recently revealed that the majority of teachers experience relatively high levels of stress and anxiety compared with other professions…. He is particularly concerned about the lack of funding for child and adolescent mental health services (Camhs) and for children with special needs. “Every child should matter to this government but I’m sorry to say every disabled child certainly does not matter. If shame was an attribute of politicians, they would be ashamed of what is happening to our most vulnerable families.”…