New Publications

A number of new resources were recently unveiled at the 4Children Early Childhood Matters conference; these included the What to Expect, When? guide for parents. The Education Endowment Foundation published their Early Years Pupil Premium toolkit for providers to gain the maximum benefits from the EYPP. The Institute of Education launched the Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Well-being (SSTEW) scale, which is being used in the SEED study (Study of Early Education and Development); also made public at the Conference were 'Early Years Pupil Premium: call for evidence' case studies which identify and share good practice in meeting the needs of disadvantaged children and improving outcomes.

A paper has been produced on what British Values mean in the early years with examples given in practice. Lastly, the Department of Health has commissioned a document supporting early years practitioners and health visitors in delivering the two year old integrated review which will be rolling out from September of this year. 

Future of Healthcare

A recently published report by Raconteur, considers what lies ahead for the sector, in relation to the NHS. 

Articles discuss smartphone health apps, which are rapidly gaining pace, how hospitals could make more use of digital technology and the innovative approaches used by researchers to find treatments for difficult and life-threatening conditions.

Child Poverty

You will probably be aware that the Budget was announced today and many were eagerly waiting to hear what the Chancellor would have to say about child poverty. His statement on the subject, was that levels of child poverty have come down; this, however, contradicts a recent report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies, forecasting that the Chancellor’s tax and benefit decisions will lead to child poverty rising by 400,000 over this parliament and by 700,000 overall by 2020. The report also takes a look over the past decade and estimates the impact that the current government's reforms have had on poverty .

While on the topic, other resources include a study by Young Lives, considers how poverty has been measured and conceptualised in the universal childhood experience and, in particular, the risks faced by children living in chronic poverty. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has commissioned a project that explores the relationship between parenting and poverty. If you are looking for useful statistics, policies, campaigns and related publications, take a look at the Child Poverty Action Group website.

Although now out of print, two influential works have been made available online and are well worth mentioning here; the first is 'Poverty in the United Kingdom', by sociologist, Peter Townsend, who pioneered a relative deprivation approach to poverty that covered a wide range of aspects of living standards, both material and social. The other book is 'Poor Britain' by Mack and Lansley who introduced the concept of ‘socially perceived necessities’.

Professional Body for Playworkers

A recent survey has found that 96% of practitioners would be interested in joining a new playworkers body - more than 9 out of 10 playwork practitioners think that a new membership body is needed for the profession in the UK. Karen Benjamin and Adrian Voce, members of the steering group of play experts behind the initiative, are now planning to set up a new charitable organisation. Many practitioners also raised concerns that a new body should not compromise the work that is already being done to support playwork and its development by other sector organisations.

Basildon: A Model for Educational Excellence

In just two years, several failing schools in Basildon have turned the tables, receiving 'good' or 'outstanding' Ofsted ratings in 2013. Other schools have improved and by next year, headteachers across the town are confident all their schools will be rated “good” or “outstanding”.

There have been several contributing factors to these achievements: successful schools have agreed to step in and  help out struggling neighbours immediately if needed; all schools, academies and local authority-maintained schools, have signed up for the town’s excellence panel; the town’s teaching school, Lee Chapel, sees its role as training new recruits for every primary school in the town - not just its own; successful heads act as mentors to newly-appointed ones.

Now Basildon's pioneering model could be adopted by schools across the rest of the country. Plans are already underway to extend the scheme to other counties and possibly, extending the blueprint to secondary schools too.

DfE & DH join hands...

The Government has announced plans to bring health and education reviews together for the first time, with assessments given by the Department for Education and the Department of Health, giving parents a more complete picture of their child’s progress. The scheme may entail health and early year’s professionals sharing information for children aged between 24 and 30 months old and carrying out the reviews together, when the integrated approach is implemented nationally from September.

To support this announcement, a new handbook 

‘What to expect when', supported by the DfE, 

has been produced for parents on child development.

Off on a teaching placement?

If you are off on a teaching placement soon, then this article is for you. 

Teachers share their knowledge on how to make a good impression 

while on a teaching placement, with their top 10 tips to help it to go smoothly.

Update: School Inspection

The March edition of the School Inspection Update has been published, discussing inspection of school and academy sixth forms; there are various links within the document for further reading and statistics on topics such as online safety, teaching assistants, workload, performance tables and more. Handbooks for school inspectors can be found here.

Guide: Support for Schools

In partnership with Routledge, the National Literacy Trust have launched a 'Support for Schools' guide. It provides information on how schools can embed reading, writing and communication outcomes within the wider curriculum, develop a creative teaching/learning environment and maximise the impact of the Pupil Premium spend.

Outdoor Play

Over the past decade, a growing movement has been steadily campaigning for children's outdoor play. The 2006 report, 'Tackling Child Obesity – First Steps' highlighted the health benefits of free play and the NCB set out the need for safe play environments in the New Charter for Children's Play. The national charity, Play England, explored the possibilities for joint working between the health and play sectors in their policy briefing.

These key documents acted as a springboard for schemes that have appeared around the UK over the last few years such as the Street Play project and the annual Outdoor Play Week in the South East.

Following the success of the London-based Hackney Play Streets project, councils across the UK are being urged to invest in street play initiatives. The recently published project evaluation report discusses the reach of the programme, its potential impact on children, families and communities, its impact on traffic and its sustainability and prospects for growth. 

Project Wild Thing grew out of David Bond's concern for his children's lack of outdoor activity.

The Self-appointed 'Marketing Director for Nature' began his own campaign, in a bid to reconnect children with the outdoors

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Vision Rehabilitation Services

This report is an evidence-based research study into community vision rehabilitation services for people over the age of 18 in England. It focuses on services funded by local authorities, to find out how these are currently supporting people with visual impairment, what possible outcomes they might achieve and to identify gaps in the evidence base about current service arrangements.

Campaign: Stand Up for Social Work

Community Care is re-launching its popular Stand up for Social Work campaign to raise the profile of social work in the face of numerous challenges currently impacting the sector. They are encouraging social workers to tell everyone about their stories to inspire others and to highlight the positive work being carried out every day. 

Here's one inspirational story spotted recently, of staff at Panlap community care centre in Sierra Leone, who explain why they chose to work with Ebola patients and what it has cost them personally.

Attachment Theory for Social Workers

In this one hour webinar, David Shemmings, Professor of Child Protection Research, will discuss the attachment-related issues that social workers should be aware of, how to apply the theory to cases (based on real examples), and offer tips on presenting sound evidence to court.

Motivation in Learning

I came across a recent article in the Guardian, in which the author discusses praise as a motivating factor for children; if this is a topic that interests you, try 'Praise, Motivation and the Child' (370.154 ROB) and this journal article entitled 'The Effects of Praise on Children’s Intrinsic Motivation'.

Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation is often referred to when talking about learner motivation and definitions of these concepts can be found in Ryan and Deci's article. They developed the theory of self-determination - a way of supporting our own natural motivational instincts.

A useful overview of these theories is given on the Education Scotland website and the NFER have conducted an international research survey to discover literature on learner motivation in other countries. 

Alan McLean is an educational psychologist who has helped Scottish schools to gain a greater understanding of the role of motivation in learning. His publication, 'The Motivated School', has promoted greater awareness of how classroom climates impact upon learning and achievement. Copies of his book are available at SR Library (370.154 MCL).