Ex Curricula

Today the think tank Demos has published Ex Curricula, described as "a major report on educational disengagement in the early years"; among the factors identified as having a negative impact on young children's development are a lack of spending at pre-school level and having parents with a low level of education. The full report is online now.

Children, Young People & Alcohol

New research from the DCSF investigates the links between the drinking habits of parents and their children. Among the conclusions are the suggestion that parents underestimate the influence that their own drinking habits have on their children's attitude to alcohol. The full report, entitled Children, Young People & Alcohol, is online now.

Online Workshops

Now that the new semester has started, the times and venues for Online Workshops have altered. These are sessions which students can attend to get help with using Athens, other online resources, and finding information for assignments. No appointment is necessary, just drop in on whatever day is best for you:

Monday 12 - 1pm Room 305
Tuesday 1 - 2pm Room 409
Wednesday 1 - 2pm Room 409
Thursday 2 - 3pm Room 305
Friday 1 - 2pm Room 409

(All workshops take place at Summer Row - we hope to see you there!)

Cognitive Development in the Early Years

The latest report from the Millennium Cohort Study (see previous post for details) has just been released, with a focus on cognitive development from birth to five. A huge range of factors which can impact upon children's development have been examined, with social class and being read to by parents emerging as key issues in determining a child's progress. You can read a summary of the main findings, while this article covers some of the other issues highlighted by the research. The full text of the report is being published as a book entitled Children of the 21st Century: the First Five Years, which will shortly be available in the library.

Earlier this week a similar study was released by the Sutton Trust, which claimed that children in the poorest fifth of families are already nearly a year behind those children from middle income families in vocabulary tests by the time they are five. Their report, entitled Low Income and Early Cognitive Development in the UK is available online (click here), as is a summary version.

The History of Education in England

It's been mentioned on the blog before, but The History of Education in England is a website which all students with an interest in schooling should visit. The pages are maintained by Derek Gillard, a retired headmaster who aims to provide students, teachers, lecturers and researchers with important historical information.

Probably the most useful area of the site is the Documents section; this contains the full text of many landmark educational reports including the Plowden report, the Warnock report, the Swann report and plenty of others (the number is still growing). Also very helpful is the Articles section, which contains a number of pieces that Derek himself has written, and which help to put the various reports into context by explaining the educational developments that were occurring at the time that they were published.

Classroom Management

If you've been out on placement or are shortly starting one, then you may want to take a look at an article in yesterday's Guardian. Entitled How to Manage Behaviour in the Classroom, it's a simple list of ten practical tips for use when working with children. See how many you already know, and perhaps you can also pick up one or two new bits of advice.

Safer Internet Day

24 hours late, but yesterday was Safer Internet Day, an event aimed at promoting "safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially amongst children and young people." In the UK, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) took the lead by producing an animation for young children with the theme 'Think Before You Post', and has also been collaborating with Microsoft on a special version of Internet Explorer to give parents and children easy access to useful advice and information.

By coincidence, yesterday also saw the publication of The Safe Use of New Technologies, a short research report from Ofsted. Among it's conclusions is the claim that: "Pupils given a greater degree of freedom to surf the internet at school are less vulnerable to online dangers in the long-term."

Kidulthood

The Action for Children charity has been busy lately, with the publication of several research projects. A couple should be of particular interest to our students:

• Kidulthood: Life as a Pre-Teen in the UK Today is a detailed study of what life is like for pre-teens in the UK today, and howpolicy can best be shaped to meet the needs of these children.

• Backing the Future: Why Investing in Children is Good for Us All is the final report of the Happiness Counts project, and argues a case for higher funding of support services for young children, with the result that savings will be made in other areas such as dealing with the costs of crime etc as the children reach maturity.
  

New DCSF Research

The latest batch of research reports from the DCSF have just been published; here are two which may interest our readers:

If you're interested in Religious Education, a new report entitled Materials used to Teach about World Religions in Schools in England takes an in-depth look at the topic, as well as containing useful information relating to the ongoing debates surrounding faith schools. A summary version is also available.

Also new is Parental Opinion Survey 2009, the latest annual publication which researches parents' confidence in their own skills, and their thoughts about the support services available to them. Again, a summary version is also available.

Disadvantage and Childcare

New research from the DCSF has found that disadvantaged families in the UK are failing to access childcare even when it is offered to them for free. The report, entitled Families Experiencing Multiple Disadvantage: Their Use of and Views on Childcare Provision, also highlights issues surrounding lack of information regarding available services.