Children of the Recession

The UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre had just published its latest annual report card. These are a series if publications focussing on the topic of child wellbeing in industrialised countries. The latest report is entitled Children of the Recession, and examines how the ongoing economic crisis has impacted on children. As always, the report is very detailed and paints a complex picture, though the headline claim has been the finding that child poverty has increased in 23 countries since 2008.

The full text of the report is available here. Full access to all of the previous reports in the series is available here.

The Wellbeing of Children in the UK

The Office for National Statistics have just issued a new report entitled Exploring the Well-being of Children in the UK, 2014. This publication draws on data from three recent surveys on childhood, including the Children Society's Good Childhood report (see previous post for details). Broadly this latest report paints a picture of children as being satisfied, although a fear of bullying remains.

To read the full text of Exploring the Well-Being of Children in the UK, click here.

Good Childhood Report 2013

Today sees the publication by The Children's Society of their latest annual Good Childhood Report; this looks at the quality of children's lives in the UK, and investigates issues such as whether children who have experienced deprivation are likely to have significantly lower well-being.

You can read the full version of The Good Childhood Report 2013 by clicking here. A summary version is also available, while this BBC article highlights some of the main conclusions of the report. For further reading, try this previous post on last year's report.

Child Well-Being in Rich Countries

UNICEF are in the headlines today following the publication of their latest 'Report Card' which examines the well-being of children in industrialised countries. The new publication ranks the UK 16th out of 29 developed countries for overall wellbeing, although it also suggests that children's lives have improved since a similar UNICEF report in 2007.

If you'd like to read the full report, you can do so by clicking here; a summary version containing the key messages is also available. For further reading, you may want to look at this opinion article or the full list of previous UNICEF report cards, while only last week the Office of National Statistics published its own short report: Children's Well-Being, 2013. Or you could view all previous posts on this site relating to children's well-being by clicking here.

Social and Emotional Wellbeing

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has just published a guidance document entitled Social and Emotional Wellbeing: Early Years. The document describes itself as "for all those responsible for ensuring the social and emotional wellbeing of children aged under 5 years", and examines how early intervention programmes can ensure that vulnerable children are given a good start in life.

To read the guidance, click here.

New from DfE

The Department for Education has just released its latest batch of research reports, and this month there are quite a few! If you're a glutton for punishment then you can read all of the latest reports by clicking here, but what I've tried to do is provide links to the ones which are particularly relevant to this site's users.

One item which should be of interest to most readers is the Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey 2011 (despite the title it is new!) - a summary of the main findings is also available.

There are also two new reports compiled by the Childhood Wellbeing Research Centre:

• Children’s and Young People’s Voices on their Wellbeing
• Implementing Evidence-Based Programmes in Children’s Services: Key Issues for Success

 And three reports from the Longitudinal Study of Early Years Professional Status:

• Listening to Children’s Perspectives: Improving the Quality of Provision in Early Years Settings
• Second National Survey of Practitioners with Early Years Professional Status
• Longitudinal Study of Early Years Professional Status: an Exploration of Progress, Leadership and Impact: Final Report

Good Childhood Report 2012

The Children's Society is making the headlines today with the publication of The Good Childhood Report 2012. This new research details the results of interviews with over 30,000 children aged 8-16, and investigates what factors are important in determining a child's happiness and wellbeing. The overall findings from the survey cover many different areas, though many media outlets have chosen to focus on the angle that almost one in ten children consider themsleves to be unhappy.

To read the full version of The Good Childhood Report 2012, click here. For an overview of its findings a summary version is also available, and a further publication entitled Promoting Positive Well-Being for Children, which contains advice for policy-makers is also available.

Children's Well-Being in the UK, Spain and Sweden

A major new report from UNICEF has put the the issue of children's wellbeing in the UK under the microscope. It's not the first time that the charity has published research about this topic - in 2007 its report An Overview of Child Well-Being in Rich Countries made headlines for placing the UK at the bottom of a league table of 21 developed nations.

UNICEF's latest research aims to explore the issue of wellbeing in more detail by making detailed comparisons of children's experiences from just three countries: the UK, Sweden and Spain. The findings are wide ranging: a key challenge for parents in the UK was being able to spend sufficient time with children, while another cause for concern was a culture of materialism and consumer pressure. Further analysis of the points raised by the report is covered by this BBC article.

The full title of UNICEF's new report is Children’s Well-being in UK, Sweden and Spain: The Role of Inequality and Materialism and it's available from this link. A shorter summary version is also available, and there's even a simple children's version.

Practitioners' Experiences of the Early Years Foundation Stage

A new detailed study into the Foundation Stage has found that early years practitioners are strongly in favour of the EYFS framework. The research, which was carried out by the Institute of Education between September 2008 and March 2010, set out to tackle such questions as how the EYFS influences daily practice with children and families, and whether it has helped to offer improvements in care and education. To read the full report, click here.

Also new from the Department of Education is Childhood Wellbeing: A Brief Overview, which summarises the literature in an area which has attracted growing interest in recent years. For previous posts on this topic, click here.

Family Wellbeing

With the subject of wellbeing having received much attention in recent months, the Family and Parenting Institute have issued a timely literature review entitled Can Government Measure Family Wellbeing? The review "analyses current definitions, theoretical models, and measurement tools and examines quality issues such as validity and transferability, as well as the conceptual and practical measurement challenges posed by the study of family wellbeing." A summary version is also available.

For further links to information on all aspects of wellbeing, click on the 'Wellbeing' link in the Hot Topics menu in the right-hand column of this page.

Wellbeing & Creative Learning

A few new items which have come to light over the weekend...

A new report from the Young Foundation details a study which concluded that children's outcomes were greatly improved when schools ran a programme focused on boosting wellbeing. The report, entitled The State of Happiness, argues (among other things) for the teaching of resilience to schoolchildren, and can be read online. On a similar theme, the DCSF has just published Promoting the Emotional Health of Children and Young People, which is a guidance document that sets out the core support and services which children, young people and families require.

Also new is a piece of research from Ofsted investigating the impact of creative approaches to learning. The report examines 44 different schools and concludes that creative approaches to learning have a positive impact on pupils' personal development and preparation for life beyond school. For a link to the research, click here.

Another Round Up

Once again it's been a while since there were any new posts on here. This is because our visitor numbers tail off dramatically during holiday periods, but for those of you who are still making the effort to check in (thank you!), here's a list of new reports / research from the past few weeks. Rest assured that more regular updates will start again in September when the new term begins.

• Unleashing Aspiration is a new report from the Cabinet Office which investigates how social mobility can be improved in the UK, to give people from all classes the opportunity to achieve their full potential
• Ofsted have published a short report entitled The Impact of Integrated Services on Children and their Families in Sure Start Children’s Centres
• The House of Commons Children, Schools and Family Committee urges changes to disciplinary procedural procedures in Allegations Against School Staff
• SCIE have produced Think Child, Think Parent, Think Family: a Guide to Parental Mental Health and Child Welfare
• Safeguarding Children: A Review of Arrangements in the NHS for Safeguarding Children is a new report from the Care Quality Commission
• Ofsted have also published Support for Care Leavers, an investigation into which strategies and services can help these individuals to make successful transitions into adulthood and independence

The rest of the reports listed here are all from the DCSF:

• Outreach to Children and Families: a Scoping Study examines the impact of extended services within Sure Start Children's Centres
• Impact of Family Breakdown on Children's Wellbeing is a review of relevant literature published between 2002 and 2007; very useful as a source of references if you have an interest in this area!
• International Perspectives on Parenting Support looks at evidence from other countries (Denmark, France, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands) to suggest ways of improving practice in England
• Safeguarding Children from Emotional Abuse - What Works? is a useful research brief
  

Child Wellbeing in the UK

A new briefing issued by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has caused a minor stir by suggesting that in a league table measuring children's wellbeing in European states, the UK comes 24th out of 29 countries. The research, which was carried out by staff at the University of York examined issues such as child health, behaviour, education and environment, although CPAG admits that much of the data used dates from 2006, and so may not reflect the impact of more recent initiatives. You can read the full text of Child Wellbeing and Child Poverty: Where the UK Stands in the European Table online now.

Disabled Children

The Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children and Young People's Services (C4EO) has recently published a series of studies which examine current provision for disabled children, and how this could be improved in the future. Links to each of the reports are below:

• Improving the Wellbeing of Disabled Children through Early Years Interventions (Age 0–8)
• Improving the Wellbeing of Disabled Children and Young People through Improving Access to Positive Activities
• Ensuring all Disabled Children and Young People and their Families Receive Services that are Sufficiently Differentiated to Meet their Diverse Needs

The C4EO website looks like it's well worth visiting on a regular basis; the organisation is a relatively new one, and focuses its work on children's services on seven different themes as identified by Every Child Matters. Already it has also published a series of studies on Early Years, and reports on vulnerable children; child poverty; parents, carers and families; youth; schools and communities are all set to follow over the coming months.

Children and Young People in Mind

When the Children's Plan was published by the DCSF in December last year, one of the announcements that it contained was for an independent review of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in the UK. Following the publication of an interim report - Improving the Mental Health and Psychological Wellbeing of Young People - earlier this year, the final report entitled Children and Young People in Mind can now be found online. This contains 20 recommendations for how government can improve quality and consistency of services in this area. A version of the report for children and young people is also available.

Children's Emotional Development and Wellbeing

The Office for National Statistics has just released a lengthy new report entitled Three Years On, which takes a detailed look at the development and emotional well-being of children and young people. The report has made headlines for it's claim that children whose parents have separated are more likely to develop emotional disorders, although it also deals with a wide range of other issues relating to the mental health of young people. You can read a summary of it's findings online, or the full report is available by clicking on this link and then clicking on 'Download'.

For further information and research on children's mental health, try looking at this previous post from July last year, or this one from January. The Knowing Where to Look booklet which has been produced by the Young Minds charity is also very helpful.

Two for the Price of One

Two documents that have come out this week and may interest some of you:

There has recently been a lot of talk regarding child well-being and happiness, but how exactly can these ideas be measured? The DCSF has just published Childhood Wellbeing: Qualitative Research Study, a study which looked at existing literature and spoke to families to try and answer this question. One of the DCSF's ongoing commitments is to improve the quality of children's lives, and so this report is intended to help this process.

Secondly, one of the common enquiries which students make is for information on children with English as an Additional Language (EAL). So you may be interested in a new guide which the DCSF has just released, which is aimed at helping educational leaders to include such children in school life. While the New Arrivals Excellence Programme: Management Guide does not contain much in the way of research material, it does contain plenty of practical advice for practitioners.

UK is Bottom of the League

A story about children in the UK is one of the major headlines this morning; unfortunately, it reveals a rather depressing statistic. According to a survey by Unicef - the United Nations children's organisation - Britain is at the bottom of a league table for child well-being in 21 developed nations. The full report is available online.