Foundation StageNo doubt most of you are aware that the new Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) guidelines are coming into operation later this year. If you still have questions about how this will impact upon your role in the workplace, then you may be interested in looking at two documents which Ofsted have put t…
Teachers TVIt's been a quiet few days for news so this is just a reminder that all programmes from the Teachers TV channel are available to watch for free from their website. In particular I would recommend taking a look at the Whole School Issues pages, as these are very useful in separating programmes under …
The End is the Beginning..I recently had the son of a friend graduate from high school as the valdicorian…
The End is the Beginning..I recently had a friend graduate from high school as the valedictorian. We always knew he was very intelligent and would do well. I would take Tom to the library when he was young and he would check out 20-25 books. This made me a bit nervous until his dad assured me that he would get through them a…
Parents & EducationThe DCSF have recently published Parental Involvement in Children’s Education 2007. This contains the results of a survey to compare how parental (and carers') attitudes towards their children's education have altered since similar surveys were carried out in 2004 and 2001. The key findings from the…
Personalised Start PagesLet's be honest, despite the vast size of the World Wide Web, most of us have only 30 or 40 sites which we visit on a regular basis. But even then, we sometimes have difficulties in remembering the addresses of each one, and typing in the various URLs that we need can sometimes be time-consuming. Wo…
Parents & Mental HealthThe Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has recently published a research briefing entitled Experiences of Children and Young People Caring for a Parent with a Mental Health Problem. This document is an excellent summary of the challenges faced by children who find themselves in this role, a…
Literacy ResearchTwo reports were released last week which dealt with the subject of literacy. The first of these was published by the Institute of Education at the University of London and looks at the support that children receive through the Every Child A Reader programme. You can read the report in full by click…
Yet More from the Primary ReviewToday sees the publication of the final batch of interim reports from the Primary Review. There are three reports in all, grouped around the theme of 'Learning and Teaching in Primary Schools: Processes and Contexts.' You can access all of the new reports, plus all of the previous Primary Review pub…
Violence & Youth OffendingToday's post contains details of two separate reports, although there's a theme of gender as well as violence which links them both together.'No Recourse' No Safety is a recent publication from the UK branch of Amnesty International. The report details a relative lack of safe refuges for women who h…
New CropI was excited to run into some of my former students this past month. Most of them were graduating in early childhood and interviewing for teaching jobs. I was excited because last fall I worked with this wonderful group of early childhood teachers. I am encouraged because they know how to be de…
Something For Everyone (Part 3)Thanks to the excellent OnTheWeb service (click here for details), today's post contains links to no less than eight separate reports which have been published in recent weeks. The publications cover a wide range of topics, so without further ado...Safeguarding Children in whom Illness is Fabricated…
Little BritonsThe Policy Exchange have recently published Little Britons: Financing Childcare Choice. This report brings together viewpoints from all of the major political parties to examine the question of what families really want from childcare services, and how the State can attemp to fulfil this responsibil…
Learning The Hard WayFollowing on from yesterday's post about the Warnock report, the issue of special educational needs is once more in the news with the release of a new report. The CentreForum and Policy Exchange thinktanks have collaborated to produce Learning the Hard Way: a Strategy for Special Educational Needs, …
Warnock ReportEvery year a handful of students ask me for information about the Warnock Report of 1978, which looked at the provision on education for children with special educational needs. And every year I've had to point them towards the relatively restricted number of resources that we have on the topic, giv…
Look out for EYES!A few weeks ago I wrote a post (click here for details) about EYES, a search engine which I've been developing. Basically it's a Google-powered search tool which focuses only on hand-picked websites which contain reliable information on the early years, education, social policy and related topics. I…
