Extended SchoolsStudents with an interest in the impact of Extended Schools should take a look at a new, in-depth publication from the DCSF. Extended Schools Survey of Schools, Pupils and Parents is a detailed report which contains the results from a survey examining all aspects of extended schools and those who us…
The Cost of ChildcareThe Daycare Trust has just published Childcare Costs Survey 2009, it's eighth annual survey examining the cost of nursery places, childminders or out-of-school clubs up and down the country. A summary of the main points is available here.Further analysis of the survey's findings is provided by this …
Circling in SpaceI got a new laptop computer for Christmas. It was my attempt to place all of my university media files on a personal computer. I love this new device and just had it all set up the way I wanted it. I was using it for my current courses and was thrilled with its performance. Well, on Tuesday the moni…
Funding for PhonicsThe DCSF has recently announced that local authorities are to receive £9m of funding to deliver phonics programmes for young children. The use of synthetic phonics as a method to develop literacy skills has been increasing since the publication of the Rose Review in 2006.For further information on p…
BMJ JournalsThe BMJ Journals site (available on Athens) has recently made a couple of changes which make it a little trickier to use. You can still access the full content of articles on the site - provided that they are more than 12 months old - but you will first need to create a free account. To do this, fol…
Who Cares About The White Working Class?The Runnymede Trust is an independent organisation which seeks to promote a multi-ethnic Britain, so its latest publication (containing short essays from eight prominent thinkers on race, class and inequality) makes for interesting reading. Entitled Who Cares About The White Working Class?, the repo…
Male Nursery StaffNew research commissioned by the Children's Workforce Development Council seems to have created a bit of a stir. The study examined the issue of male childcare workers, and found a huge discrepancy between parents' wishes for their children to have access to good male role models, and the number of …
Stuck In The MiddleA new report from Action for Children argues that the 'middle years of youth' (6-13 years old) are a period in which not enough support is offered to children, who can suffer problems of loneliness and self-esteem during this time in their lives. The research that was carried out suggests that a chi…
A-Z of LegislationRecently I posted about some guides on CCInform which are useful for giving you an overview of various legislation relating to children and families (click here for details). Now it seems that the Guardian is doing something similar, by offering an A-Z of Legislation for laws relating to civil liber…
The Fridge is Full AgainThree of my grandchildren just had a sleepover at our house this week. I love having them stay! We always have such a great time. My two granddaughters love to draw new pictures to display on the fridge. We have some new Silky Stick crayons that glide on easier than regular crayons. The two were exc…
Firefox TipsA quick internet tip: an increasing number of Web users are switching from Internet Explorer to Firefox as their browser of choice as it offers a number of additional options while surfing - particularly popular is the tabbed browsing feature.If you're a Firefox user, you may be interested in this l…
Virtual LearningA new report from Ofsted states that many schools and colleges have been slow to embrace online materials, with examples of good practice often springing from the enthusiasm of individual teachers. In particular, primary schools have to date made only "very limited" use of the technology to date. Yo…
Social MobilityToday sees the launch of the government's New Opportunities white paper, which contains proposals to increase social mobility in the UK. The key themes of the paper are education and skills, with an emphasis on enabling people from all backgrounds to gain entry to top professions. Extra incentives f…
A New GroupToday was the first day of classes at the university. The one fun thing about teaching on the college level is that you get fresh faces in the middle of the year. When I look out at all the new faces, I wonder what is in store for the semester. I love that feeling and always hope that I can make …
Young People in the MediaA new piece of research from the National Children's Bureau (NCB) investigates how young people feel about their treatment at the hands of the media, concluding that many youngsters are unhappy about their negative portrayal. Stories about crime, sex and drugs were regarded by a large majority as un…
Mixed BagA brief overview of various reports and documents which have appeared in recent weeks:Early Childhood Transitions Research: A Review of Concepts, Theory, and Practice gathers together the findings of many studies on childhood transitions; it's well worth a read if you have an interest in this area.F…
Children's Services in BirminghamMany of the blog readers either work for Birmingham City Council or will have children living in the Birmingham area, so you may be interested in reading Ofsted's assessment of services for children and young people in Birmingham in 2008. The Council is graded on 7 aspects of the services it provide…
Parenting Policy DevelopmentThe Family & Parenting Institute has recently launched a simple but very effective online resource which should be of interest to most students, particularly those who are working on assignments related to contemporary issues. Entitled Parenting Policy - The Last Ten Years, the document is a simple …
Legislation Guides on CCInformA slow news day so here's another plug for CCInform to which all students now have access (see previous post for details on how to access the service).One of the enquiries which students regularly make is for information on a particular piece of legislation, as trying to make sense of an Act of Parl…
Child DevelopmentThe work of the Millennium Cohort Study has been covered before on the blog (see previous post for details), and the project is likely to generate useful research on children's lives for some years to come. The latest report to be drawn from the data that has been collected so far looks at child dev…