Family Child Care

Early Intervention

<a href="http://www.c4eo.org.uk/" target="_blank">C4EO</a> recently published a new report which examines best practice in using early intervention to support at risk or disadvantaged children, families and communities. The report identifies 'five golden threads' which help to ensure that early intervention is deployed effectively. You can read the full text of Grasping the Nettle: Early Intervention for Children, Families and Communities by <a href="http://www.c4eo.org.uk/themes/earlyintervention/files/early_intervention_grasping_the_nettle_full_report.pdf" target="_blank">clicking here</a>. A <a href="http://www.c4eo.org.uk/themes/earlyintervention/files/early_intervention_grasping_the_nettle_executive_summary.pdf" target="_blank">summary version</a> is also available. At the same time as researching this report, C4EO also carried out a survey of how early intervention is practiced in other countries, with a view to providing useful evidence for policy makers. You can read the findings of this project by <a href="http://www.c4eo.org.uk/themes/earlyintervention/files/early_intervention_wave_trust_international_review.pdf" target="_blank">clicking here</a>.

Early Intervention

C4EO recently published a new report which examines best practice in using early intervention to support at risk or disadvantaged children, families and communities. The report identifies 'five golden threads' which help to ensure that early intervention is deployed effectively.You can read the full…

29Oct2010

Fathers & Education

A recent request for information on fathers' involvement in their children's education turned up a host of resources, so it seems a shame not to share them with blog readers. If this is a topic that interests you, then read on... The Teacher Training Resource Bank is a site aimed at students on PGCE courses, although much of the material on there will be useful to other students too. The site has an e-librarian who puts together lists of resources in answer to questions from the site's users, and an enquiry on fathers and education has resulted in a lengthy number of suggestions which you can view by clicking <a href="http://www.ttrb.ac.uk/ELibrarianQuestionDetails.aspx?TextSize=Medium&QuestionId=4416" target="_blank">this link</a>. Tim Kahn of the Pre-School Learning Alliance has put together some reports in this area - among such items are <a href="http://www.pre-school.org.uk/document/745" target="_blank">Fathers’ Involvement in Early Years Settings: Findings from Research</a>, <a href="http://www.pre-school.org.uk/document/742" target="_blank">Where’s Dad? Exploring the Views of Children, Fathers and Mothers on Involving Fathers in Early Years Settings</a>, and <a href="http://www.pre-school.org.uk/document/751" target="_blank">Involving Fathers in Early Years Settings: Evaluating Four Models for Effective Practice Development</a>. The old DfES and DCSF produced a number of reports and briefings that are related to this topic: <ul><li style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/_doc/6726/ACF21C0.pdf" target="_blank">Engaging Fathers: Involving Parents, Raising Achievement</a></li><li style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.northlincs.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/5C39FCD7-8075-40FD-9A08-06614F4FEB1D/14909/TheImpactofParentalInvolvementon365kb2.pdf" target="_blank">The Impact of Parental Involvement on Children’s Education</a></li><li><a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/DCSF-RW004.pdf" target="_blank">Raising Achievement: Do Parents Know They Matter?</a> </li></ul>Last year the National Literacy Trust put together a research paper entitled <a href="http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/assets/0000/0770/Father_review_2009.pdf" target="_blank">Why Fathers Matter to their Children's Literacy</a>. The Family & Parenting Institute has put together a <a href="http://www.familyandparenting.org/parentalEngagement" target="_blank">short piece on parental engagement</a>, together with links to yet further reading. Further information on various issues surrounding the role of the father can be obtained from the <a href="http://www.fatherhoodinstitute.org/" target="_blank">Fatherhood Institute</a>.

Fathers & Education

28Oct2010

More on the Spending Review

The previous post dealt with the details of cuts to children's services following last week's Comprehensive Spending Review. Now the magazine <a href="http://www.cypnow.co.uk/" target="_blank">Children and Young People Now</a> has asked a panel of experts, featuring such figures as the heads of the National Children's Bureau, the Child Poverty Action Group, the 4Children charity and many others, to outline what practical impact they believe that the cuts will have on their services. To read their views, click on the links below. <a href="http://www.cypnow.co.uk/bulletins/Daily-Bulletin/news/1036239/?DCMP=EMC-DailyBulletin" target="_blank">Spending Review: the Sector Delivers its Verdict</a> <a href="http://www.cypnow.co.uk/bulletins/Daily-Bulletin/news/1036456/?DCMP=EMC-DailyBulletin" target="_blank">CYP Now Expert Panel Responds to Spending Review</a>

More on the Spending Review

The previous post dealt with the details of cuts to children's services following last week's Comprehensive Spending Review. Now the magazine Children and Young People Now has asked a panel of experts, featuring such figures as the heads of the National Children's Bureau, the Child Poverty Action Gr…

26Oct2010

7 Connecting Habits of a Lead Teacher

In our classroom management course this week we were talking about setting up classrooms that avoid punishment (punitive discipline). I had the opportunity to review the works of one of my favorite researchers, William Glasser. He was a great educational thinker and often stated that we will not improve schools unless we provide curriculum that is attractive to students, use nonpunitive discipline and emphasize quality in all aspects of teaching and learning. The portions of his research that had the most impact on me over the years are his standards for separating 'boss' teachers from 'lead' teachers. Boss teachers rely on what Glasser calls the 7 Deadly Habits: criticizing, blaming, complaining, nagging, threatening, punishing, and rewarding students to control them. I think we are all familiar with teachers that fall into this category. Rather than falling into the rut of being a 'boss' teacher, Glasser suggests that we become, 'lead' teachers. A lead teacher relies on the 7 Connecting Habits: caring, listening, supporting, contributing, encouraging, trusting, and befriending. The most successful classrooms are the ones led by lead teachers. I have told my student teachers that if they start using one of the deadly habits, combat the temptation with one of the connecting habits. Our goal is to be lead teachers and provide a nurturing atmosphere for the students.

7 Connecting Habits of a Lead Teacher

22Oct2010

Spending Review - Children's Services

This afternoon has finally seen the publication of the government's spending review with details of cuts in most areas of the public sector. Among the various headlines it'd be easy to miss the details relating to children's services, but fortunately some sites have summarised the main points. In particular, the Children and Young People Now website has put together a number of useful short articles: <ul style="font-style: italic;"><li><a href="http://www.cypnow.co.uk/bulletins/Daily-Bulletin/news/1036175/?DCMP=EMC-DailyBulletin" target="_blank">Education Department's Non-Schools Budget Cut by 12% over Four Years</a></li></ul><ul><li> <a href="http://www.cypnow.co.uk/bulletins/Daily-Bulletin/news/1036170/?DCMP=EMC-DailyBulletin" target="_blank">Severe Cuts to Youth Justice Funding Could be Avoided, Sector Leaders Claim</a></li><li><a href="http://www.cypnow.co.uk/bulletins/Daily-Bulletin/news/1036178/?DCMP=EMC-DailyBulletin" target="_blank">Government Creates £100m fund for Voluntary and Community Organisations</a></li></ul><ul style="font-style: italic;"><li><a href="http://www.cypnow.co.uk/bulletins/Daily-Bulletin/news/1036167/?DCMP=EMC-DailyBulletin" target="_blank">Government to Protect Sure Start Centres and Introduce Early Intervention Grant</a></li></ul><ul style="font-style: italic;"><li><a href="http://www.cypnow.co.uk/bulletins/Daily-Bulletin/news/1036174/?DCMP=EMC-DailyBulletin" target="_blank">Child Benefit will Not be Scrapped for Children Over 16</a></li></ul>A brief summary of the main points is also available from the Nursery World website; here's <a href="http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/1036161/BREAKING-NEWS-Comprehensive-Spending-Review/" target="_blank">the link</a>. The BBC website also has <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11584239" target="_blank">an article</a> regarding the implications for education of all types. The Telegraph has a <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/spending-review/8035164/Spending-Review-what-it-means-for-the-Department-of-Education.html" target="_blank">detailed article</a> on the implications faced by the Department of Education. There will undoubtedly be plenty of news stories and discussion columns devoted to this area over the next few days. If you find a particularly interesting one, why not share it with other readers by leaving a comment (<a href="http://bcftcschildhoodeducation.blogspot.com/p/feedback.html" target="_blank">here's how</a>) beneath this post with a link to the information?

Spending Review - Children's Services

20Oct2010

Special Educational Needs 2010

The Department of Education has just published Children with Special Educational Needs 2010: An Analysis. This is the second edition of an annual report which provides detailed information on children with SEN in England. Already the report has made a few headlines for claiming that <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11573192" target="_blank">almost one in four primary school boys has special educational needs</a>; this is a particularly interesting statistic in light of last month's Ofsted review which claimed that currently thousands of children have been misdiagnosed with SEN (see <a href="http://bcftcschildhoodeducation.blogspot.com/2010/09/special-educational-needs-and.html" target="_blank">previous post</a> for details). However, the new publication also contains plenty of information on topics such as achievement at different key stages, breakdowns of SEN pupils by factors such as gender or ethnicity, and data on exclusions. To read the report, <a href="http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/STA/t000965/osr25-2010.pdf" target="_blank">click here</a>.

Special Educational Needs 2010

The Department of Education has just published Children with Special Educational Needs 2010: An Analysis. This is the second edition of an annual report which provides detailed information on children with SEN in England.Already the report has made a few headlines for claiming that almost one in fou…

20Oct2010

Millennium Cohort Study

The <a href="http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/studies.asp?section=000100020001" target="_blank">Millennium Cohort Study</a> is a mammoth ongoing research project which is examining the lives of 19,000 children born in the UK during the years 2000/01 (see <a href="http://bcftcschildhoodeducation.blogspot.com/2008/10/millennium-cohort-study.html" target="_blank">previous post</a> for details). Today sees the publication of the fourth report from the study, and it has made headlines for the findings that it has made <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/oct/15/fifth-uk-children-severe-poverty" target="_blank">regarding child poverty</a>. However, the report also has plenty of information on topics such as parenting, cognitive development, child health, child behaviour and much more. To access the latest report (and all previous reports) from the Study, click on <a href="http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/studies.asp?section=0001000200010012" target="_blank">this link</a> and then click on the PDF icons on the right hand side of the page to look at the different reports. The latest one is labelled MCS4.

Millennium Cohort Study

The Millennium Cohort Study is a mammoth ongoing research project which is examining the lives of 19,000 children born in the UK during the years 2000/01 (see previous post for details). Today sees the publication of the fourth report from the study, and it has made headlines for the findings that i…

15Oct2010

Starting a Family Revolution

In April 2009 the <a href="http://www.thefamilycommission.org.uk/" target="_blank">Family Commission</a> (set up by the <a href="http://www.4children.org.uk/" target="_blank">4Children</a> charity) began work on an in-depth inquiry to investigate all aspects of family life in the UK. The project has examined evidence from a number of sources, including interviews with over 10,000 families, submissions from the public, seminars with high ranking officials and more. Yesterday saw the publication of the Commission's final report. Some of the findings, such as fears about family finances and closure of Sure Start Centres are highlighted in this <a href="http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/rss/1034369/Inquiry-calls-family-revolution/" target="_blank">Nursery World article</a>. The full report, entitled <a href="http://www.thefamilycommission.org.uk/resources/FamilyCommission_final_report_2010.pdf" target="_blank">Starting A Family Revolution: Putting Families in Charge</a>, can be accessed from this link, while a <a href="http://www.thefamilycommission.org.uk/resources/FamilyCommission_StartingAFamilyRevolution_Summary.pdf" target="_blank">summary version</a> is also available.

Starting a Family Revolution

In April 2009 the Family Commission (set up by the 4Children charity) began work on an in-depth inquiry to investigate all aspects of family life in the UK. The project has examined evidence from a number of sources, including interviews with over 10,000 families, submissions from the public, semina…

14Oct2010

Fall Colors

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicIS_99xmGJXqBZu31kJGvViQkrFXlAR2DcdEMjEjWxgtVRBbfA7whBtFYyhWAIHQV-QYQiEfCsIU6-SPC_KJNxu3AaQ4JPli-BZkDnNQg06Q_iQ2InoRRgGXpO1cMyJV3jqmD3dX0rqw/s1600/2008+002.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527745905905221170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicIS_99xmGJXqBZu31kJGvViQkrFXlAR2DcdEMjEjWxgtVRBbfA7whBtFYyhWAIHQV-QYQiEfCsIU6-SPC_KJNxu3AaQ4JPli-BZkDnNQg06Q_iQ2InoRRgGXpO1cMyJV3jqmD3dX0rqw/s200/2008+002.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" /></a> <div>I'm always jealous of people who live in climates that are more mild during the winter (I don't enjoy cold much any more). However, one of the things I love about our climate is the wonderful colors that we see during the autumn. Since we are surrounded by mountains, it is a lovely site to see. We live at the base of a mountain and it is amazing to watch it change daily. I remember all of the fall activities that I did in the classroom using those leaves.</div> <ul> <li>Gluing leaves on pictures to represent the autumn</li> <li>Placing larger leaves under thin paper and doing leaf rubbings with the side of a peeled crayon</li> <li>Having the children replicate the colors of the leaves by color mixing </li> <li>Laminating leaves for use in the science center</li> <li>Looking at the leaves under a magnifying glass or microscope</li> <li>Leaf glitter (finely crumbled leaves glued on projects)</li></ul> I remember when another teacher told me about leaf glitter. I laughed thinking it was a weak idea. Then I watched what happened when I crumbled leaves and allowed the children to use the crumbs just like they would use glitter. They were thrilled and we had to continually make more! Who knew such a simple idea would be such a hit. The biggest plus was that it was so much easier to clean up than regular glitter. Those of you who are surrounded by the colors of autumn and work with young children, make the most of this time of year. For those of you who live where leaves don't do much changing, I'm sorry. You can give me a rough time during the winter when you are having a picnic.

Fall Colors

I'm always jealous of people who live in climates that are more mild during the winter (I don't enjoy cold much any more). However, one of the things I love about our climate is the wonderful colors that we see during the autumn. Since we are surrounded by mountains, it is a lovely site to see. We l…

13Oct2010

How Fair is Britain?

Yesterday saw the publication of How Fair is Britain?, a mammoth report from the <a href="http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/" target="_blank">Equality and Human Rights Commission</a> which looks at equality in all areas of modern UK society. At 790 pages long it might be expecting a little too much for most people to read it in full, but links to some of the most relevant material for blog readers are below: <a href="http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/triennial_review/how_fair_is_britain_ch10.pdf" target="_blank">Chapter 10: Education</a> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/oct/10/britains-divided-school-system-report" target="_blank">Britain's Divided Schools: a Disturbing Portrait of Inequality</a> (Guardian article summarising education issues raised by the report) <a href="http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/triennial_review/how_fair_is_britain_ch9.pdf" target="_blank">Chapter 9: Health</a> <a href="http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/triennial_review/how_fair_is_britain_ch13.pdf" target="_blank">Chapter 13: Care and Support</a> Readers interested in detailed information on these topics may also be interested in the latest edition of Social Trends (see <a href="http://bcftcschildhoodeducation.blogspot.com/2010/07/social-trends-2010.html" target="_blank">previous post</a> for details).

How Fair is Britain?

Yesterday saw the publication of How Fair is Britain?, a mammoth report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission which looks at equality in all areas of modern UK society. At 790 pages long it might be expecting a little too much for most people to read it in full, but links to some of the most…

12Oct2010

Serious Games

Serious Games

One for the ICT experts among our readers today - Futurelab have just published a literature review which examines the topic of how digital games can be utilised as serious teaching tools. The report examines such issues as pedagogy and assessment within games, and explores the different ways in whi…

08Oct2010