Review of 2011

So what were the most important developments and reports in the childcare / education sectors in 2011? If you missed any, read on to find out...<br /><br />Probably the most significant event of the year was the publication in March of the <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.education.gov.uk/tickellreview" target="_blank">Tickell Review of the Early Years Foundation Stage</a>, which has implications for all early years practitioners. Among the report's many points were recommendations to cut the number of Early Learning Goals from 69 to 17, and a change in focus to three 'prime' areas of learning. A simple guide to the proposals is available by <a href="http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/rss/1063538/EYFS-REVIEW---handy-guide-proposals/" target="_blank">clicking here</a>.<br /><br />Other major government projects included the publication in May of the <a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/munroreview/" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Munro Review of Child Protection</span></a>, which investigated procedures for safeguarding children and the role of social workers, and the <a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/nutbrownreview" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Nutbrown Review</span></a>, which is currently ongoing and is examining qualifications and career pathways in the foundation years - its final report is due next year. Those with an interest in special educational needs will have found the <a href="https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/Green-Paper-SEN.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Support and Aspiration</span></a> green paper which was published in March of great interest.<br /><br />Annual reports from well known organisations are also a handy way of gauging current issues surrounding the sector. Some of the most useful ones from this year include the <a href="https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/OSR17-2011-Main%20report.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey</span></a>, the <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/annualreport1011" target="_blank">Ofsted Annual Report</a>, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's <a href="http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/poverty-social-exclusion-assessment-full.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion</span></a>, and the <a href="http://www.crae.org.uk/assets/files/CRAE%20State%20of%20childrens%20rights%20Dec%202011.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">State of Children's Rights in England 2011</span></a>. For a more international flavour, try looking at the OECD's <a href="http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/61/2/48631582.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Education At A Glance 2011</span></a>, or UNICEF's <a href="http://www.unicef.org.uk/Documents/Publication-pdfs/sowc2011.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">State of the World's Children 2011</span></a>.<br /><br />Picking out individual publications from the hundreds that come out every year is always difficult, but some of the ones that seem particularly relevant to readers of this site include the recent <a href="http://www.centreformodernfamily.com/Portals/0/Images/pdfs/SW_Report_Family_SP.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Family: Helping to Understand the Modern British Family</span></a>, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies' <a href="http://www.ifs.org.uk/bns/bn122.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Does When You Are Born Matter?</span></a> which examines the claim that summer born children face an educational disadvantage. While <a href="http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/0/28/48980282.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Investing in High-Quality Early Childhood Education and Care</span></a> is a brief report from the OECD which highlights evidence that points to the benefits of providing support for children from a young age.<br /><br />And some other miscellaneous stuff... Teachers TV was axed this year, although its full archive is available for free from the <a href="http://www.teachersmedia.co.uk/" target="_blank">Teachers Media</a> site. The <a href="http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/" target="_blank">Digital Education Resource Archive</a> (DERA) was launched, and provides full access to a growing number of educational reports published by government departments over the last 17 years. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011vnls" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Poor Kids</span></a> and <a href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/educating-essex" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Educating Essex</span></a> were two TV programmes which dealt with different aspects of childhood, and are well worth watching if they get repeated in the future. And closer to home, one of the most popular posts on this site this year turned out to be one about <a href="http://bcftcschildhoodeducation.blogspot.com/2011/02/childrens-songs.html" target="_blank">children's songs</a>... hardly 'academic', but quite interesting...<br /><br />At the start of 2011, <span style="font-style: italic;">Nursery World</span> published an article outlining professionals' <a href="http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/rss/1047720/Analysis-Early-Years-Sector-2011-Hopes-fears/" target="_blank">hopes and fears for the childcare sector in 2011</a> - how far do you think these have been met? And what are the challenges for 2012? The Social Market Foundation's recent report <a href="http://www.smf.co.uk/assets/files/publications/SMF%20The%20Parent%20Trap.PDF" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Parent Trap</span></a> outlines some of the issues facing the sector over the next 5 years.<br /><br />If I've missed anything, feel free to share it with other site users by leaving a comment underneath this post, otherwise that's your lot for this year. Get in the festive mood by enjoying the video below, in which veteran music legend Bob Dylan dances in a red hat and gets excited about his impending visit from Santa. Maybe he's just a big kid too...<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/a8qE6WQmNus" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="284" width="504"></iframe>

Review of 2011

So what were the most important developments and reports in the childcare / education sectors in 2011? If you missed any, read on to find out...Probably the most significant event of the year was the publication in March of the Tickell Review of the Early Years Foundation Stage, which has implicatio…

Read more »

An Introduction to Child Protection Legislation in the UK

I'm a couple of months behind with this one, but better late than never... In October the <a href="http://www.nspcc.org.uk/" target="_blank">NSPCC</a> published <span style="font-style: italic;">An Introduction to Child Protection Legislation in the UK</span>. This is a 13 page guide to all of the major parliamentary Acts covering child protection, providing brief, simple overviews of each one, and also helping to put them into context with supplementary information. As an introduction to this complicated subject, it should be very useful.<br /><br />To read the guide in full, <a href="http://www.nspcc.org.uk/inform/research/questions/child_protection_legislation_in_the_uk_pdf_wdf48953.pdf" target="_blank">click here</a>.

An Introduction to Child Protection Legislation in the UK

I'm a couple of months behind with this one, but better late than never... In October the NSPCC published An Introduction to Child Protection Legislation in the UK. This is a 13 page guide to all of the major parliamentary Acts covering child protection, providing brief, simple overviews of each one…

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On Your Marks

The <a href="http://www.resolutionfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Resolution Foundation</a> has just published a new report entitled <span style="font-style: italic;">On Your Marks: Measuring the</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> School Readiness of Children in Low-to-Middle Income Families</span>. The rationale for this research is explained in <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2011/dec/14/low-to-middle-income-families-help" target="_blank">this article</a> by one of the Foundation's directors. To view the full report, <a href="http://www.resolutionfoundation.org/media/media/downloads/On_your_marks.pdf" target="_blank">click here</a>.

On Your Marks

The Resolution Foundation has just published a new report entitled On Your Marks: Measuring the School Readiness of Children in Low-to-Middle Income Families. The rationale for this research is explained in this article by one of the Foundation's directors. To view the full report, click here.…

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Children's Centres & Needy Families

The <a href="http://www.nfer.ac.uk/" target="_blank">NFER</a> has just published <span class="title"><a href="http://www.nfer.ac.uk/nfer/publications/LGTC01/LGTC01.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">Targeting Children's Centre Services on the Most Needy Families</span></a>. This report </span>explains how local authority and children’s centre staff are defining, identifying and prioritising families in greatest need of support, and the practical implications of targeting for local authorities, for children’s centres and for policy.

Children's Centres & Needy Families

The NFER has just published Targeting Children's Centre Services on the Most Needy Families. This report explains how local authority and children’s centre staff are defining, identifying and prioritising families in greatest need of support, and the practical implications of targeting for local aut…

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State of Children’s Rights in England 2011

Today the <a href="http://www.crae.org.uk/" target="_blank">Children's Rights Alliance for England</a> has published its annual <span style="font-style: italic;">State of Children’s Rights in England </span>report. This year's edition marks the 20th anniversary of the UK ratifying the UN Conention on the Rights of the Child, and reviews how the government has performed in terms of acting on UN recommendations to strengthen children's rights. The main points are summarised in <a href="http://www.cypnow.co.uk/go/news/article/1108026/government-falls-short-childrens-rights-claims-charity/" target="_blank">this article</a> from <span style="font-style: italic;">Children & Young People Now</span>.<br /><br />To read the full report, <a href="http://www.crae.org.uk/assets/files/CRAE%20State%20of%20childrens%20rights%20Dec%202011.pdf" target="_blank">click here</a>.

State of Children’s Rights in England 2011

Today the Children's Rights Alliance for England has published its annual State of Children’s Rights in England report. This year's edition marks the 20th anniversary of the UK ratifying the UN Conention on the Rights of the Child, and reviews how the government has performed in terms of acting on U…

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The Modern British Family

The Centre for the Modern Family is a new think tank which aims to investigate what constitutes a 'family' in Britain today. Today sees the publication of its first report <span style="font-style: italic;">Family: Helping to Understand the Modern British Family</span>, which concludes that the traditional idea of <a href="http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/rss/1107898/Married-24-children-no-longer-typical-family/" target="_blank">'married with 2.4 children' is no longer the norm</a>. The report also identifies ten new family types based upon age, the individuals involved and their attitudes.<br /><br />The full text of the report is available from <a href="http://www.centreformodernfamily.com/Portals/0/Images/pdfs/SW_Report_Family_SP.pdf" target="_blank">this link</a>, though further supplementary information is also available from the <a href="http://www.centreformodernfamily.com/" target="_blank">Centre's website</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Ta9HzqZJ9sBLydtnhWxMlv0lcWG9l9cvX044b3LlrBorsrTFFVqx3X8n-9qe0G8SHWcDBuS9rgPNCoOC67pQ8j8hNQxRlKlvcScp3vaMHpIFeFHDVXHVkxlZ_ufpKuOlJn6E17Z0qw/s1600/FamilyPic.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5683024325701514946" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Ta9HzqZJ9sBLydtnhWxMlv0lcWG9l9cvX044b3LlrBorsrTFFVqx3X8n-9qe0G8SHWcDBuS9rgPNCoOC67pQ8j8hNQxRlKlvcScp3vaMHpIFeFHDVXHVkxlZ_ufpKuOlJn6E17Z0qw/s200/FamilyPic.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 234px; height: 174px;" /></a>

The Modern British Family

The Centre for the Modern Family is a new think tank which aims to investigate what constitutes a 'family' in Britain today. Today sees the publication of its first report Family: Helping to Understand the Modern British Family, which concludes that the traditional idea of 'married with 2.4 children…

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Redesign

Regular visitors will have noticed a different look to the site in recent days - I've made some changes to colour schemes, fonts and chosen a new background image more in keeping with the site's subject matter, but all of the content and archives are unchanged. Also, if you're visiting these pages using a mobile device then you'll be shown a simpler, stripped down version of the site, although all posts are still available in full, and you can switch to the full version if you'd prefer. Any feedback that users have on these changes is welcomed.

Redesign

Regular visitors will have noticed a different look to the site in recent days - I've made some changes to colour schemes, fonts and chosen a new background image more in keeping with the site's subject matter, but all of the content and archives are unchanged. Also, if you're visiting these pages u…

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OnTheWeb

After a gap of a few months, there's a welcome return for <a href="http://www.nfer.ac.uk/what-we-offer/information/ontheweb/" target="_blank">OnTheWeb</a> service from the <a href="http://www.nfer.ac.uk/" target="_blank">NFER</a>. This is a monthly newsletter which rounds up details of new reports from the educational sector and provides links to the full text of items - well worth checking on a regular basis! The latest issue is available now from <a href="http://www.nfer.ac.uk/what-we-offer/information/ontheweb/pdfs/oct11.pdf" target="_blank">this link</a> - although some of the items it mentions have already been featured on this site, there are details of approximately 100 reports in total, which are listed by subject headings.

OnTheWeb

After a gap of a few months, there's a welcome return for OnTheWeb service from the NFER. This is a monthly newsletter which rounds up details of new reports from the educational sector and provides links to the full text of items - well worth checking on a regular basis! The latest issue is availab…

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Joyful Reading

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKoKWgS1CzqtYjDD1eAWuoVkjSvtD_9ww10vrD4R2UuwSgCyhZXVdcdWfUczzu-yzUdclQkBHk7l5IBEMNHHelQr0UJq3ZHXCrvPLQHy_3OCsnUJS67mdXAJUc5knQ_YmLiVjo6wWp9W0/s1600/DSC03208%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" dda="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKoKWgS1CzqtYjDD1eAWuoVkjSvtD_9ww10vrD4R2UuwSgCyhZXVdcdWfUczzu-yzUdclQkBHk7l5IBEMNHHelQr0UJq3ZHXCrvPLQHy_3OCsnUJS67mdXAJUc5knQ_YmLiVjo6wWp9W0/s320/DSC03208%255B1%255D.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Reading has been on my mind a lot lately.  I was searching through research on how children learn to read and the best methods for teaching reading.  We know that the best methods don't work with every child and that some questionable methods seem to work with some children.  I was challenging my reading class to make sure they always use multiple methods to reach children who are struggling with the reading process.  One thing research clearly indicates is that it is the attitude of the teacher that is the number one factor in reading success in a classroom.<br />It is often difficult to help a struggling child keep a positive attitude about reading.  For many children it becomes a daunting and impossible task.  It is up to the adult working with the child to do everything possible to instill in the child a desire to be successfull and a feeling that she can become a reader.  That is a challenge for us all.  How do we help the child become excited about something that  she feels unsuccessful doing?  I think that tracking (grouping children by ability) is one of the mistakes teachers often make.  Reading researchers indicate that tracking is one of the worst things that can be done for a child on or below reading level.  She has no models for success and she may mentally label herself as "dumb."  Those are hard issues to overcome.  Mixed level groups and activities seem to be the most successful for struggling readers.  I had a lot of success in my own classroom with mixed groups.  It was a beginning step to instilling that desire to read in a child who originally had that excitement when she started school.

Joyful Reading

Reading has been on my mind a lot lately.  I was searching through research on how children learn to read and the best methods for teaching reading.  We know that the best methods don't work with every child and that some questionable methods seem to work with some children.  I was challenging my re…

Read more »

Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion 2011

The 2011 edition of <span style="font-style: italic;">Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion</span> has just been published. This is an annual report from the <a href="http://www.jrf.org.uk/" target="_blank">Joseph Rowntree Foundation</a>, which uses official government data to examine in detail issues such as low income, poor education and community problems. Regular readers of this site will probably be most interested in the report's 3rd chapter which focuses on children, providing statistical analysis as well as contextual information.<br /><br />The full report can be accessed from <a href="http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/poverty-social-exclusion-assessment-full.pdf" target="_blank">this link</a>. A <a href="http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/MOPSE-2011-summary.pdf" target="_blank">summary version</a> is also available.

Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion 2011

The 2011 edition of Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion has just been published. This is an annual report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which uses official government data to examine in detail issues such as low income, poor education and community problems. Regular readers of this site w…

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