Family Child Care

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 <a href="https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/AllPublications/Page1" target="_blank">clicking here</a>, but what I've tried to do is provide links to the ones which are particularly relevant to this site's users.<br /><br />One item which should be of interest to most readers is the <a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/STR/d001088/osr18-2012.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey 2011</i></a> (despite the title it is new!) - a summary of the main findings is <a href="https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DFE-RB240.pdf" target="_blank">also available</a>.<br /><br />There are also two new reports compiled by the <a href="http://www.cwrc.ac.uk/" target="_blank">Childhood Wellbeing Research Centre</a>:<br /><ul><li><a href="https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/Children%27s%20voices%20on%20wellbeing.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Children’s and Young People’s Voices on their Wellbeing</i></a></li><li><a href="https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DFE-RR245%20Main%20report.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Implementing Evidence-Based Programmes in Children’s Services: Key Issues for Success</i></a></li></ul> And three reports from the Longitudinal Study of Early Years Professional Status:<br /><ul><li><i><a href="https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DfE-RR239b%20report.pdf" target="_blank">Listening to Children’s Perspectives: Improving the Quality of Provision in Early Years Settings</a></i></li><li><a href="https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DfE-RR239a%20report.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Second National Survey of Practitioners with Early Years Professional Status</i></a></li><li><a href="https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DfE-RR239c%20report.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Longitudinal Study of Early Years Professional Status: an Exploration of Progress, Leadership and Impact: Final Report</i></a></li></ul>

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 g...

7:22 AM

Outdoor Play & Learning

Today the <a href="http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/" target="_blank">National Trust</a> is holding an event entitled the Natural Childhood Summit and has marked the occasion by releasing a new booklet called <a href="http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cs/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application/pdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1349108059875&ssbinary=true" target="_blank"><i>Reconnecting Children with Nature</i></a>, which summarises the findings of the <a href="http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/document-1355766991839/" target="_blank"><i>Natural Childhood</i></a> report which was published earlier this year. This seems to be a popular area of interest at the moment as I've also had several dissertation students in recent months requesting information on outdoor play and learning. Which seems as good an excuse as any to make that the topic of today's post...<br /><br />Once you've worked your way through the links above, it's worth acquainting yourself with the work of Tim Gill. His 2007 report <a href="http://www.gulbenkian.org.uk/pdffiles/--item-1266-223-No-fear-19-12-07.pdf" target="_blank"><i>No Fear: Growing Up in a Risk Averse Society</i></a> examines many of the issues related to the safety of playing outdoors, while he was also the author of last year's <a href="http://www.londonsdc.org/documents/Sowing%20the%20Seeds%20-%20Full%20Report.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Sowing the Seeds</i></a> report, which argued the importance of allowing children to connect with nature. These themes are explored further in his <a href="http://rethinkingchildhood.com/" target="_blank"><i>Rethinking Childhood</i></a> website, which is updated regularly.<br /><br />There are a number of other research reports and literature reviews which are available. <a href="http://www.tgescapes.co.uk/sites/default/files/the-outdoor-environment.pdf" target="_blank"><i>The Outdoor Environment: How can our Children Learn to Care about their Futures?</i></a> is a brief report which was published in July this year, while <a href="http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/images/Children%20in%20the%20outdoors%20literature%20review_tcm4-597028.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Children in the Outdoors: a Literature Review</i></a> was published in 2009 by the Sustainable Development Research Centre. <a href="http://www.bath.ac.uk/cree/resources/OCR.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Engaging and Learning with the Outdoors</i></a> is a 2005 report from the NFER, while <a href="http://www.ncb.org.uk/media/124866/no.10__children_s_play_in_natural_environments.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Children’s Play in Natural Environments</i></a> is a factsheet from the National Children's Bureau which summarises findings from various projects, and provides suggestions for further reading.<br /><br />Forest Schools are an area which have attracted much interest in recent years, and are a way of combining children's exposure to nature with education - some of the benefits of forest schools are explored in the 2006 report <a href="http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/fr0112forestschoolsreport.pdf/$FILE/fr0112forestschoolsreport.pdf" target="_blank"><i>A Marvellous Opportunity for Children to Learn</i></a>. If this is a topic that interests you, it's also worth seeking out the work of Sara Knight who has written a couple of books on the subject - available online is a brief paper she has written entitled <a href="http://www.tactyc.org.uk/pdfs/Reflection-Knight.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Can Forest School Act as a Spur to Better Quality Outdoor Experiences?</i></a> which will also provide suggestions for further reading.<br /><br />And to finish, an honorary mention of two projects which encourage children to get outside and messy! <i><a href="http://loveoutdoorplay.net/" target="_blank">Love Outdoor Play</a></i> is a campaign from Play England which forms part of their broader aim to allow children to have the freedom and space to play, while <a href="https://www.50things.org.uk/" target="_blank"><i>50 Things to do Before You're 11 3/4</i></a> provides ideas for activities for children to do outdoors and is managed by the National Trust. Which is where we came in...<br /><br />If it's too wet to go outside today (it happens!), you may be interested in seeing how children in other countries are helped to relate to the outdoors with the video below entitled <i>Outdoor PreSchool - Norway</i>:<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="236" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Fp4Nny_rIiw" width="420"></iframe>

Outdoor Play & Learning

Today the National Trust is holding an event entitled the Natural Childhood Summit and has marked the occasion by releasing a new booklet c...

2:41 AM

Literacy in the Sand Table

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1GUQxvrgKsHYtfnTsVq_iQ1Ua_cLd_ZVsq004IptWPPKoCZ3CyJoPyW4JW2bDBLyzawCsyR9__wvPhGnlTjRS9zt_MGUjGkJkdXsqfAA4yM-5y6No4gffgkGvYgMd8vi0CYDODgUZMro/s1600/Seth-+sand.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1GUQxvrgKsHYtfnTsVq_iQ1Ua_cLd_ZVsq004IptWPPKoCZ3CyJoPyW4JW2bDBLyzawCsyR9__wvPhGnlTjRS9zt_MGUjGkJkdXsqfAA4yM-5y6No4gffgkGvYgMd8vi0CYDODgUZMro/s320/Seth-+sand.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>I had the opportunity to present a workshop at the North Carolina AEYC Conference this past week.    It was a joy to meet with wonderful early childhood teachers in North Carolina. I always love visiting that beautiful state.  No matter where I visit in the United States, there are early childhood teachers who want to provide the best possible experience for their children.  Last week was no exception.  The early childhood community continues to look for innovative and engaging ways to help children learn.  Our group discussed using the sand and sensory tables to promote and support language and literacy development.  I firmly believe that the sensory tables are not used enough in our classrooms.  Some of the language and literacy ideas we discussed include:<br /><br /><ul><li>Forming letters of the alphabet with wet sand or dough</li><li>Allowing children to create parts of stories using sand and props</li><li>Having children use a scoop to find sponge letters floating in water</li><li>Using a magnet wand to find magnetic letters hidden in sand</li><li>Using dough to create another ending for a story</li><li>Using sand on a cookie sheet or tray to form alphabet letters with your finger</li></ul><div>The list was quite extensive and included many activities for use in the sensory table or center.  These types of workshops serve as a reminder about how critical it is to engage children and keep learning exciting.  </div>

Literacy in the Sand Table

I had the opportunity to present a workshop at the North Carolina AEYC Conference this past week. It was a joy to meet with wonderful ear...

5:34 AM

Open Access Research for Childhood / Education

Almost all of the posts on this site link to free resources (usually research reports or similar) which those with an interest in childhood & education will hopefully find useful. However, it still remains the case that much high quality peer-reviewed research is inaccessible to many - you either need to hope that the institution you work for or study at has a subscription to an item that you're interested in, or be willing to pay to get hold of it via an inter-library loan or direct from the publisher.<br /><br />Fortunately there is a growing movement to ensure that peer-reviewed research gains a wider audience by making it easier and free to access - in particular, many Universities are now insisting that if one of their academics publishes an article, then a version of it must also be deposited in an institutional repository. So today's post will cover a few of the places where you can find such items or other useful documents, and read them in full. If a particular article or even book chapter you want is not available to you via the 'usual' channels, it's increasingly worth seeing if a version of it exists in the sites mentioned below.<br /><br />The <a href="http://core.kmi.open.ac.uk/" target="_blank">CORE</a> site is a fantastic service which allows you to search across and access the contents of 176 different repositories in the UK. It covers all academic subjects, but there is plenty of childhood / education material which you can read in there. You can even download an Android or iPhone app to use the site while on the move!<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.ioe.ac.uk/" target="_blank">Institute of Education</a> (IOE) offers access to two collections of material. <a href="http://eprints.ioe.ac.uk/" target="_blank">IOE EPrints</a> is an index of material authored by IOE staff, and while full access isn't available to every citation it contains, there is enough available to make it worth a visit. The IOE also manages the <a href="http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/" target="_blank">Digital Education Resource Archive (DERA)</a>, which offers a permanent home to various official government documents, ensuring that they can still be found if there are changes to departmental websites etc.<br /><br />There are a number of online-only journals which offer free access to all visitors. <a href="http://www.symposium-journals.co.uk/" target="_blank">Symposium Journals</a> publish 9 different education journals, offering access via a 'moving window' - eg articles become available to all once they are more than 3 years old. <a href="http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/" target="_blank"><i>Early Childhood Research & Practice</i></a> is a longstanding online journal from the USA which offers free access to all of its content, while the <a href="http://www.doaj.org/doaj?func=subject&cpid=127&uiLanguage=en" target="_blank">Education Section</a> of the Directory of Open Access Journals lists 545 freely available titles. Oddly I haven't had chance to vet them all!<br /><br />And finally: for any information on child development, it's almost certain that the peer-reviewed <a href="http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/en-ca/home.html" target="_blank"><i>Encyclopedia on on Early Child Development</i></a> will cover what you need to know. Or if you're a user of <a href="http://www.eric.ed.gov/" target="_blank">ERIC</a>, the world's largest education database, then there is an option in the Advanced Search which allows you to tick a box to ensure that only items available in full-text will be returned in your results.

Open Access Research for Childhood / Education

Almost all of the posts on this site link to free resources (usually research reports or similar) which those with an interest in childhood ...

8:48 AM

Education At A Glance 2012

Today sees the publication of the OECD's annual <i>Education At A Glance</i> report. This is a huge document, comparing a mass of information on education provision in dozens of different countries, from preschool right up to University level.<br /><br />The full report can be <a href="http://www.oecd.org/edu/EAG%202012_e-book_EN_200912.pdf" target="_blank">downloaded here</a>, though you'd be forgiven for heading straight for the <a href="http://www.oecd.org/edu/highlights.pdf" target="_blank">summary version</a>. In addition, there's an <a href="http://www.oecd.org/edu/EAG2012%20-%20Country%20note%20-%20United%20Kingdom.pdf" target="_blank"><i>United Kingdom Country Note</i></a> available, which provides a shorter analysis of education in the UK, and how it compares to other countries. Or for simple information on the headlines generated by the research, try looking at <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/sep/11/education-compared-oecd-country-pisa" target="_blank">this <i>Guardian</i> article</a> or <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19548597" target="_blank">this BBC article</a>.<br /><br />For further information about education systems in different countries, the <a href="http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/index_en.php" target="_blank">Eurydice</a> and <a href="http://www.ibe.unesco.org/en.html" target="_blank">International Bureau of Education</a> sites are well worth a visit.<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="236" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/j44Uup5iYCE" width="420"></iframe>

Education At A Glance 2012

Today sees the publication of the OECD's annual Education At A Glance report. This is a huge document, comparing a mass of information ...

3:06 AM

Children's Reading Today

The <a href="http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/" target="_blank">National Literacy Trust</a> has just published the findings from it's latest annual survey. The report explores children's attitudes towards reading, what they  read, the different media they read on and the amount of time they spend  reading, while issues such as gender and ethnicity are also considered. One of the headline findings from this year's survey is the suggestion that children are <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19511825" target="_blank">reading less due to time spent on other activities</a>.<br /><br />To read the full text of the report, entitled <a href="http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/assets/0001/4450/Young_people_s_reading_-_FINAL_REPORT.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Children's Reading Today</i></a>, click here.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSzsr16KZMv3LCN-LeE3m2eVw1C02HqfRwAgRi5QeBFCrP1pK6Sr-ESM6_L6NGnxmNQLcQes3UtZg8BYteV234nTDyRERmHMKA2T8GsbYPEQd0u3stlaQxnrU9zison68vhEX05TLyRg/s1600/ReadingPic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSzsr16KZMv3LCN-LeE3m2eVw1C02HqfRwAgRi5QeBFCrP1pK6Sr-ESM6_L6NGnxmNQLcQes3UtZg8BYteV234nTDyRERmHMKA2T8GsbYPEQd0u3stlaQxnrU9zison68vhEX05TLyRg/s320/ReadingPic.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />

Children's Reading Today

The National Literacy Trust has just published the findings from it's latest annual survey. The report explores children's attitude...

5:24 AM

It Shouldn't Happen Here

It Shouldn't Happen Here

Save the Children has just published a new report entitled Child Poverty in 2012: It Shouldn’t Happen Here , to mark their first ever fundra...

3:27 AM

Support Materials for the New EYFS

This week sees the new Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) come into effect across the children's sector. I've covered this topic before on the blog, so here's a quick list of need-to-know material relating to the new regulations<i>: </i><br /><ul><li>The central document is the <i><a href="https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/EYFS%20Statutory%20Framework%20March%202012.pdf" target="_blank">Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage</a></i></li></ul><i></i><ul><li>Early Education have produced <a href="http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Development-Matters-in-the-Early-Years-Foundation-Stage.pdf" target="_blank"><i>Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)</i></a>, which is designed to support practitioners in implementing the new regulations</li></ul><ul><li>Further support is provided by a National Children's Bureau publication entitled: <a href="http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/A-Know-How-Guide.pdf" target="_blank"><i>A Know How Guide: The EYFS Progress Check at Age Two</i></a><i> </i></li></ul>It's also well worth paying regular visits to the <a href="http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/" target="_blank">Foundation Years</a> website, which has plenty of information on the new EYFS and other issues relating to the early years sector. You may also want to have a look at <a href="http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/1014512/BIG-ISSUE-Review-Early-Years-Foundation-Stage/" target="_blank">this collection</a> of <i>Nursery World</i> articles around the subject of the new EYFS, most of which are free to access. And you can list all previous posts on this site relating to the Foundation Stage by <a href="http://bcftcschildhoodeducation.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Foundation%20Stage" target="_blank">clicking here</a>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm2Sn7CIfFvB4zEPur6cuRGtwUz2ujQi1fUT_L6X_XgzXHGx91VwpGinyx8BCaSjcM-WhXqY9UC7cC9ogCOxFY8aOYcwNJBrAxsEPDB7ac0dujvNoY48qgCIvQ9dRpu0j87NnOl2bsFw/s1600/FSPost.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm2Sn7CIfFvB4zEPur6cuRGtwUz2ujQi1fUT_L6X_XgzXHGx91VwpGinyx8BCaSjcM-WhXqY9UC7cC9ogCOxFY8aOYcwNJBrAxsEPDB7ac0dujvNoY48qgCIvQ9dRpu0j87NnOl2bsFw/s320/FSPost.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />

Support Materials for the New EYFS

This week sees the new Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) come into effect across the children's sector. I've covered this topic be...

3:20 AM

The Right Choice for Dual Disorders Addiction

<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Everyone who abuse substances certainly have reasons their own so they can be stuck in traps of drugs or alcohol. Often we know the people who suffer addiction effected over one disease. In medical language, it calls dual diagnosis. Patients had mental disorders or behavioral problems and also suffer from addiction or substance abuse issues. The good news is, with the advancement of medical science is very effective addiction and mental health treatment has come, which can cure the patient completely. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Recently, dual diagnosis has become common style. According to a recent study has revealed that most people who are drug addicts suffer from a mental disorder as well. Most drug rehabilitation programs only concentrate on the treatment of addiction, they do not treat the root of the addiction. But there are some health care centers are specialized in the treatment of dual diagnosis. Center dual diagnosis treatment centers emphasize both addiction treatment and mental health through which patients can be completely cured. According to medical experts, perfect addiction treatment is not possible to do without treatment combinations. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">There are some dual diagnosis treatment centers available out there offering dual diagnosis programs. Online media will help you to find a wide choice of information on care and treatment centers to aid your loved ones suffering from addiction to substances in restoring mental and physical health. <a href="http://www.dualdiagnosis-treatmentcenter.com/"><b style="color: black;">Click here</b></a> to find the right diagnosis treatment center double for them. Treatment programs offered at these centers can help peoples addicted to have increased control over their desire to use a variety of harmful substances. Although at the time the program can makes some complications and requires special treatment and attention. You can offer the necessary assistance to patients with their move to dual diagnosis rehab centers and allow them to get the necessary treatment recovery from an experienced physician. Dual diagnosis treatment center is the best place for drug addicts suffering from both addiction and mental disorders.</div>

The Right Choice for Dual Disorders Addiction

Everyone who abuse substances certainly have reasons their own so they can be stuck in traps of drugs or alcohol. Often we know the peopl...

12:51 AM