Family Child Care

School Readiness

School Readiness

A common theme of many reports and debates this year has been the subject of at what age children should start school, or what sort of provi...

9:25 AM

Finding Information for your Dissertation

It’s that time of year again when final year students flood into the library asking questions about finding information for their dissertations. Actually the same concerns tend to crop up every year, so here’s a few answers to some of the most common enquiries: <ul><li>Do try to read as much as possible, as soon as possible, in relation to the topic you have in mind. Many students worry that until they’ve got a fixed title, they might waste time reading the ‘wrong’ material. It is true that you might not end up directly using everything that you read in the early stages, but it all increases your knowledge of the topic you’re looking at. </li></ul><ul><li> One of the most common comments heard at this time of year is, "I'd like to research this topic, but I'm not sure that there's enough information available." While your tutor will be the person to speak to with regards to selecting your final title, I can assure you that it's incredibly rare for anyone to pick a topic which cannot be studied due to a lack of relevant information or research.</li></ul><ul><li>That said, consider what you already know from your course before selecting a topic. Some students will say “I know that this topic hasn’t really been researched so I’m going to look at it.” You may well be able to write your dissertation on your chosen area, but if it really is a brand new area for study then it’s going to make your literature review harder. </li></ul><ul><li>Be wary of writing a dissertation about the latest piece of technology being used in schools or nurseries. While you might see the item being mentioned a lot in magazines or newspapers, the length of time required to carry out detailed research and get it published means that you’re unlikely to find much in the way of relevant ‘academic’ research. </li></ul><ul><li> Don't have access to a particular article which sounds really useful? Have a look to see if the author has written other pieces on the same topic – often you will find that they have published similar items in different journals, some of which you may have access to. Or you can always ask your library to order an item in for you, for a small fee.</li></ul><ul><li>Don't automatically discount articles published outside of the UK. If you are writing (for example) a dissertation about the National Curriculum or legislation, then naturally you’ll need something ‘local’. But if you’re writing more widely about (for example) child development, the fact that the articles you’ve found are from the USA is not necessarily a problem – two year olds in America are not so different from two year olds in England. </li></ul><ul><li>Do get in the habit of writing down all your references as you go along – it’s amazing how many students use several quotes from the same source, then find that a few months later, when they’re getting ready to submit their work, they don’t have the details to hand. Spending 30 seconds on getting the referencing details down can save you so much trouble later on.</li></ul><ul><li> And finally… Use the library! This should be an obvious one, but however good you are at finding information on Google, your library will contain both print and online information that won’t be freely available on the Web. And it has staff who can help you access that information quickly and easily.</li></ul>There are of course many other aspects of writing a dissertation, which your tutor will be able to advise you on. But you may also find the following articles useful: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/mortarboard/2012/may/02/dissertation-top-ten-tips" target="_blank">Ten Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Started my Dissertation</a> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/series/dissertation-dos-and-don-ts" target="_blank">Dissertation Dos and Don'ts</a>  (A series of articles on different aspects of writing your dissertation) Good luck! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxcitiesbookfestival/4557307607/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Students at Work by Fox Cities Book Festival, on Flickr"><img alt="Students at Work" height="240" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3395/4557307607_a1c8c63b39.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>

Finding Information for your Dissertation

It’s that time of year again when final year students flood into the library asking questions about finding information for their dissertati...

6:59 AM

1940s English School

1940s English School

It's a slow news day and there haven't been any film clips on this site for a while, so take a look at the below. It's a 1940s v...

6:40 AM

Centres of Excellence?

Centres of Excellence?

A new report from the Policy Exchange think tank looks at how Children's Centres are coping with the cuts that have hit the public sect...

3:09 AM

Best Practice for Schools

Best Practice for Schools

This week the CfBT Education Trust has published a series of reports that may be of interest to readers of this site, particularly if you...

8:01 AM

When Should Children Start School?

There are currently a lot of headlines and a lot of noise on social networks relating to a letter which has appeared in today's Telegraph newspaper. The letter, which is signed by 127 childcare experts (<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/10302844/The-Government-should-stop-intervening-in-early-education.html" target="_blank">click here</a> to read it), calls on the government to alter its approach to early years policy, and move away from plans to test children at a young age. Further headlines have been generated by the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-24058227" target="_blank">government's response to the letter</a> as "misguided". Wherever you stand on this argument, there's certainly a big debate now going on! The letter forms part of the launch for <a href="http://www.toomuchtoosoon.org/" target="_blank">Too Much, Too Soon</a>, a campaign from the Save Childhood Movement (see <a href="http://bcftcschildhoodeducation.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/save-childhood.html" target="_blank">previous post</a> for details). Their call for less emphasis on formal learning in the early years is not a new one - to give just one example, back in 2007 the Professional Association for Teachers suggested that the age at which children start school should be <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6925642.stm" target="_blank">raised to six or seven</a>. As you might expect, there is some information and research freely available on this topic. <a href="http://www.nfer.ac.uk/shadomx/apps/fms/fmsdownload.cfm?file_uuid=3B48895C-E497-6F68-A237-BCD7AB934443&siteName=nfer" target="_blank">This table</a> lists the compulsory starting age of starting school in European countries (correct as of January 2013) so that you can see how the UK compares to other places. You can also get more detail about the early years curriculums of the different countries by looking at their individual entries on the <a href="http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/eurypedia_en.php" target="_blank">Eurypedia website</a>. For actual research on the effects of starting school early, there's a 2011 briefing paper entitled <a href="http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/Documents/RaISe/Publications/2011/Education/9711.pdf" target="_blank">Arguments on the School Starting Age</a> which should be of interest. On a similar note (although a little older), Caroline Sharp's 2002 paper entitled <a href="http://www.nfer.ac.uk/nfer/publications/44410/44410.pdf" target="_blank">School Starting Age: European Policy and Recent Research</a> is worth a read. It's also worth looking at the following 2011 document from TACTYC - <a href="http://www.tactyc.org.uk/occasional-papers/occasional-paper2.pdf" target="_blank">School Readiness: a Critical Review of Perspectives and Evidence</a> - or for a 'human interest' angle, try <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2009/apr/21/early-years-education" target="_blank">this article</a> from the Guardian. This <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22271466" target="_blank">BBC article</a> from April this year is also relevant. Of course, it all gets more complicated when you consider the fact that some children are effectively starting earlier than their peers as they are born in the summer months. <a href="http://www.ifs.org.uk/bns/bn122.pdf" target="_blank">Does When You Are Born Matter?</a> and <a href="http://www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/images/109784-birthdate-effects-a-review-of-the-literature-from-1990-on.pdf" target="_blank">Birthdate Effects: A Review of the Literature from 1990-on</a> are two relatively recent research reports which deal with this subject.

When Should Children Start School?

There are currently a lot of headlines and a lot of noise on social networks relating to a letter which has appeared in today's Telegrap...

5:56 AM

New National Curriculum Framework

New National Curriculum Framework

If you're a teacher or trainee teacher, you're going to need to read today's post... The DfE has just published the framework fo...

8:53 AM

Teachers' Standards

Following a request from one of our new PGCE students yesterday, here's a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/208682/Teachers__Standards_2013.pdf" target="_blank">link to the Teachers' Standards</a> which you'll need to familiarise yourselves with during your course. The Standards were initially introduced in September 2012, and revised in June of this year. Further relevant information about the Standards is <a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/reviewofstandards/a00205581/teachers-standards1-sep-2012" target="_blank">available here</a>. Don't forget that you can read previous teaching related posts by clicking on 'Teaching' in the Hot Topics menu on the right of the screen. There is also a Teaching section on the Links page of this site. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3XcaSdWj7Y3PrWJs80QZocAzbfLvY6KBxoIM8yIk4_UioamOmBm6WiiZ-pM76IeIt19xW1zfKBR3gLAfS83jQVk80OCHE2m4VLgUHYo2leYdYTONdjgSnXuPkQ52G2JaNExpGzgrzQA/s1600/Teaching.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3XcaSdWj7Y3PrWJs80QZocAzbfLvY6KBxoIM8yIk4_UioamOmBm6WiiZ-pM76IeIt19xW1zfKBR3gLAfS83jQVk80OCHE2m4VLgUHYo2leYdYTONdjgSnXuPkQ52G2JaNExpGzgrzQA/s200/Teaching.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>

Teachers' Standards

Following a request from one of our new PGCE students yesterday, here's a link to the Teachers' Standards which you'll need to ...

2:42 AM

Breaking Barriers

Breaking Barriers

Breaking Barriers is a new report from the Children's Society which examines the impact of budget cuts on children's centres, and ...

5:39 AM

Early Years Outcomes

On a similar note to my previous post, the DfE has just published Early Years Outcomes, a piece of non-statutory guidance which sets out the various developmental milestones which a child might be expected to achieve during the first five years of their life. The document is intended for both practitioners and inspectors, but would also serve as a useful reference sheet for students - very handy if you're just starting your course! To view Early Years Outcomes in full, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/237249/Early_Years_Outcomes.pdf" target="_blank">click here</a>. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8vSgWhLB4LKLoP5gO6PMi9PLFHF2-tz63ztuXoM26gLsqxkWdkqapzG8kn-f6RGm6GPA-LYx4A6g282t-Lf27qOiAbWXv7aCiSgI6YbChQYHu5WCyu5p93Xy-uv694GtABRumUPooGg/s1600/BlogPost.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8vSgWhLB4LKLoP5gO6PMi9PLFHF2-tz63ztuXoM26gLsqxkWdkqapzG8kn-f6RGm6GPA-LYx4A6g282t-Lf27qOiAbWXv7aCiSgI6YbChQYHu5WCyu5p93Xy-uv694GtABRumUPooGg/s200/BlogPost.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>

Early Years Outcomes

On a similar note to my previous post, the DfE has just published Early Years Outcomes , a piece of non-statutory guidance which sets out th...

2:16 AM

Universally Speaking

Universally Speaking

The Communication Trust has just released a really useful set of booklets which outline where children should be with their communication s...

6:11 AM

Requires Improvement

Requires Improvement

A new publication from the Centre for Social Justice examines disadvantage in the education system in England. Requires Improvement: The Ca...

3:29 AM

Greater Expectations

Greater Expectations

Last week the National Children's Bureau published Greater Expectations: Raising Aspirations for our Children . This is a detailed repor...

8:12 AM