Regular Athens users will know how useful the Childlink service can be. If you've not looked at it before, it contains full text news stories, reports, research, statistics and more, all relating to the childcare / early years / education sector.
Childlink has now had a makeover, and seems improved for it. As well as containing information from the UK, the site will start to include European material. Also, the search function has been improved, so that users can be more specific in what they are searching for. Why not take a look and see what you think?
We went on a family outing to southern Utah this past weekend. We were able to see Canyonlands and Natural Bridges National Parks. It was a nice adventure and I was very impressed with the Native America Petroglyphs that we were able to see while hiking. Some were off the beaten path away from most tourist spots. Like young children, they were able to tell stories through pictures. A true written dialogue.
In one park we were able to see the ruins of the Anasazi from at least 700 years ago. As we were looking at the homes in the cliffs, I was struck by the thought of how difficult it would have been to allow children to safely play on the sloping rock. We don't even allow slides on school playgrounds anymore and here was an entire village on a cliff. Where was the gate for the top of the stairs? I am happy that we are so conscious of safety in our time, but I wonder if children were more prepared for life when they had to learn how to protect themselves. Perhaps many children in the 1300s lost their lives because of their lack of protection. But, it makes me wonder if sometimes we protect children so much they don't develop life skills. Maybe protect is not the correct word. Maybe it's smother. Just thinking out loud as I wonder how they stayed up there.
LiteracyActionNet is a new website and is a joint project between Lemos & Crane, the National Literacy Trust and Dyslexia Action. The site contains guidance on working with children and vulnerable adults, and a collection of resources / case studies to help literacy practitioners to develop their own projects. Users must register with the site before use, but this is free, and also gives you access to a forum where you can communicate directly with other users.
A new report from the Sutton Trust argues that social mobility in England lags behind many other developed countries. The research, which focussed on the link between the education levels of parents and their teenage offspring, concluded that while there had been an improvement during the period of Labour government, it is still necessary to explore options to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children. Education Mobility in England is online now.
New research from the Institute of Fiscal Studies suggests that marriage does little for child development. While their new report, Cohabitation, Marriage & Child Outcomes, acknowledges that children born to married couples achieve better outcomes in both school and social and emotional development, their study of over 10,000 children concluded that this was a reflection of differences in the social and economic status of those who decide to get married instead of just living together. To read the full text, click here.
This past weekend I competed in a 5K race to celebrate my birthday. The best part of the entire experience is that this old man finished the race on two legs! I was not quite as fast as I may have been ten years ago, but I was pleased with my time. Isn't it funny that we judge a race by how fast we can get to the finish. The first one over the finish line wins the race. Because I am not an athletic competitor at this age, it is the triumph of working to be able to actually run the race that is important to me. The process that I have gone through during years of running have helped me in other aspects of life.
I often think that for some parents, teaching their child is like a race. They want their child to know everything and get to the finish line first. Perhaps the process of building the skills appropriately would benefit the child more in the long run. I remember working with parents occasionally who were so driven to push their young child that they had very unreal expectations. I also realized that in most cases it was the parents' ego that was the driving force, not having a well-adjusted child with appropriate skills.
Some would call my race last week a failure because I didn't cross the finish line first. However, I was a winner because I finished the race. I learned that I still have what it takes to run the race. Pretty good for an old man.
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The NSPCC Inform website (see previous post for details) has published a collection of new briefing papers. Among those which should interest readers are advice on reporting child abuse and a round up of literature relating to school bullying.
When the media isn't telling us the latest about volcanic ash, it's continuing to cover the election campaign in detail. A new podcast from the Observer brings together a panel of education experts to discuss the implications of the promises made by the various parties. Click here to listen.
The election campaign is well under way, and the result will have implications for family, education and children's services, regardless of which party wins. Now that each of the major parties have published their manifestos, readers may like to take the time to have a closer look at exactly what's been proposed for the areas this blog covers.
The Labour manifesto can be accessed here, and covers the issues of education and families in Chapters 3 & 6. To view Conservative plans, click here and have a look at pages 41-45 and 51-55 of their manifesto. Or to see what the Liberal Democrats have promised, click here and view pages 32-40 and pages 48-52. Alternatively, you may want to compare all three (and other party's policies) at once by using this BBC page, which summarises the various standpoints on all the major issues.
There will be a poll on the right-hand side of this page for the next couple of weeks, asking readers to vote on which of the parties has the most forward-looking policies in the areas of education, early years and families. The results could be interesting!
The Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children and Young People's Services (C4EO) have added a new research report to the many others already available on their website. The latest publication is part of C4EO's safeguarding collection, and explores how best to prevent the abuse or neglect of children whose family circumstances can make them vulnerable. Effective Practice to Protect Children Living in ‘Highly Resistant’ Families is online now.
More election fallout: one of the Bills which was rushed through before the close of Parliament ahead of campaigning was the Children, Schools & Family Act 2010, which has now received royal assent. Among the many parts of the Act are provisions dealing with family courts, SEN and Local Safeguarding Children's Boards. However, due to the hurried manner in which the legislation was passed, other proposed measures including (among others) reform of the primary curriculum, compulsory PSHE and teaching licences were removed from the final draft of the Act.
The full text is online now.
Estamos a punto de cerrar las maletas. Erik y yo salimos para España, donde además de disfrutar de la familia vamos a tener encuentros muy agradables. Chicosssssssssss, que no nos queda nada, jaja. Sí, Erik volverá a jugar con Daniel, con Cristina y con Leyre y por fin conocerá a Julen, el de los rizos, jaja, como dice él. Para Gara tendrá preparado un nuevo dibujo, y yo me muero de ganas por abrazarlos a todos, y estamparles unos cuantos besotes a Daniel, Mara, Fernando, Maite, Inés, Gara y Juana.
The Family & Parenting Institute has released a new publication entitled The Delivery of Parent Skills Training Programmes. This detailed report reviews existing knowledge in this area and attempts to establish guidelines for good practice.
With Parliament due to dissolve this week ahead of the General Election, a lot of business is being rushed through before the campaign can begin properly. So in the last week or so, the House of Commons' Children, Schools & Family Committee has published three reports, all of which may be of interest to some readers.
The first report is an in-depth study of the impact of Sure Start children's centres; among the recommendations is a warning that the network of 3500 existing centres should not be a target for post-election spending cuts until their effectiveness can be properly measured.
Another new report deals with England's education system, by examining the impact of various policy shifts and initiatives since the publication of the Education Reform Act 1988. A conclusion of the report is that future governments will need to strike a balance between central and local control. To read the full text of From Baker to Balls: the Foundations of the Education System, click here.
Also new is a report entitled Transforming Education Outside the Classroom.
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This blog has won a prize! Well, sort of...
Online Degrees is an American site which aims to provide informal support to students who are conducting online support. Recently they put together a list of 50 Best Blogs for Early Childhood Educators, and this site appears in the list in the Policy and News section. Although many of the blogs included in the list are very US-centric, there are still some which may be of interest to our users. You can view the full list by clicking here.
If you're aware of any relevant blogs which other readers may find useful, why not highlight them by leaving a comment below? Here's how to do it.
