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Independent learning & preparation tasks:

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Independent learning & preparation tasks:

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There are reading, research and note making tasks to be completed prior to your session on:
Unit 2: Understand how to support children and young people to improve their mental health and well-being.
LO 2: Understand the current legislation in relation to children and young people’s mental health in own home nation
L.O 3: Understand how to support mental health and well-being of children and young people in schools and colleges
Tasks: Read and make notes:
1. Find your school policies that relate to supporting the mental health and well being of the pupils
***Explain the ways of working in your setting...note actual practice/ procedures
2. Note which exact laws (legislation) the practice/ ways of working link to- e.g. how does practice in your school meet the law- which laws? which parts of these laws in particular?
3. Make notes that explore the effectiveness or potential effectiveness of three (3) strategies used in your setting that help CYP with ‘coping’ and ‘building resilience’
4. Make notes- evaluate your own role and your own practice, then also include:

*** recommendations for change/improvement

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Carol Dweck- The power of 'not yet'

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Developing a Growth Mindset with Carol Dweck

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Caution, praise can be dangerous!...

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'coping' and 'resilience'

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Practising growth mindset theory with children is a great way to get them engaged with subjects and activities that they try to avoid through fear of getting things wrong or "not being good enough".

In EYFS the key pillars of learning are literacy, numeracy and art. If a child starts to fall behind in one of these areas and believes that their abilities and talents are a fixed state, then they become easily discouraged.

In this article we'll begin to explain how fixed and growth mindsets affect children's thinking, learning and development.

What is a growth mindset?

Has your child ever said to you 'There's no point, I'll never be able to do it' or avoided doing something because they've failed at it in the past?

Feelings like this can be related to what children believe about what makes them 'good' at something - whether it's school work, sport, or even their ability to manage their emotions and behaviour.

Some children will tend to give up on challenging tasks easily, or avoid tasks they've failed at before. They tend to believe that being 'good' at a particular activity is a fixed state, and is something they can't control. In psychology, this way of thinking is called a ' fixed mindset'.

Others might bounce back quickly from failure and be more likely to explore how they can get better at doing something. They tend to be children who believe that you can improve your abilities by practising, or by finding a different way to achieve your goal. This way of thinking is called a 'growth mindset', and developing it can help make children more resilient for life.

There are lots of small things you can do every day that can help your little one develop a growth mindset.

Is ability something innate?

Professor Carol Dweck, an American psychologist, found that we all have different beliefs about the underlying nature of ability.

Children (and adults!) with a growth mindset believe that intelligence and abilities can be developed through effort, persistence, trying different strategies and learning from mistakes.

On the other hand, people with a fixed mindset believe that our intelligence and abilities are fixed traits; something that you are born with and that you can't really do anything about.

How do the different Mindsets develop and why are they important?

Most babies are excited to learn. However, as soon as children are able to compare themselves to others, some will stop focusing on learning and will instead focus on performance; they want to look good in front of others and more importantly, they want to feel like they are the best.

According to someone with a fixed mindset, if you fail at something, make a mistake, or even have to put effort in, it must be because 'you're just not good enough'. Because of that belief, children begin to avoid challenges and choose activities that they find easy.

People with a fixed mindset feel as if they have no control over their abilities, and are helpless in the face of difficulties and setbacks. They begin to feel disheartened if they find something difficult, which can lead to low self-esteem and a developing sense that there is 'no point' in trying.

Over time, children who feel like this may decrease their efforts and sometimes even engage in disruptive behaviours (anything that will detract from the fact that they are struggling).

Children (and adults!) with a growth mindset think very differently. They believe that they can get better at something by practising, so when they're faced with a challenge, they become more and more determined to succeed, wanting to persevere and overcome knockbacks. They tend to feel as if they're in control, and are not threatened by hard work or failure.

Although no one likes failing, children with a growth mindset do not let failure define them; instead, they use setbacks to motivate them. Children encouraged to adopt a growth mindset enjoy challenges and the sense of achievement they get when they succeed.

Researchers have found that building a growth mindset helps children at school; making them more motivated, more engaged in the classroom and likely to receive higher marks and greater rewards from their work.

Lots of research has been conducted in America (this approach is really popular in schools in the US), and our team at the University of Portsmouth has found that developing a growth mindset has a positive impact on children's learning, attainment and, more importantly, understanding of the learning process in UK schools too.

But it's not all about educational outcomes. Research also suggests that having a growth mindset increases children's ability to try all sorts of different challenges and problems that they might not have otherwise tackled.

And because children no longer need to engage in various self-protection strategies, developing a growth mindset also appears to improve behaviour, increase life satisfaction, and help children to control their emotions.

How can I help my child to develop a Growth Mindset?

The exciting thing about the growth mindset approach is that it is not just about ability. It focuses on what people believe about ability - and there are lots of ways that we can help our children to develop a growth mindset.

Research has shown that Mindsets can be changed relatively quickly and there are plenty of things that parents and families can do to help. Below are a few tips and ideas that can help promote a growth mindset in children.

Set high expectations for your child:

It is commonly believed that lowering our expectations promotes self-esteem in children (e.g. "never mind, let's try an easier one"), but this is not the case. Having high expectations works like a self-fulfilling prophecy. It shows that you believe they can do it, which in turn has a positive impact on their own beliefs, behaviour and outcomes.
Encourage children to be resilient and not give up, even when they find something difficult or frustrating:
We now know that the brain adapts to new information and practise by creating new connections, so help your child to believe that challenge is a positive thing because it means they are growing their brains! This can help them to be comfortable with the times that they struggle and means that they see this as a sign of learning.
Celebrate mistakes!
The fear of making mistakes and associated shame can stop children from giving something a go in the first place. We all make mistakes, so try to embrace these mistakes and use them as learning opportunities, rather than feeling embarrassed about them. If we are not making mistakes then we are not stretching ourselves.
Use inspirational role models:
Think about your child's favourite athlete, musician or teacher and talk about their journey to success. We call this unravelling the talent myth. If someone has done well we have a tendency to think they were born that way. We need to show our children that this is not the case. Rather than focusing on somebody's 'natural talents', focus on their early efforts, strong work ethic, and the mistakes and learning that led them to where they are now.

How can the way I praise my child help develop a Growth Mindset?

It's natural to want to praise children when they do something well, but we need to do this carefully. Research suggests that the type of praise that we use can have a big impact. It's all a matter of context in fact and even positive praise can encourage a fixed mindset.

Praising our children by saying things like "you're a natural!" or "you seem to be able to turn your hand to anything!" without clarity of the process by which they got to that point can lead to the belief that being good at something is out of their control. In other words understanding how they got there is the key.

This focus on being good at something might lead to children feeling happy in the short-term, but confused when the reason they were praised is not evident. If children believe that they succeeded in something simply because they are gifted, they can end up re-evaluating their abilities if it doesn't go as well next time.

Instead the grown-ups around the child can focus praise on the effort they've made to get to that point of triumph, the strategy they used or the outcome itself, saying things like "you've worked so hard on this, well done!" or "you get better every time because of all the practise you've been doing" or "you have found a great way to do that, it worked out really well".

This kind of feedback helps to develop children's resilience to failure as it teaches them what to do when they are challenged or fail - try again, try harder or try a different way, all things that are within their own control.

This type of praise is sometimes called 'process praise' and Dweck's research found that children were more motivated when their parents used more of this kind of praise.

That's not how I've praised my child so far - is it too late to change?

It's never too late to change our mindsets. We've worked with children from the age of three, right up to university students and adults, and we've seen that anyone can develop a growth mindset.

It seems that the trick is to be open with children. If you are going to change the way you praise your child or the type of behaviours that you encourage, let them know why you are doing it. Tell them all about Growth Mindsets.

We're not saying that everyone is born with the same abilities, but what is clear is that practise, effort and finding the best strategy are crucial in determining how successful our children are in life, perhaps even more so than the natural abilities that they were born with.

By Dr Frances Warren and Dr Sherria Hoskins, University of Portsmouth

Get more parenting help from CBeebies Grown-ups

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Wussywat The Clumsy Cat - Growth Mindsets: help your child try new things

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Practising growth mindset theory with children is a great way to get them engaged with subjects and activities that they try to avoid through fear of getting things wrong or "not being good enough". In EYFS the key pillars of learning are literacy, numeracy and art.

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'coping' and 'resilience'

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http://education
Photographer: kylie De Guia | Source: Unsplash

Psychologist Carol Dweck developed a growth mindset theory in her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Today, educators and schools apply Dweck's theories to how they teach students. It has enormous implications for every aspect of our education and schooling and the potential for our children's development. Even more so as we consider how to help support our children in challenging times. We need to focus and help them cope with the achievement gaps resulting from the pandemic. Redoubling a focus on learners' thinking and attitudes to their abilities can play a vital role in the classroom culture. Creating a positive outcome of their attainment journey and is a hot topic.

What is a growth mindset?

Dweck's work focuses on two types of mindset, fixed and growth mindsets, that are not inherent in personality. Her writing and research are based on decades of research that is continually evolving.

Studies have also demonstrated that when individuals with fixed mindsets fail at something they make excuses to justify the failure. For instance, children with fixed mindsets argue they could have passed the test with more time to prepare. They tend to focus on blaming others or assuming their intelligence has a ceiling. In situations where they can be the best in class, their need for affirmation and recognition is essential. Getting the best score is often the primary driving force for their motivation. But in environments where they are not so confident, they will not have the persistence to see a task through. Many learners worry that the outcome will expose their deficiencies in front of their friends or peers. Reactions to fear of failure can result in challenging behaviour, a lack of willingness to acknowledge errors.

Conversely, people with a growth mindset think that they can develop their qualities, skills and abilities through dedication and hard work. They will embrace difficult questions, be more likely to embrace collaboration, be open to feedback about improvements and willing to step out of their comfort zone.

Students who view challenges and failures as opportunities to improve learning and skills may be more likely to learn faster when they continuously learn from failure. Failing a series of assessments is still recognised as a crucial part of learning and improving.

If someone has a fixed mindset, they think their intelligence is an inborn quality that never changes. For example, "I can't learn maths".

Young people who have a growth mindset see making a mistake as a series of learning opportunities. Appreciating the challenge helps with motivation, the development of persevere over time, and staying power to overcome obstacles.

Can you change mindsets?

Yes - people shift mindset, but they can also switch from a growth to a fixed mindset depending on the situation and context! Children should be introduced to the idea of effort, hard work and process praise at a young age. The process of not giving up, being open to feedback, challenging one's beliefs, and continually developing your talents is critical to learning.

Stanford University researchers recently found that students can develop a growth mindset by understanding the brain's capacity to grow when they practice, learn new strategies, and ask for it when it's needed. Researchers also discovered that we could inspire students' growth mindset by changing how we interact with them.

It may prove hard to explain to children, but they'll learn why effort, the right strategies, and sound advice are essential because they help students develop their intelligence. By asking learners to share their knowledge with other students experiencing difficulties, they internalise the message themselves. At TeachMindset, we advocate peer mentoring to create a challenge, setting goals, and hold pupils and staff to account! Culture change needs to be planned at every school life level, including staff, pupils and parents, and these approaches should underpin teaching and learning and systems for school improvement.

Why Foster a Growth Mindset?

Understanding the nature of our intelligence can act as aa real leveller in educational attainment and the life chances of children and young people, enabling them to have personal and academic success in their lives. Embracing challenge and being willing to learn from failure positively impacts our self-esteem. Such beliefs can help develop resilience and bounce back from failure. Having the qualities of curiosity and persistence means you are more likely to persist and overcome setbacks by trying new strategies. You will keep developing your basic abilities and building on your skills and seek even more challenging goals.

Most people have a series of common misconceptions that having a growth mindset means having an open-minded approach or being optimistic - its most definitely not about being positive all the time! Although research tells us that having an upbeat attitude and developing optimistic thinking can help us, in fact, for our resilience, this is a critical feature.

Carol Dweck asserts that everyone has a mixture of both types of mindset. But developing our mindset can play a significant role in the motivation of all of us.

Another myth about mindset is that it's the same as effort. Knowing the difference will help you praise your child appropriately and enable you to guide their progress and make sure they do not waste time focusing on activities that don't help.

The role of praise: advice for parents

Praise of a child's natural talent - for example, "You are good at maths" - can lead to a fixed mindset. It can sound like saying maths is just a natural ability that your child has. Praising your child's achievement with a task by saying, "You worked hard" is more helpful. Whilst you might think you are reassuring to your child's self-esteem but is not enough to promote a growth mindset. If kids do not have proper strategies, they might work hard and not improve. We have tremendous power through our words. Don't worry if they make a mistake, as long as they are willing to keep trying and learn from them.

It is crucial to praise how they approached the challenge and not how hard they tried or how well they did. Please encourage them to have a sense of achievement from consistently working hard. This also works with adults too! Modelling a willingness to learn and being open to feedback to challenge your views is equally important. Also, encourage your child to set learning goals rather than goals about performance or the result.

Questions such as what did you learn today? What did you find challenging? What would you do differently next time? These can all be useful prompts in encouraging your child to reflect. Goals that encourage learning habits should be encouraged! e.g. a streak of working on their homework consistently for five days through the week. Also, modelling your own learning goals for your development in your work or life is an excellent way of instilling this habit in your child.

Growth Mindset Teaching

Teachers who try to design challenging, meaningful learning tasks may find that their students respond differently depending on their intelligence assumptions. Students with growth mindsets tend to react positively to challenges, whereas students with a fixed mindset resist challenges.

Teachers can prepare students to benefit from meaningful work if they foster a growth-mindset culture in the classroom. One way to promote such a culture is through providing the right kinds of praise and encouragement. Praise students' efforts, strategies, choices, and more than tell them when they succeed that they are smart. Instil in learners the message that we can not have success without effort. Encourage them to set realistic and suitably challenging goals, and make sure your feedback is specific, kind and helpful is crucial. If you want learners to develop their resilience, they need to bounce back from failure. Perseverance, grit, and determination can be developed and help learners accept robust criticism to improve.

Mindset in the clasroom

Also, educators believe that fast learning is not always the best progress and that students who take longer to learn sometimes do better. Students can learn about figures who were considered slow learners in childhood. Albert Einstein said he pondered the same questions year after year.

Teachers can motivate students by letting them write about something they used to struggle with but are now very good at, and then ask them to share their experiences with others. This can help give learners the power to shape the classroom culture using their knowledge of a growth mindset learner. Relationships are vital to this culture change, as is the deep sense of collaboration and trust in every school aspect.

Another strategy is for students to write a letter to a struggling student 6to to avoid labels and offer advice on improvement strategies. Sharing stories can be hugely powerful and inspiring to encourage others.

Teachers should have a plan for embedding mindset work in the classroom, teaching at the heart of educational recovery. How can you use peer feedback, peer learning and mindset challenges, and your assessments to ensure that all learners are receiving sufficient challenge? How can you use praise in class so that it's a safe space to get a question wrong? What more can you do to tap into the passion of your learners? If we don't, we will pay the price in the form of disengaged learners who not achieve their true potential in the future.

Remember we can help your school with our Growth Mindset programmes and pupil peer mentoring.

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Growth mindset is more important than ever for our children

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Psychologist Carol Dweck developed a growth mindset theory in her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Today, educators and schools apply Dweck's theories to how they teach students. It has enormous implications for every aspect of our education and schooling and the potential for our children's development.

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re 2.1 and 3.1: Supporting CYP's mental health within your setting 

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re 2.1 and 3.1: Supporting CYP's mental health within your setting 

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More about the Make it Count campaign

With more and more schoolchildren struggling to cope with their mental health, we have launched a new campaign: 'Make it Count'. We are campaigning to ensure every child in the UK receives an education with mental health at its heart.

We know there is no one single way for schools to provide such an environment. To make them mentally healthy places for all who attend and work in them, we need to pursue a "whole-school" approach to prevention.

Teachers, leadership, the curriculum, children, and access to support all contribute to creating a mentally healthy, nurturing environment for children and young people. We are calling on the government and schools to address all these elements to deliver effective change.

Our top five asks
Peer education
Let's help young people support one another and break down the stigma often associated with mental health by introducing a peer-led mental health programme in every school.
Training
Let's give teachers the knowledge and confidence to make schools mentally healthy places by guaranteeing at least one day's training a year on learning about children's mental health.
Education
Let's guarantee all school children a minimum of one hour a week of the new Health Education curriculum focused on how to stay mentally well and seek help, delivered by well-trained teachers.
Expert support
Let's provide independent counsellors in every school to help give pupils the timely support they need.
Measurement
Let's help school leaders understand what works by introducing a mental wellbeing measure in schools
Read our policy briefing for the campaign
Why now?

Young people are facing unprecedented pressures in their lives, which are contributing to mental health problems including anxiety, depression, self-harm and eating disorders.

The Department for Education is currently consulting on the new Health Education curriculum for schools and we believe that now is the time to prevent a growing crisis in children's mental health.

Key facts

More than 1 in 10 children aged 10-15 say they have no one to talk to or wouldn't talk to anyone in school if they feel worried or sad. This is the same proportion of children who have a diagnosable mental health problem.

Research shows that 50% of mental health problems are established by the age of 14 and 75% are established by age 24.

Young people in the UK are dealing with high levels of stress. This is largely due to pressure to succeed, body image and exams.

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Mental health in schools: Make it Count | Mental Health Foundation

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With more and more schoolchildren struggling to cope with their mental health, we have launched a new campaign: 'Make it Count'. We are campaigning to ensure every child in the UK receives an education with mental health at its heart. We know there is no one single way for schools to provide such an environment.

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re 2.1: to help you see the links from laws and statutory guidance (recommended practice) down to what schools must do/ have in place- i.e. what are the responsibilities of schools...

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re 2.1: to help you see the links from laws and statutory guidance (recommended practice) down to what schools must do/ have in place- i.e. what are the responsibilities of schools...

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re 1.2: Use established methods and techniques to design the research project

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re 1.2: Use established methods and techniques to design the research project

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The research design refers to the overall strategy that you choose to integrate the different components of the study in a coherent and logical way, thereby, ensuring you will effectively address the research problem; it constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement, and analysis of data. Note that the research problem determines the type of design you should use, not the other way around!
from: https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/researchdesigns

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Research Guides: Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper: Types of Research Designs

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Offers detailed guidance on how to develop, organize, and write a college-level research paper in the social and behavioral sciences.

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When collecting and analyzing data, quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative researc h deals with words and meanings. Both are important for gaining different kinds of knowledge.

Quantitative research
Quantitative research is expressed in numbers and graphs. It is used to test or confirm theories and assumptions. This type of research can be used to establish generalizable facts about a topic.
Common quantitative methods include experiments, observations recorded as numbers, and surveys with closed-ended questions.

Qualitative research
Qualitative research is expressed in words. It is used to understand concepts, thoughts or experiences. This type of research enables you to gather in-depth insights on topics that are not well understood.
Common qualitative methods include interviews with open-ended questions, observations described in words, and literature reviews that explore concepts and theories.

The differences between quantitative and qualitative research

Quantitative and qualitative research use different research methods to collect and analyze data, and they allow you to answer different kinds of research questions.

Quantitative research

Qualitative Research

Focuses on testing theories and hypotheses

Focuses on exploring ideas and formulating a theory or hypothesis

Analyzed through math and statistical analysis

Analyzed by summarizing, categorizing and interpreting

Mainly expressed in numbers, graphs and tables

Mainly expressed in words

Requires many respondents

Requires few respondents

Closed (multiple choice) questions

Open-ended questions

Key terms: testing, measurement, objectivity, replicability

Key terms: understanding, context, complexity, subjectivity

Data collection methods

Quantitative and qualitative data can be collected using various methods. It is important to use a data collection method that will help answer your research question(s).

Many data collection methods can be either qualitative or quantitative. For example, in surveys, observations or case studies, your data can be represented as numbers (e.g. using rating scales or counting frequencies) or as words (e.g. with open-ended questions or descriptions of what you observe).

However, some methods are more commonly used in one type or the other.

Quantitative data collection methods

Surveys: List of closed or multiple choice questions that is distributed to a sample (online, in person, or over the phone).

Experiments: Situation in which variables are controlled and manipulated to establish cause-and-effect relationships.

Observations: Observing subjects in a natural environment where variables can't be controlled.

Qualitative data collection methods

Interviews: Asking open-ended questions verbally to respondents.

Focus groups: Discussion among a group of people about a topic to gather opinions that can be used for further research.

Ethnography: Participating in a community or organization for an extended period of time to closely observe culture and behavior.

Literature review: Survey of published works by other authors.

When to use qualitative vs. quantitative research

A rule of thumb for deciding whether to use qualitative or quantitative data is:

Use quantitative research if you want to confirm or test something (a theory or hypothesis)

Use qualitative research if you want to understand something (concepts, thoughts, experiences)

For most research topics you can choose a qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods approach. Which type you choose depends on, among other things, whether you're taking an inductive vs. deductive research approach; your research question(s); whether you're doing experimental, correlational, or descriptive research; and practical considerations such as time, money, availability of data, and access to respondents.

Research questionHow satisfied are students with their studies?

Quantitative research approach

You survey 300 students at your university and ask them questions such as: "on a scale from 1-5, how satisfied are your with your professors?"

You can perform statistical analysis on the data and draw conclusions such as: "on average students rated their professors 4.4".

Qualitative research approach

You conduct in-depth interviews with 15 students and ask them open-ended questions such as: "How satisfied are you with your studies?", "What is the most positive aspect of your study program?" and "What can be done to improve the study program?"

Based on the answers you get you can ask follow-up questions to clarify things. You transcribe all interviews using transcription software and try to find commonalities and patterns.

Mixed methods approach

You conduct interviews to find out how satisfied students are with their studies. Through open-ended questions you learn things you never thought about before and gain new insights. Later, you use a survey to test these insights on a larger scale.

It's also possible to start with a survey to find out the overall trends, followed by interviews to better understand the reasons behind the trends.

How to analyze qualitative and quantitative data

Qualitative or quantitative data by itself can't prove or demonstrate anything, but has to be analyzed to show its meaning in relation to the research questions. The method of analysis differs for each type of data.

Analyzing quantitative data

Quantitative data is based on numbers. Simple math or more advanced statistical analysis is used to discover commonalities or patterns in the data. The results are often reported in graphs and tables.

Applications such as Excel, SPSS, or R can be used to calculate things like:

Analyzing qualitative data

Qualitative data is more difficult to analyze than quantitative data. It consists of text, images or videos instead of numbers.

Some common approaches to analyzing qualitative data include:

Frequently asked questions about qualitative and quantitative research

What is data collection?

Data collection is the systematic process by which observations or measurements are gathered in research. It is used in many different contexts by academics, governments, businesses, and other organizations.

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Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research | Differences & Methods

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When collecting and analyzing data, quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative researc h deals with words and meanings. Both are important for gaining different kinds of knowledge. Quantitative and qualitative research use different research methods to collect and analyze data, and they allow you to answer different kinds of research questions.

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Independent / research/ prep/ learning to do as preparation for next sessions:

**Please email me a document that sets out your proposal for your small scale research project:
(see posts below this one, in this column for some possible ideas...)

**Include your theme and detail:

-what?

-why?

·       Start your literature review work- reading / research -what is there in existence already that directly relates to your chosen theme / project? (e.g. recent government led research findings about the effect of lockdown on young children’s language / vocab SLC skills)

·       Make notes and make sure you record the details of your research sources so you can reference your research properly within your report.

-how?- (exactly will you gather your data?)

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Writing a Research Report. If research was not " written up, " did it really occur?. Writing a Research Report. Social Scientists conduct research to discover facts, truths, and explanations about the social world. They write research reports to document and store research findings.

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Independent learning & preparation tasks: 

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Independent learning & preparation tasks: 

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There are reading, research and note making tasks to be completed prior to your session on:
Unit 2: Understand how to support children and young people to improve their mental health and well-being.
LO 1: Understand mental health and well-being in children and young people.
LO 2: Understand the current legislation in relation to children and young people’s mental health in own home nation
Tasks: Read and make notes: about the definition of what constitutes as mental health.
**identify, in your notes: types of mental health and describe the subsequent effects on the holistic development of CYP (Children and Young People).
**think of and note: examples of and analyse factors that influence mental health and well-being- from early childhood experiences to early adulthood.
** Research literature and summarise in note form, the main findings from your research:
*Make notes that consider the positive and negative impact of media on CYP.
*Also consider public perceptions of those with mental health issues: Investigate the drivers behind the change in attitude and perception of children and young people with mental health and well-being issues.
note your Understanding of the change in perception of mental health, moving from shame, stigma and rejection to being more accepted and supported.

*Note an appreciation  /consideration of cultural expectations and the impact these may have on a child or young person’s mental health and well-being. This should include variations in cultural attitudes towards mental health problems as well as effects on the individual themselves.

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Independent learning & preparation tasks: 

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Independent learning & preparation tasks: 

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There are two tasks to be completed prior to your session on for : Unit 1:
LO3: Understand the influence of the environment on learning in schools and colleges
Task 1: Make notes that: consider what you would do if you had limited resources, unsuitable resources or a child with additional needs, for example.

You should

·       be able to analyse the benefits of planning a learning activity in order to manage or mitigate such circumstances.

·       Throughout- use real examples of learning activities/experiences that you have been involved in.

·       Reflect on the planning stage:

·       It would be useful to include planning for 1:1 sessions, as well as planning to meet the needs of a group

Also, Think about and include, in your notes:

·       who contributed to the planning.

·       What influenced the planning?

·       Did you meet the intended aims?

·       How did this activity impact further planning?

·       Make recommendations for future planning with others- e.g. how to improve practice

LO4: Understand monitoring and assessment in own school or college.
Task 2:

·       List the different methods your department / area /school uses to monitor children and/or young people.

·       Think about and make notes about the assessment and pupil monitoring in your school- to support the learning progress e.g. formative assessment models used in relation to intervention, transition and effective partnerships with parents/carers.

·       Then also consider and make notes about the processes of colleague/peer observations for e.g. and monitoring staff performance in terms of what constitutes an effective teaching and learning environment

·       Finally, consider and note your own role and the role of others in own setting, in relation to monitoring and assessment.

·       Include examples of direct practice. Remember to always be mindful of confidentiality.

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...possible theme for your research project...

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...possible theme for your research project...

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If your mental or emotional state quickly gets worse, or you're worried about someone you know - help is available. You're not alone; talk to someone you trust. Sharing a problem is often the first step to recovery.

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Kolb's reflective cycle

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About assessing and monitoring pupil progress... 

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About assessing and monitoring pupil progress... 

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Measuring impact: from monitoring to evaluation

One of the significant shifts in education in the UK over the last decade has been an increased need to understand the impact of specific interventions and teaching approaches made in schools on pupil outcomes.

It is important to recognise the difference between monitoring pupil progress and evaluating impact of specific interventions.

Monitoring pupil progress is the more straightforward of the two tasks. Its principle focus is to understand whether pupils are meeting targets or milestones. It does not rely on judgement in the same way as evaluation; the outcomes tend to be binary, the pupil is either on-target or they are not, although there are clearly grades of how far off target the pupil might be. Monitoring progress through regular assessment points, each half or full term, is a familiar process in most schools.

How is evaluation different?

In contrast, evaluation is an act that leads to a judgment on how effective something was, for example an intervention to raise low levels of literacy in Year 7 pupils. Evaluation tells us about how something happened and requires us to analyse the data we collect and determine if the intervention is worth continuing with. It is always tempting to pin down the cause of an effect: it is a very human thing to do and seeks to help us make sense of the world. But ascribing impact in school can be a tricky activity, and one which, if done well, requires an evaluation.

For example, a school may introduce a new maths support programme, then find that maths attainment has gone up on average, and infer that it is the maths support programme that has caused it. But what if something else caused it? What if the school's science teachers were reinforcing some of the maths skills the support programme was aimed at improving? Might that have caused the improvement? Or was it the school's new rewards system which focused specifically on students making excellent progress in their core subjects? Or was it a combination of the two (and more)? Without an evaluation (and a good one at that) saying that X caused Y is not possible.

This AMPP guide is naturally focused on monitoring. By working hard to improve the quality of assessment in school, teachers and school leaders can prepare the ground for answering this question robustly, by using tools such as the DIY Evaluation Guide.

So a focus on improving assessment and monitoring practices in school is important for ensuring an accurate picture of student attainment and progress is generated, but it also make the process of evaluating impact robustly an easier and more fruitful one.

lightbulb_outline

Measuring impact

How will you identify areas of intervention or classroom practice that need a more thorough evaluation?

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Measuring impact | Assessing and Monitoring Pupil Progress

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One of the significant shifts in education in the UK over the last decade has been an increased need to understand the impact of specific interventions and teaching approaches made in schools on pupil outcomes. It is important to recognise the difference between monitoring pupil progress and evaluating impact of specific interventions.

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...possible theme for your research project...

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...possible theme for your research project...

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Children will have a greater opportunity to access 60 minutes of daily sport and physical activity, whether that be in school, after school or during weekends and holidays, under new Government plans revealed today.

The School Sport and Activity Action Plan, outlined by Education Secretary Damian Hinds, Sport Minister Mims Davies and Minister for Public Health, Seema Kennedy, will set out a range of new measures to strengthen the role of sport within a young person's daily routine, explain how teachers and parents can play their part, and promote a joined-up approach to physical activity and mental wellbeing.

It comes after the latest data from Sport England's Active Lives Children and Young People survey showed that a third of children are currently doing fewer than 30 minutes of physical activity a day.

Ofsted's new Inspection Framework comes into effect from September 2019. As Amanda Spielman, HM Chief Inspector of Education, said last weekend: "Schools that offer children a broad, balanced education, including plenty of opportunities to get active during the school day and through extracurricular activities, will be rewarded under our new inspection regime."

As part of the plan, the Government has committed to launch a series of regional pilots to trial innovative approaches to getting more young people active, particularly less active groups such as girls and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Schools and sports clubs will also work together to share their facilities and expertise, giving more pupils access to character-building competitive sport and volunteering opportunities. They will focus on ensuring boys and girls have an equal and coordinated offer of sport, competition and activity, including modern PE lessons and access to high-quality clubs and competitions after school and during weekends and holidays.

The pilots will be joint-funded by the Department for Education and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport through Sport England, and are expected to run from September 2020.

Secretary of State for Education, Damian Hinds, said:

As a parent I want my children to be happy and healthy. As Education Secretary, I want young people to leave school prepared for adult life. Sport can help with both - it not only keeps pupils fit and healthy but helps them grow in confidence and learn vital skills, such as teamwork and recovering from life's inevitable setbacks.

My ambition is for every pupil to have the chance to find a sport they love, setting them up to lead healthy, active lives and equipping them with the skills to reach their full potential, both inside and outside the classroom.

Minister for Sport and Civil Society, Mims Davies, said:

Sport has such an incredible power to have a hugely positive impact on children's lives. It increases their physical and mental wellbeing, helps them achieve at school and teaches important life skills such as working as a team, developing the confidence to try new things and taking leadership.

"I urge schools to put sport and physical activity at the heart of every school day, creating a cultural shift where it becomes routine in the daily lives of young people.

Our plan will help shift the dial in school sport - making lessons more fun and engaging and vitally increasing the number of out of school clubs so that more young people get and stay active.

The Department for Education has also committed £2.5 million in 2019-20 to deliver extra training for PE teachers, help schools open up their facilities at weekends and during the holidays, and expand sports volunteering programmes to give more young people the opportunity to become sports leaders and coaches.

Sport England will invest an additional £2 million to create 400 new after-school 'satellite clubs' to get more young people in disadvantaged areas active, as well as additional funding to better coordinate sport programmes and competitions for young people.

The plan will build on the £1 billion that the Government has invested since 2013 to improve sport in primary schools through the PE and Sport Premium. This funding has already helped schools give more choice to their pupils - Bolton on Swale Primary School in North Yorkshire asked pupils what activities they wanted to try and used its PE and Sport Premium to offer canoeing, volleyball, climbing and table tennis. Sport England is also investing £194 million in children and young people between 2016 and 2021.

New research published tomorrow by the Department for Education found that nine out of ten primary teachers surveyed thought the confidence, knowledge or skills of all staff in teaching PE had increased since the PE and Sport Premium was doubled in 2017. Eight out of ten thought that the proportion of pupils doing 30 minutes of exercise a day in school had increased, while the same proportion said their pupils had more competitive sport opportunities.

Public Health Minister, Seema Kennedy, said:

Making exercise both fun and accessible to all children is a key part of healthy development.

Obesity is on the rise, and schools have a vital role in achieving our ambition to halve childhood obesity by 2030. The sugar tax is already funding school sports across the country and we are encouraging all primary schools to get their pupils active for a mile a day as part of our world-leading childhood obesity plan.

This pledge is a vital step in making sure that our children grow up healthy, active and happy. The School Sport and Activity Action Plan will build on these successes, increasing access to sport and activity for every child so they can reap all the health benefits this brings.

CEO of Sport England, Tim Hollingsworth, said:

This year we conducted the biggest piece of research ever into children's activity and found that physically literate children are happier, more resilient and trusting of other youngsters. We also found that enjoyment is the biggest single factor that motivates children to be active above competence or knowing it's good for them.

We are delighted to be working at the heart of the new School Sport and Activity Action plan to embed those learnings, as well as making it easier for schools to offer more activities during the school day and after lessons not least through creating another 400 new Satellite Clubs and a This Girl Can workout resource for teenage girls.

Every child has the right to be active and find an activity they love. And the School Sport and Activity Action Plan is a great step forward.

The Government and Sport England will work with a range of sporting bodies including the Football Association, Premier League, England and Wales Cricket Board and the Rugby Football Union to ensure that their clubs and programmes can reach even more children, encouraging them to get active by focusing on fun, enjoyment and increasing confidence.

All schools will be urged to recognise how physical literacy and high-quality, modern PE lessons can benefit other aspects of school life and improve pupils' behaviour, wellbeing and attainment. They will also be encouraged to use sports leaders and mentoring schemes to ensure pupils have a say in developing their schools' sports offer. Schools will be encouraged to offer a range of activities that appeal to young people from different backgrounds, including girls and less active groups.

Drawing upon the successful This Girl Can campaign, which has inspired over 3.9 million women and girls to take steps to get active, Sport England will also provide £1 million to develop a digital resource for girls. This will include a new Netflix-style library of workout videos that can be used in schools and PE lessons.

By making sport and exercise an integral part of pupils' daily routine, the School Sport and Activity Action Plan will aim to increase the amount of time children spend being active, boosting their physical health, mental wellbeing, character and resilience.

The Chief Medical Officers' guidance on daily physical activity levels sets out that children should do at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day. Schools should ensure all pupils have access to 30 minutes of physical activity every day, which are currently delivered through PE lessons and lunchtime sports clubs as well as innovative activities such as The Daily Mile, and building in activity to classroom lessons, with 30 minutes also delivered outside the school day.

More detail on the actions in the plan will be published later this year.

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Children to have greater opportunity to access 60 minutes of physical activity every day

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Children will have a greater opportunity to access 60 minutes of daily sport and physical activity, whether that be in school, after school or during weekends and holidays, under new Government plans revealed today.

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Independent learning & preparation tasks: 

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Independent learning & preparation tasks: 

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There are four tasks to be completed prior to your first session for Unit 1
The tasks are linked to: Unit 1:
LO 1: Understand the roles and responsibilities of the Advanced Practitioner.
LO 2: Understand the statutory educational frameworks in own Home Nation.
LO3: Understand the influence of the learning environment on learning in schools and colleges.
Task 1: (to be completed via the workplace- with your work colleagues): Discuss and review the nature, scope and effectiveness of partnerships that exist within your team and the wider organisation: make notes
Also, work with other staff member(s) to seek/ suggest recommendations for improvement and reference any procedural development to statutory framework requirements and/or regulator feedback- (such as a self-evaluation report or Ofsted inspection): Make notes
Task 2:
Think about and make notes about when you have had to take responsibility for others e.g. colleagues/ parents /mentoring volunteers etc. note your strengths and areas to improve / how you could improve
Task 3: read/ review the National Curriculum and /or organisational educational requirements regarding the areas/ year groups etc. you are involved with. Think about your specific role in delivery and make notes as to how you think you could improve your practice in delivery.
Task 4: Remind yourself of your organisation's safeguarding policies and note how they reflect the related current laws. Also check TA / support worker roles in relation to policies/procedures.
Make notes about your own role and responsibilities in relation to safeguarding.

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Essential skills: How to critically evaluate...              

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Essential skills: How to critically evaluate...              

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The ability to critically evaluate (sometimes called critically analyse or review) is an essential skill at university and the workplace, and life in general. So what does 'critical analysis' or 'critical evaluation' involve?

What does ANALYSIS mean?

'To show the essence of something by breaking it down into its component parts, examining each part in detail and explaining issues'. It also means:

Making connections (between theory and practise/data); and

Seeing relationships between information.

What does CRITICISE/CRITIQUE mean?

To give your opinion on something (for example, what has been done/has been written/an approach); and

To support your opinion with evidence.

Note: Critiquing is NOT simply stating that something is "bad".

What does EVALUATE mean?

Weigh up strengths and weaknesses.

Appraise the worth of something - test assumptions - judge the worth of an argument or position.

Here are some examples of evaluative questions:

is ...correct/incorrect? Why?

is ...effective/ineffective? Why?

is ...logical/illogical? Why?

is ...valid/invalid? Why

what are strengths/weaknesses of ...? WHY?

how useful/useless is ...? WHY?

what are the benefits of ...? WHY?

how appropriate/inappropriate is ...? WHY?

what problems are there with ...? WHY?

how adequate/inadequate was ...? WHY?

Supporting your judgments

When you write your assignment, make sure that you don't simply what you are evaluating. You will get more marks for , that is, clearly providing your judgement, and supporting it. Take one issue (component) at a time. Describe what you are analysing or evaluating, evaluate it and support your claims with scholarly research.

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What is Critical Analysis/Evaluation? - Griffith Health Writing and Referencing Guide

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The ability to critically evaluate (sometimes called critically analyse or review) is an essential skill at university and the workplace, and life in general. So what does 'critical analysis' or 'critical evaluation' involve? 'To show the essence of something by breaking it down into its component parts, examining each part in detail and explaining issues'.

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Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

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Children with special educational needs (SEN) can get the help they need to get an education - SEN support, education, health and care plans, SEN before September 2014

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some relevant extracts from professional standards for TA's:
Working with others:
Professional standards for teaching assistants (Draft February 2015) Related HLTA Standards:
Teaching assistants are expected to: Those awarded HLTA status must demonstrate, through their practice, that they:
1 Recognise and respect the role and contribution of other professionals, parents and carers by liaising effectively and working in partnership with them.
5 Recognise and respect the contribution that parents and carers can make to the development and wellbeing of children and young people.
6 Demonstrate a commitment to collaborative and cooperative working with colleagues.
2 With the class teacher, keep other professionals accurately informed of progress or concerns they may have about the pupils they work with.
25 Contribute to maintaining and analysing records of learners’ progress.
33 Direct the work, where relevant, of other adults in supporting learning.
3 Understand their responsibility to share knowledge to inform planning and decision making.
17 Use their area(s) of expertise to contribute to the planning and preparation of learning activities. 33 Direct the work, where relevant, of other adults in supporting learning.
4 Understand their role in order to be able to work collaboratively with classroom teachers and other colleagues, including specialist advisory teachers.
15 Know how to support learners in accessing the curriculum in accordance with the special educational needs (SEN) code of practice and disabilities legislation.
5 Communicate their knowledge and understanding of pupils to other school staff and education, health and social care professionals, so that informed decision making can take place on intervention and provision.

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Unit 1
There are four parts to Assignment 1

LO1: Understand the roles and responsibilities of the Advanced Practitioner.

Assignment 1, part 1
to cover: 1.1 Critically evaluate partnership working in own setting
Produce a report that:
*outlines the partnership work that takes place in your team and the wider organisation (Include examples of reflective accounts that demonstrate partnerships with others).
*sets out recommendations and references rationale (e.g. from informal & formal sources- e.g. team / whole organisation self evaluation/ Ofsted feedback) for improving the partnership working in your team and the wider organisation.

Assignment 1- part 2
to cover: 1.2  Evaluate own role in relation to leadership, coaching and mentoring responsibilities- for an enabling learning environment.
*Produce a reflective account that:
Reflects on your own experience, current or previous that has required you to take some responsibility for others. This may be an area of work designated to you by your employer and may also include working with new members of staff, welcoming parents or mentoring learners during work experience.
You must make recommendations for improvements to your own practice by considering your strengths and areas to build on in these areas. Where experience to date has been small, work with other staff member(s) to agree an action plan for responsibility for a designated area of working practice, so that you can get the experience.

LO2: Understand the statutory educational frameworks in own Home Nation.
LO3: Understand the influence of the learning environment on learning in schools and colleges.

Assignment 1- part 3
to cover: 2.1 Evaluate the statutory educational frameworks in own Home Nation
*Identify, in writing, your own role within delivering aspects of the National Curriculum / organisation's alternative assessment framework
*Evaluate your own role and the practice within your department in relation to delivering the National Curriculum / organisation's alternative  assessment framework
to cover: 3.3 Implement recommendations for improved practice to benefit learners in a learning environment
*Devise an Action Plan, against the SMART framework for goal setting: that makes recommendations regarding the delivery of aspects of the National Curriculum / organisational educational requirements with which you are involved

Assignment 1- part 4
to cover: 2.2 Discuss how children, young people and/or adults are safeguarded in own school or college
*Research policies and procedures for safeguarding in own learning environment and summarise, in writing: how these documents reflect legislation as appropriate.
*Devise a flowchart: to identify the policies that exist to safeguard learners and highlight the role of the support worker as an appendix for each policy.

*Note, in writing: how this will help you to identify your own role and ensure that you are contributing to legislation in relation to safeguarding

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Examples of what partnership working could be...

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Examples of what partnership working could be...

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Unit 1
There are three parts to Assignment 2

Unit 1, LO3: Understand the influence of the environment on learning in schools and colleges.

Assignment 2- part 1
to cover unit 1, 3.1: Analyse the impact of planning learning activities for children, young people and/or adults.
Unit 1, 3.2. Reflect on own practice when helping to organise a suitable learning environment.

*write a reflective account that directly covers the following:
Analyse the benefits of planning a learning activity in order to manage or mitigate, at least the following circumstances:
-limited resources
-unsuitable resources
-a child with additional needs
Include direct explained examples of learning activities  /experiences you have been directly involved in:
Your reflection must refer to the key concepts of:
-the planning stage
Make sure you also include:
-planning for 1-1 sessions
-planning to meet the needs of a group
-who contributed to the planning
Consider the following throughout your reflection work:
-What influenced the planning?
-Did you meet the intended aims?
-How did this activity impact further planning?
You must also:
-make recommendations for future planning with others and say how you will implement this

Assignment 2- part 2 :
to cover unit 1, 3.3. Implement recommendations for improved practice to benefit learners in a learning environment.
This needs to be supporting evidence for showing you have implemented the recommendations from Part 1- (for improving future planning with others)
These must be work products-
Submit the following:
-planning and evaluation notes
-peer observation reports
and / or
-expert witness testimony evidence

Assignment 2- part 3
Unit 1, LO4: Understand monitoring and assessment in own school or college.
to cover Unit 1, 4.1. Critically compare two monitoring methods used by peers in own learning environment.
*List the different methods you and colleague TA' s use to monitor children and/or young people.
*select two of the most common methods that colleagues use and compare these. Include:
-two different ways that colleague TA's monitor pupil learning
-how colleague TA's encourage pupils to self regulate their own learning
to cover Unit 1, 4.2. Analyse the use of monitoring and assessment in own practice.
-Include notes about when you may prefer to use either method- giving reasons for your choices
**discuss using real and direct examples- always being mindful of the confidentiality of both colleagues and pupils.

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The Specialist Teaching Service (STS) is made up of experienced advisory teachers, advisors, specialist support workers and early years practitioners.

Advisory Teachers, Advisors and Specialist HLTAs provide support and advice for children and young people with sensory impairment, physical impairment and social communication and autism spectrum disorders. Early Intervention Practitioners provide advice and support for pre-school children with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities, their parents, early years setting staff (private, voluntary and independent settings) and transition into early years settings.

What support does an Advisory Teacher/Specialist HLTA/Advisor provide?

Provision of accessible information, training, advice, support and guidance to parents, families, carers, schools and settings staff and agencies which provide services to CYP on caseload.

Provision and loans of specialist equipment.

Initial and ongoing assessments.

Planning for transitions.

Raising staff awareness and confidence.

Promoting inclusion through the advocacy of 'reasonable adjustments'.

I need advice about a child with a Sensory Impairment

Our Advisory Teachers for Visual Impairment and Hearing Impairment may be able to help. If you are concerned about a child with a visual impairment (not corrected by glasses) or a child with a diagnosis of a hearing impairment that necessitates amplification then you can contact the service for support. This team of teachers is part of the STS.

For more information on supporting a hearing impaired child in school, please see the hearing impairment tab in the STePS Information and Strategies page and also the Hearing Impairment Team Leaflet.

For more information on supporting a visually impaired child in school, please see the visual impairment tab in the STePS Information and Strategies page an also the Visual Impairment Team Leaflet.

I need advice about a child with Social Communication or Autism Spectrum Disorder

Children and young people with a diagnosis of an Autism Spectrum Disorder may receive support from a specialist teacher or support worker. This team of teachers and specialist support workers is part of the STS.

For more information on the support we can provide for a child or young person with social communication or autism please see the Autism Spectrum Disorder Team Leaflet. For information about how to access support from the Social Communication and Autism Team see the following documents:

I need advice about a child with a Physical Impairment

Children and young people with a physical disability that significantly impairs their ability to access the curriculum may be entitled to support from an advisory teacher or specialist worker. This support is provided through the STS

For more information on the support we can provide for a child or young person with a physical impairment see the Physical Impairment Team leaflet.

I need advice about a child in the Early Years

Schools have limited involvement with the EIT until transition into first school placement. With parental permission the EIT staff member or a staff member from the child's early years setting will contact the school to discuss transition. Children supported by the EIT will have a moderate to severe difficulty in more than one area of development.

Early Years Practitioners can support registered private, voluntary and independent early years settings and parents of pre-school children in the home. The service is a registered Portage Service and 5 star accredited.

For more information on the support we can provide in the early years see the Early Intervention Team Leaflet.

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The Specialist Teaching Service (STS) is made up of experienced advisory teachers, advisors, specialist support workers and early years practitioners. Advisory Teachers, Advisors and Specialist HLTAs provide support and advice for children and young people with sensory impairment, physical impairment and social communication and autism spectrum disorders.

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Advanced Learner Loan LetterLevel 4 Advanced Practitioner

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You can apply for an Advanced Learner Loan to help with the costs of a course at a college or training provider in England.

Loan eligibility does not depend on your income and there are no credit checks.

Check if you're eligible before you apply for an Advanced Learner Loan.

If you're studying a level 3 qualification, you might be eligible for an 'Adult Education Budget' grant instead of an Advanced Learner Loan. If you get a grant, you do not need to repay it. Ask your college or training provider about grants before you apply for a loan.

If someone is claiming an Adult Dependants' Grant on your behalf, the amount of money they get could be affected if you successfully apply for an Advanced Learner Loan.

Different funding is available if you want to study in Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales. Check:

When you repay your loan

You'll have to start repaying your loan when your income is over a certain amount (the 'threshold' amount).

You'll be charged interest from the day you get the first payment.

You can choose to make extra repayments towards your loan. These are in addition to the repayments you must make when your income is over the threshold amount and are not compulsory.

Access to Higher Education (HE) course

Student Finance England will 'write off' any outstanding Advanced Learner Loan balances you owe for an Access to HE course once you complete a higher education course. This means you do not have to repay it.

The higher education course must be eligible for student finance.

If you made extra repayments towards your Advanced Learner Loan before starting a Higher Education course, these repayments are non-refundable.

Loan Bursary Fund

You may also be eligible for money from the Advanced Learner Loan Bursary Fund if you need help with some costs while studying, for example childcare, travel or trips related to your course.

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Advanced Learner Loan and the Bursary Fund help with college or training course costs - funding, how to apply, application forms, repayments

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Overview of the qualification: (also see 'course handbook' in next column)

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Overview of the qualification: (also see 'course handbook' in next column)

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Please complete this form and email it to: debbie.wigley@derby.gov.uk

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You will need to do a diagnostic assessment session and enrol:

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You will need to do a diagnostic assessment session and enrol:

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joining the online session is evidence of consent

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Consent to participate in videoconferencing form to read

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Working in partnership in early education... 

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Working in partnership in early education... 

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The small amount of the EYPP funding per child means that partnership working will be a key way to making your funding go further. Especially f you have few eligible children, working with others will allow you for example to jointly commission bespoke training to meet your continuous professional development needs.

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Working in partnership with parents is central to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) in England and the National Minimum Standards for Registered Childcare (NMS) in Wales.

Here we've put together a round-up of all our resources to help support you as a childcare professional to confidently connect and engage with parents to encourage and develop children's learning.

Communicating with parents

It's important that parents and carers know you as their child's key person. It's your job to inform parents of their child's day and the progress their child is making.

Involve parents and carers from the very beginning transition period, along the way from induction, settling in, and daily chats, to sharing of resources, social events and information sessions. Check you have the correct parental permissions in place and secure a way of communicating that works for all of you.

Top tip: Be flexible in your approach to communication with parents. Think about how you might need to adapt to suit different parents, for example those with English as an additional language or a specific learning need. Also, make sure it's the right time to share information without having to rush off.

Building good relationships

Regular chats with parents are a really important opportunity for sharing information. Parents can often feel they're missing out on their child's day, so a few minutes chatting can be reassuring.

It's important to get them involved in their child's learning and development. You could do this through our learning journal and information sharing - for example including lyrics to a new song you've been working on, or a recipe you're planning to try.

"I make sure to fill it [the learning journal] with extension ideas that the parents can try at home" says Sue Asquith, Childminder.

Top tip: When building a relationship with parents you should consider the sensitive feelings of the parent and thinking carefully about how you communicate, particularly when you have difficult things to say.

"Tactful responses are also needed, for example if a child learns to walk whilst in your setting. A child's first steps are very important to parents, so I think about this and approach the subject with sensitivity." Karen Steer, Childminder

Extend children's learning

A good way to extend learning is to have resources that can be shared at home. We've developed a parents section and other resources to help ignite enthusiasm for this. Explore our:

How about taking the parents in your setting through our Sharing children's progress document? This breaks down the stages of development in an easy to digest way.

You can also find out more about:

Take a look at the Autumn/Winter 2020 issue of Childcare Professional page 49 all about exploring story sacks - a fantastic resource that can be shared with parents.

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Working in partnership with parents - spotlight on

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Check out our spotlight on working in partnership with parents.

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Understanding the role of advanced practitioners in English FE 

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Understanding the role of advanced practitioners in English FE 

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The national curriculum for England to be taught in all local-authority-maintained schools.

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Statutory guidance on inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

Details

This guidance is for:

local authority chief executives

directors of children's services

safeguarding partners

teachers and education staff

social workers

health service professionals

adult services

police officers

voluntary and community sector workers in contact with children and families

It applies to:

A version of the guidance for young people and a separate version suitable for younger children are also available for practitioners to share.

Statutory guidance is issued by law - you must follow it unless there's a good reason not to.

Working together to safeguard children 2018

This is a factual update to Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 to reflect recent changes to legislation, including:

Integrated Care Boards: from 1 July 2022, integrated care boards have replaced clinical commissioning groups as a result of the Health and Care Act 2022

Public Health England: has now been replaced by the UK Health Security Agency and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), which is part of the Department of Health and Social Care, and by the UK Health Security Agency. The Chief Public Health Nurse role has transferred to OHID

Domestic Abuse Act 2021: references to the Domestic Abuse Bill should be read as the Domestic Abuse Act 2021

UK GDPR: references to the GDPR should be read as the UK GDPR. The UK GDPR is the retained EU law version of the GDPR. The UK GDPR sits alongside the Data Protection Act 2018

Statutory framework

The updated statutory framework sets out the legislation relevant to safeguarding and it should be read alongside the statutory guidance.

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Statutory guidance on inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

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to be completed after each session and saved by learner and kept for review at tutorials

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Unit 2
3.3 can be submitted later (due to having to discuss with colleagues and provide minutes of meeting )

Assignment 3, part 1:

To cover: 1.1. Describe components of mental health and well-being.

1.       Define what constitutes as mental health. As part of this- also identify types of mental health and describe some subsequent effects on the holistic development of a child.

To cover: 1.2. Analyse how various factors might influence health and well-being in children and young people from infancy to early adulthood.

2.     Give examples of and analyse factors that influence children's mental health and well-being- from early childhood experiences to early adulthood.

Assignment 3, part 2:
To cover 2.1. Analyse the impact of current legislation on mental health and well-being on practice in own setting.
to include:
**changes that have been shaping mental health services- particularly in relation to children and young people
**an understanding of the Care Act 2014 in relation to mental health of children and young people.

3.     Use your school policy and procedural documentation, first- explain ways of working in your setting. Then, link aspects of current legislation to this practice- use examples/ a case study to help you do this. Remember to focus on changes that have shaped/ are shaping mental health services.

Assignment 3, part 3: 2.2, 3.1, 3.2

To cover 2.2. Evaluate how perceptions of mental health and well-being in children and young people can be affected by:

·       media influences

·       varied cultural perceptions

·       public perceptions around mental health issues/wellness/illness.

1.     Research literature and summarise the main findings from your review:

You must cover the following:

**the positive and negative impact of media in representing the topic of mental health. Think about how children and young people form their understanding, opinions and views about mental health- in terms of the media they are exposed to
**  public perceptions- how might the range of  attitudes that the public hold about mental health issues affect the way children grow up to view and deal with mental health? is mental health considered a taboo issue do you feel? Does society view mental health issues and illness in the same ways they view physical illness? for e.g. what do you think attitudes are in terms of children and young people who experience mental health issues? How might this range of public perceptions/opinions affect children who experience mental ill health?
**  Show that you understand that cultural expectations can have an impact on a child or young person’s mental health and well-being and how. Also consider how their experiences might affect their subsequent attitudes towards mental wellness and illness as they grow up.

To cover: 3.1. Describe how to support children and young people towards developing coping strategies and building resilience.

2.     Explore the effectiveness or potential effectiveness of three (3) strategies for helping CYP with ‘coping’ and ‘building resilience’ specifically.

To cover 3.2. Evaluate your own role in relation to supporting mental health issues with children and young people in schools or colleges.

to cover  3.3 Consider, clearly set out and start to implement  recommendations for improving the practice of supporting mental health in children and young people in your own school or college.

3.     Produce a reflective account- first evaluate your own role and your own practice, then also include clear and explicit:

*  recommendations for change- for your area/ department

Then:

* Discuss these changes with staff and work together to plan to implement these recommendations for change and improvement

**Include minutes from a meeting where you have discussed the changes with staff

**Include a  SMART plan- to help you show how you will implement the changes

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To be added when complete:

*** an evaluation report regarding the implementation of the changes…(this can be a report about progress towards implementing these changes for improvement)

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Unit 5 report: Your small-scale research project:
*will need to have four clear sections.

Your Unit 5 evidence will need to be in the text format of a report. It will need to include samples of the research methods you used to collect your quantitative data e.g. you questionnaires, surveys, interviews, observation reports - from observations carried out on the ‘subjects’ (e.g. pupils).

Your four clear sections must each be clearly referenced against the unit criteria you claim they cover.

Unit 5 report: Section 1
To cover: 1.1: Select a topic for the research project.

*You must introduce the overarching topic/theme you have selected for your own small-scale research project

To cover: 1.2, Use established methods and techniques to design the research project.

*You must set out and explain which research methods you will use in order to gather your data. You must note why you feel these are the most appropriate. Your methods must be taken from these below and must include both quantitative and qualitative methods:

Quantitative methods:

-        surveys

-        experiments

-        action research

-        case studies

-        interviews

-        questionnaires

-        observation

Qualitative methods:

-        literature reviews.

To cover: 1.3: Consider ethical implications of the research project
*You must explain the range of ethical implications you will need to consider and respect. E.g. before you begin your project you must liaise with your workplace manager to find out how you will gain necessary permissions and you must work with colleagues to organise this to be done in advance. You are carrying out research on ‘subjects’ and you must arrange getting appropriate consent from the ‘subjects’ and their parents, as they are CYP.

Unit 5 report: Section 2

To cover: 2.1. Perform a literature review of academic research papers exploring ideas for change in own setting
Your project for Unit 5 is all about you instigating and effecting a ‘change’, an improvement within your area in your setting. Your overarching topic /theme e.g. to improve the resilience skills of CYP in my setting, will be a topic/theme that has already been picked up/ addressed by established professional researchers.

For 2.1 you need to find and read and make notes for range of UK academic research papers that are linked to your own small-scale research project theme. These research papers will likely to have been commissioned by the government for e.g.

See Padlet column: HOW TO...

and look for the post called: How to perform a literature review

To cover 2.2. Use research methods to review an established research paper.

Make notes from your literature review of just one of the sources you reviewed for 2.1:

See Padlet column: HOW TO...

and look for the post called: How to perform a literature review

Please note it says: A good literature review doesn’t just summarise sources – it analyses, synthesises, and critically evaluates to give a clear picture of the state of knowledge on the subject (from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/thesis-dissertation/literature-review/2.5

To cover 2.3. Summarise the main findings of the research paper.

This will be covered by you progressing to the writing up your review of the one established research paper that links to your own small-scale research project (that effects change in your setting)

To cover 2.4: Provide the recommendations for change in your setting (what you will do to change and improve based on all of above).

Note what you will do to effect the change in your setting

Unit 5 report: Section 3

To cover 2.5. Implement change in own setting:

Carry out the changes you recommended. This will need to be evidenced via a sample of reflective accounts written by you. e.g. from the start, the middle and the end. The reflective accounts will need to be verified by an Expert Witness from your setting or it may be more efficient for an assessor to observe part of this too. This is to be agreed between candidature and assessor as appropriate.

Unit 5 report: Section 4

To cover 2.6. Evaluate changes in own setting:

You will need to refer back to your initial recommendations from 2.4 and your reflections from 2.5 and evaluate the changes you instigated. Ensure you do evaluate and not just describe.

See Padlet column: HOW TO...

And see post: Essential skills: How to critically evaluate...

To cover 3.1, Explain a variety of ways to present research task findings to others:

You will need to share and present your findings, your results, your conclusions about the change you recommended and then carried out, with and to your colleagues.

You will need explain the range of ways you could do this.

To cover 3.2, Use a suitable method to share the findings of the research project in own setting.

Choose the best method from 3.1 and share your findings, results, your conclusions about the change you recommended and then carried out, with your colleagues. This will need to be evidenced via a reflective account written by you. The reflective accounts will need to be verified by an Expert Witness.

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Unit 3
To cover:

1.1. Evaluate policies and procedure in own setting in relation to statutory frameworks and national guidance.

5.1. Reflect on policies and procedures for supporting children, young people and/or adults with special educational needs or disabilities in own setting

1) Research statutory frameworks and national guidance. Reflect on the policies and procedures in own setting, identifying how these documents meet statutory frameworks and national guidance.

Frameworks and national guidance to include:

·       Relevant and current frameworks and guidance.

·       Statutory guidance to provide

for:

-      children learning in a language that is not their mother tongue, for example English as an additional language (as appropriate to own country and individual language needs)

-      supporting children through transition

-      ‘looked after’ children.

·       Statutory guidance in relation to special educational needs and disability in own country, for example, in England- this includes the role of the integrated assessment system for Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) in England.

To cover:

2.1. Analyse the impact on learning for a child, young person or adult with an identified additional need, special educational need or disability.

2.2. Discuss factors influencing the level of assistance required by individuals with a special educational need, disability or additional need identified.

3.2. Analyse strategies used by practitioners for intervention and support in relation to the identified additional need, special educational need or disability.

2) Use examples from your own experience to consider the impact on learning for a learner with an identified additional need, special educational need or disability.

**Reflect on the support offered analysing the approaches followed and making recommendations for improvements including how you could improve partnership working in the best interest of the child or young person.

To cover:

3.1. Explain the role of a Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo)

4.1. Evaluate partnership working with other professionals in supporting families to care for children, young people and/or adults with an identified additional need, special educational need or disability in own setting

5.1. Reflect on policies and procedures for supporting children, young people and/or adults with special educational needs or disabilities in own setting.

3) Find out about the SENCo role at your setting and reflect on their role.
**Include the role of the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) in relation to:

-      early identification and intervention

-      the impact of strategies used to identify special educational needs and disabilities.

4) Using the information provided, create a flowchart of the role of the SENCo that would be useful for staff, visitors, volunteers and families. Check the accuracy of the information provided with the SENCo in your setting prior to displaying/sharing the information as appropriate.

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Professional values and practice
1. have high expectations of children and young people with a commitment to helping them fulfil their potential
2. establish fair, respectful, trusting, supportive and constructive relationships with children and young people
3. demonstrate the positive values, attitudes and behaviour they expect from children and young people
4. communicate effectively and sensitively with children, young people, colleagues, parents and carers
5. recognise and respect the contribution that parents and carers can make to the development and well-being of children and young people
6. demonstrate commitment to collaborative and cooperative working with colleagues
7. improve their own knowledge and practice including responding to advice and feedback.

Professional knowledge and understanding
8. understand the key factors that affect children and young people's learning and progress
9. know how to contribute to effective personalised provision by taking practical account of diversity
10. have sufficient understanding of their area(s) of expertise to support the development, learning and progress of children and young people
11. have achieved a nationally recognised qualification at level 2 or above in English/literacy and mathematics/numeracy
12. know how to use ICT to support their professional activities
13. know how statutory and non-statutory frameworks for the school curriculum relate to the age and ability ranges of the learners they support
14. understand the objectives, content and intended outcomes for the learning activities in which they are involved
15. know how to support learners in accessing the curriculum in accordance with the special
educational needs (SEN) code of practice and disabilities legislation
16. know how other frameworks, that support the development and well-being of children and young people, impact upon their practice.

Professional skills
Teaching and learning activities must take place under the direction and supervision of an assigned teacher and in accordance with arrangements made by the headteacher of the school.

Planning and expectations
17. use their area(s) of expertise to contribute to the planning and preparation of learning activities
18. use their area(s) of expertise to plan their role in learning activities
19. devise clearly structured activities that interest and motivate learners and advance their learning
20. plan how they will support the inclusion of the children and young people in the learning activities
21. contribute to the selection and preparation of resources suitable for children and young people's interests and abilities.

Monitoring and assessment
22. monitor learners' responses to activities and modify approaches accordingly
23. monitor learners' progress in order to provide focused support and feedback
24. support the evaluation of learners' progress using a range of assessment techniques
25. contribute to maintaining and analysing records of learners' progress.

Teaching and learning activities
26. use effective strategies to promote positive behaviour
27. recognise and respond appropriately to situations that challenge equality of opportunity
28. use their ICT skills to advance learning
29. advance learning when working with individuals
30. advance learning when working with small groups
31. advance learning when working with whole classes without the presence of the assigned teacher
32. organise and manage learning activities in ways which keep learners safe
33. direct the work, where relevant, of other adults in supporting learning.

Find out more on the HLTA National Assessment Partnership website.

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Professional values and practice 1. have high expectations of children and young people with a commitment to helping them fulfil their potential2. establish fair, respectful, trusting, supportive and constructive relationships with children and young people3. demonstrate the positive values, attitudes and behaviour they expect from children and young people4.

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Type of text: Report

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Writing a report - Writing non-fiction - GCSE English Language Revision - Other - BBC Bitesize

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The language in a report is objective. It states facts rather than attempting to the reader's emotions. The purpose is usually to provide the reader with relevant information in an ordered way. Therefore, the vocabulary should be and straightforward, presenting the topic precisely. Here's a report about the catering services at a school.

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Writing skills- how to write a reflective account 

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Writing skills- how to write a reflective account 

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Type of text: reflective account

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Presentation skills- how to create a flowchart 

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Presentation skills- how to create a flowchart 

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1. On the Insert tab, click SmartArt.

2. In the Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog box, on the left, select the Process category.

3. Single-click a flow chart in the middle pane to see its name and description in the right pane of the dialog box.

4. Select the flow chart you want, and then click OK.

5. After the flow chart is added to your slide, replace the [Text] placeholders with the steps in your flow chart.

6. You can also change the color or style of the SmartArt graphic. While it is selected on your slide, click the SmartArt Design tab on the ribbon, and then click Change Colors or open the SmartArt Styles gallery to see options you can choose from.

For more details about working with SmartArt graphics, see Create a SmartArt graphic.

1. On the Insert tab of the ribbon, click SmartArt, and then point at Process.

2. In the menu of categories that appears, point at Process and then select a layout.

3. After the flow chart is added to your slide, replace the [Text] placeholders with the steps in your flow chart.

4. You can also change the color or style of the SmartArt graphic. While it is selected on your slide, click the SmartArt Design tab on the ribbon, and then click Change Colors or open the SmartArt Styles gallery to see options you can choose from.

For more details about working with SmartArt graphics, see Create a SmartArt graphic.

1. On the Insert tab, click SmartArt.

2. From the drop-down menu, in the Process section, select a process flow chart such as Accent Process or Basic Bending Process.

3. After the flow chart is added to the slide, a text editor appears at the left edge of the chart. Type your chart text in the editor. As you type, the text appears in the graphic:

Tip: To quickly change the colors of the shapes in your flow chart, click Change Colors on the SmartArt tab of the ribbon.

For more details about working with SmartArt graphics, see Create a SmartArt graphic.

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Add a flow chart to a slide in PowerPoint

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On the Insert tab, click SmartArt. In the Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog box, on the left, select the Process category. Single-click a flow chart in the middle pane to see its name and description in the right pane of the dialog box. Select the flow chart you want, and then click OK.

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Planning /personal / professional development skills- how to write a SMART action plan 

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Planning /personal / professional development skills- how to write a SMART action plan 

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Type of text: action plan

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Planning /personal / professional development skills- a template for your SMART action plan 

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Planning /personal / professional development skills- a template for your SMART action plan 

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One school's Monitoring and Evaluating Policy... 

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One school's Monitoring and Evaluating Policy... 

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Does your school have one?

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re; The planning stage: The teaching and learning cycle 

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re; The planning stage: The teaching and learning cycle 

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The Teaching and Learning Cycle description (1)

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What does formative assessment mean? Formative assessments are the use of day-to-day assessments to explore pupils' understanding and adjust teaching methods.

What are Formative Assessments?

Formative assessments are regular, informal assessments that are used by teachers to assess student understanding and inform teaching strategy. The ultimate goal is to collect detailed information that can be used to improve instruction and student understanding while it's happening.

What does formative assessment mean?

Formative assessment in the classroom means that the teacher is monitoring pupils' learning by providing regularly and timely feedback on what they've done well and what they need to improve.

It can take a variety of forms from informal quizzes to verbal feedback on a piece of work. To be effective, formative assessment needs to take place on a daily basis during teaching and learning. It's conducted to help teachers decide how to further develop student understanding.

One commonly used formative assessment method is What Well Well? (WWW) and Even Better If? (EBI). This feedback means that pupils know what they've achieved to date and what they need to do next in order to make progress in their learning.

Formative assessment is sometimes referred to as assessment for learning and usually involves diagnostic testing of some kind. This allows the teacher and the pupil to identify gaps in the pupils' learning and then target those gaps by adjusting their planning sequences of learning to address those gaps.Depending on the subject and topic, this might involve revising previously taught concepts, practising particular skills or extending existing knowledge.

Formative assessment is what takes place in the run-up to a summative assessment like an end of topic test, meaning that it is formative in the way the results are used rather than the style of assessment itself.

Formative versus summative assessments

It is sometimes assumed that a series of summative assessments produce a formative assessment.

However, summative and formative assessments are different things.

Summative Assessments

Summative assessments usually take place at the end of a learning module and provide students with a grade or indication of progress.

They are more formal and used to measure achievement at a specific point in the year.

Formative Assessments

Formative assessments are a method of assessing pupils whilst learning is happening, rather than waiting until then end of a term or topic. They evaluate the comprehension levels and learning needs of students.

What makes an assessment formative is what the teacher does with the information to inform their teaching on that topic.

Formative and summative are not labels for different types or forms of assessment but instead describe how assessments are used.

A task or activity is not formative unless the information it provides is used to progress learning.

Formative assessments are typically integrated with in-lesson learning. This means that they don't necessarily produce typical grades like As or number levels. But instead, formative assessments can help increase children's awareness of how they learn which can help with their sense of responsibility and independence in learning.

What is a Formative Assessment framework?

A formative assessment framework provides educators with a clear structure to achieve an organised formative assessment. The framework provides both children and teachers to provide a better focus on what children need to learn and what you as an educator should teach.

The formative assessment framework includes data that will help inform both learning and instruction to help structure your lessons in the best way for your class. The data from formative assessments provide educators to make an informed decision about the next steps, many studies have shown that decision made based on data are better informed than the ones made without. By the term 'next steps' we simply mean the measures to put into place to help a child flourish within their learning - these decisions will be made via the formative assessment results.

The formative assessment framework usually follows this process:

Assessing and conveying standards.

Using the standards to collect and assess data to see where children are performing within the curriculum and current guidelines.

The teacher then shares the feedback with students with detailed feedback.

Based on the feedback children will then form their own formative assessment by using the comments made by the teacher to determine what they should focus on learning.

Formative Assessments in the classroom

The role of the formative assessment in the classroom is to monitor student's learning to help provide children with clear and concise feedback to help them to continue to improve. They help teachers pinpoint strengths and weaknesses and help children understand where they need a little more help in detail.

Why are Formative Assessments important in the classroom?

Formative assessments give children the ability to actively manage and adjust their own learning, as well as tracking their own learning goals. Not only does it provide educators with a good amount of time to give feedback to children regularly, but it allows children to have their own input in their learning.

Origins of Formative Assessments:

Formative assessments have been common in classrooms since the 1960s. However, they gained fresh interest following the pioneering research ' Inside the Black Box: Raising standards through classroom assessment' in the late 1990s.

Formative Assessment In the Classroom Examples

The ways formative assessments can be carried out is very broad. It can be as simple as teachers getting children to raise their hands if they have understood a new concept. Or an extravagant self-assessment writing exercise.

Here are some examples of formative assessments methods that are perfect in any classroom:

Analysing student work- either self-assessment or peer assessments

Strategic questioning - ask students high-order questions to assess their understanding based on their answers

3-way summaries - students write three summaries in response to a topic of increasing length, to test understanding of the content

Sharing in groups - students discuss a topic in pairs, while teachers make note of their discussions

Classroom polls- does everyone understand?

One-minute papers -Students write briefly about a topic, summarising their key learning

Spontaneous quizzes and voting exercises

Mind maps- get children to summarise what they already know about a topic in a creative and visual way

Summary Paragraphs- Short writing exercises to see how well students have understood an idea

Visual exercises- get children to draw something or create a collage based on your topic

Q and A Exercises- Get kids to ask questions and see which of their classmates know the answers

By trying these formative assessment methods you'll be able to keep a track of children's progress in a fun and less formal way. You'll also be creating an approach that allows children to have some input with their learning by providing them with useful and consistent feedback. All of these methods are great to try in the classroom and accommodate both whole-class and individual assessments.

After using one of these formative assessment methods you should then follow the framework which involves setting a task, examining children's work, informing teacher knowledge and then inform instruction and teaching methods.
Benefits of Formative Assessments in the classroom:
As well as helping teachers to understand how well students have taken on board the topic and adjust their teaching to support them further if necessary, formative assessments have lots of benefits for helping kids learn:

Students can use the results to improve their own learning.

The results allow teachers to adjust their teaching quickly.

Improves children's academic achievement and progress.

Enhances students motivation.

Gives children clear learning goals.

Increases student engagement.

Helps you deliver more targeted and personalised feedback to children.

The results help you make an informed decision by using accurate data.

Helps students to precisely understand the level they are working at - grades to fit with everyone, and formative assessments allow them to put their level of understanding in the context

Reduce the learning gaps - by using the results of formative assessments to adjust teaching, you will be ensuring that everyone in the class is getting the most out of your lessons

Using Twinkl to help with formative assessments in the classroom:

Lots of formative assessments will be interactive activities that are unique to your classroom - but we have a couple of resources to help get you started.

Puzzle Piece Summary- This summary sheet encourages kids to write connection summaries across the topic you are currently studying. It allows you to see what has stood out to them the most so far, and what they might not remember. This can be adapted to any topic and age group you need.

Anecdotal Notes Recording- A fantastic sheet for recording notes during a spoken formative assessment activity.

All of these resources would make a great formative assessment method to use. They've all been created and checked by experienced teachers, allowing you to rest assured as you'll be delivering good-quality content.

For more about how to use Formative Assessments in your classroom check out our blog.

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What is a Formative Assessment? - Answered - Twinkl teaching Wiki

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What does formative assessment mean? Formative assessments are the use of day-to-day assessments to explore pupils' understanding and adjust teaching methods. Formative assessments are regular, informal assessments that are used by teachers to assess student understanding and inform teaching strategy.

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Check out chapter 2: Assessment monitoring and tracking progress

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Check out chapter 2: Assessment monitoring and tracking progress

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'Smart is not something you are, smart is something you get' (Wiliam, 2013a).

What is formative assessment?

There is more than 40 years' research evidence to suggest that enhancing formative assessment within the classroom has a significant impact on student learning. Within the context of the UK, the term 'formative assessment' (also used interchangeably with 'Assessment for Learning') tends to be built on the pioneering work of Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam. Black and Wiliam have defined formative assessment as 'all those activities undertaken by teachers, and/or their students to modify teaching and learning activities in which they [the students] are engaged' (1998: p.8). What is crucial to know is that formative assessment is a process and involves working with students so that learners know where they are in their learning, where they need to be, and how they are going to get there. In short, formative assessment normally involves a dialogue (whether oral or written) which moves teaching and learning forward.

Within the classroom, teachers who model, observe and give learners constructive comments are using formative assessment. As Keith Swanwick puts it, 'to teach is to assess' (Swanwick, 1988: p.149) and although this may not be seen, by some, as assessment, this is exactly what is happening. The nature of formative assessment does not include marks, levels or grades, nor does it compare students with one another. Instead, it focuses on what the next steps are on an individual and personal level. The key component of formative assessment, though, is not just the collection of information, but that it is actively used and acted upon by the teacher to improve future teaching, and the student to improve future learning.

Why hasn't it worked in schools?

Firstly, one reason worth exploring is given by the Assessment Reform Group (1999), which explains:
'The term "formative" itself is open to a variety of interpretations and often means no more than that assessment is carried out frequently and is planned at the same time as teaching. It may be formative in helping the teacher identify areas where more explanation or practice is needed. But for the pupils, the marks or remarks in their work may tell them about their successes or failures, but not how to make progress towards future learning' (p.7).

This point is further exemplified by Wiliam who, in an interview published in the Times Educational Supplement, stated: 'The big mistake that Paul and I made was calling this stuff "assessment"... because when you use the word assessment, people think about tests and exams' (Stewart, 2012). He later commented that it should probably have been called something like 'responsive teaching' (Wiliam, 2013b). This means that when students are given a mark or score after a class test or quiz, student learning has, in fact, been 'summed up'. What can happen, therefore, is that instead of formative assessment practise taking place within the classroom there is, in place of it, a culture of mini-summative assessments

Secondly, it is quite common in schools, following a class test, for teachers to give students a score with comments to improve. This notion has been widely researched, along with other modes of feedback, including in the oft-quoted work by Butler (1988) who looked into the effects of different types of feedback on students in Israel between two lessons, and reported the following findings:
- Students who were given marks only made no gain in attainment between the two lessons.
- Students who were given comments only improved, on average, by 30 per cent compared with their previous performance.
- Students who were given marks and comments made, surprisingly, no gain.

While the idea of giving marks and comments to improve might appear favourable, and may even be part of a school's assessment policy, what seems likely to happen in practice is that students look at their score, compare it with the person nearest to them, and ignore the comments. As such, the efforts of the teacher, having spent time writing the comments, is largely wasted.

A third reason could relate to Fautley and Savage's (2008) acknowledgement that, in some schools, there is pressure on teachers and students, presumably from senior leadership, to produce high levels of attainment in the form of marks or grades from assessments. With this in mind, consideration should be given to the fact that teachers may consciously be neglecting their formative practices and beliefs in favour of summative assessments, albeit mini ones, to meet requests for data tracking purposes.

In the Department for Education's (DfE) Final Report of the Commission on Assessment Without Levels, it was reported that 'formative assessment was not always being used as an integral part of effective teaching' (DfE, 2015: p.13) and that the previous focus on National Curriculum levels in schools meant that 'Instead of using classroom assessment to identify strengths and gaps in pupils' knowledge and understanding of the programmes of study, some teachers were simply tracking pupils' progress towards target levels' (DfE, 2015: p.13). The removal of levels from the English National Curriculum in 2014 meant there could be a more significant emphasis on embedding formative assessment within day-today teaching and learning. Even before this, though, research suggests that in schools and within the classroom, the term 'formative assessment' has become misunderstood and confused (James et al., 2006). As such, 'there has been no (or at best limited) effect on learning outcomes nationally' (Coe, 2013: p.10).

How can we make it better in the classroom?

Although formative assessment is useful for gathering evidence to be used as feedback to improve learner performance, it can also be integral to effective teaching on a day-to-day basis. Based on the work of Leahy et al (2005), these formative strategies include learning intentions, success criteria, eliciting evidence of student learning, feedback, and both peer-and self-assessment. A brief summary of each is given below.

Learning intentions

A common feature within classroom practice today is the sharing of learning intentions (also known as learning objectives) with students where the intended learning behind the tasks and activities is revealed. The clarification and understanding, at student level, of learning intentions, however, is essential so that students become able to hold a concept similar to that of the teacher (Sadler, 1989). Writing good learning intentions, though, is hard as we need to distinguish clearly in our planning not only what the students will be doing, but what they will be learning by doing it.

Success criteria

Sharing what success looks like with students is at the very heart of formative assessment and provides regular opportunities for such assessment to take place throughout the lesson. As one student puts it, knowing and understanding the success criteria is 'like knowing the teacher's secret' (Spendlove, 2009: 18). Within formative assessment, success criteria can act as an aide memoire to students throughout the lesson so that, through on-going reflection, their learning can be kept on track. The regular referral to success criteria also allows teachers to engage in conversations with their students where meaningful oral feedback is given on where the learner is now, where they need to be, and how they are going to get there.

Eliciting evidence of student learning

Questioning is an excellent way of gathering evidence of student learning. Traditionally, this may be done by questioning a small number of students, they get the answers right, and the teacher moves on. This is problematic, though, as we do not know whether the rest of the class is ready to move on, too. Although some may consider feedback to be at the heart of formative assessment, the quality of the feedback depends on the quality of the evidence gathered. Asking a small number of students before moving on may not constitute quality evidence. A more reliable source of information, however, could come from asking questions at whole-class level via the use of mini-whiteboards with, perhaps, ABCD multiple-choice responses for students to choose from. The information this elicits, then, can be immediately interpreted by the teacher before deciding whether to move on or not.

Feedback

The notion of any kind of feedback, according to Sadler (1989), is powerful for several reasons:
1. It informs teachers about levels of knowledge, understanding and skills attained or yet to be attained by the student
2. It aims to facilitate learners in being able to identify and amend a gap in learning
3. It assists teachers in reducing and selecting suitable tasks or activities, and
4. It allows teachers to modify their teaching in order to support the closing of the gap.

Peer- and self-assessment

Peer- and self-assessment 'is essential to learning because students can only achieve a learning goal if they understand that goal and can assess what they need to do to reach it' (Black and Wiliam, 2006: 15). Within the understanding of formative assessment, what this means is that the students know what to do to develop each other's, as well as their own, learning.

The interaction between these key strategies not only fosters engaging learning environments, but also makes clear to both teachers and students that learning is, indeed, heading in the intended direction. The information these strategies elicit is then used to decide what to do next. This is formative assessment in action.

References
Assessment Reform Group (1999) Assessment for Learning: Beyond the Black Box. Cambridge: Cambridge School of Education.

Black P and Wiliam D (1998) Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment. London: King's College School of Education.

Black P and Wiliam D (2006) Assessment for learning in the classroom. In: Gardner J (ed) Assessment and Learning (2nd ed). London: SAGE, pp. 11-32.

Butler R (1988) Enhancing and undermining intrinsic motivation: The effects of task-involving and ego-evolving evaluation on interest and performance. British Journal of Educational Psychology 58(1): 1-14.

Coe R (2013) Improving Education: A Triumph of Hope Over Experience. Durham: Durham University Centre for Education and Monitoring.

Department for Education (2015) Final Report of the Commission on Assessment Without Levels. London: The Stationery Office.

Fautley M and Savage J (2008) Assessment for Learning and Teaching in Secondary Schools. Exeter: Learning Matters.

James M, Black P, Carmichael P, Conner C, Dudley P, Fox A, Frost A, Honour L, Macbeth J, McCormack R, Marshall B, Pedder D, Procter R, Swaffield S and Wiliam D (2006) Learning How to Learn: Tools for Schools. Abingdon: Routledge.

Leahy S, Lyon C, Thompson M and Wiliam D (2005) Classroom assessment: Minute-by-minute and day-by-day. Educational Leadership 63(3): 18-24.

Sadler R (1989) Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems. Instructional Science 18: 119-144.

Spendlove D (2009) Putting Assessment for Learning into Practice. London: Continuum.

Stewart W (2012) Think you've implemented assessment for learning? Times Educational Supplement. Available at: https://ww.tes.com/news/tes-archive/tes-publication/think-youve-implemented-assessment-learning (accessed 25 June 2017).

Swanwick K (1988) Music, Mind and Education. London: Routledge.

Wiliam D (2013a) Assessment: The bridge between teaching and learning. Voices from the Middle 21(2): 15-20.

Wiliam D (2013b) Example of a really big mistake: Calling formative assessment formative assessment and not something like "responsive teaching". Twitter blog available at: https://twitter.com/dylanwiliam/status/393045049337847808 (accessed 25 June 2017).

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What is formative assessment, why hasn't it worked in schools, and how can we make it better in the classroom? | impact.chartered.college

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'Smart is not something you are, smart is something you get' (Wiliam, 2013a). What is formative assessment? There is more than 40 years' research evidence to suggest that enhancing formative assessment within the classroom has a significant impact on student learning. Within the context of the UK,

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Background The Quarterly Mental Health Community Teams Activity return collects data on the number of patients on Care Programme Approach (CPA) followed up within 7 days of discharge from psychiatric inpatient care, and the number of inpatient admissions gate kept by Crisis Resolution Home Treatment (CRHT) teams. Data are shown at provider organisation level and [...]

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NHS England " Search Results " mental health

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The new children's commissioner for England wants to "rebuild childhood" after the disruption of the pandemic.

Dame Rachel de Souza says the scale of the challenge is like reconstructing the social security system in the wake of World War Two.

She also wants short-term measures - such as free school meals - being extended into the summer holidays, and not "dropping" Universal Credit levels.

Dame Rachel says she will be "fearless" in representing children's interests.

The new children's commissioner is launching what is claimed to be England's biggest survey of children - the "Big Ask" - which will gather children's views on the impact of the pandemic, and what they think are the barriers to children's ambitions

'Once in a generation'

The online survey, to be sent to all schools and also children in youth custody, children's homes and mental health units, will provide information for a "once-in-a-generation" review of how children's lives might be improved.

It takes its "spirit and the ambition" from William Beveridge's 1942 report, which laid the foundations for the post-war welfare state, identifying the five great challenges as "want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness".

"Our response to the trauma of the Second World War was to create a blueprint for a social service system and a National Health Service that improved our lives. We have the chance to do the same again now for children," says the children's commissioner.

Dame Rachel, who ran schools in Norfolk and Suffolk, wants a 10-year plan to emerge from her review - with the promise of tackling a political system which can "often short-change children".

For more immediate challenges, on whether free school meals should run across the summer holidays, she told the BBC: "I absolutely want to see free school meals extended.

"And I'm very concerned about suggestions of dropping Universal Credit. If it was dropped down again, I'd like to see services provided in its place, but I'd rather it wasn't dropped."

A former teacher, head teacher and chief executive of a school academy trust, Dame Rachel promised to be an "independent voice, there to fight to protect and promote the rights of children".

If government was "doing something wrong", she said, "I will be fearless in exposing that and challenging them".

The review will consider how children will recover from so much disrupted education - calculating that collectively pupils in England have lost 840 million days of in-person schooling since the start of the pandemic, representing about 19 weeks each.

It will address the "social fault lines" and inequalities that have been exacerbated by the pandemic, between generations, the wealthy and the disadvantaged, by ethnicity and geography.

This includes how the gulf between rich and poor and young and old has widened, with older, higher earners increasing their savings in the lockdown, while poorer families and younger people have faced job losses and increasingly fragile finances.

Today's young people are the first post-war generation to be less well-off than their parents, says the report launching the children's commissioner's review.

Catch-up funding

"As we emerge from the Covid pandemic, this is the moment for something big, for children to recognise the sacrifices they have made," said Dame Rachel.

"I have seen first-hand the effect of this crisis on young people's hopes and dreams, and sometimes our answers simply have not been good enough."

Labour's Shadow Education Secretary Kate Green said: "Over the last decade the Conservatives have overseen record numbers of children being pushed into poverty, a worsening mental health crisis and an 18-month gap in learning between disadvantaged children and their peers at GCSE."

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: "We know that children and families have faced unprecedented challenges during the pandemic.

"We've expanded frontline charity support and provided new resources for schools and teachers to support children and young people's mental health.

"Our £1.7bn investment in recovery support will help tackle the impact of any lost learning and we are investing an additional £79m to increase the number of mental health support teams working with schools and colleges."

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New children's commissioner pledges to 'rebuild' childhood

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The new children's commissioner for England wants to "rebuild childhood" after the disruption of the pandemic. Dame Rachel de Souza says the scale of the challenge is like reconstructing the social security system in the wake of World War Two.

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Care Act 2014
Mental Health Act 2007
Mental Capacity Act 2005
Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA)
Human Rights Act 1998

Equality Act 2010

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about the Mental Capacity Act 2005 in context...

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about the Mental Capacity Act 2005 in context...

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Relevant statutory frameworks / good practice docs:

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Relevant statutory frameworks / good practice docs:

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-Keeping children safe in education (2020)

-children and young people’s emotional well-being and mental health

-          National Support Team guidance ‘What good looks like’

-          Dept of Health Guidance – Report of the work of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Taskforce (2015)

-          Public Health England – The mental health of children and young people in England - 2016 Mental Health Foundation.

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re 2.2- public perceptions of mental health...

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re 2.2- public perceptions of mental health...

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Understanding what works to keep us mentally healthy and support those experiencing mental health problems is fundamental to reducing health inequalities.

We've been working with the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to understand more about public attitudes to mental wellbeing and mental illness and commissioned a series of questions on attitudes to mental health as part of the latest British Social Attitudes survey. I wanted to go through some of the findings in this blog.

Two distinct pictures of public attitude emerged from the findings. On one hand people are being positive and aware about mental wellbeing, but on the other, we are still seeing negative attitudes towards mental health problems, despite widespread prevalence.

Mental wellbeing

It's reassuring that most people report confidence in knowing what it means to have good mental wellbeing, what the different factors are that impact on it and the things they can do to improve it.

The two aspects that have the biggest impact are relationships with family and friends and job or work-life balance.

It's interesting that the report found no differences in what people do to improve their mental wellbeing, based on deprivation or experience of mental illness - we all value the mental health benefits of spending time with others and being physically active.

The findings support the Five Ways to Wellbeing messages; Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning and Give.

In addition, sleep, eating healthily and setting goals were also important, which PHE has incorporated into our One You campaign. We also all have our own unique steps for healthy living and it's important to work with what's best for us individually.

However, there are inequalities when it comes to having the opportunity and ability to improve our mental wellbeing.

The report found that those living in deprived areas or with personal experience of mental health problems feel that the things affecting their mental wellbeing are outside of their control.

Important factors include finances, their home, how much say people have in decisions that affect them and the neighbourhood they live in, as well as job and work-life balance.

Action to address these social determinants needs to sit alongside efforts to support health behaviour change.

Stigma associated with mental health problems

One of the main problems faced by people with mental health problems is discrimination. The report demonstrates the varying levels of acceptance of those with mental health problems and that widespread perceptions of prejudice still exist.

For example, only around 5 in 10 people say they would be willing to socialise with someone with schizophrenia.

Those who know someone who has experienced a mental health problem are less likely to be prejudiced

It is good to see that perceptions of workplace prejudice have improved over time; however it is still evident that stigma remains and is greater for mental health problems compared to physical health conditions.

Those who know someone who has experienced a mental health problem are less likely to be prejudiced and creating environments that support people to be open about their mental health problems can help raise awareness among the wider population and reduce prejudice.

I hope we can achieve this within PHE and support other workplaces to do so.

Understanding what people say is important to their health and is key to delivering public health. Using national surveys such as this and also continued engagement of the public within our work will help shape meaningful and effective policy and practice.

This report will help shape our work to prevent mental illness and implement the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health.

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Mental health - our attitudes and awareness

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Understanding what works to keep us mentally healthy and support those experiencing mental health problems is fundamental to reducing health inequalities. We've been working with the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to understand more about public attitudes to mental wellbeing ...

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In the aftermath of an unconscionable act of random violence, many people are inclined to label the perpetrator "crazy." Although the criminal may have a mental illness, automatically assigning the label "crazy" does a great disservice to people who live with mental illness every day.

In reality, somebody with mental illness is much more likely to be a victim-rather than a perpetrator-of violence. Calling a violent offender "crazy" spreads a dangerous stereotype and belies the complex relationship between criminality and mental illness.

The media teaches us about people with whom we do not routinely interact. This constant flow of data gives us incessant social cues about the nature of other groups of people-including which groups of people should be praised or scorned.

Media portrayals of those with mental illness often skew toward either stigmatization or trivialization. Consequently, all forms of media-including television, film, magazines, newspapers, and social media-have been criticized for disseminating negative stereotypes and inaccurate descriptions of those with mental illness.

What Is Stigmatization?

Stigma involves negative beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors directed toward people based on some distinguishing characteristics. In the case of mental health stigma, it involves the presence of mental health symptoms or a mental health diagnosis.

In other cases, stigma can also involve health conditions, disabilities, gender, race, sexuality, culture, religion, and sexuality.

Stigma happens when some person is viewed as an "other." A person considered an "other" is denied full social acceptance.

The impact of mental health stigma is serious. Evidence suggests that it is linked to worse mental health outcomes because it reduces the likelihood that a person will seek help, receive adequate care, and adhere to their treatment plan.

Stigmatization of Mental Illness By the Media

Stigmatization of mental illness in media is abundant. For example, certain mental health conditions, such as schizophrenia are seen as being so disruptive that people with those conditions must be isolated from society.

The stigmatization of mental illness is so entwined with the media that researchers have used newspaper articles as a proxy metric for stigma in society.

Media accounts tend to focus on the individual with mental illness rather than framing mental illness as a societal issue. Consequently, media consumers are more likely to blame an individual for the illness.

Mental Illness Is Overgeneralized

For instance, common depictions are that all people with depression are suicidal, and all people with schizophrenia hallucinate. In reality, 60% and 80% of people with schizophrenia experience auditory hallucinations. An even smaller number of people experience visual hallucinations.

It's also not uncommon for media portrayals to discount that many people with mental illness don't need to disclose their condition to everyone around them.

Instead, mental illness often goes unrecognized (whether by intention or not). The portrayals in the media tend to present situations where everyone in a character's life knows about their mental illness.

Trivialization of Mental Illness By the Media

The media can also trivialize mental illness, either by promoting mental illness as not being severe or being less severe than it really is.

For instance, many people with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa feel that their condition is made out to be less severe than it really is. This is in part because people with the condition portrayed in the media often minimize its seriousness and hide the severe consequences of the disease.

The truth is, the death rate for people with anorexia is high. In reality, anorexia has one of the highest mortality rates of any mental health condition. Research suggests the risk of dying is 10 times higher for people who have anorexia nervosa.

The symptoms of mental illness are sometimes portrayed as being beneficial. For example, in the popular television series Monk, the protagonist is a detective with OCD. The fact that he pays close attention to detail helps him solve crimes and advance his career.

People who do not have disabilities can use media channels to mock people who do have disabilities, such as by appropriating mental-illness terminology. For instance, the hashtag OCD (#OCD) is commonly used on Twitter to describe one's attention to cleanliness or organization.

Depictions of Schizophrenia in Film

Probably the most disparaging stigmatizations of mental illness in media lie in the film portrayals of antagonists with mental illness. In particular, when characters with schizophrenia are presented as "homicidal maniacs" in "slasher" or "psycho killer" movies.

In one study, researchers analyzed 41 movies that had been released between 1990 and 2010 for depictions of schizophrenia.

Based on the findings of the analysis, researchers drew several conclusions.

Most of the characters displayed "positive" symptoms of schizophrenia, with delusions being featured most frequently, followed by auditory and visual hallucinations.

The majority of characters displayed violent behavior toward themselves or others.

Nearly one-third of violent characters engaged in homicidal behavior.

About one-fourth of the characters committed suicide.

The cause of schizophrenia was infrequently noted. However, in about one-fourth of the movies it was implied that a traumatic life event for the character had been a significant causative factor.

Of the movies that alluded to or showed mental illness treatment, psychotropic medications were most commonly portrayed.

Why Such Portrayals Are Damaging

These portrayals are not only incorrect but damaging-and for several reasons.

They Spread Myths About Mental Illness

The portrayals of schizophrenia often focus on symptoms such as visual hallucinations, bizarre delusions, and disorganized speech, and present them as commonplace. In reality, symptoms like decreased motivation, poverty of speech, and flat affect are more common.

They Link Mental Illness to Violence

Several movies have spread the false stereotype that people with schizophrenia are prone to violence and unpredictable behavior. Some films even presented people with schizophrenia as being "possessed."

They Exaggerate Suicide Risk

While suicide is a significant concern for people with schizophrenia, the research on media portrayals of schizophrenia found that this risk is often exaggerated in film and tv representations. In one study, 24% of the characters with schizophrenia committed suicide.

In reality, estimates suggest that between 4% and 13% of people with schizophrenia die by suicide, and approximately 18% to 55% attempt suicide at some point in their lifetime.

They Misrepresent Who Is Affected

Demographics is another aspect of mental illness that is often misrepresented by media portrayals of mental illness.

For example, characters with schizophrenia are frequently depicted as being white males, but schizophrenia disproportionately affects African Americans. It also affects men and women almost equally.

They Spread Myths About Causes of Mental Illness

In a few movies, schizophrenia was depicted as being secondary to traumatic life events or curable by love-both of which are misrepresentations of the condition's causes and treatment.

Press Play for Advice On Navigating Mental Health Advice on Social Media

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What's Accurate In Media Portayals?

Not all the information presented about schizophrenia was found to be incorrect, misleading, or stigmatizing.﻿﻿ For example, in more than half of the movies that researchers analyzed, the use of psychiatric medications was depicted or alluded to.

Even when some movies get it right, the negative media portrayals-especially those that are violent-of people with schizophrenia and other severe forms of mental illness still contribute to stigmatization, stereotyping, discrimination, and social rejection.

Impact of the Media on Mental Health

The impact of mental health stigmatization by the media can contribute to a number of different effects.

Self-stigma: Media portrayals can contribute to self-stigma, which refers to feelings of internalized shame, negative beliefs, and negative attitudes that people have about their own mental health condition.

Incorrect information: Because of media portrayals of mental illness, people often get incorrect ideas about the symptoms of mental health conditions. It can also lead people to develop inaccurate ideas about how mental illness is diagnosed and treated.

Barriers to treatment: Media messages can also create barriers to treatment. Because people internalize stigmatized attitudes about mental illness, they may be less likely to seek out help or treatment when they experience symptoms.

Poor treatment adherence: People are more likely to adhere to their treatment if they have social support and encouragement from others. Negative attitudes toward mental illness and stereotypes portrayed in the media may contribute to worse attitudes about mental health treatments and poorer adherence.

Self-diagnosis: People might also be more likely to self-diagnose themselves based on viral social media posts seen on Tik Tok and Instagram. Such information is often shared by people who are not mental health professionals and is often inaccurate.

What Can Be Done?

We need a better understanding of how these messages are disseminated by the media before we can rectify them. There is limited research looking at how media promotes mental-illness stereotypes, stigmatization, and trivialization.

Nevertheless, certain suggestions have been made on how to improve the depiction of people with mental illness in the media, such as:

Analyzing mass-media production procedures to better understand screenwriters, producers, and journalists' current practices, needs, values, and economic realities (for instance, understanding the balance between being newsworthy or emotionally arousing and verifiable).

Implementing a mental health short course when training journalists.

Including expert input from psychiatrists during a film's production.

Preferring non-individualized descriptions of mental illness and instead focusing on the societal aspects.

Presenting mental illness only when relevant to the story.

Using mental-health terminology with precision, fairness, and expertise.

As individuals who consume copious amounts of mass media and engage with social media, the best thing we can do is stop using words like "crazy" and "deranged" in a derogatory or flippant fashion. We also need to remember that it's best to avoid making a psychiatric diagnosis outside of a clinical setting.

A Word From Verywell

Only a specialist can make a diagnosis of OCD, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and other mental health conditions. When we give someone the label of being mentally ill without clinical evidence, we hurt people who live with mental illness on a daily basis.

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How Mental Health Issues Are Damaged by Mass Media

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Get information on how movies, film, and social media often stigmatize and trivialize mental illness.

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Good media reports about mental illness are responsible, accurate and balanced. They help the community better in understanding the experience of mental illness by including the perspective of people with mental illness, carers, and mental health workers and encourage help-seeking behavior.

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There was a time when you could tell which character in a soap or TV drama was the one with a mental health problem. They'd usually be the strange outsider who'd appear in an episode, hurt or kill a much loved character and end up being dragged away to be locked up in a mental institution for life.

Thankfully things have moved on hugely in the past two decades or so. This is my seventh year running the media advice service at Mind and even in that time I've noticed a real shift in the way the media approach mental health.

This is reflected in many ways. Our Mind Media Awards last year were the biggest and best ever, with Prince Harry attending and presenting an award. Every two years we do research around newspaper coverage of mental health topics. Our last piece showed that for the first time, stories were more positive than stigmatising.

Our last piece of research showed that for the first time, stories were more positive than stigmatising.

Recently (and this is my personal favourite) we took part in a round table at the House of Commons with the cast of Hollyoaks, talking about how a recent storyline on the show has helped young people who are self harming. Westminster and Hollyoaks are not something you would usually put together but it was great to see the soap world and politicians coming together to discuss mental health. Channel 4 have just signed the Time to Change pledge as a signal of their commitment to mental health both on and off screen.

Unfortunately, not all conditions are treated equally in the media. Mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder are starting to be treated with sympathy and understanding on screen. However, when schizophrenia and personality disorders are covered it's usually in connection to violence, even though we know that you're much more likely to be a victim than a perpetrator of violence if you have a mental health problem.

Unfortunately, not all conditions are treated equally in the media.

In a public opinion poll we did about mental health storylines on TV, 60 per cent of people said that watching a soap or drama featuring a character with a mental health problem had increased their understanding. However, almost the same percentage said that schizophrenia is more negatively portrayed than other mental health problems.

This is why on Wednesday night, watching ITV's Girlfriends, I was upset to see a character that ticked so many outdated stereotype boxes. Carol is shown to behave obsessively towards men, lie to people (including the police) and have grandiose ideas about her singing career. So far so good, but then it's 'revealed' that Carol once had a diagnosis of psychosis and has been an inpatient a mental institution on not one but two occasions.

As we know nothing more about Carol, her mental health problem seems to be the reason for her strange and disturbing behaviour. Indeed, anyone that comes into contact with her is clear about what she's like, describing her as 'deranged' and calling her 'Crazy Carol'. She's very much painted as 'the other' or 'mad, bad and dangerous' - both views that have thankfully been stamped out in most areas of drama.

I was upset to see a character that ticked so many outdated stereotype boxes.

The episode culminates in Carol letting herself in to one of the main character's homes, brandishing a knife. She's clearly planning to stab the woman in her bed but on the way kills poor Florence the cat (a very gruesome scene that provoked outrage on Twitter). Again, people on social media were quick to judge the character, many using the term 'psycho'.

I don't think Girlfriends was intended to be stigmatising, but it's worrying that Carol's story was probably never thought of as a mental health storyline. Most broadcasters would never dream of running storylines that were considered racist or homophobic, but the same consideration isn't always made when it comes to the portrayal of mental health problems.

ITV have made some fantastic drama about mental health, including Cold Feet, which won best drama at our Media Awards last year. The depiction of the character Pete struggling with depression was written with warmth and compassion and helped to show viewers that mental health is not something to be feared or shunned but something to be talked about and supported.

She's painted as 'the other' or 'mad, bad and dangerous' - both views that have thankfully been stamped out in most areas of drama.

My work is to ensure that programme makers see how a mental health storyline could be damaging to public attitudes or how when done well, it can prompt help seeking and raise awareness for the better.

We worked on around seventy storylines last year, mostly behind the scenes, checking scripts and involving people with lived experience to ensure that stories were realistic and sensitive.

Thankfully the majority of mental health storylines we work on turn out to be brilliant. It's just a shame that some slip through the net and risk having a negative impact on the attitudes of TV viewers.

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Improving representations of mental health on TV

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There was a time when you could tell which character in a soap or TV drama was the one with a mental health problem. They'd usually be the strange outsider who'd appear in an episode, hurt or kill a much loved character and end up being dragged away to be locked up in a mental institution for life.

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re 2.2- Social media and CYP's mental health...

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Twin Design / Shutterstock.com
In this blog, Brayan Herrera, a year 12 student who has been on placement with Mental Health Foundations Policy and Research team from Haggerston School, East London, as part of the Inspire Initiative, discusses the positive and negative impacts of social media on young peoples mental health.
Social media has dramatically changed the way we communicate. We no longer need to wait for newspaper updates, but rather learn from those on our social media feeds about the issues that are most important or appealing to us.

Even more importantly, social media has proven its power in motivating people to action as well as a strong resource to influence social, political and economic policies.

Social media is a powerful tool for young people; it provides a platform for our voices to be heard and enables us to become active citizens and to voice our opinions on the matters that affect or interest us. It also has the power to bring together voices of concern about particular issues - for example when Rachel Beckwith's birthday wish came true and she was able to raise $1,265,823 to help young children in Africa to have clean water: she was able to raise awareness and convince people to donate to the charity.

This shows the real benefits of social media as it allowed the distribution of an idea that was then recognised by new audiences that might otherwise have missed out. Social media, as well as the internet more broadly, has helped young people to explore new ideas as well as to build resilience as they learn to recognise and manage risks.

While social media can offer many benefits to society, and to young people more specifically, it can be argued that it has also transformed our culture into one of over-sharing. We should ask the question, what impact does this have on our mental health?

Nowadays, we only look at how many pictures we can post or what is the next thing we should post but we don't look at the effect of social media on our mental health. Taking Facebook and Instagram as examples, they allow us to present our own filtered sense of reality, showing only what we want to show.

This can lead to a person critically comparing their life with other people's and using others' posts as measures for successes and failures in their own life. The impact of this could be catastrophic feelings of low self-esteem, resulting in negative 'I am' statements, such as 'I will never be able to be like that person', or 'I could never do that'.

Low self-esteem is not the only result of the high level of social media use. There has also been a study conducted by psychologist Dr Paula Durlofsky, which was done with the aim of digging into how to establish a healthy balance between real-time relationships and virtual connections. This study demonstrated a correlation between social media use and depression.

Body dysmorphia is another area, which has been affected by social media. A study conducted by Dr Bryony Bamford indicated that high amounts of time spent on Facebook may lead to body image insecurity, which can also lead to depression.

So are you being adversely affected by social media? Here are some signs to look out for:

Low self-esteem.

Feeling low when you see other people's images and lifestyle.

Envy of others people lives - wishing your life was like someone else's.

Finding social media as your first and only choice of activity done for enjoyment.

Not having as many face to face conversations with your relatives and friends and feeling disconnected.

Being unable to do anything without feeling you need to share it online.

If you think your mental health is being affected by social media, below are three examples of the available support.

Ditch the Label is one of the largest and most ambitious anti-bullying charities, which provides inno-vative support (emotional, psychological and physical) to those who have been affected by bullying through digital and non-digital environment. In addition to this, the website offers world class pio-neering research to keep up to date with the landscape of bullying and tackles wider societal issues that stem from discrimination and prejudice.

Aye Mind is a leading UK mental health charity that campaigns for local and national improvements to mental health. It is founded on the premise that social media, and the media more broadly speaking, offer great potential with regards to improving the nation's mental health. Aye Mind works closely with the NHS in order to address mental health challenges across society.

The Mental Health Foundation offers a range of self-help guides to inform and encourage a greater understanding of mental health challenges, as well as an A-Z guide of mental health.

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Social media and young people's mental health

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Twin Design / Shutterstock.com In this blog, Brayan Herrera, a year 12 student who has been on placement with Mental Health Foundations Policy and Research team from Haggerston School, East London, as part of the Inspire Initiative, discusses the positive and negative impacts of social media on young peoples mental health.

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re 2.2- CYP mental health in digital age...

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By Mental Health First Aid USA on July 11, 2019

What comes to mind when you think about culture? For a lot of us, we immediately think of what's right in front of us: unique languages, different clothing and diverse food. But a society's culture also impacts a person's beliefs, norms and values. It impacts how you view certain ideas or behaviors. And in the case of mental health, it can impact whether or not you seek help, what type of help you seek and what support you have around you.

According to research published by The Commonwealth Fund, minorities in the United States are less likely to get mental health treatment or will wait until symptoms are severe before looking. In fact, only 66 percent of minority adults have a regular health care provider compared to 80 percent of white adults. Hispanic and Asian populations report the lowest rates of having a regular doctor or provider, at 58 percent and 60 percent.

It's important that we understand the role culture plays in mental health care so we can support our loved ones and encourage treatment when it's needed most.
Here are four ways culture can impact mental health:

1. Cultural stigma. Every culture has a different way of looking at mental health. For many, there is growing stigma around mental health, and mental health challenges are considered a weakness and something to hide. This can make it harder for those struggling to talk openly and ask for help.

2. Understanding symptoms. Culture can influence how people describe and feel about their symptoms. It can affect whether someone chooses to recognize and talk about only physical symptoms, only emotional symptoms or both.

3. Community Support. Cultural factors can determine how much support someone gets from their family and community when it comes to mental health. Because of existing stigma, minorities are sometimes left to find mental health treatment and support alone.

4. Resources. When looking for mental health treatment, you want to talk to someone who understands your specific experiences and concerns. It can sometimes be difficult or time-consuming to find resources and treatment options that take into account specific cultures factors and needs.

These are only a few ways culture can impact the perception of and treatment for mental health. Every culture and person is different and face a unique journey to recovery.

You can help address the mental health of minorities by understanding the role culture plays in mental health and by becoming trained to help those around you. Mental Health First Aid gives people the skills to identify signs of mental health and substance use challenges and action steps to take to help them get treatment. Find a Mental Health First Aid course near you and #BeTheDifference in the life of someone who may need your support today.

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Four Ways Culture Impacts Mental Health - Mental Health First Aid

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What comes to mind when you think about culture? For a lot of us, we immediately think of what's right in front of us: unique languages, different clothing and diverse food. But a society's culture also impacts a person's beliefs, norms and values. It impacts how you view certain ideas or behaviors.

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re 2.2- Cultural perspectives on mental health

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re 2.2- Cultural perspectives on mental health

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Stigma, Discrimination, and Mental Health

Mental illness stigma is defined as the "devaluing, disgracing, and disfavoring by the general public of individuals with mental illnesses".(1) Stigma often leads to discrimination, or the inequitable treatment of individuals and the denial of the "rights and responsibilities that accompany full citizenship".(2) Stigmatization can cause individual discrimination, which occurs when a stigmatized person is directly denied a resource (e.g. access to housing or a job), and structural discrimination, which describes disadvantages stigmatized people experience at the economic, social, legal, and institutional levels.(3) In addition, stigma can prevent mentally ill individuals from seeking treatment, adhering to treatment regimens, finding employment, and living successfully in community settings. In 2001, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified stigma and discrimination towards mentally ill individuals as "the single most important barrier to overcome in the community", and the WHO's Mental Health Global Action Programme (mhGAP) cited advocacy against stigma and discrimination as one of its four core strategies for improving the state of global mental health.(4)(5)

Cultural Perspectives on Mental Illness

Attitudes toward mental illness vary among individuals, families, ethnicities, cultures, and countries. Cultural and religious teachings often influence beliefs about the origins and nature of mental illness, and shape attitudes towards the mentally ill. In addition to influencing whether mentally ill individuals experience social stigma, beliefs about mental illness can affect patients' readiness and willingness to seek and adhere to treatment.(6) Therefore, understanding individual and cultural beliefs about mental illness is essential for the implementation of effective approaches to mental health care. Although each individual's experience with mental illness is unique, the following studies offer a sample of cultural perspectives on mental illness.

A review of ethnocultural beliefs and mental illness stigma by Abdullah et al. (2011) highlights the wide range of cultural beliefs surrounding mental health. For instance, while some American Indian tribes do not stigmatize mental illness, others stigmatize only some mental illnesses, and other tribes stigmatize all mental illnesses. In Asia, where many cultures value "conformity to norms, emotional self-control, [and] family recognition through achievement", mental illnesses are often stigmatized and seen as a source of shame.(7) However, the stigmatization of mental illness can be influenced by other factors, such as the perceived cause of the illness. In a 2003 study, Chinese Americans and European Americans were presented with a vignette in which an individual was diagnosed with schizophrenia or a major depressive disorder. Participants were then told that experts had concluded that the individual's illness was "genetic", "partly genetic", or "not genetic" in origin, and participants were asked to rate how they would feel if one of their children dated, married, or reproduced with the subject of the vignette. Genetic attribution of mental illness significantly reduced unwillingness to marry and reproduce among Chinese Americans, but it increased the same measures among European Americans, supporting previous findings of cultural variations in patterns of mental illness stigmatization.(8)

Many studies have reported other significant differences in attitudes towards mental illness among ethnic groups in the United States. Carpenter-Song et al. (2010) conducted an intensive 18-month observation-based ethnographic study of 25 severely mentally ill individuals living in inner city Hartford, Connecticut. The European American participants frequently sought care from mental health professionals and tended to express beliefs about mental illness that were aligned with biomedical perspectives on disease. In contrast, African American and Latino participants were more likely to emphasize "non-biomedical interpretations" of mental illness symptoms. Although participants of all three ethnic groups reported experiencing stigma due to their mental health, stigma was a core component of the African Americans' responses but was not highly emphasized by the European Americans. While European Americans tended to view psychiatric medications as "central and necessary" aspects of treatment, African American participants reported frustration over mental health professionals' focus on medication. Furthermore, Latino participants often viewed clinical diagnoses as "potentially very socially damaging", preferring to describe their mental health conditions more generally as nervios, which was perceived to hold less stigma. Because African Americans and Latinos in the U.S. are significantly less likely to seek and receive mental health care compared to European Americans, investigating possible cultural contributions to this usage pattern may help efforts to increase uptake of mental health care services.(9)

Bailey et al. (2011) also report negative attitudes toward health care professionals among many African Americans, noting that stigma, religious beliefs, distrust of the medical profession, and communication barriers may contribute to African Americans' wariness of mental health services.(10) In a 2007 study, approximately 63% of African Americans viewed depression as a "personal weakness", 30% reported that they would deal with depression themselves, and only one-third reported that they would accept medication for depression if prescribed by a medical professional.(11) Because African Americans are less likely to receive proper diagnosis and treatment for depression and are more likely to have depression for longer periods, African Americans' perceptions of mental illness and the medical profession should be taken into account in efforts to improve mental health care access.(12)

Although the reasons for stigmatization are not consistent across communities or cultures, perceived stigma by individuals living with mental illness is reported internationally. For instance, the World Mental Health Surveys showed that stigma was closely associated with anxiety and mood disorders among adults reporting significant disability. The survey data, which included responses from 16 countries in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the South Pacific, showed that 22.1% of participants from developing countries and 11.7% of participants from developed countries experienced embarrassment and discrimination due to their mental illness. However, the authors note that these figures likely underestimate the extent of stigma associated with mental illness since they only evaluated data on anxiety and mood disorders.(13)

Finally, presenting mental health care services in culturally-sensitive ways may be essential to increasing access to and usage of mental health care services, as local beliefs about mental health often differ from the Western biomedical perspective on mental illness. For example, one study comparing Indian and American attitudes toward mental illness surveyed students at a university in the Himalayan region of Northern India and at a university in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. The Indian students were more likely to view depression as arising from personally controllable causes (e.g. failure to achieve goals) and to "endorse social support and spiritual reflection or relaxation" as ways to deal with depression. The authors report that "conceptualizations and treatments" for depression should take into account diverse perspectives on mental illness in order to maximize the effectiveness of mental health care delivery programs.(14)

Footnotes

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Mental illness stigma is defined as the "devaluing, disgracing, and disfavoring by the general public of individuals with mental illnesses".(1) Stigma often leads to discrimination, or the inequitable treatment of individuals and the denial of the "rights and responsibilities that accompany full citizenship".(2) Stigmatization can cause individual discrimination, which occurs when a stigmatized person is directly denied a resource (e.g.

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re 1.2 & 2.1: factors that influence (1.2) Changes that have shaped (2.1) mental health services for CYP

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re 1.2 & 2.1: factors that influence (1.2) Changes that have shaped (2.1) mental health services for CYP

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On average, one in ten children experience mental illness every year in the UK and these numbers are steadily increasing. The NHS, local authorities, schools and organisations from the voluntary and community service work together to provide Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), which helps children and young people who are struggling with their mental health. Referrals to CAMHS have shot up by more than 26% in the last five years and they are now unsurprisingly overstretched. 1 This can result in arduously long waits (of up to 18 months in some cases) from referral to first contact.

CAMHS work with children and young people to prevent and treat mental illness. It is estimated that half of all lifetime cases of diagnosable mental health illness begin by the age of fourteen. Early intervention can therefore mean that the risks of long-term mental ill health in adulthood are greatly reduced or even prevented.

Despite their crucial role and the wealth of evidence to support interventions earlier in life, CAMHS provision is fragile in many areas and varies in quality from region to region. This issue was recently highlighted by a BBC Panorama documentary, Kids in Crisis (aired 24/09/18), which emphasised in particular the disparity of mental health provision in different regions across the UK. Significant and sustained investment is necessary to overcome much of this discrepancy.
Nevertheless, we see cause for hope
Given recent negative press and challenging circumstances, I wanted to highlight ways in which CAMHS teams are striving to improve the current provision and future prospects for young people with mental health issues.

Since 2015, local and central government and healthcare commissioners have been prioritising CAMHS. The services received a £1.4 billion funding boost following the publication of the NHS report 'Future in Mind' in 2015. In order to guarantee their funding, each Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) must now submit a yearly report to demonstrate how funding for young people's mental health is being spent on young people's mental health rather than other priorities. This is intended to help services improve rapidly and develop visions for improvement. One of the other major benefits of the yearly reporting is that local areas can focus on gaps in their individual systems and shift their spending to address these accordingly. Additional services now provided in local areas include eating disorder services and 24-hour hotlines.

Some services are already making significant changes, helping to turn hopes for a better future into reality. Lambeth has made early intervention a major priority by working with local charities, schools and the community to provide support for children who have displayed worrying changes in their behaviour for more than six months but less than one year. This is part of a wider Lambeth Made campaign focusing on the health and wellbeing of children and young people.

In Surrey, The Hope Service is an award-winning provider of CAMHS. Their speciality is in coping with crises in the community. They bring together social workers, nurses, teachers, psychologists, art/drama therapists, psychiatrists, a family worker and activity workers. This dedicated team provides support to young people in the community through day programmes. Their support reduces the need for hospital admissions for people with long-term mental health conditions which in turn creates better outcomes for children and their families.

Whilst there is unquestionably a long way to go in terms of developing a more comprehensive and more suitable CAMHS that fits the needs of young people, we are making positive steps in the right direction. The press has a tendency to highlight the unfortunate cases when the system does fail but there are many thousands of children who are being helped by changing and improving services. In addition, the public narrative surrounding mental health has shifted radically over the past five years, becoming increasingly open and accepting. The rise in demand is therefore in part a positive change. It indicates that more and more young people are calling for help rather than suffering in silence. The next challenge will be to tackle the drivers of demand and support wellbeing for young people to prevent mental ill-health in the first place.
Sources:

EPI report quoted in: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-45748562

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'Everybody hurts [...] sometimes' - How has the provision of mental health services for children and young people changed, and what will the future look like?

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On average, one in ten children experience mental illness every year in the UK and these numbers are steadily increasing. The NHS, local authorities, schools and organisations from the voluntary and community service work together to provide Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), which helps children and young people who are struggling with their mental health.

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re 1.2 & 2.1: factors that influence (1.2) Changes that have shaped (2.1) mental health services for CYP

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re 1.2 & 2.1: factors that influence (1.2) Changes that have shaped (2.1) mental health services for CYP

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re 1.2 & 2.1: factors that influence (1.2) Changes that have shaped (2.1) mental health services for CYP

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re 1.2 & 2.1: factors that influence (1.2) Changes that have shaped (2.1) mental health services for CYP

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re 1.2 & 2.1: and The Care Act 2014 (esp re Mental health transitions) factors that influence (1.2) Changes that have shaped (2.1) mental health services for CYP

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re 1.2 & 2.1: and The Care Act 2014 (esp re Mental health transitions) factors that influence (1.2) Changes that have shaped (2.1) mental health services for CYP

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The Care Act 2014 places a duty on local authorities to conduct transition assessments for children, children's carers and young carers where there is a likely need for care and support after the child in question turns 18 and a transition assessment would be of 'significant benefit' (see below). This resource should be read in conjunction with the statutory guidance underpinning the Act, [ 1] in particular chapter 16: 'Transition to adult care and support'.

The guidance states that in order to fully meet these duties, local authorities should consider how they can identify young people and carers who are not receiving children's services but are nevertheless likely to have care and support needs as adults. They should consider how to establish mechanisms to identify young people as early as possible in order to plan for or prevent the development of care and support needs and thereby fulfil their duty relating to 'significant benefit' and the timing of assessments.

Comprehensive identification may also involve building new links with children's services and schools to ensure that young carers and parent carers receive transition assessments. The Children and Families Act 2014 has added new duties to the Children Act 1989 to assess young carers and establish whether they are 'children in need' and to assess parent carers of disabled children and consider what support they may need under section 17 of the Children Act 1989. This should lead to more comprehensive identification of young carers and parent carers on which to build a transition strategy. Transition for these groups is discussed in more detail in SCIE guidance on transition for young carers and adult carers.

Examples of groups that are more difficult to identify are set out in the Care Act statutory guidance as follows:

those with degenerative conditions

those whose needs have been largely met by their educational institution, but who, once they leave, will require their needs to be met in some other way (e.g. those with autism)

those detained in the youth justice system who will move to adult custodial services

young carers whose parents have needs below the local authority's eligibility threshold but who may nevertheless require advice or support to fulfil their potential (e.g. a child with deaf parents who is undertaking communication support)

young people and young carers receiving child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) who may also require care and support as adults even if they did not receive children's services from their local authority.

This document looks at what some authorities are doing in practice and considers some of the principles behind that practice which align with the Care Act 2014. It looks at mental health transitions and considers what can be learnt from current practice and applied to identifying the seldom heard groups mentioned above.

Both the Children and Families Act 2014 and the Care Act 2014 deal with support for young people with care and support needs preparing for adulthood. These two pieces of legislation now provide the context in which transition practice occurs.

The Hampshire, Newham and Stoke-on-Trent practice examples set out in detail the approaches to identification and transition in three councils.

Nothing about us without us: co-production and power-sharing in effective service planning

It is well understood that in order to produce a quality service that meets the requirements of people who use that service, those same people have to be involved in practice. Evidence from work on social care governance [ 2] and co-production in social care [ 3] points to many examples of how and where this works. The defining principles of co-production are:

These principles both define and measure what we have achieved and can achieve. The Care Act 2014 and the Children and Families Act 2014 capture the principles of personalisation, inclusion, participation and co-production in law.

The early identification of young people who are likely to have care and support needs as adults involves considering where they may be located, their existing networks and what they have to tell us of their experience.

Early identification and 'significant benefit'

Practice suggests that many young people who come to the attention of adult social care at or post-18 are already known to children's services.

The Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan introduced by the Children and Families Act 2014 aims to ensure that professionals work together to support children with special educational needs and that information is shared between them. This is a consistent theme in much of social care practice. The early identification of young people likely to be in need of care and support as an adult can effectively begin with:

monitoring Education, Health and Care plans

thinking 'whole family' [4]

building relationships with young people and their families

building relationships with other professionals.

Such practice is already in place in some councils, which are, for example, strengthening pathways to care for specific groups of young people, including young carers. However, those working in adult social care need to consider how best to identify the other groups mentioned above, including:

looked-after children

young people with specific needs placed in educational establishments out of borough

young people receiving CAMHS

young people with life-threatening illnesses as they move from child to adult service provision.

Strategic planning and leadership at all levels, together with strong governance and clear responsibilities, are required to shift practice to make it both effective and compliant. Senior managers in social services will need to make decisions about workforce requirements and the deployment of resources, along with information systems that best support this, taking into account at all times the views of people who receive services in order to meet the requirements of the Care Act 2014.

In current practice, some authorities may wait until people reach the age of 17½ or even 19 to make an assessment, as situations during these years are often subject to change and they want to avoid performing two assessments. The assessment of young people with a life-threatening or life-limiting condition may not happen until they have reached 18 or 19 years old, if at all. Under the Care Act this will not be routinely acceptable. However, unless a young person or carer is identified early enough and assessed, the authority may be falling short in their duty in relation to 'significant benefit'. This is because in failing to identify the person or delaying the transition assessment, the authority may not have time to put services in place, or the benefit to the person of transition planning may be reduced. This can result in care and support that do not best meet the young person's or carer's needs - and sometimes a greater financial cost to the local authority than if transition had been planned properly in advance.

Much of the evidence that supports good transitions into adulthood points to effective planning and relationships built with a young person and their family. The transition assessment required under the Care Act does not mean duplication of effort, as it can be adjusted if circumstances change or there is new information. Assessments can also be joined with those of other agencies (for example, a review or re-assessment under children's legislation), or be combined with another person where appropriate (for example, a parent carer also transitioning to the adult statute).

Building good relationships with young people and their families

Apart from attending meetings at schools and academies where young people are likely to be making a transition to adult social care, transition teams build relationships at the schools and academies. These relationships are built over time and through regular contact. An example of this is the work of the transition team in Hampshire who attend open days and coffee mornings at schools and link with youth support services and post-16 special educational needs services. They have also created a full-time post to concentrate on young people who have been referred for an Education, Health and Care plan but have previously not been known to social care.

Engaging with black and minority ethnic families

The decision to identify and specifically engage with black and minority ethnic (BME) families will need to be taken at the local level, depending on demographic and other issues such as those set out in a Joint Strategic Needs Assessment. For authorities such as Newham, where more than 200 languages are spoken and where the demographic profile suggests that there are significant numbers of young people, this may be an issue to focus on in relation to early identification, applying the principles of equality, diversity, accessibility and reciprocity.

Another local authority (Stoke City Council) currently undertakes to reach BME families through local teams, which include housing teams, leisure services and those based at children's centres, nurseries and schools. Its 'early help assessment' process identifies additional needs and refers people on to a more focused level of service. A proportion of referrals into 'Aiming High' (a programme taking its name from the ten-year strategy for young people to achieve the best possible outcomes [ 5]) are made from general settings and within these some BME young people may be identified. ( Stoke-on-Trent practice example)

Regular meetings and forums

Authorities such as Stoke City Council, Newham and Hampshire have transition forums that meet every month with partners from education, post-16 specialist learning providers, health providers and children's and adult social care services to discuss young people when they turn 17. This provides a network that ensures that young people approaching transition are identified and solutions for specific individuals are discussed. Stoke City Council, for example, refers issues from its transition forum to its special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reform board. This is a strategic overarching partnership where parents from the Aiming High Together parent forum (see below) have a presence. The local authority also actively supports social care discussions between children's and adults' social workers regarding young people aged between 14 and 16 where early co-working results in key joint decisions about the best interests of the young person and their family.

Stoke also runs a parent forum for and by parents who have disabled children and young adults. By organising workshops and participating in a wider engagement process, this group acts as a communication channel for commissioning processes. It is also involved in the special educational needs reforms and the local offer as well as the whole-life disability approach adopted by Stoke. A local offer is a requirement on the local authority to provide information on what services children, young people and their families can expect from a range of local agencies, including education, health and social care.

Newham, Hampshire and Stoke City Council also hold monthly transition forums attended by partners, voluntary groups, health, further education and other learning providers. This regular network shares information on young people over the age of 17 and is an opportunity to identify those likely to have care and support needs. In relation to the groups of people who are difficult to identify, mentioned in the guidance (see above), in order to discuss and identify people from these groups such forums will need to include the professionals who work with them. The appropriate professionals to invite will vary between areas depending on local systems and population characteristics. Practice in the East Midlands, for example, suggests that children's community nurses, children's hospice staff and specialist residential establishments are being invited to forums in order to reach those young people with degenerative conditions likely to need adult care and support.

Proactive early identification

Under the Care Act 2014 it is the responsibility of the local authority to proactively identify such young people and carry out an appropriate assessment.

Early identification and assessments that build on a person's strengths and what they do well, give local authorities an opportunity to put in place enabling services that will help young people to become more independent as they move into adulthood.

Stoke City Council has continued to support an 'Aiming High' programme that has allowed approximately 400 children and young people to access short breaks. The majority of them have no social worker and the early help assessment process helps Stoke to identify young people who do not receive statutory children's services but may nevertheless have care and support needs as adults and so require a transition assessment.

Newham identifies young people through open house events, parent co-production forums and a tracking list that details young people open to children's and adult social care, young and parent carers as well as their siblings.

Information technology (IT) systems that 'talk to each other'

Many authorities have different systems to record adult information and to record children's information. They may then need access to basic primary health care information or information from the education sector. Some authorities do the 'joining up' through one person - for example, a transition worker based in adult services who has access to both systems as well as to the basic primary health care record. The transition team or worker is thus able to monitor and potentially identify young people likely to have care and support needs as adults.

Some authorities are considering investing in one system for recording information about children, adults and carers with support needs. This could be a joined-up information system that would interface with health and education and make it possible to support a whole-family approach [ 4] to assessment. It would also support the monitoring of difficult-to-identify groups by bringing the information together.

The advantage of having an IT system with a standard integration protocol means that systems used by the local authority can talk to systems used by GPs, for example. This involves locality-wide, information-sharing agreements as in the case of Liverpool City Council (see below) and means that professionals will be able to see basic information such as the existence of care packages but not more sensitive information.

Practice example: Liverpool

Liverpool's children social care service moved to an integrated system (called 'CAPITA 1') in 2004 while the adult social care service continued to use an in-house information management system. The advantage of this for adult services at the time was flexibility and the capacity to manage the system. The disadvantage was that it was too localised. Liverpool decided to move to an integrated system so that both adults' and children's departments would use the same information and the system would be able to access both education and health information through a standard integration protocol. This decision was influenced by the practice of thinking about the whole family as it was felt that an integrated IT system would better support this approach in social care. Liverpool puts the cost of this initiative to in excess of £1.5 million. Adult services will move first and children's services will follow in May 2015. There is a city-wide agreement about information-sharing and levels of access to information. Liverpool has also built in an evaluation using a system of metrics that enables it to assess how many cases are opened, how long cases are held, and what the impact is on the people who use the service. Data will be gathered prior to implementation and again a year later.

Joined-up thinking

Any IT system can only be as good as the people who use it. Therefore, joining up the thinking around the child or young person in relation to the adult (often parent) and the family is as necessary and relevant now under the Care Act 2014 and the Children and Families Act 2014 as ever before. ( The Care Act and Whole-Family Approaches) [ 4]

Identifying young carers

Some local authorities such as Newham are monitoring the siblings of children with complex needs in relation to any care being given so that they can identify potential young carers. They have compiled a young carers list (those aged 14-25) and these young people are offered assessments as well as referral on to commissioned services. A transition assessment can be offered to those young people approaching 18. Also, their young people's service works consistently with schools on how to identify and support young carers. (See Young carer transition in practice under the Care Act 2014)

Similarly, during adult social care needs assessment, assessors in Newham are encouraged to identify those who may be caring for the adult they are assessing, including young carers. This is a requirement under the Care Act 2014 as set out in the Care and Support ( Assessment) Regulations 2014. [ 3]

Newham has rolled out carers training for adult social care staff and this includes the identification of young carers. A good part of this training is delivered by carers and commissioned organisations and this now ties in effectively with the new duty to identify a young carer while undertaking an assessment and the parallel scenario of assessing a child with a disability.

Another example of the identification of young carers is the Young Carers Pathway in Liverpool, which brings together assessment processes for adults and children to allow the early identification of and intervention for young people's additional needs - some of which may be related to taking on a caring role.

Example of a young carer identified through an assessment of an adult

Liverpool City Council, Merseycare and Barnardo's have a joint statutory assessment protocol, which states that adult social care workers should undertake the young carer's assessment as part of support to the adult. The following is an example of how this has worked.

Adel lives alone with her mother who has a diagnosis of paranoid personality disorder and epilepsy. Following an assessment of Adel's mother, the community psychiatric nurse (CPN) identified Adel as a young carer and a child in need and therefore a young carer's assessment was completed by the CPN. Adel was found to provide a significant level of care for her mother, including supervision, medication, shopping, dealing with finances, domestic tasks and interpreting on a daily basis.

Adel was referred to Barnardo's Young Carers project and joined-up work was completed with the CPN, family support worker and children's social worker as to how best to support the whole family. The young carer's assessment used at Barnardo's measures the impact of caring (MACA-PANOC). Following support being put in place, further assessments showed that the impact of caring on Adel had decreased.

As stated previously, the Care Act 2014 and statutory guidance now specify that adult services must identify children in the household they are assessing, consider whether they are young carers and if they are, whether they are children in need. The shift from protocol in practice, to duty under the Care Act, is one that local authorities will be taking note of.

Mental health transitions

The issue around the transition from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to adult services is multi-faceted. Young people with mental health problems who are approaching the age of 18 are discussed in detail and recommendations are made based on the available evidence in Mental health service transitions for young adults (SCIE, 2011).

The following practice example is of current transition practice in a mental health setting in Merseyside.

Practice example

Beverly is 17 and a half years old. She has an extended history of CAMHS involvement, a high risk of harm to self and others and was an informal patient on a young person's acute ward. Children's social care became her corporate parents under section 47 of the Children Act 1989 and then section 20. She was removed from her parents due to sexual grooming and placed out of area for safety reasons. Her placement was tri-funded by health, education and social care in a registered children's home that buys in psychology and psychiatry for residents.

A transition review identified the need for continuing care, with the placement to continue out of area. Beverly was assessed jointly by an adult community mental health (ACMH) social worker and ACMH nurse. The placement was happy to keep Beverly with them; however, there was no plan for stepped-down care and this had to be reviewed.

The transition issues were as follows:

The young person was 'sent to placement' out of area.

The young person has now settled after a very complicated and traumatic childhood and so chooses to remain in the area.

At age 18 there is no agreement that an out-of-area placement would be funded. Nonetheless, under current legislation (Children and Families Act, 2014), local authority responsibility extends to young people up to the age of 25.

Beverly's joint transition assessment led to an agreement to continue funding the out-of-area placement in line with her desired outcomes. Adult mental health services will continue to be involved.
The issue for adult services initially is that Beverly is not subject to any aftercare under section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983 or similar, as she has never been sectioned nor does she have a learning difficulty. Mental health can be an issue as young people cannot attract a diagnosis of psychiatric disorder until the age of 18, adding another layer of complexity to transition planning.

The key components that triggered a transition assessment in relation to Beverly were:

an awareness of the young person to begin with (early identification)

understanding the context of children and adult mental health services in Merseyside

established relationships and a clear understanding of each other's roles.

The service model in this case identified a key role - a mental health transitions worker with a nurse/social work background. The person in this role takes responsibility for identification and the transition assessment. A clear understanding of roles is important particularly where services have been restructured and staff have taken on different roles.

Transition requires a coordinated approach, which involves key professionals from education, health, social care and commissioning. The critical point of early identification and transition assessment in Beverly's case was that it allowed enough time for planning.

Practice example

John is 17 years old and has learning difficulties and a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

He attended a school for special educational needs due to his ASD diagnosis.

There was extended involvement with CAMHS due to the presentation of challenging behaviour, where John was deemed a risk to himself and others. There was a significant maternal family history of mental illness, resulting in John being placed with his maternal grandmother due to his mother's mental health difficulties. John was also a carer for his mother as a very young child.

John was recognised as a child in need and placed in supported accommodation at age 17. This subsequently broke down and he returned to live with his grandmother.

A transition assessment was conducted and the following issues were identified:

John has been supported by CAMHS as a child/young person, having received an assertive outreach approach to his needs and his family's needs. As a young adult he was reluctant to engage with services, which resulted in him being discharged from CAMHS and then referred back when in crisis.

He does not meet the criteria for adult mental health services - there is no diagnosis of mental health problems.

He is recognised as having a moderate learning difficulty but adult learning disability service criteria suggest that he would not have access to any of its services.

He is able to access an ADHD review, which is offered by adult mental health services, but this would be to review medication.

John has become involved in anti-social behaviour and is now known to the police and youth offending services, which complicates the outcome and potential perception of his risk to others.

He has never been a looked-after child - and there is no identified aftercare responsibility.

He has never been an inpatient or on section for a mental health assessment and so there is no responsibility under section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983.

The transition assessment recommended that John access a youth mental health service that looks to recognise the needs of young people who are no longer on the radar of services but are seen as vulnerable. As there was currently no such service available, the transition worker requested supported lodging and referred 'the case' as evidence of the need to develop such a service strategically as part of Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) and as part of market development on the part of the local authority.

Transition from youth justice

The Youth to adult transitions framework states that:

The point of transfer from youth to adult justice services is a critical time for a young person and for the justice professionals who must work to ensure that a young person's welfare is properly safeguarded and that any risks they pose to the public are minimised. [ 6]

This particular group of young people is specifically identified in the Care Act 2014 statutory guidance, [ 1] because these young people receive services that traditionally lie in the criminal justice system, but under the Care Act local authorities will be responsible for meeting their care and support needs as adults.

Managers tasked with identifying this group will need to familiarise themselves and their staff with the context in which transition from youth justice occurs locally, for example by building links with youth support services in their locality.

A decision on whether or not a young person has eligible care and support needs can only come after a young person is identified and a transition assessment has been made. If a young person with care and support needs is going to transfer to a prison in another area as an adult, or is going to be released but plans to move to another area on their release, the local authority where they are currently resident should establish their likely destination and make contact with the relevant local authority to involve them in the transition planning.

Summary

In order to identify young people who are likely to have care and support needs as adults, it makes sense to be proactive and look for those young people where they are located. For example, young people with degenerative conditions are likely to be known to hospices run by organisations such as Together for Short Lives. Similarly, young people can be identified in the youth justice system, in CAMHS and in special educational establishments out of borough and in borough.

Transition forums are likely to be good at building relationships, but a key focus should always be: Who are the key people who need to be around the table in order for identification to occur and any decision made? For example, just having a representative of 'health' is not necessarily adequate, given the broad range of people that health services serve - an occupational therapist is unlikely to be able to discuss transition for people receiving CAMHS.

To see a checklist of the relevant groups named in the Care Act statutory guidance [ 1] and the likely institutions and professionals, see table of groups.

A joined-up information system will certainly help this process as will a whole-family approach, [ 4] for example, ensuring that any carers are identified when assessing someone with care and support needs.

The principles of co-production, building good relationships, whole-family thinking and joined-up information management systems are very much in evidence in some cases, as is the leadership, supervision and governance required to support effective practice. In terms of implementing the new legislation (the Children and Families Act 2014 and the Care Act 2014), we know, to some extent, what works in effective service transitions. The principles underpinning effective mental health transitions, for example, can be said to extend to other service transitions but will require an understanding of the different context (the justice system, for example).

Good practice in transitions to adulthood can evolve to fully realise the vision in both Acts. It will take time, consistency and effective leadership to engage communities and build trust in order to provide the sort of service people require.

Checklist for the identification of seldom heard groups

Co-produce everything with people who receive services.

Hold regular meetings with appropriate professionals who work with seldom heard groups.

Gain knowledge of local networks and commissioners.

Gain knowledge of the context and roles of other professionals, particularly if there have been changes in organisational structures and personnel.

Make sure that there is a clear referral process between agencies.

Adopt a whole-family approach.

Make sure that there is clear information about services.

Consider practice that has worked in your locality and whether it is now compliant with the Care Act 2014.

1. Department of Health (2014) 'Care and support statutory guidance: Issued under the Care Act 2014', London: Department of Health).

2. Social Care Institute for Excellence (2011) 'Social care governance: A workbook based on practice in England', SCIE Guide 38, London: Social Care Institute for Excellence.

3. Social Care Institute for Excellence (2013) 'Co-production in social care: What it is and how to do it', London: Social Care Institute for Excellence.

4. Department of Health (2014) 'The Care Act and whole-family approaches', London: Department of Health.

5. HM Government and Department for Children, Schools and Families (2007) 'Aiming high for young people: A ten year strategy for positive activities', London: HM Treasury.

6. Ministry of Justice and Youth Justice Board (2012) 'Youth to adult transitions framework: Advice for managing cases which transfer from youth offending teams to probation trusts', p 5, Youth Justice Board for England and Wales.

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Transition from children's to adult services - early and comprehensive identification

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The Care Act 2014 places a duty on local authorities to conduct transition assessments for children, children's carers and young carers where there is a likely need for care and support after the child in question turns 18 and a transition assessment would be of 'significant benefit' (see below).

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Ready for the session,  have a think about Unit 5- the research project units:

Read criteria for Unit 5 in Course handbook and start thinking about your subject/topic/ area for your individual Research Assignment for:

Unit 5: Implementing change in a school or college setting

In this unit, the learner will be required to plan, implement and evaluate change in relation to an identified theme. This will be achieved through a small-scale research project. The learner will be introduced to research, and the role of ethics when undertaking research.

The theme selected will allow the learner to reflect on practice, use current research to produce recommendations for improvements to their own setting, implement these recommendations and summarise findings.

You might base your project on an area within the HTLA standards and make it an area that is proven, via research, to need improving generally in schools e.g. like your own examples- mental health provision / support or EAL support or school libraries

see post:
Professional standards for HTLA's

Under Padlet column: Initial preparation tasks #1 for Unit 1: Enabling individuals to learn:

**Let me know what your ideas are for your project.

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About the concept of action research- a way to approach research 

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About the concept of action research- a way to approach research 

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Do you ever find yourself looking at a classroom problem with not a clue in the world about how to fix it? No doubt, teaching art is difficult. Sometimes the issues we face don't have easy solutions.

One method that is worth looking into is action research. In action research, a teacher takes the time to analyze a problem and then cycles through specific steps to solve it. If you're struggling with a problem in your classroom, this might be the perfect strategy to try!

What is Action Research?

Simply put, action research describes a research methodology used to diagnose and address problems. In a school setting, the teacher plays the role of the researcher, and the students represent the study participants. Action research is a meaningful way for a teacher to find out why students perform the way they do.

The term, "action research," was coined in 1933 by Kurt Lewin to describe a scenario in which a researcher and participants collaborate to solve a specific problem. Donald Schön developed this idea further with the term, "reflective practitioner," to describe a researcher who thinks systematically about their practice.

Educators have taken both of these ideas into the classroom to better serve their students.

Here is a look at the basic structure of an action research cycle. You might notice it looks a lot like the Design Thinking Process.

The teacher recognizes and wonders about a problem in the classroom.

The teacher thinks about possible reasons students are having trouble.

The teacher collects and analyzes data.

The teacher comes up with solutions to try.

The teacher analyzes the solution.

In this model, if the first solution is not effective, the cycle starts over again. The teacher recognizes what remains of the problem and repeats the steps to collect more evidence and brainstorm new and different solutions.
Download What Is Action Research? Download Now!
Because the process is cyclical, the teacher can loop through the steps as many times as needed to find a solution. Perhaps the best part of action research is that teachers can see which solutions have made a real impact on their students. If you're looking for an even more in-depth take on the topic, The Art of Classroom Inquiry: A Handbook for Teacher-Researchers by Hubbard and Powers is a great place to start.

Action research can be as informal or formal as you need it to be. Data is collected through observation, questioning, and discussion with students. Student artwork, photographs of your classroom at work, video interviews, and surveys are all valid forms of data. Students can be involved throughout the whole process, helping to solve the problem within the classroom. With a formal study for a university, there will be requests for permission to use student data through the Institutional Research Board (IRB) process.

How Can Action Research Be Implemented in Your Classroom?

I discovered action research while working on my higher degree. Using action research allowed me to find real solutions for real issues in my classroom and gave me my topic of study for my dissertation at the same time!

The problem I chose to address was how to engage students in an analog photography course in the digital age.

I broke my classes into two groups. I taught the district curriculum to one group and an altered curriculum to another. In the altered version, I included big ideas and themes that were important to students such as family, identity, and community.

To gather data, I observed, compared the quality of the photos, and conducted student interviews. I found students were much more engaged when I switched the projects from a technical study (i.e., demonstrate depth of field) to a more personal focus (breaking the teenage stereotype).

What are the Benefits of Action Research?

Using action research in my classroom allowed me to involve students in the curriculum process. They were actively more engaged within the classroom and felt ownership of their learning.

I was able to show them that teachers can be lifelong learners, and that inquiry is a powerful way to enact change within the classroom. The students cheered me on as I was writing and defending the results of my study. Plus, I was able to connect with them on a personal level, as we were all students. Furthermore, my teaching practice became more confident, and my understanding of art education theory deepened.

Conducting action research also allowed me to become a leader in my community. I was able to present a way to be a reflective practitioner within my classroom and model it for other teachers. I shared my new knowledge with the other art teachers in my district and invited them to try their own informal studies within their classrooms. We were able to shift our focus from one of compliance to one of inquiry and discovery, thus creating a more engaging learning environment for our students.

Action research provides a way to use your new knowledge immediately in your classroom. It allows you to think critically about why and how you run your art classroom. What could be better?
What kinds of issues are you facing in the classroom right now? What kind of research study might you be interested in conducting?

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How Action Research Can Improve Your Teaching - The Art of Education University

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Do you ever find yourself looking at a classroom problem with not a clue in the world about how to fix it? No doubt, teaching art is difficult. Sometimes the issues we face don't have easy solutions. One method that is worth looking into is action research.

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All about the ethics of carrying out research... 

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All about the ethics of carrying out research... 

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1. Ethical issues in social research

2. Ethical issues

* How should we treat the people on whom we conduct research?
* Are there activities in which we should - or should not - engage in our
relations with those people?

3. Ethics are the rules of conduct in research.

There are two perspectives from which you can view the ethical issues in research:
1. The values of honesty and frankness and personal integrity
Intellectual ownership and plagiarism
Citation and acknowledgement
Responsibility and accountability of the researcher
Data and Interpretations

2. Ethical responsibilities to the subjects of research, such as consent, confidentiality and
courtesy
Anonymity and confidentiality
Informed consent
Potential harm and gain
Interviews and questionnaires
Intimacy and the involvement of participant (experiment, observations, groups)
Sensitive material
Storing and transmitting data

5. Research ethics scandals (only some examples)

Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccine, England, 1796
This research involved injecting an eight-year-old child with pus from a cowpox infection and then deliberately exposing the child to smallpox to establish their
acquired immunity.
The Neisser case, Prussia, 1898
Albert Neisser conducted clinical trials on serum therapy in patients with syphilis. This was done by injecting serum from patients with syphilis into those who
were admitted for other reasons, without either informing them of the experiment or seeking informed consent. When, subsequently, some of these patients
contracted syphilis Neisser concluded that the vaccination had failed. This was picked up by newspapers, drawing public attention and ultimately leading to the
minister for religious, educational, and medical affairs issuing a directive requiring that all non-therapeutic research must have unambiguous consent.
Medical experimentation in Nazi Germany, 1939-45
Experiments carried out on concentration camp prisoners included involuntary sterilisation, subjection to radiation, freezing to induce hypothermia, infection
of research subjects with malaria and tuberculosis, and many other unethical experiments, conducted without the consent of the research subjects, and often
leading predictably to extreme pain, mutilation and death.
The Milgram experiments, United States, 1961-63
In these experiments, designed to investigate people's obedience to authority, the research subjects were deceived about the nature of the research and led to
believe that they (in the process of a different experiment) were administering electric shocks to other research participants. The aim of the research, which
turned out to be very distressing for many of the subjects, was to see how far they would be willing to go in risking harm to the other research participants.
The Amy Cuddy case, United States, 2010-16
Amy Cuddy, a social psychologist, studied body language, best known was her work on 'power poses' effects. She manipulated the data, e.g. made a 'Phacking' (statistical significance level), pretending to have valid outcomes while in fact they couldn't be replicated.

6. What is "ethical" research?

Based on Diener and Chandall (1978) we can say that behaving ethically
means:
* No harm should come to research participants: physical or emotional
harm, inducing subjects to perform imprehensible acts etc.
* They should agree to participate and know what the research is about
* Their privacy should not be invaded
* They should not be lied to or cheated

7. Asymmetric power relations in research

researchers exploit their resources
agent provocateur
physical harm
financial harm
social harm
psychological harm
ethical dilemmas

8. How could you harm research participants?

Physically
By damaging their development or self-esteem
By causing stress
By hurting their career prospects or employment opportunities
By breaking confidentiality
By revealing their identity

9. Research participants must know that is what they are and what the research process is

But, implementing this principle 'is easier said than done' (Homan, 1991:73).
It is extremely difficult to present prospective participants with absolutely all the
information that might be required to make an informed decision about their involvement.
In ethnographic research, the researcher is likely to come into contact with a wide spectrum
of people, and ensuring that absolutely everyone has the opportunity for informed consent
is not practicable, because it would be extremely disruptive in everyday contexts.

10. Invasion of privacy

* Privacy is very much linked to the notion of informed consent
* The research participant does not abrogate the right to privacy entirely by providing
informed consent
* Covert methods are usually deemed to be violations of the privacy principle
* The issue of privacy is invariably linked to issues of anonymity and confidentiality
in the research process

11. Lies, damned lies and research

* Deception usually means we represent our research as something other than
it is, so that participants will respond more naturally
This means it is quite a widespread practice
So deception means not telling the whole truth, while not actually telling a lie
We must be vigilant in keeping deception to a minimum, and when it is
necessary to the research, mitigating its degree and effects as much as
possible
Apart from moral objections to deception, research participants and funders
can become wary of being fooled, or tricked into providing data

12. So why should there be a problem?

* Unfortunately, a lot of writers about ethics in business differ about what is
and is not ethically acceptable.
* The same issues seem to be always with us - they don't seem to get resolved.
* Certain research methods have a bad name because they are identified with a
few extreme cases.
* But the real problem is that the potential to behave unethically in research is
constant and it does not just depend on particular situations or methods

13. "Research Effects"

Hawthorne (Elton Mayo)
Placebo
John Henry (super-placebo effect)
Halo
Peacock

14. Researcher's bias

researcher is highly biased
deep-seated values
prejudices - for and against
'Know thyself ' is the maxim uniquely imperative to on the investigator of social
institutions (Beatrice Webb)
* minimising bias requires reflexivity: intellectual self-awareness

15. Various ethical stances are possible

Universalism
* absolute rules about un/acceptable conduct
Situation ethics
* case-by-case assessment
* the end justifies the means?
Ethical transgression is pervasive
* virtually all research involves some ethically questionable practices
Anything goes (more or less)
* A certain amount of flexibility in ethical decision-making is allowed
Deontological versus consequentialist ethics

16. Legal considerations

The 1998 Data Protection Act* states that personal data must be:
* obtained only for one or more specified and lawful purpose and not further processed in
any manner incompatible with that purpose or those purposes
* adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they
are processed
* not kept longer than necessary
* a United Kingdom Act of Parliament designed to protect personal data stored on computers or in an organised paper
filing system. It enacted the EU Data Protection Directive 1995's provisions on the protection, processing and
movement of data.
Copyright is an intellectual property right, extending to interviews - in which the interviewee
keeps the copyright to the spoken words. Permission is needed from the interviewee in order
to share this data

17. Data Protection

Context: IT data storage; state and private sector data banks; personal liberty; IT transfer
Article 108, Treaty of Rome, 1957; EU Directive 95/46;
Data Protection Act, 1998 in GB, eight 'data protection principles'
All data must be:
* collected lawfully
* obtained for a lawful purpose
* adequate, relevant, not excessive
* accurate, up-to-date
* not kept longer than necessary
* processed in accordance with subject's rights
* kept safe from unauthorised access
* not transferred outside EEA unless safeguards equal
OECD Principles and Guidelines for Access to Research Data from Public Funding
Data Documentation Initiative (DDI), ISO19115

18. The difficulties of ethical decision-making: a summary

* The boundary between ethical and unethical practices is not precise
* The potential for deception / lack of informed consent pervades most social research
* There is insufficient guidance on marginal areas of research (but be familiar with the
existing guidelines)
* Internet-based research provides new ethical dilemmas, for which we are still debating
solutions

19. New media and ethical considerations

* Information can be found in many places - blogs, discussion groups, email, chatrooms,
social media, newsgroups and instant messaging
* The more the site is acknowledged to be public, the less obligation to protect anonymity or
seek informed consent
* The distinction between public and private is blurred
* Visual images also throw up ethical dilemmas around consent

20. Politics in social research

Values affect every stage of research process
Social research is not conducted in a 'moral vacuum'
It is impossible to do objective, value-free research
It may be desirable to show commitment to participants
conscious partiality in feminist research (Mies, 1993)
* Social researchers often have to 'take sides'

21. Politics and Funding

Government, organizations and funding bodies have vested interests
Which research projects will be funded?
Calls to bid for funds encourages proposals for research in particular areas
Morgan (2000) suggests a preference for quantitative, policy-oriented
research
Funders frequently monitor written reports and their dissemination

22. Gaining access is a political process

Gatekeepers mediate access to research settings
They can influence how the investigation takes place; what can be asked and
of whom, and even interpret findings
They are concerned about how their organizations will be represented

23. Other political issues

Research done by a team of researchers can produce conflicting values
There may be attempts to thwart publication and dissemination of
controversial findings
Research findings might be used to fuel political debates

24. Taking sides in social research

* Becker (1967)
* values shape social research - inevitable partiality
* responsibility to sympathize with the 'underdog' in hierarchical relationships
* accusations of bias more common when taking the perspective of a deviant or underdog
group than when taking the perspective of a dominant group.
* Gouldner (1968)
* we can consider different points of view without 'taking sides' or engaging in valueladen research

25. Doing the right thing.....

You can try to do the best you can by making yourself familiar with guidelines set by
respectable institutions:
The British Sociological Association: "Members have a responsibility both to safeguard the
proper interests of those involved in or affected by their work, and to report their findings accurately
and truthfully."
The Social Research Association : Includes a guideline that stipulates, "Social
researchers must strive to protect subjects from undue harm arising as a consequence of their
participation in research. This requires that subjects' participation should be voluntary and as fully
informed as possible".

26. Codes of Ethics and legal constraints

Ethical codes and guidelines are a means of establishing and articulating the values of a particular institution or society,
and the obligations that it expects people engaged in certain practices to abide by.
The norms of modern research ethics were codified by the Nuremberg Code in 1947 in response to Nazi medical
research and further developed by the World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki in 1964. Concerns about
the effectiveness of the existing regulation led to the 1975 revision of the Declaration of Helsinki, which introduced
the requirement of a formal independent committee review of research protocols.
Some prominent examples of codes and laws which bear on researchers' conduct :
The Nuremberg Code
Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law 10, no. 2 (1949): 181-2. http://ohsr.od.nih.gov/guidelines/nuremberg.html
The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
European Union, The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (2000/C 364/01). http://www.europarl.europa.eu/charter/default_en.htm
The European Convention on Human Rights
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (Rome, 4.XI.1950). http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/005.htm

27. International ethical codes and guidelines for social research

The RESPECT guidelines (a voluntary code for European socioeconomic research) http://www.respectproject.org/code/
The Research Ethics Guidebook (a resource for social science researchers) http://www.ethicsguidebook.ac.uk/
http://www.ethicsguidebook.ac.uk/EthicsPrinciples
UNESCO Code of Conduct for Social Science Research
http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/files/6497/10951456011Soc_Sci_Code.pdf/Soc_Sci_Code.pdf
UNESCO Ethical Guidelines for International Comparative Social Science Research in the Framework of M.O.S.T.
http://www.unesco.org/most/ethical.htm
ISA Code of Ethics http://www.isa-sociology.org/about/isa_code_of_ethics.htm
ASA Code of Ethics http://www.asanet.org/about/ethics.cfm
ISI Declaration on Professional Ethics http://www.isi-web.org/images/about/Declaration-EN2010.pdf
Association of Internet Researchers Ethics Guidelines http://aoir.org/ethics/
NASW Standards for Integrating Genetics into Social Work Practice
http://www.socialworkers.org/practice/standards/GeneticsStdFinal4112003.pdf
FP7 EC Ethics for researchers http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/fp7/89888/ethics-for-researchers_en.pdf

28. Commonly-used terms

Scientific fraud
"Fraud" is no longer widely used in this context. It was replaced by "misconduct in science" or "scientific
misconduct" because most legal interpretations of the term "fraud" require evidence not only of intentional
deception but also of injury or damage to victims. Proof of fraud in common law requires documentation of damage
incurred by victims who relied on fabricated or falsified research results. Because this evidentiary standard seemed
poorly suited to the methods of scientific research, "misconduct in science" has become the common term of
reference in both institutional and regulatory policy definitions.
Research misconduct is significant misbehavior that improperly appropriates the intellectual property or
contributions of others, that intentionally impedes the progress of research, or that risks corrupting the scientific
record or compromising the integrity of scientific practices. Such behaviors are unethical and unacceptable in
proposing, conducting, or reporting research, or in reviewing the proposals or research reports of others.
* Misappropriation
* Interference
* Misrepresentation

29. Questionable research practices

* Failing to retain significant research data for a reasonable period.
* Maintaining inadequate research records, especially for results that are published or are relied on by
others;
Conferring or requesting authorship on the basis of a specialized service or contribution that is not
significantly related to the research reported in the paper;
Refusing to give peers reasonable access to unique research materials or data that support published
papers;
Using inappropriate statistical or other methods of measurement to enhance the significance of
research findings;
Inadequately supervising research subordinates or exploiting them; and
Misrepresenting speculations as fact or releasing preliminary research results, especially in the public
media, without providing sufficient data to allow peers to judge the validity of the results or to
reproduce the experiments.

33. What does your own institution require? https://www.hse.ru/org/hse/us/academic_ethics

Most colleges and universities have developed their own guidelines for ethical research.
Some of the questions they might pose are as follows:
1. Is the study funded?
2. Is the research compromised by the source of funding?
3. Are there potential conflicts of interest in the financial or organisational arrangements?
4. Will confidentiality be maintained appropriately at all stages of enquiry?
5. Will human rights and dignities be actively respected?
6. Will highly personal, intimate, or other private or confidential information be sought?
7. Will there be any harm, discomfort, physical, or psychological risks?
8. Will participants be involved whose ability to give informed voluntary consent may be limited?
9. Will the study involve obtaining or processing personal data relating to living individuals?

34. Home reading

* A. Bryman Social Research Methods 4th edition. Chapter 6 (Dropbox)
* U. Flick Introducing Research Methodology. Chapter 3. (Library & Dropbox).
* Managing and Sharing Research Data. A Guide to Good Practice. Chapters 6, 7, 8 & 10 (Dropbox).
* Consent for data sharing and example consent forms: https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/manage-data/legalethical/consent-data-sharing/consent-forms
* Pimple K.D. (2002) Six Domains of Research Ethics. A Heuristic Framework for the Responsible Conduct
of Research. Science and Engineering Ethics, Volume 8, Issue 2, 191-205. (Dropbox)
* De Vries R., Anderson M.S. & Martinson B.C. (2006) Normal Misbehavior: Scientists Talk About the Ethics
of Research. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 1(1), 43-50.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1483899/

35. Questions to think over before the seminar

1. Using internet search engines, find a real example of ethical misconduct in academic research (or academic
life in general). Provide a link to the description of this fact, explain the issue shortly, give it a definition and
suggest a solution. For classification and definition, use Appendix in Pimple, K.D. 2002. "Six domains of
research ethics: A heuristic framework for the responsible conduct of research." Science and Engineering Ethics
8:191-205.
2. While the principles underpinning ethical practice are fairly straightforward and easy to understand, their
application can be quite difficult in certain situations. Not all decisions can be clear-cut in the realm of human
relations. What ethical "red flags" might arise with the following research endeavors? Explain the ethical
component in each situation. What would be an ethical approach to the research in each case?
a) observing people's routines at ATM machines for a marketing research project;
b) interviewing residents at an assisted living facility about their SWB and life satisfaction;
c) an instructor asks students in introductory psychology class to complete questionnaires that the instructor
will analyze and use in preparing a journal article for publication.

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Ethical issues in social research - online presentation

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How should we treat the people on whom we conduct research? * Are there activities in which we should - or should not - engage in our relations with those people? There are two perspectives from which you can view the ethical issues in research: 1.

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Lockdowns hurt child speech and language skills - report

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Delays to speech and language skills are a top concern for primary schools, researchers say.

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Over the past 10 months national and local restrictions have resulted in disrupted schooling across the country. However, not all learners have experienced the same level of disruption.

An analysis from the Education Policy Institute (Sibieta, 2020) has shown that there is a correlation between attendance and low socio-economic status suggesting that disadvantaged pupils are at greater risk of missing learning opportunities.

Disruption and closures will have affected learners who use English as an additional language (EAL) who typically also face added linguistic and systemic barriers.

Previous articles in this series

As outlined in the first article in this series, published in October, the EAL learners for whom lockdown is likely to have had the greatest impact include:

Pupils who are new to English or in the early stages of English language acquisition.

Late-arriving pupils who use EAL.

Pupils from certain language groups.

Pupils who use EAL from economically disadvantaged households.

Disrupted schooling for these learners has meant a limited or lack of exposure to a broad range of English language models, including the academic language needed to be successful across the curriculum. Teachers who we are in contact with say that they have seen a regression in their learners' English language development with many noting that pupils are "lacking confidence to speak", and that "some (pupils) even lost interest in learning".

Evidence from Ofsted (2020) corroborates this, noting that "a few leaders felt that pupils who speak English as an additional language were struggling more than others" with some aspects of language and communication skills, and a regression in oral fluency. Given this disruption to learning, formative assessment is vital to understanding new starting points for learners so that necessary support can be put in place to help them catch up on both English language development and missed curriculum learning.

Why formative assessment?

So, why are formative assessment and assessment of a learner's proficiency in English particularly important now?

Well, teachers already use formative assessment to inform future teaching and learning of curriculum content.In addition, it is important to use on-going formative assessment of EAL learners' proficiency in English, as this will inform decisions about language support. This is particularly necessary for learners who are new to English or at the early acquisition stage, as research shows: Proficiency in English is the strongest predictor of the educational attainment of learners who use EAL, with learners who are new to English and at the early acquisition stage consistently scoring below the national average, and those who are competent and fluent in English consistently scoring above the national average (Strand & Hessel, 2018).

It is now more important than ever to understand learners' current English language proficiency - not only to understand how their language development (and therefore potentially access to curriculum content) has been affected by emergency remote teaching arrangements, but more importantly to highlight key areas of support to put in place to help them catch-up.

This may be particularly pertinent if exams are cancelled again and teachers are asked to administer in-class tests or provide input on student performance that will count towards a final recommended grade.

Some practical ideas and approaches

Here follows some practical ideas for carrying out formative assessment in the secondary classroom and online.

Pupil Profiles

A pupil profile can provide key information for understanding learners and their language development and is a useful reference tool for all staff involved in understanding a learner's language development. Consider the following:

Educational background: For example, have they had formal education in the past? Have they been to school in more than one country? This gives an idea of a pupil's past experiences and their expectations (cultural, social and academic).

Prior attainment: For example, what have they learnt about particular subject content in the past? What are their strengths and favourite subjects? This helps to set appropriately high expectations.

What languages the pupil speaks: How many languages? With whom do they speak them? With what level of proficiency do they speak/write in these languages? This can help to inform how pupils work together, and what linguistic resources a learner can draw on.

Other circumstances that might affect a child's learning: Such as any SEND or traumatic migration experiences which may affect engagement and attainment.

Assessment tools

A robust EAL Assessment tool, such as The Bell Foundation's EAL Assessment Framework for Schools can be used to make initial and on-going assessments.

Using an EAL assessment framework gives practitioners a shared understanding of different levels of proficiency within the context of curriculum learning and provides a roadmap for progress.

It is important to gather evidence about learners' language development in all four domains - listening, speaking, reading and viewing, and writing - as learners are likely to be more proficient in one or two areas and to need further support in others.

To gather evidence for assessment, talk to a variety of people, especially as contact with pupils may have been more sporadic during lockdowns and home learning. You could talk to:

The EAL co-ordinator for further insight into particular aspects of language development

Teaching assistants to find out how the pupils are getting on with the tasks from the teacher.

Parents to see if they have noticed any changes, such as less enthusiasm for particular subjects or if their child has told them that school is too difficult.

Pupils themselves to see how they are finding classes.

Teachers play a vital role in carrying out formative assessment as they understand what is expected in terms of the curriculum and have the most contact with learners, so are best placed to carry out assessment and target setting.

In-class formative assessment can take place alongside other key assessments, at the beginning, middle and end of a term, and informally, on a daily basis. It is about noticing learners' language needs as they speak in class and in their routine written work, rather than creating extra work or specific tests. Formative assessment is on-going and happens informally by observing and understanding your learners' responses to classroom interactions and activities. Normal class materials can be used to evaluate how learners are progressing in their language development and what further support is needed. Here are some ideas for using assessment frameworks:

Before the lesson, consider what domains of language use the learners will need to deploy in order to process curriculum content and take part in learning activities (listening, speaking, reading and viewing, writing). It will likely be more than one, so choose the one that is most important for that lesson. For example, in a science lesson where learners discuss an experiment, you may want to assess speaking.

Look at the descriptors of an assessment framework and choose the most appropriate and relevant descriptors. Consider: the task you will be observing (e.g. discussing a science experiment), the chosen language domain (e.g. speaking and listening), and the proficiency level you expect them to be working at (e.g. developing competence).

Take a copy of the framework into class, with the descriptors that you have identified marked so that they are easy to find (you could highlight or circle them).

During the lesson, observe the learner and write notes.

After the lesson, return to the framework (and your notes). Use the descriptors to set targets, which can be used to inform support.

Plan how to address language targets in future lessons and consider what support is required.

Planning assessments

Although there is no need to create specific EAL assessment materials, it is important to consider in advance how to carry out assessments, especially when some learning may take place online. It may be necessary to plan how to set up tasks to gain enough evidence to make a meaningful assessment of your learners from a distance. Below are some suggestions.
Listening

Set listening tasks online. Evidence can be gathered by asking learners to submit answers in writing. This could include ticking boxes, writing yes/no answers, sequencing items, or writing short answers. Bear in mind that these types of tasks involve some reading and writing, which may be more difficult for some learners, so relevant support or alternatives may be needed, such as images.

Alternatively, ask learners to listen to an extract and to record themselves explaining their reaction/understanding of it.

If a group or class of learners are self-isolating, ask them to do project work online, and if possible, audio or video record their discussions or final presentation (if appropriate). This gives teachers the opportunity to see and hear several learners speaking at once.

Ask learners to record themselves answering class questions or giving short reviews of books or class topics.

Recorded speaking can be useful to look back on in later weeks/months to gain tangible evidence of progress.

For younger learners, parents could record their children reading a book at home (to assess decoding, for example) and send it to the teacher. Alternatively, if access to a recording device is limited, parents could phone teachers to report back.

Use Direct Activities Related to Texts (DARTs), which scaffold reading and allow learners to demonstrate reading comprehension (rather than decoding alone). Learners can submit answers in writing, which can include ticking boxes, writing headings, completing a diagram (see further information).

Ask learners to submit writing online.

Use bitesize writing activities such as writing on a Padlet wall (a virtual sticky note board, see further information).

Next steps

Gathering assessment evidence allows practitioners to set targets and necessary next steps to ensure that curriculum-embedded language learning targets can be met. There are many strategies and activities that can be used to support learners in meeting their language targets, and to catch up.

The Bell Foundation Classroom Support Strategies as part of the EAL Assessment Framework provide a wealth of practical ideas centered around oracy (listening and speaking) and literacy (reading and viewing, and writing) skills. Many of the strategies are appropriate in the current context or can be adapted slightly to suit.

The Bell Foundation's Great Ideas pages include information on useful strategies such as Barrier games, D.A.R.Ts, and Flashcards. Each page is dedicated to a different strategy and provides a description and examples of how it can be used. For further information on specific catch-up strategies, read the second article in this series Closing the Covid-19 gap for EAL pupils.

Since March, many learners who use EAL have experienced a language learning loss - a loss that adds an additional and significant barrier to curriculum learning. Therefore, it is vital that learners' English language development as well as their cognitive development is given the necessary attention and support.

Formative assessment of proficiency in English is fundamental in this process. With this focus and support, these learners stand a good chance of accessing curriculum content and catching up.

Emily Curran is a trainer at The Bell Foundation, a charity working to overcome exclusion through language education. For details, visit www.bell-foundation.org.uk

Further information & resources

Bell Foundation: EAL Assessment Framework for Schools and accompanying resources (including Classroom Support Strategies): www.bell-foundation.org.uk/eal-programme/eal-assessment-framework/

Bell Foundation Webinar: Closing the Gap: supporting the most disadvantaged EAL pupils to catch up, YouTube, November 2020. Watch this here.

Bell Foundation Webinar: Assessing the learning of EAL pupils during and after school closures, YouTube, May 2020. Watch this here.

Bell Foundation: Great Ideas web pages: https://bit.ly/33KkLHU

Bell Foundation: Home Learning Guidance for Teachers: https://bit.ly/3qpHK4J

Bell Foundation: Great Ideas: DARTs: https://bit.ly/2VAxMzc

Ofsted: Covid-19 series: Briefing on schools, October 2020: https://bit.ly/2VFe0Cs

Padlet: https://padlet.com/

Sibieta: School attendance rates across the UK since full reopening, EPI, November 2020: https://bit.ly/2VCv6Rt

Strand & Hessel: English as an additional language, proficiency in English and pupils' educational achievement: An analysis of local authority data, Bell Foundation, University of Oxford, Unbound, October 2018: https://bit.ly/33MitHY

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Closing the gap: Supporting the most disadvantaged EAL pupils during the pandemic

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Over the past 10 months national and local restrictions have resulted in disrupted schooling across the country. However, not all learners have experienced the same level of disruption. An analysis from the Education Policy Institute (Sibieta, 2020) has shown that there is a correlation between attendance and low socio-economic status suggesting that disadvantaged pupils are at greater risk of missing learning opportunities.

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Teaching assistants 'are the unsung heroes of Covid'

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New research shines a light on how teaching assistants stepped up to keep schools functioning during the winter lockdown

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How to perform and write up a literature review 

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How to perform and write up a literature review 

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What is a literature review? A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic. It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research.

There are five key steps to writing a literature review:

1. Search for relevant literature

2. Evaluate sources

3. Identify themes, debates and gaps

4. Outline the structure

5. Write your literature review

A good literature review doesn't just summarise sources - it analyses, synthesises, and critically evaluates to give a clear picture of the state of knowledge on the subject.

Tip
We've also compiled a few examples, templates, and sample outlines for you below.

Why write a literature review?

When you write a dissertation or thesis, you will have to conduct a literature review to situate your research within existing knowledge. The literature review gives you a chance to:

Demonstrate your familiarity with the topic and scholarly context

Develop a theoretical framework and methodology for your research

Position yourself in relation to other researchers and theorists

Show how your dissertation addresses a gap or contributes to a debate

You might also have to write a literature review as a stand-alone assignment. In this case, the purpose is to evaluate the current state of research and demonstrate your knowledge of scholarly debates around a topic.

The content will look slightly different in each case, but the process of conducting a literature review follows the same steps. We've written a step-by-step guide that you can follow below.

Correct my document today

Examples of literature reviews

Writing literature reviews can be quite challenging! A good starting point could be to look at some examples, depending on what kind of literature review you'd like to write.

You can also check out our templates with literature review examples and sample outlines at the links below.
Download Word doc Download Google doc
Step 1: Search for relevant literature

Before you begin searching for literature, you need a clearly defined topic.

If you are writing the literature review section of a dissertation or research paper, you will search for literature related to your research objectives and questions.

If you are writing a literature review as a stand-alone assignment, you will have to choose a focus and develop a central question to direct your search. Unlike a dissertation research question, this question has to be answerable without collecting original data. You should be able to answer it based only on a review of existing publications.

Research question exampleWhat is the impact of social media on body image among Generation Z?

Make a list of keywords

Start by creating a list of keywords related to your research topic. Include each of the key concepts or variables you're interested in, and list any synonyms and related terms. You can add to this list if you discover new keywords in the process of your literature search.

Keywords example

Social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok

Body image, self-perception, self-esteem, mental health

Generation Z, teenagers, adolescents, youth

Search for relevant sources

Use your keywords to begin searching for sources. Some databases to search for journals and articles include:

You can use boolean operators to help narrow down your search:

Read the abstract to find out whether an article is relevant to your question. When you find a useful book or article, you can check the bibliography to find other relevant sources.

To identify the most important publications on your topic, take note of recurring citations. If the same authors, books or articles keep appearing in your reading, make sure to seek them out.

Step 2: Evaluate and select sources

You probably won't be able to read absolutely everything that has been written on the topic - you'll have to evaluate which sources are most relevant to your questions.

For each publication, ask yourself:

What question or problem is the author addressing?

What are the key concepts and how are they defined?

What are the key theories, models and methods? Does the research use established frameworks or take an innovative approach?

What are the results and conclusions of the study?

How does the publication relate to other literature in the field? Does it confirm, add to, or challenge established knowledge?

How does the publication contribute to your understanding of the topic? What are its key insights and arguments?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?

Make sure the sources you use are credible, and make sure you read any landmark studies and major theories in your field of research.

You can find out how many times an article has been cited on Google Scholar - a high citation count means the article has been influential in the field, and should certainly be included in your literature review.

The scope of your review will depend on your topic and discipline: in the sciences you usually only review recent literature, but in the humanities you might take a long historical perspective (for example, to trace how a concept has changed in meaning over time).

Remember that you can use our template to summarise and evaluate sources you're thinking about using!

Take notes and cite your sources

As you read, you should also begin the writing process. Take notes that you can later incorporate into the text of your literature review.

It's important to keep track of your sources with references to avoid plagiarism. It can be helpful to make an annotated bibliography, where you compile full reference information and write a paragraph of summary and analysis for each source. This helps you remember what you read and saves time later in the process.

You can use our free APA Reference Generator for quick, correct, consistent citations.

Step 3: Identify themes, debates and gaps

To begin organising your literature review's argument and structure, you need to understand the connections and relationships between the sources you've read. Based on your reading and notes, you can look for:

Trends and patterns (in theory, method or results): do certain approaches become more or less popular over time?

Themes: what questions or concepts recur across the literature?

Debates, conflicts and contradictions: where do sources disagree?

Pivotal publications: are there any influential theories or studies that changed the direction of the field?

Gaps: what is missing from the literature? Are there weaknesses that need to be addressed?

This step will help you work out the structure of your literature review and (if applicable) show how your own research will contribute to existing knowledge.

Example of trends and gaps
In reviewing the literature on social media and body image, you note that:

Most research has focused on young women.

There is an increasing interest in the visual aspects of social media.

But there is still a lack of robust research on highly-visual platforms like Instagram and Snapchat - this is a gap that you could address in your own research.

Step 4: Outline your literature review's structure

There are various approaches to organising the body of a literature review. You should have a rough idea of your strategy before you start writing.

Depending on the length of your literature review, you can combine several of these strategies (for example, your overall structure might be thematic, but each theme is discussed chronologically).

Chronological

The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time. However, if you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarising sources in order.

Try to analyse patterns, turning points and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred.

Thematic

If you have found some recurring central themes, you can organise your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic.

For example, if you are reviewing literature about inequalities in migrant health outcomes, key themes might include healthcare policy, language barriers, cultural attitudes, legal status, and economic access.

Methodological

If you draw your sources from different disciplines or fields that use a variety of research methods, you might want to compare the results and conclusions that emerge from different approaches. For example:

Look at what results have emerged in qualitative versus quantitative research

Discuss how the topic has been approached by empirical versus theoretical scholarship

Divide the literature into sociological, historical, and cultural sources

Theoretical

A literature review is often the foundation for a theoretical framework. You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts.

You might argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach, or combine various theoretical concepts to create a framework for your research.

Step 5: Write your literature review

Like any other academic text, your literature review should have an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion. What you include in each depends on the objective of your literature review.

Introduction

The introduction should clearly establish the focus and purpose of the literature review.

If you are writing the literature review as part of your dissertation or thesis, reiterate your central problem or research question and give a brief summary of the scholarly context. You can emphasise the timeliness of the topic ("many recent studies have focused on the problem of x") or highlight a gap in the literature ("while there has been much research on x, few researchers have taken y into consideration").

Body

Depending on the length of your literature review, you might want to divide the body into subsections. You can use a subheading for each theme, time period, or methodological approach.

As you write, make sure to follow these tips:

Summarise and synthesise: give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole.

Analyse and interpret: don't just paraphrase other researchers - add your own interpretations, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole.

Critically evaluate: mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources.

Write in well-structured paragraphs: use transitions and topic sentences to draw connections, comparisons and contrasts.

Conclusion

In the conclusion, you should summarise the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasise their significance.

If the literature review is part of your dissertation or thesis, reiterate how your research addresses gaps and contributes new knowledge, or discuss how you have drawn on existing theories and methods to build a framework for your research. This can lead directly into your methodology section.

Frequently asked questions about literature reviews

What is the purpose of a literature review?

There are several reasons to conduct a literature review at the beginning of a research project:

To familiarise yourself with the current state of knowledge on your topic

To ensure that you're not just repeating what others have already done

To identify gaps in knowledge and unresolved problems that your research can address

To develop your theoretical framework and methodology

To provide an overview of the key findings and debates on the topic

Writing the literature review shows your reader how your work relates to existing research and what new insights it will contribute.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the 'Cite this Scribbr article' button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

McCombes, S. (2022, June 07). What is a Literature Review? | Guide, Template, & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 25 March 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/thesis-dissertation/literature-review/

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What is a Literature Review? | Guide, Template, & Examples

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What is a literature review? A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic. It provides an overview of current knowledge,

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1.1 Evaluate policies and procedure in own setting in relation to statutory frameworks and national guidance

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1.1 Evaluate policies and procedure in own setting in relation to statutory frameworks and national guidance

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Guidance on the special educational needs and disability (SEND) system for children and young people aged 0 to 25, from 1 September 2014.

Applies to England

Documents

Details

This statutory code contains:

details of legal requirements that you must follow without exception

statutory guidance that you must follow by law unless there's a good reason not to

It explains the duties of local authorities, health bodies, schools and colleges to provide for those with special educational needs under part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014.

The code, which applies to England, is for:

headteachers and principals

governing bodies

school and college staff

special educational needs (SEN) co-ordinators

early years providers

other education settings

local authorities

health and social services staff

Other SEND guides are also available.

Thank you for your feedback

Report a problem with this page

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Guidance on the special educational needs and disability (SEND) system for children and young people aged 0 to 25, from 1 September 2014.

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1.1 Evaluate policies and procedure in own setting in relation to statutory frameworks and national guidance.

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1.1 Evaluate policies and procedure in own setting in relation to statutory frameworks and national guidance.

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We use some essential cookies to make this website work.

We'd like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services.

We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.

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Special educational needs and disability (SEND): detailed information

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We use some essential cookies to make this website work. We'd like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.

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1.1 Evaluate policies and procedure in own setting in relation to statutory frameworks and national guidance

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1.1 Evaluate policies and procedure in own setting in relation to statutory frameworks and national guidance

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Guidance to help schools understand how the Equality Act affects them and how to fulfil their duties under the act.

Applies to England

Documents

Details

Thank you for your feedback

Report a problem with this page

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Guidance to help schools understand how the Equality Act affects them and how to fulfil their duties under the act.

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Assignment 4 task- under (1) it says: '...in England this includes the role of the integrated assessment system for Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) in England'. 

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Assignment 4 task- under (1) it says: '...in England this includes the role of the integrated assessment system for Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) in England'. 

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This means the current EHCP system...

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An education, health and care ( EHC) plan is for children and young people aged up to 25 who need more support than is available through special educational needs support.

EHC plans identify educational, health and social needs and set out the additional support to meet those needs.

Requesting an EHC assessment

You can ask your local authority to carry out an assessment if you think your child needs an EHC plan.

A young person can request an assessment themselves if they're aged 16 to 25.

A request can also be made by anyone else who thinks an assessment may be necessary, including doctors, health visitors, teachers, parents and family friends.

If they decide to carry out an assessment you may be asked for:

any reports from your child's school, nursery or childminder

doctors' assessments of your child

a letter from you about your child's needs

The local authority will tell you within 16 weeks whether an EHC plan is going to be made for your child.

Creating an EHC plan

1. Your local authority will create a draft EHC plan and send you a copy.

2. You have at least 15 days to comment, including if you want to ask that your child goes to a specialist needs school or specialist college.

3. Your local authority has 20 weeks from the date they receive the request for the assessment to give you the final EHC plan.

Disagreeing with a decision

You can challenge your local authority about:

their decision to not carry out an assessment

their decision to not create an EHC plan

the special educational support in the EHC plan

the school named in the EHC plan

If you cannot resolve the problem with your local authority, you can appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Tribunal.

Personal budgets

You may be able to get a personal budget for your child if they have an EHC plan or have been told that they need one.

It allows you to have a say in how to spend the money on support for your child.

There are 3 ways you can use your personal budget. You can have:

direct payments made into your account - you buy and manage services yourself

an arrangement with your local authority or school where they hold the money for you but you still decide how to spend it (sometimes called 'notional arrangements')

third-party arrangements - you choose someone else to manage the money for you

You can have a combination of all 3 options.

Independent support for children of all ages

Independent supporters can help you and your child through the new SEN assessment process, including:

replacing a statement of special educational needs with a new EHC plan

moving a child from a learning difficulty assessment (LDA) to an EHC plan

You can find out how to get local support through:

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Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

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Children with special educational needs (SEN) can get the help they need to get an education - SEN support, education, health and care plans, SEN before September 2014

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Engaging parents and families -from GOV.UK

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Engaging parents and families -from GOV.UK

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more strategies for engaging parents and families 

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more strategies for engaging parents and families 

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By: Jennifer Larson
Studies of successful schools indicate that a high rate of parent involvement is a major factor in their success and can even help close the achievement gap between groups of students. Yet while 85 percent of parents feel they could personally make "a lot" or "a fair amount" of difference in their child's learning and academic progress, 46 percent of parents wish they could do more to support their child's education.

The key to productive and positive parent engagement is a good flow of communication between school and home, and that communication should encompass every stakeholder, including parents, teachers, administrators, specialists, club leaders and coaches, and the parent-teacher organization. The strategies here can help you increase parent engagement at your school.

Understanding the Common Challenges

Ensuring good communication between school and home has become more challenging in recent years due to a number of key trends impacting parent engagement. First, the diversity of family living arrangements continues to increase, so educators cannot assume students are living at home with two parents. Second, families move a lot; in fact, the U.S. has one of the most mobile populations in the world. Third, many school communities include immigrants from multiple countries who speak a variety of languages. Finally, the rise of student support teams means there are often many educators working with each child. Due to these factors, and others, communications efforts by schools can often hit roadblocks, despite good intentions.

Here are some common challenges that impact outreach:

Lack of accessibility: School communications that are accessible only via computer (but not mobile) or only in one language may be overlooked by a significant number of parents.

Too many tools: The typical student has eight different teachers, and each teacher may be using a different communication tool, which can cause parents to feel overwhelmed and frustrated.

Too many buzzwords: Parents don't necessarily understand "edu-speak," so communications full of jargon will fail to resonate.

Too much (or fractured) communication: Communications emanating from multiple sources and via multiple platforms can cause parents to miss important information and make it difficult for them to sort through and prioritize.

Strategies to Improve School-Home Communications

Schools have made great strides in increasing the frequency of communication with families, taking advantage of digital tools to give parents more visibility into their child's day. However, as the challenges listed above indicate, the proliferation of tools has now fragmented communications to the point of leaving parents overwhelmed and unsure what to do with the information they receive. Parents appreciate the school's effort to communicate, but if they can't act on the information and the school isn't sure if it was even received, nobody achieves the desired results.

With this in mind, the next level of innovation is required: rather than concentrating simply on parent-teacher communication, we need to instead design ways to improve the whole-school focus on communications, simplifying the process for all stakeholders and promoting consistency in communication between educators and families. This includes giving teachers fewer tools to manage, reducing the number of places parents need to look for information, and making information more clearly actionable. By ensuring parents have an easier time receiving communications from the school, it will help school leaders gain buy-in for goals and initiatives, help teachers foster the parent engagement desired in the classroom, and help students get the support they need from their families.

Here are some strategies for leaders to establish positive and productive communications right from the start of the school year:

1. Pick one tool: School leaders ought to conduct a communications audit to get a handle on how teachers are communicating with parents, and then provide clear direction on which tool to use, as well as some general communication protocols. Finding one platform that every educator can use and explaining why this is a priority will increase buy-in from all stakeholders, and, collectively, your staff and faculty can enhance their success in engaging parents.

2. Issue shorter, more frequent communications: Don't kick off the year with one long communication or wait until the end of the term to reach out with an extensive recap. Just as schools have moved to more frequent assessments of students, school communications should also be concise and frequent to keep parents in the loop on an ongoing basis.

3. Personalize: Personalization isn't just for students. Parents expect it, too, and new technology tools can help parents customize how they're connected to their children's schools. This is especially important since not all parents can come into school at designated times. Personalization features include giving parents the option to "subscribe" to the channels featuring updates they wish to receive―personalizing the information, not just the delivery method―which ensures they get the information they feel is relevant without it getting lost amid other information overload.

4. Set the tone: Encourage teachers to share a bit of information about themselves at the start of the year, perhaps at parent night, to set the tone for an open exchange with students' parents and caregivers. They should develop and communicate a process for regular, ongoing communication throughout the year so parents know what to expect.

5. Build relationships: Teachers should focus on building relationships with parents to establish trust and foster those relationships throughout the year. Schools should also ensure that parents have opportunities to build rapport with their child's support network, which can include a whole team of people, including learning specialists.

6. Share accountability: Make it clear that all faculty members are expected to participate in the school's communications efforts. By providing clear guidance on this expectation, along with the proper tools and protocols to make it actionable, leaders can make it a reality. Administrators should also lead by example, demonstrating that they are equally accountable for executing the plan.

7. Invite parents to be partners: If educators don't already know the school's parent body, they should be sure to reach out and learn more about them. Teachers should invite parents to share information about their child's strengths and weaknesses, what type of support system they have at home, and whether anything going on in the child's life may impact classroom behavior. Information like this can be essential in equipping teachers to meet students' needs.

8. Empower parents to opt in: Design opportunities where parents can opt in (or out) of certain information or updates that are relevant, or irrelevant, to their child. Bombarding every parent with every update is just as ineffective as under-communicating, and parents will find it impossible to keep up, if they don't tune out entirely. By giving parents the power to opt into the communication "channels"―however your school is able to define them―that are relevant to them, they will feel a much greater level of control and ability to truly engage.

9. Provide actionable information: Providing information for the sake of keeping parents up-to-date is recommended, but schools also need to make sure they are sharing information that parents can act on. This can include opportunities for parents to support or prepare their child for classroom assignments, or information about upcoming extracurricular activities and special events.

10. Share the positive: Often, communication will focus on the basics such as daily schedules, homework assignments, upcoming events and in some cases behavioral updates. Parents may dread the rare phone call home, so it's important to find opportunities to communicate good news, as well.

School Communications as the Glue

A strong school culture leads to a thriving school community where every teacher, parent, and student has the opportunity to connect and be actively engaged, and that culture starts with communication. Therefore, a school-wide focus on communication is key to creating equitable opportunity for all parents and students. A whole-school communications plan ensures that all faculty members are conveying important information in an accessible way, and making sure all parents have access to school-based opportunities. With these strategies in mind, you can transform school communications and experience a new level of parent engagement.

For more, see:

Jennifer Larson is co-founder and CEO of Hive Digital Minds, the creators of . She is a technology entrepreneur, charter public school founder, and mother of four. Follow Jennifer on Twitter @startupjen
Featured image is the Parent & Community Center at Valley High, Santa Ana USD Stay in-the-know with all things EdTech and innovations in learning by signing up to receive our weekly newsletter, Smart Update.

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10 Strategies for Schools to Improve Parent Engagement

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By: Jennifer Larson Studies of successful schools indicate that a high rate of parent involvement is a major factor in their success and can even help close the achievement gap between groups of students.