SMART Spaces: Spaced Learning Revision Programme - Evaluation Report

SMART Spaces: Spaced Learning Revision Programme (SMART Spaces Revision) aims to raise attainment in GCSE chemistry by improving revision using ‘spaced learning’. Spaced learning involves teachers repeatedly delivering the same content, across multiple sessions, with breaks in between. The programme, developed and delivered by Hallam Teaching School Alliance (HTSA) and Queen’s University Belfast (QUB), trains teachers to deliver six highly structured and manualised chemistry revision lessons for the AQA Combined Science GCSE. Lessons are provided to Year 11 pupils (age 15 to 16) in the three-week period prior to GCSE examinations. Each lesson consists of three 12-minute episodes delivering content separated by two ten-minute spacing activities such as juggling. Lessons are delivered on three separate days, which allows additional spaces of around 24 hours between content repetition. The first three lessons repeatedly cover one half of the curriculum and the second three lessons repeatedly cover the other half. SMART Spaces Revision training involves a lead teacher who supports implementation and chemistry teachers who receive a day of instruction (in twilight sessions). In-school follow-up support and teaching resources are also provided. Resources include PowerPoint slides covering the entire chemistry curriculum content for the AQA Combined Science award together with a manual, an activity pack, and spacing materials. This project was a two-armed, cluster-randomised controlled efficacy trial (c-RCT) with 125 schools from across England: 54 schools were randomly allocated to receive the intervention and 71 acted at the ‘business as usual’ control group; 14,098 pupils from Year 11 taking the AQA Combined Science GCSE took part in the trial. The evaluation tested the impact of the intervention on GCSE chemistry attainment with surveys and interviews with teachers and pupils and observations of training informing the process evaluation. The evaluation was conducted by the IOE at UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society and delivery occurred between April and May 2019

A legacy handbook for science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM)

Legacy Handbook reviewing emda's experience of STEM activity. Identifies key achievements and draws out lessons learned that may be relevant to successor bodies active in this area

Why do women deliver where they had not planned to go? A qualitative study from peri-urban Nairobi Kenya.

BACKGROUND: In urban Kenya, couples face a wide variety of choices for delivery options; however, many women end up delivering in different facilities from those they had intended while pregnant. One potential consequence of this is delivering in facilities that do not meet minimum quality standards and lack the capacity to provide treatment for obstetric and neonatal complications. METHODS: This study investigated why women in peri-urban Nairobi, Kenya deliver in facilities they had not intended to use. We used 60 in-depth audio-recorded interviews in which mothers shared their experiences 2-6 months after delivery. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize socio-demographic characteristics of participants. Qualitative data were analyzed in three steps i) exploration and generation of initial codes; ii) searching for themes by gathering coded data that addressed specific themes; and iii) defining and naming identified themes. Verbatim excerpts from participants were provided to illustrate study findings. The Health Belief Model was used to shed light on individual-level drivers of delivery location choice. RESULTS: Findings show a confluence of factors that predispose mothers to delivering in unintended facilities. At the individual level, precipitate labor, financial limitations, onset of pain, complications, changes in birth plans, undisclosed birth plans, travel during pregnancy, fear of health facility providers, misconception of onset of labor, wrong estimate of delivery date, and onset of labor at night, contributed to delivery at unplanned locations. On the supply side, the sudden referral to other facilities, poor services, wrong projection of delivery date, and long distance to chosen delivery facility, were factors in changes in delivery location. Lack of transport discouraged delivery at a chosen health facility. Social influences included others\u27 perspectives on delivery location and lack of aides/escorts. CONCLUSIONS: Results from this study suggest that manifold factors contribute to the occurrence of women delivering in facilities that they had not intended during pregnancy. Future studies should consider whether these changes in delivery location late in pregnancy contribute to late facility arrival and the use of lower quality facilities. Deliberate counseling during antenatal care regarding birth plans is likely to encourage timely arrival at facilities consistent with women\u27s preferences

Recruiting, retaining and engaging men in social interventions: lessons for implementation focusing on a prison based parenting intervention for young incarcerated fathers

Recruiting, retaining and engaging men in social interventions can be challenging. The focus of this paper is the successful implementation of a parenting programme for incarcerated fathers, delivered in a Young Offender Institution (YOI) in Scotland. Reasons for high levels of recruitment, retention and engagement are explored, with barriers identified. A qualitative design was employed using ethnographic approaches including participant observation of the programme, informal interactions, and formal interviews with programme participants, the facilitators and others involved in managing the programme. Framework analysis was conducted on the integrated data set. The prison as the setting for programme delivery was both an opportunity and a challenge. It enabled easy access to participants and required low levels of effort on their part to attend. The creation of a nurturing and safe environment within the prison classroom facilitated engagement: relationships between the facilitators and participants, and between the participants themselves were key to understanding high levels of retention and engagement. The most fundamental challenge to high engagement levels arose from clashes in embedded institutional ways of working, between the host institution and the organisation experienced in delivering such intervention work. This threatened to compromise trust between the participants and the facilitators. Whilst adding specifically to the very sparse literature on reaching incarcerated young fathers and engaging them in parenting work, the findings have transferability to other under-researched areas: the implementation of social interventions generally in the prison setting, and engaging marginalised fathers in parenting/family work in community settings. The paper highlights ways of overcoming some of the challenges faced