Enabling children and young people to flourish: The Capabilities Approach and its Aristotelian roots

This thesis argues for the Capabilities Approach in education, based on Aristotelian philosophy, in preference to the performative approach of the present Standards Agenda in education. This agenda confines learning to reaching standardised numerical targets and considers persons predominantly as economic units. Instead, Aristotelian philosophy provides a renewed understanding of realising potential and well-being, thus strengthening education theory and practice. A particular contribution of the thesis is to make explicit the ethical dimension in education. Importantly, it explains the nature of this dimension and the theory that supports it. The thesis maintains that the basic shared human capacity for care, affiliation, and deliberation forms an essential part of the moral imperative that society must work to realise. It argues that the Capabilities Approach which has already influenced development in economics, health, and social policy, should also influence education. The Aristotle-inspired Capabilities Approach focuses on the essential role of the capabilities of practical reason and affiliation. It includes a flexible method of reflection which seeks a synthesis between emotion and reason, informed by an ethical framework about what human beings share. The development of these capabilities enables human activity to occur in complex interdependence, promoting deliberated trust and co-operation in society, which in turn supports meaningful discourse, understanding, and positive action between individuals and groups. This thesis argues that education should have a significant role in nurturing these capabilities, to enable children and young people to flourish during their school years and beyond. The ability to plan, monitor, and evaluate learning and life decisions with reference to their well-being requires these capabilities. Crucially, the Aristotle-inspired Capabilities Approach is inclusive of and sensitive to the needs of vulnerable groups and individuals in society. It redefines our understanding of realising potential which includes an ethical dimension, and offers practical ideas about how education can help young people live a fulfilled life

Access to mathematics learning for lower secondary students in England during school closures: implications for equity and quality

During the initial period of ‘lockdown’ in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, schools in England were closed to the majority of pupils for 15 weeks. We examine how during this time schools provided emergency remote teaching in mathematics to lower secondary pupils with different levels of prior attainment and advantage. Drawing on a mixed-methods study including a survey (N = 49) and interviews (N = 17) with Heads of Mathematics, we analyse schools’ remote learning practices and how school closures have impacted on pupils’ opportunity to learn mathematics (OTL). We find that inequitable distribution of engaged time, mathematical content and quality teaching has disproportionately negatively affected lower-attaining and disadvantaged pupils and is likely to have contributed to a widened attainment gap. We identify opportunities for HOMs to improve remote learning for subsequent school closures and enact equitable policies of distribution that improve OTL for lower-attaining and disadvantaged pupils

A qualitative case study in the social capital of co-professional collaborative co-practice for children with speech language and communication needs

Background: Effective co-practice is essential to deliver services for children with speech language and communication needs (SLCN). The necessary skills, knowledge and resources are distributed amongst professionals and agencies. Co-practice is complex and a number of barriers, such as 'border disputes' and poor awareness of respective priorities, have been identified. However social-relational aspects of co-practice have not been explored in sufficient depth to make recommendations for improvements in policy and practice. Here we apply social capital theory to data from practitioners: an analytical framework with the potential to move beyond descriptions of socio-cultural phenomena to inform change.  Aims: Co-practice in a Local Authority site was examined to understand: 1) the range of social capital relations extant in the site’s co-practice; 2) how these relations affected the abilities of the network to collaborate; 3) whether previously identified barriers to copractice remain; 4) the nature of any new complexities which may have emerged; and 5) how inter-professional social capital might be fostered.  Methods & Procedures: A qualitative case study of SLCN provision within one Local Authority in England and its linked NHS partner was completed through face-to-face semistructured interviews with professionals working with children with SCLN across the authority. Interviews, exploring barriers and facilitators to interagency working and social capital themes, were transcribed, subjected to thematic analysis using iterative methods and a thematic framework derived.  Outcomes and Results: We identified a number of characteristics important for the effective development of trust, reciprocity and negotiated co-practice at different levels of social capital networks knowledge and skills. Barriers to co-practice differed from those found in earlier studies. Some negative aspects of complexity were evident but only where networked professionalism and trust was absent between professions. Where practitioners embraced and services and systems enabled more fluid forms of collaboration, then trust and reciprocity developed.  Conclusions & Implications: Highly collaborative forms of co-practice, inherently more complex at the service governance, macro-level, bring benefits. At the meso-level of the school and support team network there was greater capacity to individualise co-practice to the needs of the child. Capacity was increased at the micro-level of knowledge and skills to harness the overall resource distributed amongst members of the inter-professional team. The development of social capital, networks of trust across SLCN support teams, should be a priority at all levels - for practitioners, services, commissioners and schools

Variation in headteachers' approaches to meeting the needs of primary school children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) in one English Local Authority: a systems approach

Background Recent large-scale research in England has reported lack of equity in the school services and support received by children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), even in schools in similar demographic areas. How headteachers organise support for pupils with SLCN is considered important in determining their school experiences, but there is little research related to SLCN. The present study analysed the views of eight headteachers to illustrate variation across school systems as reported by heads. Aims The aim was to illustrate and exemplify the wide range of headteachers' views and variation across school systems, and their impact for pupils. Methods & Procedures The study analysed data from face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with eight volunteer headteachers in a large-scale qualitative study of co-working and services for primary school pupils with SLCN, the Language for All project, in one English local authority. Responses were analysed using a four-level systems model, considering each head's views of the SEND policy environment; whether SLCN was considered when setting school goals and prioritising functions; staff recruitment and staff skills relating to SLCN, and the processes whereby curriculum adaptations were planned and delivered. Following close reading, discussion and review of headteachers’ transcribed interviews, the research team classified statements under the systems components, with dissonance sought in line with the study's aim of identifying variation. Responses from four headteachers who reported fundamentally different views were selected for discussion, illustrated by quotations. Outcomes & Results Despite coming under the same authority and policy directives, the systems analysis showed considerable variation. For example, Headteachers One and Two differed markedly on their schools' reported goals/functions and structures, with resulting difference in educational processes. Headteachers Three and Four illustrated large differences in processes, particularly how language-learning activities were planned and delivered. There was variation around how heads managed SEND funds; whether SLCN was formally recognised as a school priority; the recruitment and training of staff with expertise in SLCN and their recognition at management level; and in the resulting experiences for children, including reliance on outside professionals. All heads recognised the need to support SLCN, and were spending time and effort to secure adequate provision. Nonetheless, the variation shown risked inequality. Conclusions & Implications The systems analysis proved useful analysis and clarification of school organisation that contributes to variation in child experiences. Headteachers were powerful influences on school systems, with further understandings of their views, roles and actions is needed

Co/productive practitioner relations for children with SLCN: an affect inflected agentic frame

This paper examines how school-based practitioners supporting children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) use particular social capital relations. Social capital theory together with selected ‘Productive Pedagogies’ items, are applied to re-frame and understand the co/production of support for such children. Empirical data from the ‘Language for All’ study, which investigates SLCN provision in schools in England, are analysed to understand support network social capital. Novel insights on the types and purposes of interprofessional connectedness within SLCN support networks, in particular how relational agency is inflected by affect, are offered

C/EBPα overrides epigenetic reprogramming by oncogenic transcription factors in acute myeloid leukemia

Key Points C/EBPα directly represses the leukemia maintenance program; however, the pattern of repressed genes is specific for each type of AML. Overexpression of C/EBPα does not globally displace these proteins from their binding sites, but overrides their repressive activity.</jats:p

Intercalibration of the barrel electromagnetic calorimeter of the CMS experiment at start-up

Calibration of the relative response of the individual channels of the barrel electromagnetic calorimeter of the CMS detector was accomplished, before installation, with cosmic ray muons and test beams. One fourth of the calorimeter was exposed to a beam of high energy electrons and the relative calibration of the channels, the intercalibration, was found to be reproducible to a precision of about 0.3%. Additionally, data were collected with cosmic rays for the entire ECAL barrel during the commissioning phase. By comparing the intercalibration constants obtained with the electron beam data with those from the cosmic ray data, it is demonstrated that the latter provide an intercalibration precision of 1.5% over most of the barrel ECAL. The best intercalibration precision is expected to come from the analysis of events collected in situ during the LHC operation. Using data collected with both electrons and pion beams, several aspects of the intercalibration procedures based on electrons or neutral pions were investigated