Reflections on the implementation of the Gifted and Talented policy in England, 1999–2011

This paper, as part of an on-going study looking at the impact of gifted and talented policies on an inner-city school, explores the role of the local authority in implementing the various gifted and talented initiatives since 1999, when local authority gifted and talented co-ordinators were first appointed under the Excellence in Cities (DfEE, 1999) programme

Reflections on the implementation of the Gifted and Talented policy in England, 1999–2011

This paper, as part of an on-going study looking at the impact of gifted and talented policies on an inner-city school, explores the role of the local authority in implementing the various gifted and talented initiatives since 1999, when local authority gifted and talented co-ordinators were first appointed under the Excellence in Cities (DfEE, 1999) programme

Parenting ‘gifted and talented’ children in urban areas: Parents' voices

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright © 2014 by SAGE Publications.International evidence demonstrates the importance of engaging parents in the education of their ‘high-potential’ children, yet limited research has focused on the involvement of parents from differing economic strata/backgrounds. The current study explored the dilemmas of parenting academically high-ability children from economically deprived urban areas in the UK. Data were gathered from a sample of parents whose children attended a university-based sustained intervention programme for designated ‘gifted’ pupils aged 12–16. Parental perceptions were sought in relation to (a) the usefulness/impact of the intervention programme, (b) parents’ aspirations for their children growing up in economically deprived urban areas and (c) parents’ views on the support provided by the extended family, peer groups and the wider community. The findings have significant implications for both policy and practice and, more specifically, for engaging parents in intervention programmes offered by universities and schools to children in order to increase their access to higher education and for enhancing their life chances

Staff perceptions of the success of an alternative curriculum: Skill Force

This paper describes staff perceptions of the implementation of an alternative curriculum, skill force, for disaffected pupils in the UK. The perceptions of skill force and school staff were compared based on data from questionnaires completed by 62 skill force and 84 school staff, and interviews with representative samples of each. While the data indicated that the programme had been successful in re-engaging the students with education, the improvement was more marked in relation to the skill force programme than the wider school context.<br/

Thoughts of a design team: Barriers to low carbon school design

Copyright © 2014 Elsevier. NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Sustainable Cities and Society. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Sustainable Cities and Society Vol. 11 (2014), DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2013.11.006With the increasing threat of serious climate change, various governments are aiming to substantially reduce their carbon emissions. In the UK all new schools and domestic buildings are required to be ‘zero-carbon’ from 2016. Schools are seen as community centres of activity and learning by local authorities, as such there is an emphasis to make schools exemplar buildings within the community and demonstrate best practice with regards to low and zero-carbon design. This paper focuses on what are the pertinent drivers and obstacles to low carbon school design based upon literature review and a survey of experts in the field. We find that more barriers are identified than drivers for low carbon design, with the greatest drivers being legislation, environmental concerns and running costs. The greatest barriers were identified as increased equipment in modern schools, complexity of building systems and the perceived extra cost of low carbon design and technologies. It is suggested that most barriers could be overcome by improving communication between the design team, client and end users, and that truly integrated design teams are the key to mainstream low carbon school design.Devon County Council (as part of the Montgomery School project

Neuroscience and family policy:what becomes of the parent?

This article discusses the findings of a study tracing the incorporation of claims about infant brain development into English family policy as part of the longer term development of a ‘parent training’, early intervention agenda. The main focus is on the ways in which the deployment of neuroscientific discourse in family policy creates the basis for a new governmental oversight of parents. We argue that advocacy of ‘early intervention’, in particular that which deploys the authority of ‘the neuroscience’, places parents at the centre of the policy stage but simultaneously demotes and marginalises them. So we ask, what becomes of the parent when politically and culturally, the child is spoken of as infinitely and permanently neurologically vulnerable to parental influence? In particular, the policy focus on parental emotions and their impact on infant brain development indicates that this represents a biologisation of ‘therapeutic’ governance

From evidence-base to practice: implementation of the Nurse Family Partnership programme in England

The aims of this article are to highlight the issues that are relevant to the implementation of a rigorously evidence-based programme of support, the Nurse Family Partnership programme, into a national system of care. Methods used are semi-structured interviews with families in receipt of the programme in the first 10 sites, with the nursing staff, with members of the central team guiding the initiative and with other professionals. Analyses of data collected during programme delivery evaluate fidelity of delivery. The results indicate that the programme is perceived in a positive light and take-up is high, with delivery close to the stated US objectives. Issues pertaining to sustainability are highlighted - in particular, local concerns about cost set against long-term rather than immediate gains. However, local investment is predominantly strong, with creative methods being planned for the future. Overall, the study shows that within an NHS system of care it is possible to deliver a targeted evidence-based programme

The politics of aspiration: neo-liberal education policy, 'low' parental aspirations, and primary school Extended Services in disadvantaged communities

Geographical research on education has grown rapidly in both volume and scope during the first decade of the twenty-first century, and one relatively new theme to emerge from this growing literature is that of education and aspiration. Much of the nascent interest in aspiration concerns access to quality schooling and University education. In this paper by contrast we highlight the importance of studying the ways aspirations are (re)produced within the school community. Our empirical focus is on low-income England under New Labour. Here we pursue a two-fold approach: firstly examining how education professionals define parental aspirations for primary-aged children as low; before secondly considering their alternative understandings of appropriate aspirations and the practices through which they seek to promote these, both in school and through the use of Extended Services for parents and children. In conclusion we highlight the importance of inward and outward geographies of education which ‘recouple’ schools with their social context, and discuss the moral and political ambiguities involved in practices designed to raise aspirations

‘Nowhere that fits’ – the dilemmas of school choice for parents of children with statements of special educational needs (SEN) in England

Giving parents a choice with regard to their children’s education has been central to the political discourse of school reform at least since the 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA) (DfE, 1988). With regard to children with a statement of special educational needs (SSEN), a plethora of policies and laws (e.g. ERA, 1988; Education Act, 1996, SENDA, 2001)have given parents not only the right to choose a school, but also to appeal to decisions in the best interest of their children. Yet, despite the discourse the implementation and practice of such reforms are neither assured nor simple. Participants in the study indicated that they have little choice of suitable provision and are having to compromise either the academic or the social aspects of their child’s schooling. This paper argues that for many parents whose children have a statement of SEN the choice of a school is often a dilemma as nowhere seems to fit

School choice and the commodification of education: A visual approach to school brochures and websites

As subjects of the parental right to choose (DES, 1988), parents are called upon to fulfil certain duties and responsibilities when choosing a secondary school for their child, with the expectation that they might navigate the school system ‘successfully’ and become ‘better informed consumers’ (DCSF, 2008). To comply with these rules of citizenship parents are encouraged to make use of a variety of information on schools as part of a realistic and informed choice, one that is consummate with their role as consumer-citizens. Such ‘cognitive mapping’ is evident in school brochures and websites where choice is assembled on the basis of visual iconography and narrative terrains. This leads to a consideration of how choice is visually mediated and communicated through the circulation of symbols and the structure of narratives. To explain these phenomena, I analyse and compare the ways in which two all-girls faith secondary schools attempt to (further) define themselves, culturally, historically and pedagogically, in a crowded field of choice. I conclude the paper with a discussion of the benefits and insights generated through a visually orientated approach to the study of school choice