The jeely nursery, letting the children lead: final report to the robertson trust

This is the final report written at the conclusion of a three year Robertson Trust funded project at the Jeely Nursery in Castlemilk, Glasgow, 2007 to 2010. The project purpose was to meet the particular needs of children vulnerable to highly adverse social and economic circumstances, including those living with parental addiction. The aim was to develop a collaborative strategy which would, by involving children, nursery staff and parents together, help to build enduring resources for the emotional resilience needed by children to overcome adversity and improve their chances of achieving educational success. The well validated premise underpinning the child-led pedagogy, Special Playtime, is that early negative attachment experiences can be transformed through direct positive experience with trained staff. The report examines the project using a three dimensional conceptual framework located in the literature on attachment, resilience and child-led pedagogy and focuses on the manner in which the several and differing relationships within the project interacted with and sustained each other

Letting the children lead: the jeely nursery - a first interim report to the robertson trust

This is the first interim report undertaken for the Robertson Trust (RT) of an ongoing project developed by the Jeely Nursery (JN) in Castlemilk Glasgow 2007 – 2010. The Robertson Trust funding has enabled the JN to initiate a radical multi faceted programme of development focussed on children living in highly adverse socioeconomic conditions who may in addition be subject to the negative effects of living in families coping with substance abuse. They represent one of the most vulnerable groups of children in contemporary society. The task ahead for the nursery staff is complex, challenging and long term, requiring a high degree of consistency and commitment to both professional and personal growth. There is no question that the challenge is understood and accepted at all levels; that commitment to the project is well established and that a high level of motivation is sustained in spite of a number of difficult circumstances occurring over the year, unrelated to the project

Music for All : Musical Instrument Instruction and Equity in Scotland’s Schools

Instrumental music instruction is a non-statutory service in Scotland. It is additional to regular classroom music activities. Instrumental Music Services are under pressure to widen access and participation for all learners while being constrained by increasing cutbacks. In addition to issues of capacity, there is the issue of equitable access to participation and to instructors’ confidence to deal with diversity. Consideration needs to be given to the kind of professional development that might support a more inclusive instrumental music service in Scotland

It's to do with the teaching: developing an inclusive pedagogy through teacher professional development in children's mathematical thinking

An inclusive pedagogy involves a dynamic response to the individual that is based on developing an understanding of the learner’s conceptualisations

Reaching All Children : Developing Inclusive Music Education

This report examines a project building on two recent related projects which the research team have been involved with. One study ‘Who gets to play?’, funded by SEMPRE (Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research), was an investigation of access to instrumental music instruction in Scottish primary schools (Moscardini, Barron & Wilson, 2013). This study led to the development of the Play On project funded by Creative Scotland and led by Paragon Music in collaboration with the University of Strathclyde and Enable Scotland. Play On was set up with the aim of providing instrumental music lessons to children with additional support needs. This research project had three primary aims: (1) To undertake a scoping exercise of current provision of music education opportunities for under 25 year olds across Glasgow city, by investigating who is providing what, where and for whom and accurately collate an understanding of existing services, provision and practice. (2) Explore the ways in which provision may be further developed to reach all children and young people, through an area-based approach (e.g. North East Glasgow). (3) Develop networking opportunities for key stakeholders so that the findings of the scoping study can inform strategic responses

Strategies for supporting schools and teachers in order to foster social inclusion: UK interim report

The focus in this report is on those strategies used to address the disadvantages experienced by minority background students in schools within the United Kingdom (UK) and the wider policy context in which these operate. More specifically, the focus is on four groups of students: ethnic minority students including refugee and asylum seekers’ children; Gypsy/traveller students; Students in care (Looked After Children – LAC); and, linguistic minorities e.g. Gaelic, Welsh

Investigating mathematics in Scotland and the United States

This paper presents the results of an initial investigation on how educators from two different educational systems engaged in mathematics calculations. The study explored the nature of the educators' solution strategies and the extent to which these strategies adhered to standard taught algorithms or more non-traditional procedures. Our future studies hope to provide more evidence of our beliefs that teachers who only know or use traditional algorithms are not readily able to assist students with developing more sense-making strategies that not only are more efficient but also reflect flexible thinking

Final Report of the Learning Together about Making Choices Project

The children at the centre of this project endure highly adverse social and economic circumstances including the despair of living with parental substance abuse and addiction. They are most likely to have been denied the experience of learning how to build a warm, trusting, and reliable relationship with any adult, including their parents. They have rarely if ever had the security of knowing what it is to come first in any adult’s life and they have depended on instinctive survivalist behaviours to keep themselves in perceived safety. The resulting unacceptable and/or inappropriate behaviours lock them out of the benefits of their years in primary school and ‘hide in plain sight’ their chronic distress and need for help. Traditional behaviour management responses from teachers regularly exacerbate their distrust of adults and ensure their likely continued exclusion. This project was not a survey-style snapshot but an iterative developmental process over three years, based in an ongoing interaction between the project team and teaching staff. The aim was to develop and sustain an inclusive model of support for young children disadvantaged by the impact of unmet attachment needs. The purpose was to focus on the provision of a secure base for learning that would endure through the primary school years

The sounding out project : why pedagogy matters in supporting care-experienced young people

This paper shares the story of a group of four care experienced young people who participated in an arts project in Aberdeenshire. The research was an evaluative case study which gathered the views and experiences of the young people and the arts educators. The findings showed that by adopting a pedagogical approach to arts education, which was participant-led, a climate of trust and mutual respect was supported. The young people developed a growing sense of their potential as creative individuals and an awareness of possible careers in the creative industries, which previously had not been on their radar

A critical review and analysis of current research and policy relating to disabled children and young people in Scotland

This paper provides a critical review and analysis of current research and policy relating to disabled children and young people in Scotland