Teacher quality, recruitment, and retention: Rapid Evidence Assessment

This rapid evidence assessment identifies areas for future research on teacher quality, recruitment and retention, with the aim of informing the focus of the Education Endowment Foundation’s (EEF’s) future research commissioning on this topic. Given that ensuring access to quality teaching for disadvantaged pupils is expected to be a key mechanism for narrowing the disadvantage gap in attainment, there is a strong rationale for the EEF to build the evidence base on the recruitment and retention of quality teachers. The report set out to scope the field and summarise existing evidence on this topic. The report also identifies gaps in the research; for example, areas that have been researched qualitatively but not investigated experimentally or developed into a testable intervention. The rapid evidence assessment includes two reviews, each summarising a key area of research: - Review 1 focused on measures of (or proxies for) teacher quality commonly used in the literature. - Review 2 focused on strategies for the recruitment, retention and distribution of quality teachers to schools serving disadvantaged communities

Conversion Therapy: An evidence assessment and qualitative study

A rapid evidence assessment and qualitative study that aims to improve understanding of the practice, experience and effect of conversion therapy

Mentors as instructional coaches for new teachers: lessons learnt from the early career framework in England

Purpose: The paper provides analysis of the use of instructional coaching (IC) as a prevalent trend supporting new teachers in the English system and aims to inform ongoing policy development and implementation. The qualitative study examines mentors' conceptualisations and enactment of the role of instructional coach and the readiness of mentors to assume mentors' key stakeholder roles in the professional education of early career teachers (ECTs). Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews with 37 mentors explored mentors' understandings and experiences of becoming instructional coaches as part of a pilot support initiative to support ECTs in England. Two rounds of interviews were conducted to generate data related to the first six months of mentoring on the programmes. Thematic analysis identified seven semantic themes which describe manifest content found within the data and identify mentors' perceptions of their role and practice as instructional coaches. Three latent themes were developed from mentors' accounts which indicate challenges in becoming an instructional coach in this context. Findings: Concern to apply IC “correctly” according to the programme models was a strong feature amongst both novice and experienced mentors. A key finding is the lack of explicit knowledge of professional learning pedagogies amongst mentors and insecure understanding of how new teachers learn. Assuming the role of instructional coach presented both benefits of having a “model” to follow and disadvantages in fostering limited and over-prescribed concepts and practices related to the learning of new teachers. Research limitations/implications: The study investigated mentors during the first six months of a pilot programme and the paper reports on analysis of one type of data. The research results may lack generalisability, and a longitudinal study is necessary to further explore the validity of the findings. Practical implications: Sustained, high-quality professional learning for mentors is crucial to mentors' role as instructional coaches to enable mentors to develop deep, critical understanding of how IC might support new teachers and how to exercise professional judgement in working with “models”. Judicious use of time and resource is needed to enable mentors to fulfil the potential of national mentoring programmes. Originality/value: The study is timely in its examination of mentors that assume the role of instructional coach as one response to national policy development that makes support for ECTs mandatory. Such strategies have wide international relevance where the retention of new teachers is a policy priority

Examining the independent contribution of prosodic sensitivity to word reading and spelling in early readers

This study was designed to examine the independent contribution of prosodic sensitivity – the rhythmic patterning of speech – to word reading and spelling in a sample of early readers. Ninety-three English-speaking children aged five to six years old (M = 69.28 months, SD = 3.67) were assessed for their prosodic sensitivity, vocabulary knowledge, phonological, and morphological awareness (predictor variables) along with their word reading and spelling (criterion variables). Bivariate (zero-order) correlation analyses revealed that prosodic sensitivity was significantly associated with all other variables in this study. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that after controlling for individual differences in vocabulary, phonological, and morphological awareness, prosodic sensitivity was still able to explain unique variance in word reading, but was unable to make an independent contribution to spelling. The findings suggest that prosodic sensitivity gives added value to our understanding of children’s reading development

‘These people are vulnerable, they aren’t criminals’: Mental health, the use of force and deaths after police contact in England

This paper considers deaths after police contact 1 in England of people experiencing mental health issues. It uses rich qualitative data from interviews with the families of nine people who died after police contact to examine how they died. The paper aims to assess the police role in providing a de facto service for people undergoing mental health crises and how the use of force might affect the outcomes of such encounters. The paper aims to examine the manifest tensions when an enforcement agency is tasked with providing a duty of care to vulnerable people in society. Key findings are that force is disproportionately more likely to be used on people with mental health issues, and also disproportionately more likely to be used on people from Black and Minority Ethnic communities. Further findings provide insight on the use of mechanical restraint and the way in which inappropriate transportation can exacerbate the effects of restraint. </jats:p