Longitudinal research and early years policy development in the UK

Interest in early years issues such as early childhood education and care (ECEC) and early intervention has increased in recent decades internationally. Partly this reflects interest in facilitating the social and educational development of children, both for deprived children and the general population, and partly interest in increasing parental, particularly maternal, employment. Concern for such issues has led to substantial policy change in the UK in recent decades. For the general population, prior to 1998 there was no statutory obligation for the state to provide any early childhood services for children under the statutory school age of 5 years. However, there were provisions for ‘at risk’ children, as well as in some nursery education for 3- and 4-year olds, typically in more disadvantaged areas, but availability was haphazard around the country. Research evidence and social and political factors have resulted in radical change to the whole early years services system in the UK. The findings of two longitudinal research studies, the national evaluation of Sure Start and the effective provision of pre-school education projects were important factors in policy change and this paper discusses how the interplay of research and policy occurred. Initially changes were introduced by the Labour government, but more recent policy changes have been introduced by the Conservative government. The need for state involvement in early years services has become accepted by all political parties. There is substantially greater government investment in the early years, so that government-funded ECEC is now part of the infrastructure supporting family life for the whole population. This article discusses how research evidence has contributed to the substantial policy change in the last two decades

The limits of social class in explaining ethnic gaps in educational attainment

This paper reports an analysis of the educational attainment and progress between age 11 and age 14 of over 14,500 students from the nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE). The mean attainment gap in national tests at age 14 between White British and several ethnic minority groups were large, more than three times the size of the gender gap, but at the same time only about one-third of the size of the social class gap. Socio-economic variables could account for the attainment gaps for Black African, Pakistani and Bangladeshi students, but not for Black Caribbean students. Further controls for parental and student attitudes, expectations and behaviours indicated minority ethnic groups were on average more advantaged on these measures than White British students, but this was not reflected proportionately in their levels of attainment. Black Caribbean students were distinctive as the only group making less progress than White British students between age 11 and 14 and this could not be accounted for by any of the measured contextual variables. Possible explanations for the White British-Black Caribbean gap are considered

Disadvantaged families are at greatest risk from austerity cuts to children’s centres

As authors of the research outlined in your report we were pleased by The BMJ’s coverage of our findings on children’s centres. However, we also showed that the threat posed by austerity cuts was even greater in the 20% most financially disadvantaged families in our sample

Assessment for learning : a model for the development of a child’s self competence in the early years of education

In recent years policy documents, curricula and other educational initiatives have promoted a pedagogy founded on the concept of independent learning. This is broadly defined as ‘having the belief in yourself to think through learning activities, problems or challenges, make decisions about your learning and act upon those decisions (Blandford and Knowles, 2009:336). The central role of Assessment for Learning (AfL) in this process is often overlooked in practice. By considering the findings from a small scale research study this article addresses the central role of the teacher /practitioner in developing effective AfL in the early years classroom (3-5 years)

Exploring the pedagogic culture of creative play in early childhood education

We present a conceptual analysis, grounded in empirical data, of how young children's creative play is framed by the 'pedagogic culture' within which the child is playing. Drawing on data from a research study with the broad aim of documenting children's creative play in Western play-based early childhood education, we gathered exploratory qualitative observations, self-initiated iPad video diaries and researcher-led activities to describe children's creative play. We adapted the Analysing Children's Creative Thinking Framework as a starting point for coding and the analyses focused on three contextual cues within the pedagogic culture – space, interpersonal collaborations and materials. We ground our discussion in a contextualist theoretical frame to demonstrate that in isolation, each contextual cue presents a degree of framing to children's creative play. When analysed as a synergy of contextual cues, however, we begin to see that the dynamic make-up of each of the contexts, and the interplay among them, create a 'pedagogic culture' that transforms children's creative play. We present 'stories' of each pedagogic culture that we observed, to describe how children's creative play manifested within each culture

The quality of different types of child care at 10 and 18 months. A comparison between types and factors related to quality.

The quality of care offered in four different types of non-parental child care to 307 infants at 10 months old and 331 infants at 18 months old was compared and factors associated with higher quality were identified. Observed quality was lowest in nurseries at each age point, except that at 18 months they offered more learning activities. There were few differences in the observed quality of care by child-minders, grandparents and nannies, although grandparents had somewhat lower safety and health scores and offered children fewer activities. Cost was largely unrelated to quality of care except in child-minding, where higher cost was associated with higher quality. Observed ratios of children to adults had a significant impact on quality of nursery care; the more infants or toddlers each adult had to care for, the lower the quality of the care she gave them. Mothers' overall satisfaction with their child's care was positively associated with its quality for home-based care but not for nursery settings

Amount and timing of group-based childcare from birth and cognitive development at 51 months: a UK study

This study investigated whether the amount and timing of group-based childcare between birth and 51 months were predictive of cognitive development at 51 months, taking into account: other non-parental childcare; demographic characteristics; cognitive development at 18 months, sensitive parenting and a stimulating home environment. Children’s (N=978) cognitive development was assessed at 51 months with four subscales of the British Ability Scales, two verbal and two non-verbal. Mothers were interviewed and observed at 3, 10, 18, and 36 months and the quality of group care was assessed at 10, 18 and 36 months (N=239) if it was used for ≥12 hours per week. Age of starting in group care and amount were highly associated (r=-.75). Multiple regressions indicated that, controlling for other factors, higher cognitive development and particularly non-verbal ability was associated with more hours per week in group care from 0 to 51 months, or an earlier start, or group care before age 2. Nevertheless, the majority of variance was explained by other predictors: sex (girl), higher cognitive development at 18 months, older mother, first language English, mother of white ethnic background, with more qualifications, higher family social class, more maternal responsivity at 10 months and a more stimulating home learning environment (HLE) at 36 months. Hours per week in relative care or home-based care were not significant predictors of cognitive scores. For the smaller relatively advantaged sample who had group care quality information (N=239), quality was a marginal predictor of better cognitive development but age of starting group care was not. Most variance was explained by 18 month cognitive development, maternal education and family social class

Social innovations for social cohesion in Western Europe: success dimensions for lifelong learning and education

YesIn addressing the EU2020 goals, skills shortage combined with increasing unemployment rates is to be primarily tackled in Western Europe; the common factor here is education. Education and lifelong learning (LL) are the key strands governing employability in the European labour market. Overarching concepts capable of addressing social challenges within education and LL that contribute towards better practices are seen as social innovations (SI). While SI in education is well founded in the developing countries, Europe is still in the process of gaining progressive momentum in this direction. In addressing various societal challenges, this study looks at observable trends in SI for education across Western Europe. About 30 innovations have been recorded across 11 countries that are essentially focussed on: social integration, alternative/new forms of education, digital learning, new learning arrangements, new LL strategies, early career planning, youth employment, quality improvements and new education standards, transition management, and entrepreneurial education.European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration [grant number 612870]

Sexual Arousal Patterns of Identical Twins with Discordant Sexual Orientations

Genetically identical twins can differ in their self-reported sexual orientations. However, whether the twins’ subjective reports reflect valid differences in their sexual orientations is unknown. Measures of sexual orientation, which are free of the limitations of self-report, include genital arousal and pupil dilation while viewing sexual stimuli depicting men or women. We examined these responses in 6 male twin pairs and 9 female twin pairs who reported discordant sexual orientations. Across measures, heterosexual male twins responded more strongly to women than to men. Their homosexual co-twins showed an opposite pattern. Heterosexual female twins responded equally to both sexes, whereas their homosexual co-twins responded somewhat more to women than men. These differences within pairs were similar to differences between unrelated heterosexual and homosexual males and females. Our study provides physiological evidence confirming twins’ discordant sexual orientations, thereby supporting the importance of the non-shared environment for the development of sexual orientation and sexual arousal

Predictors of Relapse in Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma in Colombia: Multicenter Study

Introducción: El cáncer diferenciado de tiroides es una enfermedad que si bien no tiene una tasa alta de mortalidad, acarrea una carga de morbilidad importante dada principal-mente por la recurrencia. Nuestro objetivo fue determinar los factores asociados a recaída en pacientes de tres centros de referencia en Colombia. Métodos: Se realizó un estudio descriptivo retrospectivo. Las variables demográficas, clínicas e histopatológicas fue-ron recolectadas a partir de las historias clínicas de pacientes atendidos durante tres años. Resultados: Fueron incluidos 481 sujetos. El 85,7% eran mujeres y el 59,3% de la población fue mayor de 45 años. En el 97% de los casos se trató de carcinoma papilar. El promedio de seguimiento fue de 5,1±4,9 años. La recaída tumoral se do-cumentó en el 16,8% de los sujetos con una mediana de tiem-po de tres años desde la terapia inicial. Se encontró asociación entre recaída y el tamaño del tumor, extensión extratiroidea, relación ganglios comprometidos/resecados centrales y tota-les y compromiso periganglionar en el análisis univariado. El número de ganglios totales comprometidos ≥ 2 (HR 4,10, IC 95% 1,07 - 4,85) y el valor de tiroglobulina estimulada ≥ 7,29 ng/ml (HR 2,28, IC 95% 1,07-4,85, p=0,031) fueron los dos factores independientes asociados con recaída en el análisis multivariado. Autor de correspondenciaLisseth Fernanda Marín [email protected]ón de correspondencia: Centro Médico Carlos Ardila Lulle. Carrera 24 # 154 – 106 Urbanización El Bosque. Torre B, Módulo 55, consultorio 806.Teléfonos: 3188481025 - 6389303Fecha de recepción:18/06/2018Fecha de aceptación:27/02/2019 Conclusiones: Los pacientes con cáncer diferenciado de tiroides con compromiso metastásico de hasta un ganglio cer-vical y/o un nivel de tiroglobulina preablativa inferior a 7,29 ng/ml pueden ser considerados de bajo riesgo para recaída.Palabras clave: cáncer de tiroides, recurrencia, recaída, tiroglobulina, ganglios linfáticos.Artículo original92-100Background/Purpose: Differentiated thyroid cancer, de-spite not having a high mortality rate, entails an important morbidity burden, given mainly by recurrence. It was our objec-tive to determine the associated factors with relapse in patients with thyroid cancer in 3 hospitals in Colombia. Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was conducted. Demographic, clinical and histopathological characteristics were collected from medical records of patients attended dur-ing 3 years. Results: 481 patients were included. 85.7% were women and 59.3% were over 45 years. 97% of cases had papillary carci-noma. The mean time of follow-up was 5.1±4.9 years. Tumor re-lapse was documented in 16.8% of subjects with a median time of 3 years since initial therapy. Association between recurrence and tumor size, extrathyroid extension, metastatic/resected lymph node ratio (central and total) and extranodal extension was found in the univariate analysis. The total amount of meta-static lymph nodes ≥2 (HR 4.10, CI95%1.07-4.85) and a value of preablative stimulated thyroglobulin ≥7.29 ng/ml (HR 2.28, CI 95%1.07-4.85, p=0.031), were the only two significant features related to recurrence in the multivariate analysis. Conclusions: Patients with differentiated thyroid carcino-ma with ≤ 1 metastatic total lymph nodes and/or preablative stimulated thyroglobulin less than 7.29 ng/ml might be classi-fied as low recurrence risk.Keywords: thyroid cancer, recurrence, thyroglobulin, lymph nodes, lymphatic metastases