An examination of poor readers' approaches to recognising printed words

This thesis aimed to explore the approaches to reading made by poor readers. An examination was made of a compensated adult dyslexic, DB, who did not show the degree of impairment in phonological awareness skills generally reported in studies, yet who read words via a visual route. He did show an atypical pattern of performance on the regularity task, as he showed no advantage in reading regular versus irregular words, but on the other hand he showed only slightly impaired non-word reading. A lexical decision task, split across the hemispheres, revealed that DB had no over-reliance on the right hemisphere (RH) for reading processes, which it has been suggested is characteristic of adult dyslexics, yet on the other hand he did not show the same pattern of results as the non-dyslexic controls.It was thought probable that due to his age and attendance at university, DB would have become too accustomed to his particular compensatory reading strategies to be able to be taught a more phonological approach within the time constraints of this thesis. Instead, it was deemed more appropriate to examine other, younger, poor readers to see whether they also read visually, and whether they could learn a more phonological approach to improve their reading accuracy.In a second study, therefore, a group of high-school pupils with reading difficulties took part in a reading intervention programme using a synthetic phonic approach. The inclusion of synthetic phonics was due to recent research showing that this form of phonics is very beneficial for beginning readers. The study was designed to see if it was also effective for children making slow progress in learning to read. In an intervention lasting on average just over 16 hours, mean reading age improved by 24 months in a 14 month period, compared to an improvement of only 5 months over the same period for the control group. The 'visual' readers in the experimental group also became much more phonological in their approach to reading. One child, XP, was of particular interest, displaying a strong tendency to read words visually at pre-test, showing patterns of reading similar to DB, although neither XP nor DB showed signs of severe phonological awareness deficits. At post-test, however, XP showed a robust regularity effect, and much improved non-word reading accuracy, indicative of the adoption of a more phonological approach to reading. Synthetic phonics was therefore shown to be beneficial as a remediation for older readers who have already developed difficulties

Experiencing resilience through the eyes of early career social workers

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Oxford University Press via the DOI in this record.Within the social work profession, resilience is integrated into educational programmes, professional development courses and frameworks. Such prevalence reflects the importance of resiliency for the profession. This may be the case in particular for those newer to the profession, where the challenges of managing the adversity synonymous with the social work role are still new, despite an increasing level of responsibility. This study focuses on early career social workers, an important but underexplored career stage within this occupation. The aim of which was to enhance understanding of how resilience is experienced by those who are in a unique transitional period in their careers; no longer students, whilst also not yet experienced social workers. The experiences of resilience for this group was explored through semi-structured interviews with fourteen social workers, all employed within Local Authorities in England. Through thematic analysis, three themes were identified: support, team dynamics, and maintaining professionalism. The findings offer important insights, which can inform and contribute to the supportive environments organisations can foster. As such, the practical implications of the research focus on fostering an environment of positivity, through more guided group supervision and the physical positioning of early career workers within office spaces

Objective Structured Professional Assessments for Trainee Educational Psychologists: an Evaluation

Objective Structured Professional Assessments (OSPAs) were developed and evaluated at three universities in the United Kingdom, to supplement supervisor assessments of trainee educational psychologists’ placement practice. Participating second year students on three educational psychology doctoral programmes (n = 31) and tutors (n = 12) were surveyed. Scenarios, developed with experienced practitioners, were considered authentic and relevant. Tutor feedback indicated that the marking scheme was a good basis for judgements, but required further calibration and standardisation. Strengths and limitations relating to authenticity of scenarios and practical arrangements were identified. Students considered OSPAs to be a valid assessment of communication and perspective-taking skills, although some found them to be anxiety provoking. Levels of authenticity and complexity were deemed appropriate, although there were concerns over time allowed and how the assessment criteria were interpreted. The discussion highlights how OSPAs address issues relating to assessment reliability by improving objectivity, reducing bias and providing uniformity to student assessment experiences

An examination of poor readers' approaches to recognising printed words

This thesis aimed to explore the approaches to reading made by poor readers. An examination was made of a compensated adult dyslexic, DB, who did not show the degree of impairment in phonological awareness skills generally reported in studies, yet who read words via a visual route. He did show an atypical pattern of performance on the regularity task, as he showed no advantage in reading regular versus irregular words, but on the other hand he showed only slightly impaired non-word reading. A lexical decision task, split across the hemispheres, revealed that DB had no over-reliance on the right hemisphere (RH) for reading processes, which it has been suggested is characteristic of adult dyslexics, yet on the other hand he did not show the same pattern of results as the non-dyslexic controls. It was thought probable that due to his age and attendance at university, DB would have become too accustomed to his particular compensatory reading strategies to be able to be taught a more phonological approach within the time constraints of this thesis. Instead, it was deemed more appropriate to examine other, younger, poor readers to see whether they also read visually, and whether they could learn a more phonological approach to improve their reading accuracy. In a second study, therefore, a group of high-school pupils with reading difficulties took part in a reading intervention programme using a synthetic phonic approach. The inclusion of synthetic phonics was due to recent research showing that this form of phonics is very beneficial for beginning readers. The study was designed to see if it was also effective for children making slow progress in learning to read. In an intervention lasting on average just over 16 hours, mean reading age improved by 24 months in a 14 month period, compared to an improvement of only 5 months over the same period for the control group. The 'visual' readers in the experimental group also became much more phonological in their approach to reading. One child, XP, was of particular interest, displaying a strong tendency to read words visually at pre-test, showing patterns of reading similar to DB, although neither XP nor DB showed signs of severe phonological awareness deficits. At post-test, however, XP showed a robust regularity effect, and much improved non-word reading accuracy, indicative of the adoption of a more phonological approach to reading. Synthetic phonics was therefore shown to be beneficial as a remediation for older readers who have already developed difficulties

Teachers’ Perceptions of Supporting Young Carers in Schools: Identifying Support Needs and the Importance of Home–School Relationships.

Recognition and support for young carers has improved steadily in the past two decades; with stronger legislation and more visibility and awareness of the challenges that many of the YC face, especially with respect to their education. Recent UK-based initiatives providing toolkits and guidance for school staff have provided much needed direction for schools, to support the loosely defined statutory requirements. The aim of the current research was to hear from school staff about their experiences in identifying and supporting young carers, to better understand any enablers and barriers. The thematic analysis of the interview data from 18 school staff was organized into two main themes: perceptions regarding the characteristics of young carers; and perceptions regarding the importance of home–school communication. Each superordinate theme contained several sub-themes. Overall, the teachers perceived many difficulties identifying young carers who did not volunteer this information and felt that the main enabler of identification was the trust relationships between the school and the pupil and parents. Once identified, the schools perceived the main areas of need that they could provide support for were the emotional wellbeing of the pupils and additional academic opportunities. They spoke too of the difficulties balancing the provision of this extra support within the constraints of the school context, both in terms of the school day, and the competing priorities relating to academic and social–emotional needs. School staff recognized that extra time outside of school was difficult for young carers to attend. Other subthemes are discussed with consideration to enablers and barriers. The implications for the dissemination of good practice, and addressing policy are considered