Health needs assessment of short sentence prisoners

Health Needs Assessment of Short Sentence Prisoner

A comparative study of two methods of synthetic phonics instruction for learning how to read: Jolly Phonics and THRASS

The National Strategy for Primary Schools in England (2006) advocates synthetic phonics as a means for teaching children to read. No studies exist to date comparing the effectiveness of different commercially available synthetic phonics methods. This case study compared two schools at which Jolly Phonics (JP) was taught with one school at which THRASS (Teaching Handwriting, Reading and Spelling Skills) was taught at Reception level (4 to 5 years) over a one-year period. Reading ability for words and non-words as well as short-term memory ability for words and phonemes improved in all schools. However, reading ability improved more in one JP school compared to the THRASS school, with no differences between the other JP school and the THRASS school. This paper considers how particular variables may mask instruction method effects, and advocates taking such factors into account for a more comprehensive future evaluation of synthetic phonics methods

Stuck for words

How many of you reading this now have seen children pausing, sitting back, sighing, waving their arms around and generally appearing to be stuck for words? Have you stopped to ask yourself what this means? What are children trying to tell us when they can’t find the words that they need? Children’s gestures are valuable in informing teaching practice and how we go about assessing children’s work in science. The importance of children’s errors, misconceptions and preconceptions in science education has become well established through a wide body of research conducted since the 1970s (for example see Vosniadou, 2008, for a recent review). In the UK, the highly influential Children’s Learning In Science (CLIS, 1987) and Science Processes and Concept Exploration (SPACE, 1989–1998) projects reminded us not only that children’s ideas often differ from those of scientists or what is taught in school, but that these can strongly influence the direction of future learning

Improving identification and audit of disability within Child Health Services

This project was commissioned by the Department of Health to survey existing data collections regarding childhood disability across the domains of education, health and social care and to collect definitions of disability from across three domains. A systematic review was conducted which addressed the two aims. The findings were discussed in consultation of findings with key professionals from across the UK and with some contacts in Europe, both electronically and in a professional working focus group. The review of published academic and grey literature identified vast disparities between the way that data is collected, coded and used across the three domains. The disparities between the definitions of disability used across the domains further prevent the data being drawn together in a cohesive manner that may then be used to facilitate effective planning of services both locally and nationally. The project did, however, identify one coding system that may potentially offer a solution to these difficulties, the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health – Children and Youth Version (ICF-CY, World Health Organisation, 2007). This coding system has demonstrated a capacity to resolve issues with data collections in Europe and has been the subject of policy recommendations presented to the European Parliament on the 16th September 2008. It is proposed that while immediate change is not possible, a staged approach, beginning with a pilot study of the utility of the ICF-CY, should be conducted to test its efficiency in providing effective harmonisation of data collections across the three domains and its applicability in the identification of childhood disability. Alongside this, it is important for the ICF-CY considered by the project group overseeing the implementation of the Child Health, Maternity and CAMHS Care Records

Stuck for words: multimodal representations of children’s ideas in science

Research which has aimed to understand how children come to acquire ideas about different science concepts has had a long history [1, 2, 3]. However, these studies have explored conceptual knowledge largely through verbal reports. Whilst these approaches have been successful in revealing what children know the bias towards language and linguistic capabilities at the expense of other forms of communication may prevent a comprehensive understanding of knowledge growth particularly if children are not able to clearly or fully articulate their ideas [4]. This paper uses the results to recent study to discuss how children use gestures and other forms of non-verbal communication in order to demonstrate science ideas that may not appear in their verbal or written language. The results reveal that children frequently use gestures; these gestures can be categorised according to their content [5] and can be task specific or situated in the context of the science topic. Importantly, the content of children’s gestures can change once children’s ideas are challenged using science activities even if their verbal responses do not. These findings help to demonstrate the significance of analysing children’s gesture particularly as the content can be important for revealing children’s knowledge

Capturing children’s ideas in science through the use of mini whiteboards: A case study of children with SEND

Research which has aimed to understand how children come to acquire ideas about different science concepts has had a long history (Vosniadou, 2008, Driver et al, 1994). However, these studies have explored conceptual knowledge largely through verbal reports, whilst successful, these approaches were critiqued as they did not capture a comprehensive understanding of knowledge growth particularly if children are not able to clearly or fully articulate their ideas (Goldin-Meadows, 2000). In more recent research this bias towards language has been challenged and investigations have begun to consider multimodal aspects of children’s communication in science lessons (Jewitt, 2011). Multimodal research has begun to demonstrate how other communication strategies can provide a more holistic understanding of children’s knowledge growth (Callinan, 2015). This paper discusses the results drawn from a recent case study which aimed to explore how children with SEND use mini whiteboards in order to express their ideas about floating and sinking. The case study focused on a four week science intervention undertaken with a class of 8 children (10 – 11 years old) with behavioural needs and attending a special needs school. The children were encouraged to capture their ideas about the topic throughout the course of the intervention, this paper focuses on how the children used mini whiteboards to demonstrate increasingly complex scientific ideas. The children’s whiteboard representations were captured using a camera throughout the lessons. Preliminary findings indicated that the children preferred to discuss their ideas using the whiteboard rather than in the formal test and through verbal discussions. These findings demonstrate that the children were more confident when drawing on other multimodal resources than those typically used in school assessments (e.g. spoken or written word forms). This presentation will explore the initial findings from this pilot study and will discuss plans for further development of the intervention

An application of the revised ‘Lecturer Self-Efficacy Questionnaire’: an evidence-based route for transformational change

This article presents findings arising from the first UK application of a revised 70-item lecturer self-efficacy questionnaire recently developed for use in the Australian higher education context. Intended to probe and systematically measure confidence in the core functions of research, teaching and other academic or service-related activities among lecturers, the institutional case-study presented here suggests that this instrument has considerable diagnostic potential for leaders, managers and administrators wishing to explore operational aspects of policy, evaluate strategy and initiate professional dialogue at a variety of levels. Its indicated value as a diagnostic tool suggests a relevance not only to higher but also to further education, where degree-level provision is established and likely to increase. Following an earlier rigorous reassessment and re-evaluation of the questionnaire’s validity and reliability, including a robust statistical analysis of its associated scales and subscales, findings indicate that respondents felt most confident across all aspects of teaching – the core function which also occupied most of their time. Perhaps surprisingly for the institution involved in the case study, research – which occupied the least amount of time – generally displayed the most pronounced confidence hierarchy, from activities attached to data collection and analysis to leading funded research projects. Outcomes for other academic or service-related activities were generally mixed, but confidence attached to internal academic events was higher than that linked to external ones. Taken together, the findings, including the effects of career stage, qualifications, gender, research output and workload distribution, were considered sufficient to initiate an appropriate strategic response directed towards transformational change. The limitations of the questionnaire are considered in detail

Professorial roles: a study of the professorial populations within nursing and midwifery, social work and allied health professions

The professorial populations in nursing/midwifery, social work and allied health are relatively new in academia compared to longer established professions such as medicine and dentistry. Less is known about the roles, career pathways, characteristics and career aspirations of the professoriate within these emerging professions. A survey was undertaken from sample populations in each of the three professorial groups in order to obtain qualitative and quantitative data on professorial roles and activities, career pathway information and support mechanisms for professorial positions. This paper discusses the findings of the survey which relate specifically to professorial roles and activities and whether the identified roles reflect the professorial activities proposed by the National Conference of University Professors (NCUP) Other aspects of this survey including career pathways, findings relating to gender and support mechanisms will form the basis of future papers. Result

Talking about electricity: the importance of hearing gestures as well as words

Children’s gestures have been proposed to contain important cues and clues to their science ideas that may not be revealed in speech or written language. New and innovative research has begun to explore the way that these gestures can be used to inform on how children’s ideas for science concepts change. Such research is firmly embedded in a constructivist perspective (Driver et al 1994), which has a strong background of research exploring ‘alternative frameworks’ (Driver, Bell 1986) and proposals for the identification and understanding of the underlying mechanisms that support such conceptual change dynamics (Vosniadou 2008). Typically conceptual change literature accesses children’s knowledge largely through verbal reports (e.g. Primary SPACE Projects 1990-1994). Whilst these approaches have been successful in revealing what children know this bias towards language at the expense of other forms of communication may prevent a comprehensive understanding of knowledge growth (Goldin-Meadows 2000). This chapter discusses a recent study which explored the gestures that children used during discussions of their ideas about electricity and revealed that gestures can be categorised according to content (as highlighted in a pilot study by Callinan, Sharp 2011) and that the content of gestures can reveal elements of knowledge that is not verbalised in speech