Enhancing parents' ways of supporting their children's early learning through participation in an early-intervention project in the UK: the early learning partnership project

"In diesem Beitrag werden die Auswirkungen eines aufwändigen Frühinterventionsprogramms namens 'Early Learning Partnership Project' (ELPP), das während einer Reformperiode der Regierung bei neun Institutionen der Freiwilligen- und Gemeinwesenarbeit im Vereinigten Königreiches eingeführt wurde, beschrieben. Im Mittelpunkt des Programmes standen die Eltern von Kindern im Alter von ein bis drei Jahren, die dem Risiko von Lernverzögerungen ausgesetzt waren. Es zielte darauf ab, die elterliche Beteiligung am Lernen ihrer Kinder zu erhöhen, um so einer Verringerung späterer Benachteiligungseffekte den Weg zu bereiten. Der Einfluss des ELPP wurde mithilfe einer Mixed-Methods-Evaluation untersucht. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird über eine Elternstichprobe an 20 'exemplarischen' Standorten berichtet. Dabei nahmen die Eltern zu zwei Messzeitpunkten an einer Auswahl strukturierter Beobachtungen (HOME und Booksharing Observation) und strukturierten Fragebogeninterviews (Home Learning Environment, Parental Feelings Questionnaire und Father Involvement Questionnaire) teil. Es zeigte sich, dass kurze Interventionen gegenüber den Eltern deren Erziehungsverhalten, persönlichen Überzeugungen und die affektive Beziehung zu Kindern beeinflussen konnten. Die Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass es mit dem britischen Interventionsprogramm ELPP möglich ist, innerhalb von mindestens drei Monaten das Niveau der elterlichen Beteiligung zu erhöhen und die Qualität des häuslichen Lernumfeldes auf eine breitere Grundlage zu stellen." (Autorenreferat)"This paper describes the impact of a complex intervention program entitled the 'Early Learning Partnership Project' (ELPP) which was rolled out across nine voluntary and community sector (VCS) agencies within the United Kingdom during a period of Government reform. It focused on parents of children aged between 1-3 who were at risk of learning delay, and aimed to increase parental involvement within children's learning as a precursor to reducing the later effects of disadvantage. A mixed methods evaluation examined the influence of ELPP. This paper reports specifically on a sample of parents from twenty 'exemplar' sites participating in the program. Parents took part in a selection of structured observations (HOME and Book-sharing Observation) and structured questionnaires (Home Learning Environment, Parental Feelings Questionnaire and Father Involvement Questionnaire) across two time points. This paper shows that a short intervention with parents can influence parenting practices, personal beliefs and affective relationships with children. The findings suggest that through ELPP, a UK-based intervention, it is possible to improve levels of parental involvement and broaden the quality of the home learning environment via an early intervention project in a minimum of three months." (author's abstract

Evaluation of children's centres in England (ECCE) : strand 1: first survey of children's centre leaders in the most deprived areas

This report is the first output from the Evaluation of Children's Centres in England (ECCE), a six year study commissioned by the Department for Education and undertaken by NatCen Social Research, the University of Oxford and Frontier Economics. The aim of ECCE is to provide an in-depth understanding of children's centre services, including their effectiveness in relation to different management and delivery approaches and the cost of delivering different types of services. The aim of Strand 1 is to profile children’s centres in the most disadvantaged areas, providing estimates on different aspects of provision with which to select centres for subsequent stages of the evaluation and to explore different models of provision. The findings below relate to 500 children's centres that are representative of all phase 1 and 2 centres (i.e. those in the 30percent most deprived areas).</p

Οι αντιλήψεις των εκπαιδευτικών της Δευτεροβάθμιας Εκπαίδευσης για τη διδασκαλία της τραγωδίας ως μέσο εκδημοκρατισμού των μαθητών

Τα τελευταία χρόνια έχει παρατηρηθεί μία ερευνητική στροφή προς τον ίδιο τον εκπαιδευτικό, με την ιδέα ότι αποτελεί βασικό παράγοντα της εκπαιδευτικής και διδακτικής διαδικασίας, καθώς από τον ίδιο εξαρτώνται σε μεγάλο βαθμό, οι διδακτικές επιλογές, η ορθότητα των διδακτικών αποφάσεων, και η επίτευξη των διδακτικών στόχων μέσα στη σχολική τάξη (Φρυδάκη, 2009), οι οποίες φαίνεται να συνδέονται άμεσα με τις βαθύτερες προσωπικές του αντιλήψεις και πεποιθήσεις για το ρόλο που επιτελεί μέσα σε αυτή. Από την άλλη μεριά, όλες οι μεταβολές, τόσο κοινωνικές και πολιτισμικές όσο και πολιτικές, φαίνεται να επηρεάζουν άμεσα τον τομέα της εκπαίδευσης, ενώ οι υψηλές οικονομικές απαιτήσεις συχνά επιτάσσουν κάποιου είδους μηχανιστική εκπαίδευση και την υιοθέτηση διδακτικών επιλογών που συνάδουν με τη βαθμοθηρία, την δασκαλοκεντρική προσέγγιση, τις εξετασιοκεντρικές προσεγγίσεις, τη στείρα απομνημόνευση και τη χρησιμοθηρική χρήση της γνώσης. Μέσα σε αυτό το περιβάλλον, πολλοί εκπαιδευτικοί υποστηρίζουν ότι παρατηρείται σε μεγάλο βαθμό η υπονόμευση των ανθρωπιστικών μαθημάτων (Ράσης, 2011) καθώς και οι ποικίλοι εκπαιδευτικοί στόχοι που συνδέονται με αυτά, ανάμεσά τους και ο εκδημοκρατισμός των μαθητών, η καλλιέργεια, δηλαδή, της δημοκρατικής ιδέας στους μαθητές και η επαφή τους με αλληλοσυνδεόμενες με αυτή αξίες τόσο σε επίπεδο αξιακό – ιδεολογικό όσο και πολιτικό. Σκοπός αυτής της έρευνας είναι να περιγράψει τις αντιλήψεις των εκπαιδευτικών της δευτεροβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης, αναφορικά με την καλλιέργεια του δημοκρατικού ιδεώδους μέσα στο σχολικό πλαίσιο. Ιδιαίτερα μελετάται η διδασκαλία της τραγωδίας της Ελένης, του Ευριπίδη, στη Γ΄ Γυμνασίου και της Αντιγόνης του Σοφοκλή, στη Β΄ Λυκείου, με κεντρική εστίαση στη λειτουργία της ως μέσο εκδημοκρατισμού των μαθητών, προβάλλοντας δημοκρατικές αξίες και ιδεώδη. Τέλος, έχει σκοπό να καταγράψει με ποιο τρόπο οι αντιλήψεις αυτές αποτυπώνονται στις διδακτικές επιλογές των εκπαιδευτικών μέσα στην τάξη.In recent years there has been a research shift towards teachers as a key factor of the educational and teaching process, as the choice of teaching choices, the soundness of teaching decisions and the achievement of teaching objectives within the classroom largely depend on them (Frydaki, 2009), and seem to be directly related to their deeper personal perceptions and beliefs. On the other hand, all changes, both social and cultural, as well as politics seem to be directly identified in the field of education, while high financial requirements often necessitate some kind of mechanistic education and the adoption of curricula that are consistent with the degree-based, teacher-centered, examination-centered approaches, sterile memory and the utilitarian use of knowledge. Within this environment, many teachers argue that there is a great undermining of humanities (Rasis, 2011) as well as the various educational goals associated with them, including the democratization of pupils, meaning, the cultivation of the democratic idea in pupils and their interaction with values related to it, at both a value-ideological and political level. The purpose of this research is to describe the perceptions of secondary education teachers regarding the cultivation of the democratic ideal within the school context. Ιn particular, the teaching of the tragedy of Helen of Euripides and the Antigone of Sophocles, as a mean of democratizing students, promoting democratic values and ideals. Finally, it aims to record how these perceptions are reflected in teachers&apos; teaching choices and methods

Let's talk! An interactive intervention to support children language development

This study developed, delivered and evaluated an interactive intervention, which targeted three- and four-year-old children&apos;s oral language. The intervention was carried out over twice-weekly sessions, for ten weeks. The first weekly session was a group shared storybook reading session with a puppet and the second weekly session consisted of planning, acting out and reviewing a planned pretend play episode based on the storybook, which was read in that week&apos;s first session. Ninety-four children were randomly assigned to a control or treatment group and were tested at pre- and post-test on a battery of vocabulary and narrative assessments. The results of a Randomised Controlled Trial showed a statistically significant effect on the receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary of the children in the treatment group, with medium to large effect sizes. A further positive effect concerned the Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) of the children in the treatment group

Let’s talk! An interactive intervention to support children’s language development

This study developed, delivered and evaluated an interactive intervention, which targeted three- and four-year-old children’s oral language. The intervention was carried out over twice-weekly sessions, for ten weeks. The first weekly session was a group shared storybook reading session with a puppet and the second weekly session consisted of planning, acting out and reviewing a planned pretend play episode based on the storybook, which was read in that week’s first session. Ninety-four children were randomly assigned to a control or treatment group and were tested at pre- and post-test on a battery of vocabulary and narrative assessments. The results of a Randomised Controlled Trial showed a statistically significant effect on the receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary of the children in the treatment group, with medium to large effect sizes. A further positive effect concerned the Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) of the children in the treatment group

The Use of Virtual Reality in the Science of Psychology

With the evolution of technology, digital gaming became a more holistic and realistic experience that engages all senses. This novel capacity was seized by Psychological Science. The aim of this literature review was to describe some of the usages of Virtual Reality (VR), specifically in the domains of Developmental, Clinical, Social, Organizational, Athletic Psychology and Neuropsychology. Some of the findings were that VR can promote children’s socialization and self-control in the case of Developmental Psychology. Research on Clinical Psychology has shown that VRT contributes to phobia treatment and can help analyze negative self-image in individuals with eating disorders. In the area of Social Psychology, it can reduce prejudice and enhance prosocial behavior, by providing the ability to manipulate variables and achieving high experimental control and ecological validity. Furthermore, it can enhance employees’ productivity and help them cope with stress in Organizational Psychology and boost athletes’ motivation and decision making in Athletic Psychology. In Neuropsychology, VR gives the potential of early diagnosis and rehabilitation of neuropsychological complications of Traumatic Brain Injury, Brain Stroke, Parkinson’s Disease and facilitates the reduction of Autism Index. Overall, psychological research, diagnosis and treatment via VR seems so far to be a rich and promising field for further investigation that will possibly improve different people’s quality of life