Gifted and talented education: The English policy highway at a crossroads?

Copyright © 2013 by Sage Publications. This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below.In 1999, the British government launched an education program for gifted and talented pupils as part of its Excellence in Cities initiative (EiC) that was initially designed to raise the educational achievement of very able pupils in state-maintained secondary schools in inner-city areas. Although some activities targeting gifted children had already been initiated by various voluntary organizations over several previous decades, this was the first time that the topic of improved provision for these pupils had been placed firmly within the national agenda. This article provides the background to the English gifted and talented policy “highway” and an overview of what was expected of schools. How practitioners responded to the policy, their beliefs and attitudes toward identifying gifted and talented pupils, and the opportunities and challenges that arose along the way to the current crossroads are explored. The need to empower teachers to feel more confident in classroom provisions for gifted and talented pupils is identified along with the potentially pivotal role of action research and “pupil voice” in the process of continued professional development and support

Improving Teacher Recruitment and Retention: The Importance of workload and Pupil Behaviour

The shortage of teachers in England and Wales continues to be a high profile area of scrutiny. Particular subjects (including mathematics; science and English) are categorized by the Training and Development Agency (TDA)for schools as priority or shortage subjects, and London especially has experienced particular shortages in teacher numbers over recent years

Positioning discourse on homophobia in schools: What have lesbian and gay families got to say?

This paper reports findings from a study in England, which investigated the experiences of lesbian and gay parents in relation to homophobia in primary and secondary schools. The study was part of a larger European Union project investigating the impact of family and school alliances against homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools across six nation states. Qualitative in-depth semi-structured interviews with seven lesbian and gay parents from five families were conducted to explore their unique experience and perspectives on these issues. Discourse analysis was used to facilitate understanding of how lesbian and gay families negotiated the outsider/insider and public/private spheres of the school and communities of which they were a part. Parents identified a number of strategies to address their experiences of homophobia within schools. The findings have implications for how social work recognises and promotes diversity and equality when working with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families, as social workers have a powerful role in supporting families. This involves recognising the strengths of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families in their assessments

Positioning discourse on homophobia in schools: what have lesbian and gay families got to say?

This paper reports findings from a study in England, which investigated the experiences of lesbian and gay parents in relation to homophobia in primary and secondary schools. The study was part of a larger European Union project investigating the impact of family and school alliances against homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools across six nation states. Qualitative in-depth semi-structured interviews with seven lesbian and gay parents from five families were conducted to explore their unique experience and perspectives on these issues. Discourse analysis was used to facilitate understanding of how lesbian and gay families negotiated the outsider/insider and public/private spheres of the school and communities of which they were a part. Parents identified a number of strategies to address their experiences of homophobia within schools. The findings have implications for how social work recognises and promotes diversity and equality when working with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families, as social workers have a powerful role in supporting families. This involves recognising the strengths of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families in their assessments

Private finance for the delivery of school projects in England

This paper analyses the use of the private finance initiative (PFI) approach to deliver school projects in England. The findings are based on case-study research in the Building Schools for the Future scheme (BSF), the largest single capital investment in SO years to rebuild and renew all of England's secondary schools. Up to half of the school infrastructure is to be procured by PFI contracts. A major concern has been the high cost associated with PFI procurement and any subsequent changes to scope. Furthermore, in some cases PFI-funded schools have been closed soon after completion; at great cost to the public sector. The aim of this research was therefore to understand the underlying reasons for these problems. The main conclusion is that the difficulties in BSF arise from not sorting out strategic issues and instituting appropriate organisational frameworks before engaging the private sector. The result of this is a lack of clarity about the long-term needs and end user aspirations. A brief outline of current programme management methods is given and it is suggested that this might be integral to the successful delivery of schools using private finance. A clear strategic vision that cascades into projects via programmes will ensure that the school infrastructure is appropriate for the anticipated strategic benefits and is aligned to the overall service delivery ambitions

The role of special schools for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties: is segregation always best?

This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article 'The role of special schools for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties: is segregation always best?' British Journal of Special Education 34(1) pp.19-24, which has been published in final form at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/117989211/PDFSTART.The education of young people with profound and multiple learning difficulties continues to raise challenges and controversies. In this article, Ben Simmons, an ESRC funded PhD student and research assistant, and Phil Bayliss, programme director for the masters degree in special education and disability, both based in the School of Education and Lifelong Learning at the University of Exeter, describe their research into provision for pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties in a special school in the south west of England. Their work, based in an interpretivist, qualitative approach, set out to illuminate issues relating to the inclusion of pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties. The findings presented here suggest that the school, in spite of its strong reputation, struggled significantly to provide appropriate learning experiences for pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties. Ben Simmons and Phil Bayliss discuss the need for improved staff development opportunities focused on enhancing current levels of knowledge and skills. They conclude by calling for a reappraisal of the established view that special schools necessarily provide the best learning environment for pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties

How policy impacts on practice and how practice does not impact on policy

Our project attempts to understand how the Learning and Skills Sector functions. It traces how education and training policy percolates down through many levels in the English system and how these levels interact, or fail to interact. Our first focus is upon how policy impacts upon the interests of three groups of learners: unemployed people in adult and community learning centres, adult employees in work-based learning and younger learners on Level 1 and Level 2 courses in further education. Our next focus is upon how professionals in these three settings struggle to cope with two sets of pressures upon them: those exerted by government and a broader set of professional, institutional and local factors. We describe in particular how managers and tutors mediate national policy and translate it (and sometimes mistranslate it) into local plans and practices. Finally we criticise the new government model of public service reform for failing to harness the knowledge, good will and energy of staff working in the sector, and for ignoring what constitutes the main finding of our research: the central importance of the relationship between tutor and students

Evaluation of a training programme for foster carers in an independent fostering agency

The aim of this study was to evaluate a parenting programme designed for foster carers from an independent fostering agency. The programme (Park’s Parenting Approach) adapted existing parenting programmes to be more specific to the needs of looked-after children. Sixty-one carers consented to take part in the evaluation of the training, and 55 (90%) completed the programme. The training was delivered over 9 weeks, once a week for 2 h, and pre- and post-course evaluations were carried out at the first and last sessions of the course. The evaluation included carers’ ratings of their fosterchild’s most challenging problems, parenting style, carer efficacy and a survey of carer satisfaction with training. Results showed a decrease in foster children’s problem behaviours and an increase in carer confidence. Carers expressed a high level of satisfaction with the programme, and 100% felt that they would be able to retain the information and skills they had acquired on the course. The implications of providing training within an independent foster care context are discussed

"The SEND Code of Practice has given me clout": a phenomenological study illustrating how SENCos managed the introduction of the SEND reforms

The introduction of the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) reforms were hailed in 2014, by the then Government, as the most significant change to SEND policy for thirty years. Despite introduced changes, the 2015 Code continued to place responsibility for the co-ordination of provision for children with SEN within the remit of the SENCo. This article forms part of a wider study which examined the role of the SENCo at this time of significant reform; the study aimed to understand the role of the SENCo as a policy actor tasked with policy implementation as well as their perceptions impact during the first year of reform. This article discusses the themes which arose from the in-depth semi-structured interviews carried out with SENCo participants during 2014/ 2015, which explored reflections on the SENCo role, SENCo activities undertaken across the year, and how SENCos facilitated the implementation of the 2015 Code

Poor numeracy skills are associated with glycaemic control in Type 1 diabetes.

To assess the numeracy and literacy skills of individuals with Type 1 diabetes and determine if there is a relationship with achieved glycaemic control independent of their duration of diabetes, diabetes education, demographic and socio-economic factors