Annette Woods, Barbara Comber and Radha Iyer
In this chapter we detail our understandings of inclusive pedagogical practices that enable all students to assemble complex literate repertoires. We discuss generative concepts…
Abstract
In this chapter we detail our understandings of inclusive pedagogical practices that enable all students to assemble complex literate repertoires. We discuss generative concepts from international related literature (e.g. Au, Dyson, Janks, Luke, McNaughton, Moll, Thomson). We then present descriptions of two lessons as examples of how inclusive pedagogical practices might look in primary and secondary classrooms. The focus will be on how texts work to represent the world in particular ways and not others – and the implications of this for the inclusion of diverse student cohorts in developing complex literate repertoires.
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Nick Axford, Emma Crewe, Celene Domitrovich and Alina Morawska
This article reviews the contents of the previous year's editions of the Journal of Children's Services (Volume 2, 2007), as requested by the Journal's editorial board. It draws…
Abstract
This article reviews the contents of the previous year's editions of the Journal of Children's Services (Volume 2, 2007), as requested by the Journal's editorial board. It draws out some of the main messages for how high‐quality scientific research can help build good childhoods in western developed countries, focusing on: the need for epidemiology to understand how to match services to needs; how research can build evidence of the impact of prevention and intervention services on child well‐being; what the evidence says about how to implement proven programmes successfully; the economic case for proven programmes; the urgency of improving children's material living standards; how to help the most vulnerable children in society; and, lastly, the task of measuring child well‐being.
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This article explores some of the contemporary challenges facing leaders of children's services. Using the theoretical framework of the ‘incomplete leader’ developed by Ancona and…
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This article explores some of the contemporary challenges facing leaders of children's services. Using the theoretical framework of the ‘incomplete leader’ developed by Ancona and colleagues (2007), the article reflects on the many challenges facing children's service leaders. It argues that a distributed and connected model of leadership is the best available in the current climate of change and challenge. This model contradicts the current one of embodied, individualised leadership contained in the England and Wales Children Act 2004. The article argues that the key leadership skills are about making sense of change, relating to people, creating a vision and developing new ways of working. The article utilises Government policy documents such as the Children's Plan and Care Matters, workforce issues and strategic planning to illustrate the nature of the leadership challenge. It concludes by suggesting a way forward for children's services leadership in integrated settings, in the current climate of audit and managerialism.
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This article seeks to help senior local policy‐makers, managers and practitioners in children's services to develop robust but realistic and manageable strategies for measuring…
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This article seeks to help senior local policy‐makers, managers and practitioners in children's services to develop robust but realistic and manageable strategies for measuring outcomes in a multi‐disciplinary context. Drawing on orthodox research methods, it sets out strategies for measuring outcomes in children's services at individual child, service and community levels. It is intended to show how, in a given local jurisdiction, different approaches to measuring outcomes could fit together logically and within a reasonable budget, so creating an outcome culture and contributing to the development and integration of services. The principles outlined would also apply to adult services.
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This chapter offers a brief overview of the ways in which death has been addressed in children’s picture books in a playful or light-hearted manner. The books here are a small…
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This chapter offers a brief overview of the ways in which death has been addressed in children’s picture books in a playful or light-hearted manner. The books here are a small purposive sample showing the ‘ordinary’ way, in which death can be dealt with in picture books rather than looking at books with a specific therapeutic intent. The concepts of ‘playfulness’ and also ‘carnival’ are explored before four books are analysed.
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The purpose of this paper is to focus on a relatively unexplored area of branding literature, which is a study of the social impact of branding upon “tweens,” pre‐adolescent…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on a relatively unexplored area of branding literature, which is a study of the social impact of branding upon “tweens,” pre‐adolescent children aged between seven and eleven. Brands promote a desire in consumers that allows a premium price to be commanded. What is the impact upon children from lower socio‐economic groups who may not be able to afford these premium brands?
Design/methodology/approach
An exploratory qualitative study involving focus groups with primary school teachers in the UK and Kenya and open‐ended projective questionnaires with primary school children in both countries formed the primary data collection. The data were then analysed using thematic analysis. The research objectives were as follows: to assess the importance of brands in the lives of primary school children and whether the exposure to brands has a positive or negative impact on children; to investigate the social impact of branding on children from low income families from the viewpoint of children and teachers; and to assess the cross‐cultural impact of brands by carrying out a comparative study on children/teachers from Kenya as well as the UK.
Findings
Brands can be the cause of social division amongst children resulting in the formation of “in” groups and “out” groups. Those who do not own the right brands may be discriminated against and experience social impacts which include being teased, bullied, having low self esteem and being socially excluded. Their parents also felt the effects through pester power, the guilt of not being able to buy their children the latest brands or by financially struggling to provide these brands for their children. However, positive impacts of branding also emerged from the study.
Research limitations/implications
A brand‐oriented culture impacts upon school life in both developed and developing nations. This is an exploratory study and therefore small sample.
Originality/value
A contribution to address the paucity of research on the negative impact of branding to primary school children.
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Alan Day, David Barr, Don Revill, AW McClellan, HR Green, K Subramanyam and Peter Brophy
TWICE WITHIN THREE days recently I was asked to give my opinion on the character and suitability of candidates applying for professional posts in children's libraries. In one…
Abstract
TWICE WITHIN THREE days recently I was asked to give my opinion on the character and suitability of candidates applying for professional posts in children's libraries. In one instance only was I asked to mention the candidate's interest in and knowledge of children's literature. At first this occasioned a mild surprise, but then, on reflection, I could recall no instance ever of my being asked whether a candidate knew anything at all about adult literature. Why is it that librarians working in children's libraries are expected to have taken a course in children's literature, when those who are concerned with library services for their parents are rarely questioned about their knowledge of adult books, apart from a perfunctory enquiry or two at interview on the books they themselves have read lately?