Youth Social Action

A recent report by Ipsos Mori provides an evaluation on the Uniformed Youth Social Action Fund, created to support the Step Up to Serve #IWill Campaign. 


It was found that three quarters of adult beneficiaries surveyed considered the social action they experienced to be "very worthwhile" and most said they felt more proud of their local area as a result of the social action activities being carried out by young people. 

In addition, after talking to the young people involved, 77% of beneficiaries said they had a more positive impression of what young people contribute to their local communities as a result. 



The research also shows that youth social action can have a knock-on benefit to participation levels - the more young people that beneficiaries interacted with, the more likely they were to volunteer themselves. 
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Bonding & Communication

Best Beginnings, a charity supporting parents with babies, discusses how daily positive communication with children, will support their emotional, language and social development. A useful article with related videos can be found on this page. 

The National Literacy Trust have gathered up a range of popular songs and nursery rhymes which can be sung to babies; it is understood that rhythms and repetitive language make it easier for babies to learn language skills and as babies hear the same rhymes over and over again, they soon learn to join in with the actions. Singing and reciting along with a child also helps with bonding.

Children's Homes

New updates have been added to the Memorandum of Understanding between Ofsted and DfE: 'Secure Children's Homes'; it outlines working arrangements between the DfE and Ofsted, to ensure that children’s homes offer safe, good quality care to children.

Poverty in the UK

A new report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation entitled, 'UK poverty: Causes, costs and solutions' aims to define what poverty is and its causes, highlighting trends and projections in UK poverty; recommendations are given for tackling:

• the high costs driving poverty, including housing
• poverty in childhood
• poverty in working age
• poverty in later life
• poverty for people with complex needs.

It echoes the findings of a report released earlier this year: 'Living Standards, Poverty and Inequality in the UK, which uses modelling techniques to paint a picture of how things are likely to evolve in the coming years, specifically, labour market trends and the impact of policy changes on household incomes, up to 2020–21.

Literacy Trust

The National Literacy Trust works to improve the reading, writing, speaking and listening skills in the UK's most disadvantaged communities, where up to 40 per cent of people have literacy problems. 

Their website offers a wealth of information on literacy; they have recently revamped their Resources page, which contains links to nine new pages focusing on different key literacy areas

Safeguarding

Safeguarding is always a popular topic so here are some sources of information that might help. Let's begin with the Chimat website; their Knowledge Hub provides a link to the Safeguarding Children Training Directory  and a list of  key organisations and sources of safeguarding information.   

The DfE website offers resources on various aspects of safeguarding children and young people, whether at home or in an education setting; there is also a list of related publications available. 

A couple of new reports have been published: 'Time to Listen' sets out how collaborative working can help tackle child sexual exploitation. 'Children in need of help or protection,' published by the National Audit Office, this suggests that the DfE has not yet succeeded in their attempt to improve the quality of child protection services delivered by local authorities.

During an online resources teaching session yesterday, a student spotted a particular article which she said was exactly what she needed for an assignment! I thought I would share it here - simply search for 'Completing Your SEF - Safeguarding' in Teaching Times (E-Resources - Athens) :0)

Stay Positive!

I would like to draw your attention to this blogpost written by Debby McAllister, one of our UCB student bloggers. It will resonate with you if you have been feeling you can't cope with the burden of coursework, feeling homesick or lonely which in turn, may have led to anxiety, panic attacks or even depression. 

They do say a problem shared is a problem halved and even better to talk to someone going through the same thing; this is the idea behind a new society that Debby and her friends are setting up at UCB. It is called 'Positive Minds' and the first meet-up will be tomorrow at 12noon in McIntyre House, Room 251. It's a fantastic idea and I'm sure many students will benefit from opening up and talking to a friendly face. 

World Mental Health Day

10th October is the date that marks Mental Health Day and reminds us of the silent suffering of 450m people around the world. This year, it coincides with the publication of the Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, a report by the NHS, which shows statistics for the adult population in the UK. It highlights that young women aged between 16-24, are at the highest risk of mental health disorders. The main issues they face are anxiety and depression with high rates of self-harm and post-traumatic stress and bipolar disorders. Many of these problems appear to be fuelled by social pressure especially on social media - a research study has also linked the Pill with depression.

The Mental Health Foundation website offers several reports on related topics; this feature talks about mental health crises of women in the perinatal period. There is also the report: 'The impact of traumatic events on mental health'.

Talking about female mental health issues can sometimes take the spotlight off men suffering from depression; however, many celebrities, such as Bruce Springsteen who has talked openly about his depression, are helping other men seek help.

USearch issue

We are aware that some students are seeing a blank screen when they try to access journal articles in USearch. This appears to be an issue that's currently affecting all Universities that have the software. There is a fix for this:

• Click on the 'Preview' drop down beneath the citation -

• It will reveal the following set of information, including a DOI link; click on the DOI link and it will direct to the article as normal -

You can also watch this video, which explains the procedure.

Please contact David Renfree if you experience any other issues in accessing online resources.

The Pioneers

This blogpost has been compiled for those of you who are searching for information on educational theorists at the moment - I hope it points you in the right direction!

To start off with, you may want to search Britannica Online (E-Resources), which gives brief introductions to many key theorists. I would also suggest looking at David Renfree's 'Theorists in 140' post, covering all the popular theorists very well, along with links to further useful sources of information. 

There are a number of related books (listed below), some of which are also available online (Dawson Books via E-Resources):

       · 'Fifty Major Thinkers on Education' - 370.922 BRE
· 'Fifty Modern Thinkers on Education' - 370.922 PAL and online
· 'Fifty Key Thinkers in Psychology' - 150.922 SHE and online 
· 'Theories of Childhood' - 305.231 MOO
· 'Pioneers in early childhood education' - 372.210922 GIA and online
· ‘Vygotsky in action in the early years’ - 372.21019 DOL and online
· ‘An introduction to Vygotsky’ - 150.92 DAN
· ‘Introducing Vygotsky’ -  372.21 SMI
· ‘Introducing Bruner’ -  372.2101 SMI and online
· ‘Bringing the Montessori approach to your early years practice’ - 372.210941 ISA & online

· ‘Montessori and early childhood’ - 371.392 FEE and online

Linda Pound has published a number of books looking at theories behind children's learning.