Placement as part of higher education

Many students in Britain, especially those training for the professions, do parts of their courses in the form of placements in the field. Most such placements are compulsory. During placements students are the joint concern of their tutors on the campus and their mentors in the field. The placements on the different courses seem dramatically different. For example, some placements are in primary schools, some in hospital wards, some in factory pharmacies and some in electrical power stations. This study shows, however, that despite such obvious differences in the placement settings, student feelings about placement can be remarkably similar. For staff whose courses include placement there are issues which they could usefully discuss in common.     

Group Time Experiences: Belonging,Being and Becoming Through Active Participation Within Early Childhood Communities

The National Quality Standards (NQS) as part of the Australian National Quality Framework were developed in 2011 and included several references to the organisation of small and large groups within early childhood settings (ACECQA 2013). The NQS act in tandem with the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) (DEEWR 2009) and are the basis by which early childhood centres are assessed for accreditation in Australia. This paper draws upon current research with early childhood educators as they struggle to understand the new concept of ‘intentional teachers’ within this new regime. There also appears to have been a dramatic shift in the understanding about how large and small groups operate within centres. As the accreditation process unfolds, some early childhood centres have been advised to abandon large or whole group work. At the core of the EYLF are the notions of ‘being, belonging, becoming’, locating young children as part of a community of learners within a democratic society. It therefore appears that tensions and contradictions are emerging between the fundamental principles of the EYLF as they are juxtaposed against the requirement of the NQS. Critical Pedagogy of Place provides a theoretical framework in which to interrogate the ways some early childhood educators interpret intentional teaching both in terms of the organisation of spaces in early childhood centres and the organisation of the children as they inhabit those spaces (Gruenewald 2008). This paper argues that the possible abandonment of large group experiences runs the risk of disconnecting children from their communities and the relationships they form as social participants. Furthermore, it is argued that whole group experiences are crucial elements that facilitate a child’s identity and active citizenry.     

Predictors of school readiness in five‐ to six‐year‐old children from an Australian longitudinal community sample

This paper reports on school readiness (SR) and its predictors in five‐ to six‐year‐old children from a prospective, longitudinal study of children from eight months to seven years (the Early Language in Victoria Study – ELVS). The ELVS children came from a representative sample of children recruited though the State Government Infant and Child Health Centres at the age of eight months who were studied at yearly intervals with a combination of parent surveys and face‐to‐face assessments. The study had a focus on language, pre‐literacy and behavioural development. In pre‐school and preparatory grade, teachers of the children completed a brief questionnaire rating SR characteristics, including cognitive, language and personal/social competencies. The data bank on these children provided a set of hypothesised child and family predictors of the SR score which were tested via factor analysis and regression analyses. Significant predictors of SR in the equation were evident from two years of age, and were all related to language and pre‐literacy factors from two to six years. Twelve per cent of the children showed language impairment (LI) at five years according to their scores on the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, 4th edition (CELF‐4). In an additional analysis we found that these children were significantly lower on SR; they were also of lower social class compared with the remainder of the sample. The most influential factors in readiness for school were child language competencies and pre‐literacy capacities, including phonemic awareness and letter knowledge. Preparation for school involving systematic emphasis on language and pre‐literacy enrichment is recommended for all children before school entry and particularly for children at risk, including those coming from socio‐economic disadvantage and those with delayed and impaired early language development. This addition to pre‐school programmes can have lasting positive effects into pre‐school and beyond, and prevent early school failure.     

Introducing touchscreens to black and ethnic minority groups--a report of processes and issues in the Three Cities project

There is a need for people to have access to health information but this may not be readily available for some black and ethnic minority groups living in England. This study aims to improve access to health information for ethnic minority groups by providing this in their own language, in an audio and visual format through a touchscreen computer. The study was led by health promotion and public health workers informed by advisory panels of representatives from local black and ethnic minority groups in the cities of Nottingham, Sheffield and Leicester. Discussion within the advisory panels and local epidemiological data helped to identify groups to be targeted and priority health issues to be addressed. Other issues covered during development included interface design, language translation and identification of accessible locations. A number of problems were addressed in establishing appropriate touchscreen facilities, mainly relating to producing information in an electronic format for multiple languages and populations not necessarily computer-literate. Three touchscreens, containing information on 10 health topics, translated into five languages are currently installed, one in each city. They are being rotated through a series of locations including a library, GP practice, and a temple. Their use, and satisfaction with use, is being evaluated over a 2-year period, by statistical analysis of computer logs and the collection of qualitative information by bi-lingual interviewers with users, over an 18-month period. Health information can be made available for ethnic minority groups even if they are unable to read their mother tongue. Touchscreens appear to be a suitable medium for achieving this.     

Immigrant–Native Differences in Child Health: Does Maternal Education Narrow or Widen the Gap?

Abundant U.S. research documents an “immigrant advantage” in children’s physical health. This article extends consideration to the United Kingdom, permitting examination of a broader group of immigrants from disparate regions of the world and different socioeconomic backgrounds. Drawing on birth cohort data (ages 0–5) from both countries (n = 4,139 and n = 13,381), the analysis considers whether the children of immigrants have a physical and mental health advantage around the beginning of elementary school, and whether advantage is more pronounced among low‐educated populations. Findings indicate that the children of immigrants are not uniformly healthier than those in native‐born families. Rather, there is heterogeneity in the immigrant advantage across outcomes, and evidence of both greater advantage and disadvantage among children in low‐educated immigrant families.     

Growth and diversity in doctoral education: assessing the Australian experience

The major growth of doctoral education in recent decades has attracted attention from policy makers and researchers. In this article we explore the growth of doctoral education in Australia, its impact on diversity in respect of the doctoral population, shifts in disciplinary strengths, institutional concentration and award programs. We conclude that there has been both change and continuity in the provision of doctoral education with extensive variation at the level of practice in what is a reasonably stable system featuring continuing hierarchical institutional diversification. The limitations of available data and issues for further research, policy and practice are discussed.