Dimitra Hartas

Teacher and speech-language therapist collaboration: being equal and achieving a common goal?:

Collaboration is a key aspect in developing effective educational provision for pupils with special educational needs. In this study, collaboration is conceptualized as a dynamic system for educational efforts which endorses collegial, interdependent and co-equal styles of interaction between teachers and speech and language therapists (SLTs). Twenty-five teachers and seventeen SLTs were asked to complete a questionnaire and participate in group discussions to provide information about their perception of collaboration with their colleagues at a school that caters for children with language and communication difficulties. Across qualitative and quantitative analyses, results consistently suggested that most teachers and SLTs see time commitment=constraints and rigid organizational structures as being the hindering factors in their collaborative workings with others. On the other hand, willingness to make professional changes and learn from each other, individual contribution and shared beliefs and values are seen as supportive factors. Teachers and SLTs see collaboration as a distinct, formal activity that can only occur within a prespecified time and space allocated to it, encouraging individuals to engage in prescribed activities while they remain within their own professional boundaries. Implications for policy and practice are discussed and issues for future research are raised.

Practices of parental participation: a case study

The nature of parental participation in children’s education is changing rapidly. A growing body of research points to the positive effect that parental involvement has on outcomes of schooling and on children’s well‐being. This paper examines parental participation practices in terms of parents working together with a range of professionals, exchanging knowledge and information regarding their child’s SEN, challenging practices, and negotiating SEN provision. The parents in this study exercised agency – that is, they showed resilience and took initiative, within a context of shared responsibility and accountability, and advocated for their child’s right to educational provision. This paper argues for a strengths‐based approach towards enabling active parental participation and advocacy.

Inequality and the home learning environment: predictions about seven-year-olds’ language and literacy

Using a UK representative sample from the Millennium Cohort Study, the present study examined the unique and cumulative contribution of children’s characteristics and attitudes to school, home learning environment and family’s socio-economic background to children’s language and literacy at the end of Key Stage 1 (age seven-years-old). Consistently with previous studies, the findings showed that family’s socio-economic background made a substantive contribution to teacher-rated language and literacy. Moreover, children’s characteristics and attitudes to school as well as certain aspects of the home learning environment explained a significant amount of variance in language and literacy. Homework support and book reading, however, were not found to associate with children’s language and literacy outcomes, despite a high percentage of parents being involved with home learning support routinely. These findings are likely to contribute to debates regarding the role of home learning in reducing underachievement, drawing important implications for family policy.

Young people’s participation: is disaffection another way of having a voice?

In this study, young people, described by teachers as being disaffected, were encouraged to become involved in a public forum to discuss issues regarding participation, learning and training at their school as well as their aspirations about the future. The young people discussed their learning and social experiences, and reflected on existing models of participation and student voices as they operated in their school. Through focus group discussions and interviews, the young people expressed concerns about participation in school matters and critiqued the curriculum as irrelevant to their aspirations and employment needs. The young people favoured a form of participation that involves and sustains informal ways of having a voice and creates possibilities for being genuinely listened to. The findings suggested that to enable young people’s participation in learning and other aspects of school life, the curriculum, learning and pastoral support and the school‐to‐training transition require re‐thinking. Finally, the results reinforced the view that inclusion and participation are not unproblematic, requiring a nuanced approach.

Children’s social behaviour, language and literacy in early years

Using a longitudinal, UK representative sample from the Millennium Cohort Study, the present study examined longitudinal variations in parent ratings of child social, emotional and behavioural difficulties and prosocial behaviour (preschool to end of Key Stage 1); the magnitude of parent-teacher agreement regarding behaviour ratings; and concurrent relationships between behaviour and language and literacy at the end of the Key Stage 1. The findings showed significant downward trends in ratings of young children’s social and behavioural difficulties and an increase in ratings of prosocial behaviour over the 3-7 years period. Ratings of emotional difficulties remained fairly stable over the same period. Also, medium- to- strong language and literacy effects were found for behavioural difficulties (e.g. hyperactivity) and prosocial behaviour. Finally, teacher-parent agreement regarding behaviour ratings was found to be modest and higher for social and behavioural difficulties, hyperactivity in particular, than for emotional symptoms and prosocial behaviour. These findings have important implications for preschool and primary school policy and practice regarding children’s social behaviour.

Parenting for Social Mobility? Home Learning, Parental Warmth, Class and Educational Outcomes.

Parenting has come to play a pivotal role in breaking intergenerational disadvantage and increasing children’s life chances and social mobility through practices such as parental support with their learning and education. Using a UK representative sample from the Millennium Cohort Study, the present study examined the unique and cumulative contribution of children’s characteristics, parenting practices and family’s socio-economic background to children’s educational outcomes at the end of Key Stage 1 (age 7). Consistently with previous studies, the findings showed that family’s socio-economic background made a substantive contribution to teacher-rated reading, maths and sciences. Despite much emphasis within family policy on parents as being central in tackling educational inequality, certain aspects of parenting such as involvement with home learning, parental warmth and discipline did not explain a significant amount of variance in teacher- rated reading, maths and sciences. These findings are likely to contribute to debates regarding the role of parents in reducing the achievement gap and the enduring influence of social class on young people’s school outcomes, drawing important implications for family policy.

Young people's educational aspirations: psychosocial factors and the home environment

ABSTRACT Utilising data from Understanding Society (2010–2013), this study examined the contribution of young peoples psychosocial and background factors and home environment to their educational aspirations in the UK. Young peoples general well-being and self-efficacy emerged as good predictors of their educational aspirations as did some aspects of their home environment. Interestingly, filial dynamics such as emotional closeness to parents and cultural capital (e.g. participating in cultural events, discussing books) were better predictors of 10–15-year-olds’ aspirations than were more school-driven parent–child interactions (e.g. homework, extra-curricular activities). Furthermore, the findings from this study showed no shortage in young peoples educational aspirations although interesting demographic trends emerged with certain groups (i.e. preadolescents, males) being less aspirant than middle adolescents and females. These findings have significant implications for family and educational policy, especially with regard to ‘raising aspirations’ and reducing early school leaving and, also, for reconsidering the role of the home environment as a web of emotionally and intellectually charged relationships between parents and children rather than an extension of the school day. Finally, discussions on young peoples educational aspirations should not be polarised but informed by notions of opportunity (structure) and what young people make of it (agency).

The ecology of young children’s behaviour and social competence: child characteristics, socio-economic factors and parenting

Using a longitudinal, UK representative sample from the Millennium Cohort Study, the present study examined the effects of socio-economic factors on mother- and teacher-rated behaviour, and the unique and cumulative contribution of both risk and protective factors inherent in children’s proximal and distal influences to behaviour during the toddler years and at school entry. The findings showed that although family income, parental employment and maternal education had a significant moderate impact on child problem behaviour as rated in the home and school, when considered in the context of child characteristics and family processes their contribution was negligible, especially for income. In contrast, parenting practices and parental well-being emerged as good predictors of behavioural difficulties and prosocial behaviour at school entry, pointing to the importance of supporting parents in order to promote social competence in young children. These findings have implications for family policy.

Young people's involvement in service evaluation and decision making

This study examined young peoples decision making on issues that affect their lives: bullying in different contexts (e.g., family, peer groups, school) and their involvement in evaluating the availability and effectiveness of support services (e.g., disability, care). Key aims of this study were to offer young people a platform to evaluate existing services and make recommendations towards their improvement, and to discuss ways of tackling bullying at school. Focus groups were formed with 54 young people who had experienced challenges due to bullying, learning difficulties/disabilities, and caring responsibilities for family members with disabling conditions, and discussions about services and decision making on issues that affect their lives were facilitated. The findings point to a sense of agency in young peoples lives with regard to evaluating and negotiating services and offering suggestions for their improvement within their family and peers. However, in their view, their decisions regarding bullying exerted limited influence within the school context. These results raised interesting issues about young peoples capacity to evaluate services and the contextual influences on their involvement in decision making.

A Form of Dyslexia

The aim of this study was to look at the relationship between language and reading in pupils with and without expressive/receptive language difficulties. The rationale is that the development of reading and language skills is intertwined and therefore cannot be separated in a meaningful way. Two groups were formed, based on scores obtained from administering standardised language tests. The first group consisted of pupils with expressive/receptive language difficulties (E/RLD) and the second group included pupils with normally developing language skills (Non‐E/RLD). Neither group had a diagnosis of dyslexia. It was found that pupils with E/RLD performed poorly on reading comprehension tasks compared with peers who do not experience language difficulties. Evidence from this study stresses the importance of the role of speech and language therapy with pupils with language and reading difficulties.