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Applying the EYFS principles to the early years workforce
No full textHuman Capital, or as we more commonly regard it, our people, are the heart of our settings, our communities, our organisation and often businesses. People form a key part of our Enabling Environment and are truly the essence of our relationships with children, their families and our communities. Whilst we are frustrated by wider issues facing the early years workforce, such as a lack of regard for the professional standing of early years careers, including not only pay, but the responsibility and often unpaid hours worked. We can as settings play a part in nurturing our people and developing our teams.
Settings are increasingly reporting challenges with recruiting suitably qualified staff, furthermore, issues of retention pose a challenge (Ofsted, 2024; Haux et al., 2022). This article explores some of the strategies settings can apply to ensure they are giving a considered approach to issues of recruitment and retention, through applying some of the principles we value in early childhood education and care, such as nurture and professional love (Gerhardt, 2015; Page, 2018) and the four overarching principles of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) (Department for Education, 2024). It explores how these principles, which we confidently acknowledge and apply to our work with children, can be applied to our colleagues too.
The overarching principles of the EYFS as detailed below, can also be considered through the lens of the adults who work with them:
• Every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident, and self-assured.
• Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
• Children learn and develop well in enabling environments with teaching and support from adults, who respond to their individual interests and needs and help them to build their learning over time. Children benefit from a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers.
• Importance of learning and development. Children develop and learn at different rates.
(Department for Education, 2024:7
Disadvantage not destiny: Using generational research in university archives to track social mobility
No full textThis blog post was inspired by the BERA Brian Simon Research Project that undertook historical educational research and explored the impact of higher education (HE) on ‘disadvantaged’ students. The archives are curated and cared for by Gil, with co-author Ann a regular volunteer on archival projects.
Reflecting on the findings from the Far away from the ivory tower research project highlighted Plymouth Marjon’s sustained and innovative approach to social mobility. Milburn (2012, introduction, our emphasis) defines social mobility as making sure that all people, irrespective of background, circumstance, or class, have ‘an equal opportunity to get on in life. That entails breaking the transmission of disadvantage from one generation to the next.’ Blandford (2020) and Gruitjers et al. (2024) argue that social mobility is more than ‘meritocracy’ – it is dependent upon propitious circumstances, including an effective and appropriate education, as shown by the stories we include in this blog post
Review of residential and nursing care home policies on safety incident reporting in England
No full textObjectives
In care homes, safety incident reporting, and the policy framework that surrounds safety incident reporting, is not well understood. This study aims to review safety incident reporting and safety policies in residential and nursing care homes in England. It aims to better understand safety incident reporting practices and identify lessons for the sector regarding approaches to safety incident reporting to improve safety. The objectives were to investigate what policies exist, identify the methods and any technology used for safety incident reporting and consider the data captured in safety incident reports. It aims to contribute to discussions regarding developing systems-based approaches to safety management in care homes.
Methods
A qualitative documentary analysis of safety incident reporting policies in residential and nursing care homes in England was undertaken. Policies were collected from 23 organisations whose staff participated in interviews (n = 75) regarding safety incident reporting between January 2021 until June 2022 and from a structured internet search using specified search terms between April 2022 and May 2022. To be included, a policy needed to refer to safety incident reporting in any capacity and be partially or wholly related to care homes or nursing homes in England. Safety incidents could include staff, residents, contractors, and visitors to the home. Data, extracted using a bespoke framework based on study objectives, were tabulated and analysed deductively and inductively. For the selected policies, the Care Quality Commission website was searched for the latest inspection report and the overall rating was extracted.
Results
Forty-one policy documents were retrieved and screened for inclusion. Twenty-five policies (from 23 organisations) were reviewed. Three were from the internet search and 22 were obtained from interview participants. There was considerable variability in the length and comprehensiveness of the policies, with some homes using untailored, ‘off-the-shelf’ standardised policies produced by a specialist company. Twenty-two (88%) referred to other policy and legislative documents important to safety incident reporting and all but three (12%) policies identified a designated person or role with responsibility for the reports. Only one policy incorporated resident accounts and views into the incident report. Two policies referred exclusively to electronic recording systems with most (n = 19) referring to paper-based reporting systems.
Conclusions
The study identified the extent of, and gaps, in safety incident reporting policies, with reporting practices situated within a broad framework of governance. Incident reporting is as much a matter of governance as practice and there may be a greater opportunity to learn from incident reports than there is currently. Further research about how staff navigate multiple risks, develop adaptive approaches for the contextual conditions, and use safety incident reporting mechanisms within and across care homes to minimise harm may help improve standards, practices and safety in care homes, along with a greater understanding of how policy is utilised in practice
Supporting Teacher Retention and Career Progression: Fostering Early Career Teacher Self-Efficacy Through Reflective Practice and Professional Development
No full textImmigrant Entrepreneurship, Religion, and Ethnicity Cases from Europe, Africa, and Asia
No full textInternational migration is a growing phenomenon in the 21st century and is increasingly seen as a high-priority public policy issue by many governments, politicians, and the broader public throughout the world. Its importance to economic prosperity, human development, and safety and security ensures that it will remain a top priority for the foreseeable future.
This book highlights the importance of ensuring that we remain focused on the successes of migration as well as the challenges. At the end of the 20th century, more importance was given to immigrant and ethnic minority entrepreneurship due to its positive impact on local economic growth and overall economic development in the hosting nations. In the 21st century, the imperative of the United Nations 2030 agenda involves a deeper understanding of the complex challenges for the achievement of sustainable goals. One of these challenges is to understand how migrant-entrepreneurs may or may not identify with their ethnic community, therefore dissociating themselves from their ethnic group. In this sense, religion and ethnicity are differentiating factors between social groups, and the relationships allow preserving their culture and establishing relationships and integration in the community at all levels. This edited volume brings together impactful contributions that will interest multidisciplinary academic areas and aims to contribute to the enhancement of scientific knowledge on the intersection of entrepreneurship, migration, ethnicity, and religion, a gap in the existing literature that has the potential to provide a deeper understanding of factors that influence migrant populations’ contribution to socio-economic development in their communities.
This book will be an invaluable resource to researchers and scholars in the fields of immigration, immigrant entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial culture, and economic development
Proof of concept - Impact Evaluation of the SW ASPIRE Post Graduate Certificate in Learning disability and Mental Health Nursing Programme.
No full textThe ASPIRE programme was a collaboration between Plymouth Marjon University and National Health Service England to both increase and improve the diversity of the nursing workforce. The ASPIRE project research aimed to explore the impact and influences of the ASPIRE Programme, taking into account stakeholder (NHS, University staff and students) views
Far away from the ivory tower
No full textThis special issue shares findings from research supported by a BERA Brian Simon fellowship fund grant to do historical educational research to explore the impact of higher education (HE) on first-in-family students, some of whom self-identified as ‘disadvantaged’. The key objectives of the Far away from the ivory tower research project addressed the equity for educational opportunity that Brian Simon advocated. First, we explored the story of university education for ‘the poor’ and ‘disadvantaged’ within Plymouth Marjon University’s archives. Subsequently, we invited staff, students and alumni to participate in discussion groups to interrogate history, comparing contemporary educational practice with historical practices, highlighting links between social justice and practices in access to and participation in HE, all refracted through the lens of their own experience.
Each blog post draws on literature from national and international contexts to explore findings from the Brian Simon fellowship fund project, which was a localised research study. All the posts consider a diverse range of perspectives to explore the experiences of people who were the first-in-family to go to university, including non-traditional students.
The contributions to this issue explore:
kindness as an aspect of pedagogy and practice, drawing on two examples shared by participants in the Brian Simon fellowship fund project
feminist perspectives of inclusion, exploring expectations, aspirations and perceived limitations through reference to the impact of patriarchy
how coming from a low-income family might impact experiences, and how attending university might be particularly challenging for students from working-class backgrounds
a lifelong-learning lens, to explore the impact of HE as a catalyst for lifelong learning
how universities can provide spaces and places of safety, exploring how university spaces can become places – physically, emotionally, cognitively – that offer a sense of belonging, family and transformation
archival perspectives to highlight that small-scale studies offer rich possibilities for family-history research in the archive, which can bear witness to the transformative potential of higher education within social mobility and – most importantly – that disadvantage does not determine destiny
Leading Inclusive Education: The Impact of a City’s Place-Based Pedagogical Partnership with Higher Education on Secondary School Inclusion
No full textThe focus of this article is leadership for inclusive education. The work presented explores a three-year (2021–2024) place-based pedagogical partnership (PBPP) with schools and higher education (HE) leading change for inclusion and school improvement across Plymouth city’s secondary school network. National and international governments emphasise the role HE has in partnering with its local communities to achieve equal education access, inclusive pupil progress and student equality. The aims of this project and partnership were firstly to build meaningful relationships across secondary school leadership teams, local council, regional government and two city universities, and secondly to develop sustained practices that had evidenced impact on inclusion. The data reported highlights how the project co-created new practices, communication channels and policies, which contributed to school improvement, inclusive education and the development of new pedagogy. A pedagogical partnership model was established, taking a critical collaborative approach in aims and working from a place-based, contextual space. Findings show how the partnership impacted on the collaboration style of school leaders; improved pupil attendance, attainment and achievement developed new Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes; developed alternative education provision; and established a mentoring programme for school pupils. Outcomes and findings contribute knowledge to the evolving discourse of inclusive education, emphasising the relevance and impact of place-based pedagogic partnerships working across institutions to lead inclusion
Nature connections for the Anthropocene: a vital materialist exploration of human relationships with nonhuman natures
Full text linkThis thesis rests on the premise that Anthropogenic climate change and ecological damage present problems that require a fundamental shift in human relationships to nonhuman natures. Whilst not objecting to technology driven solutions to specific problems, I assert that any solutions must be guided by perceiving the nonhuman world as a more-than-human community. This is contrary to the dominant Western worldview since the enlightenment, from which humans have learnt to separate themselves from the rest of nature, which tends to be perceived as inert and passive (Merchant, 2005).
Since the early 2000s, the Anthropocene concept troubles this separation by challenging a perception of nature as a domain separate from humans and human culture, and highlighting the interconnectedness of human and nonhuman natures (Arias-Maldonado, 2015). This perspective has
prompted concerns among conservationists that support for habitat protection will diminish because of the deconstruction of human/nature dualism (Büscher & Fletcher, 2019; Wilson, 2016; Wuerthner, Crist & Butler, 2015).
Seeking to resolve this tension, I explore the implications of human relationships with nonhuman natures in the Anthropocene through a qualitative study of people involved in the nature-connection and bonsai communities. The research is interdisciplinary, bridging environmental psychology, environmental ethics, and political ecology. I employ Clark et al.’s (2018) situational analysis as my method because of its cartographic approach to analysing material and discursive situations of more�than-human relationality.
Drawing on in-depth interviews with people from the UK and across Europe, I examine the interplay between worldviews, environmental discourse, perceptions of nonhuman value, and material practices. My findings contribute to understanding the multi-paradigmatic contradictions within nature-connection, and the role of human culture in addressing ecological challenges in the Anthropocene. I propose a theoretical shift toward panpsychism – a worldview that acknowledges the intrinsic value of nonhuman natures and creates a rational premise for their moral consideration.
I argue that a movement in Western cultures toward a panpsychist outlook could facilitate a profound transformation in human relationships to nonhuman natures and strengthen support for conservation endeavour