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Multi-disciplinary professional work with children

Summary of the impact

Professor Frost has undertaken a substantial body of work relating to multi-professional work with vulnerable children and young people. This has had an impact on public policy and practice, through publications, conferences and Professor Frost's direct engagement with public bodies. Through engagement with public bodies Professor Frost's work has helped to inform, influence and change policy and practice. There has been an impact on the work of Safeguarding Boards, in the field of child sexual exploitation and on the practice of multi-disciplinary working across a number of organisations.

Submitting Institution

Leeds Metropolitan University

Unit of Assessment

Social Work and Social Policy

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Studies In Human Society: Policy and Administration, Sociology

Developing and sustaining effective multi-agency systems to safeguard children from harm

Summary of the impact

Senior managers in agencies in contact with children are frequently criticised, particularly in reports following child deaths, for failing to facilitate collaborative working to safeguard children. Yet, developing and sustaining collaborative systems is not easy. To assist managers, Horwath and Morrison developed a conceptual framework and, in collaboration with policy-makers and managers in Wales, added standards and indicators. These combine to form the building blocks likely to create a safe, multidisciplinary, child protection system. Their research has:

  • Impacted on the development of multidisciplinary safeguarding partnerships in a number of countries.
  • Enabled policy makers and senior managers to measure system improvements.
  • Informed statutory guidance.

Submitting Institution

University of Sheffield

Unit of Assessment

Social Work and Social Policy

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Studies In Human Society: Policy and Administration, Social Work

Policy into Practice for Multi-Professional Working

Summary of the impact

This research addresses the long-recognised need for the development of collaborative research to develop shared understandings across professional groupings in local authorities. It has had major impact on policy and decision making at strategic and operational levels on the development and management of inter-professional partnerships in local authorities and public service agencies in the North West of England. It has also enabled substantial financial savings by improving decision making through developing inter-professional management strategies, and led to the growth of an international network of scholars through a Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the development of two research scholarships in conjunction with Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service and two Academy Schools in Cheshire and Merseyside.

Submitting Institution

University of Chester

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Policy and Administration, Sociology

Early Years Education

Summary of the impact

A corpus of research developed over twenty years brings together experience and expertise of staff, students and researchers at Birmingham City University in the Early Years (EY) cluster. This has had effects on practice in contexts in which national and international EY policy, leadership and pedagogy are developed and produced, enacted and contested. It has affected specific areas of learning and development, e.g. mathematics, including thinking skills, creativity, information and communications technology.

Research that was policy, programme and issue-focused has stimulated discussion and action, locally, nationally and internationally, for instance in Europe, Central and South-east Asia and Australia.

Submitting Institution

Birmingham City University

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

Improving leaders’ and practitioners’ ability to develop collaborative initiatives and learn from each other

Summary of the impact

Impacts highlighted in this case study derive from research into the leadership of collaboration in, between and among educational organisations. This has resulted in a range of outputs and processes which have had an impact on how leaders and practitioners work in partnership; design joint professional development programmes; and evaluate and sustain collaborative working. The research has also influenced the development of collaborative improvement programmes in local authorities and national government agencies. This had led to impacts on the leaders of collaborative improvement initiatives, including the development of school-to-school networks, with a specific focus on evaluating the impact of their work.

Submitting Institution

University of Wolverhampton

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Education Systems, Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

Case Study 3: Impact on policy and practice in early childhood services in England of the Impact Module of the National Evaluation of Sure Start

Summary of the impact

Sure Start, the flagship New Labour anti-poverty initiative launched in 1999, was an area-based early intervention targeting pockets of social and economic deprivation in England. The multi- disciplinary National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS), to which Professor Angela Anning was the central educational contributor, was the largest social science evaluation contract ever awarded in the UK. Findings were continually fed back to ministers and civil servants to inform policy and practice. Impacts (discussed below, section 4) include:

(1) systemic changes in integrated services for vulnerable families;

(2) rethinking the resourcing and funding of Children's Centres;

(3) revision of training and qualifications of early childhood staff;

(4) enhancing the role of family support and parenting projects.

Submitting Institution

University of Leeds

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Studies In Human Society: Policy and Administration, Social Work

Supporting Children: Childhood, Communication, Professionalism and Pedagogy

Summary of the impact

Four staff align with impact in the interdisciplinary field of Childhood Studies; Broadhead, Brock, Moss and Potter. Their research examines different, related aspects of early to late childhood. The impact is evident in several domains. Research has contributed to policy and professional development in relation to the early years and autistic spectrum disorders. It has enhanced pedagogies in schools concerning play and children's social participation. It has improved communication with children through the development of play approaches and approaches for those children diagnosed on the autistic spectrum. It has contributed to childhood workforce skill enhancement in relation to the early years and men's professional and familial involvement with children. This research has also informed public awareness of children's perspectives and experiences through the use of media and other forms of public engagement.

Submitting Institution

Leeds Metropolitan University

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Education: Specialist Studies In Education
Studies In Human Society: Policy and Administration

Influencing early childhood policy and developing playful pedagogy

Summary of the impact

Identifying and promoting best practice in the education of young children, this case study focuses on local, national and international policy and practice in two linked areas: children's learning and staff professional development. It underpins national strategy for England, Northern Ireland and Wales and informs international curriculum developments. We have made a significant impact on children's lives through:

  • shaping and dissemination of playful pedagogies and outdoor learning initiatives which have been adopted by early years practitioners in schools nationally and recognised internationally
  • evaluation of workplace practice leading to improvements in early years settings which have led to changes in employers' policy and practice
  • strategic alliances with Cambridgeshire, Essex and Northamptonshire Local Authorities, impacting on early years practice.

Submitting Institution

Anglia Ruskin University

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

The Emotional Dimensions of Nursery Life and Learning

Summary of the impact

Research conducted by Peter Elfer has shown the significance of attention to babies and under threes' emotional well-being in nursery if early learning is to be effective. Children who are continually anxious or distressed do not learn well. A sensitive, responsive and consistent relationship with mainly one or two members of nursery staff (now known as the child's `key-person') has been shown to promote in young children feelings of safety and security. The research has underpinned the development of the key-person role in nurseries, as the means for enabling individual attention to children. This research has had a significant impact in the following areas:

1) UK Government curriculum guidance and requirements

2) Training of the early years workforce and continuing professional development

3) The evolution of UK Coalition Government policy and public discourse

The reach of the research is extensive, providing the underpinning for attachment practice in English nurseries. The above developments have strengthened the expectation in national standards of greater attention to the emotions of babies and young children in nursery and have provided the detailed guidance on how this can be achieved in practice.

Submitting Institution

Roehampton University

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

Helping Research Findings Become Good Educational Practice in the Further, Adult and Vocation Education (FAVE) sector: the impact of the University of Sunderland’s Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training (SUNCETT) upon policy and practice.

Summary of the impact

1.1Through the development of national Research Development Fellowships (RDFs) and the national Exploratory Research programme, SUNCETT has worked in collaboration with policy professionals from the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS), (now the Education and Training Foundation, ETF) to contribute to changes to public service practices and policy guidelines for the sector. Through the same work, SUNCETT has improved standards of teaching, learning and practitioner research across the sector using a model for educational improvement, originally applied in schools by Fielding et al (2005),described as `Joint Practice Development' (JPD). Through JDP, SUNCETT has enabled policy professionals and practitioners to incrementally improve practice across the FAVE sector in research-informed, realistic and sustainable ways. These applications of JPD have been led nationally by SUNCETT and the improvements in practice achieved as a result of this approach have been recognised externally in the form of the LSIS Legacy Report (2013) (Source 1), in various OFSTED inspection reports (Source 2) and by the British Education Research Association in, Why Educational Research Matters (BERA, 2013) (Source 3).

Submitting Institution

University of Sunderland

Unit of Assessment

Education

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Specialist Studies In Education

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