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Professor Sue Roulstone's research has contributed significantly and widely to a growing political appreciation of the crucial role that language plays in children's development, socially, emotionally and educationally. The research has contributed evidence to underpin policy initiatives to monitor language as an indicator of successful child development, to support the importance of children's early language development and to ensure services for those with impairments are evidence-based. These initiatives have in turn impacted upon the development of services and the use of parent and child perspectives in service design and development.
The findings from this research on noticing and helping neglected children are contributing to shaping effective responses by practitioners. In high income countries neglect is the most frequent category of child maltreatment. In the UK as many as one in ten children may experience neglect and yet systems here, and other jurisdictions with similar models, struggle to provide an effective response. The research at Stirling is improving practitioner knowledge and confidence with the development of comprehensive training materials and follow-on knowledge exchange work with multi-disciplinary groups of practitioners in England. It has contributed to policy development in England and Scotland.
Research at Newcastle on speech language and communication needs (SLCN) has significantly extended the range and quality of evidence in this field. The research is significantly informing high level policy makers, and has been used to set up an accessible database which is having impact on the practice of a range of different professionals. It has contributed to a new programme of work which has produced positive outcomes for schools, children and young people and has been used as an evidence base to secure charity funding for a third sector organisation.
Rapid response reports, commissioned from the IOE's Thomas Coram Research Unit (TCRU) by the Departments for Education and Health specifically to inform policy-making, have helped to determine the financial and practical support for disadvantaged families and children in England for more than a decade. This important series of reports has achieved impact not only by producing robust findings that government departments can rely on but by building relationships of trust and mutual understanding between national policy-makers and researchers.
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.
Literacy and language work reciprocally to support children's learning and attainment. Professors Morag Stuart and Julie Dockrell, in complementary and sometimes co-authored work, have had a substantial influence on the way children of all abilities and with a range of needs are taught to read and develop their broader oral language and literacy skills. Their work influenced national programmes in England on early reading, dyslexia and spoken language (National Literacy Strategy and National Curriculum) and speech, language and communication needs (the Better Communication Research Programme). Their findings provided educational professionals and speech and language therapists with the conceptual understanding that underpins good practice, and helped equip teachers to identify difficulties and intervene.
This case study represents the work of the Pyramid research team within the INSTIL Education Research Group (INSTIL ERG). Research at the University of West London is characterised by an ambition to promote `useful knowledge' and this case study, with its focus on providing evidence to inform and direct practice, fits within this approach. The case study describes the first rigorous evaluation of the impact of Pyramid after-school clubs that aim to improve the socio-emotional wellbeing of vulnerable children. The work of the Pyramid research team provides an empirical evidence base to support the work of a range of stakeholders including: practitioners; policy makers and researchers in the field of children's socio-emotional well-being, and the children and their families. Drawing on the evidence base, these impacts include the securing of funding for the continuation of Pyramid clubs in schools and informing future development and extension of the Pyramid club intervention for delivery to other age groups.
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.
Three studies by Trinder have helped shape national policy and informed practice on three related issues regarding arrangements for children after parental separation. The three issues are whether or not there should be a statutory presumption of shared time, the scope and shape of education programmes for separated parents and whether additional punitive sanctions would assist with the enforcement of court orders for contact. Trinder's three studies have built a strong evidence base and have had an impact by:
1) helping to shape national policy on shared care, parent education and enforcement;
2) informing professional decision-making on shared care, parent education and enforcement;
3) stimulating public debate about shared care.
The Greenwood Institute of Child Health is a unique collaboration between the University and public service providers such as the NHS, which aims to improve psychological outcomes for children in high-risk settings. From 1993 to 2013, Greenwood's research has highlighted the increased risk of mental health, drug dependence and criminal activity among children who suffer trauma — through abuse, living in care, homelessness or war. Greenwood's programme of research has identified the complex and persistent needs of vulnerable children and contributed to changes in policy guidelines and service provision across social care in the UK (foster care / adoption, juvenile detention and homelessness) and abroad (war). Collaboration between researchers at the Greenwood Institute, service providers and practitioners has been instrumental in the establishment of clinically relevant and cost-effective care pathways, while community engagement has led to improved service provision and outcomes for vulnerable children and their families / carers in the UK and further afield.