Log in
Butler's work has three strands, each of which has made a substantial impact on readerships and audiences beyond the academy. She has actively promoted children's literature pedagogy through her publications and her activities in promoting teaching aids arising from her research in the Learning and Teaching of Children's Literature. Her work on place, history and landscape in children's literature has been hailed as a practical benefit to working writers, and her research-as-practice has resulted in six novels for children and teenagers, as well as works commissioned and written in order to encourage reluctant teenaged readers, She has actively promoted children's literature in schools, online and in society generally.
Seven Stories was opened in 2005 in Newcastle. It is the first UK museum and archive dedicated to children's books. For an audience of both children and adults it mounts original, nationally-touring exhibitions and runs a programme of events for regional and national audiences. It holds an expanding, internationally important archive relating to British children's literature (manuscripts, original artwork, books, correspondence and associated materials).
The Children's Literature Unit (CLU) in the School of English at Newcastle University was established in 2005 to work with Seven Stories. There is collaboration at many levels. In particular, CLU research has underlain the development of the Seven Stories archive; supported Seven Stories' exhibitions; contributed to the training of Seven Stories' staff; and provided international advocacy, raising awareness of this unique resource and helping to establish Seven Stories as one of the world's leading centres for the public understanding of children's literature. In 2012, partly on the basis of research conducted in the CLU, Seven Stories received Arts Council England (ACE) accreditation as the National Centre for Children's Books, becoming the only `nationally-styled' museum in the North-East.
This case study reports impact on the publishing industry achieved through:
Impact on the wider community/public awareness of picturebook-making is achieved through:
Impact on subject within HE worldwide:
The impact relating to this case study is situated in three domains. The first domain focuses on impacting policy on spiritual development in the primary curriculum, achieved via membership of a Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) working party. The second element is lay engagement with understandings of spirituality and its contextualisation in primary schools, achieved primarily through media coverage of research findings. The third area relates to informing understanding about the processes and meaning making of dreaming (as a specific area of spirituality) through expert comments in mass media outlets and the hosting of events attended by the general public and practitioners as well as academics. These achievements are complemented by high profile roles in international professional associations.
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.
Research led by Professor Roger Mackett of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering at UCL on children's physical activity has been used by central and local government, other public bodies and various advocacy groups to encourage children to be more active. It has been used to support policy documents and proposals aimed at improving children's health and wellbeing. It has led to improvements in the health, welfare and quality of life of many UK communities through, for example, their greater use of walking buses, which also contributes to reduced CO2 emissions.
Public understanding and debate at the national level have been impacted upon by the research work of psychologists at the University. Furthermore, through bespoke knowledge exchange workshops understanding, intentions and practices of education and care professionals have changed. The impact draws on the work of Burkitt and Greenlees, both chartered psychologists and Readers at the University undertaking applied psychological research in the area of colour. Burkitt has published on the use and meaning of colour in children's drawings and Greenlees on its effect on sporting performance particularly in football.
Dr Brocklehurst's research has provided a challenge to conventional wisdom on the school age teaching of global politics through critiques of approaches that under-estimate children as political bodies. Her research has subsequently influenced a global provider of education, the International Baccaleurate organisation, in the planning of a service, namely a new Global Politics curriculum. Her research has also stimulated practitioner debate among stakeholders in the publication and provision of global politics texts for children to review them for risks posed by bias, inaccuracies, insensitivity and militarism. Her research has provided resources to enhance professional practice among stakeholders to help them to interpret problems in existing texts, and her research has led to her delivering training for stakeholders and teachers. Her research has also changed practice among stakeholders towards the adoption of a review culture to identify problems and improve children's literature in these sensitive subject areas.
Paechter's research has attracted wide interest among educational practitioners and the broader public. As a result of this, she has been invited to contribute to radio programmes, Teachers' TV broadcasts, and other media for professional and general audiences. Her research has been widely reported in the media. It helps to shape public understanding of children and gender, and public debate about young people, both in the UK and internationally. She has influenced both high-level policy through her evidence to the Equal Opportunities Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and practice, through her presentations to groups of practitioners.
The case study addresses the impact of the project `Children Decide: power, participation and purpose in the primary classroom' (2004-6) regarding its two aims: developing collaborative approaches to decision-making in schools, and advancing methodological understanding of children as action researchers. The project made a subsequent methodological contribution (children as researchers) to educational evaluation and policy in two international organisations. Since 2008, the project has had a direct and significant impact on children's participation in decision-making in Norfolk schools, as reported by the teachers and those who attended dissemination conferences and professional development initiatives, and nationally by educators who used the published report.