Adela Kay, Assistant Headteacher at Aspire Virtual School, has conducted in-depth research on a variety of pressing issues affecting children and young people within our community.
For January’s research, Adela explores a broad range of issues affecting children and young people, including exclusion and alternative provision, educational transitions, early years and school readiness, academic outcomes for disadvantaged high achievers, online mental health, the mental health of children in care, youth violence, neglect and perinatal support, and innovative responses to emotionally based school non-attendance.
Below you’ll find summaries and links to the latest research and reports relevant to our work with children and families.
IncludEd
Firstly, IncludEd at the beginning of the month, an education inclusion conference. It was interesting and enlightening, particularly the keynotes and discussion around recent research on exclusion.
A report on Who is Losing Learning? The Case for Reducing Exclusions Across Mainstream Schools highlights that:
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The poorest students, those eligible for free school meals, are nearly five times more likely to be permanently excluded and four times more likely to be suspended than their peers.
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The poorest areas of England have the highest rates of lost learning through unauthorised absences and suspensions.
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Children from some ethnic minority backgrounds are disproportionately placed in alternative provision.
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Children with mental health needs are significantly more likely to move schools or be educated in alternative provision.
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Children interacting with social services because their lives are unsafe are excluded and severely absent at much higher rates than average.
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Children with school-identified special educational needs are far more likely to be permanently excluded than their peers.
It is important to remember that our job in education is to create opportunities and life chances for young people, and that outcomes matter even for those who are most challenging.
📌 Read here: Who is Losing Learning? The Case for Reducing Exclusions Across Mainstream Schools
Transitions Conference
Last week I attended a transitions conference where a draft national strategy for primary to secondary transfer was discussed and will be presented to the DfE in the coming months.
There has been important research around transitions, wellbeing and parental engagement, as well as wider discussion about transitions across the age range. This led me to think particularly about transition into school in the early years and how we can support parents to make that shift as positive as possible to support school readiness, long-term attendance and engagement. When the draft strategy is published, I will share it.
Early Years
Research in Practice has published a briefing around the A Better Start strategy. Key points include:
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A focus on diet and nutrition, social and emotional development, and speech, language and communication.
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Prioritising family voice and shaping services around what families need.
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A ‘scaffolding’ approach, providing targeted and timely support.
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Practical support to remove barriers to engagement, including outreach and mentoring.
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Responding to family poverty through access to benefits, food schemes and essential items.
For me, the key is the focus on family engagement to improve outcomes for young children, particularly in relation to social and emotional development and speech and communication.
This led me to further research on school readiness, which looks at the key skills that support a child’s readiness for school and reflects work already happening locally.
📌 Read here: A Better Start: Scaffolding support and prioritising family voices for child development | Research in Practice
Academic Achievement: High Achieving Pupils from Poor Backgrounds
FFT have just completed some analysis of when early academic promise meets socio-economic barriers.
The conclusions are perhaps unsurprising.
- The main barrier for disadvantaged high‑achievers is not university choice, but falling behind academically during secondary school, especially among White disadvantaged boys.
- Living at home may limit the broader university experience (social integration, independence, mobility), potentially influencing long‑term outcomes.
- Widening participation efforts may need to shift earlier—towards school‑level support rather than university admissions alone.
- Universities may have more impact supporting disadvantaged high‑achievers during their degree (e.g., resources, financial support, wellbeing) rather than focusing solely on access schemes.
I think that the need to live at home which may prevent applications to high attaining, but also more remote, universities, is perhaps unsurprising in the lower socio-economic quartiles, we know that university is expensive and fear of debt may well be influencing decisions. Whilst we may not be able to overcome complete the economic drive behind some of their decision making without wholesale national change, we can focus on every outcome to ensure that they get the best they can at the end of KS4 and KS5 so that they have the broadest range of choices available to them when the time comes.
Mental Health Online
The NSPCC have launched a campaign to help young people navigate the mental health challenges of being online. This is a useful resource with a film and talking points to start young people thinking about how their online behaviour and the online behaviour of others, impacts how they feel about themselves. I know that last year our borough secondary schools banned smart phones from the current year 7 cohort and there is growing research about the negative impact phone use can have on young people. But regardless of if they have access to devices in schools, young people are living in a world of social media.
📌 Read here: Support Childline’s Race To A Milli campaign | NSPCC Learning
Children in Care: Mental Health
The Guardian have reported on research project out of UCL and Nuffield Institute around the mental health and wellbeing in young people with care experience. The figures are stark and point to a lack of robust research into the mental health wellbeing of care-experienced young people, which can then impact the support they receive.
It highlights the high levels of mental health difficulties and low well-being and suggests the crucial role early intervention and prevention could play before difficulties become entrenched.
📌 Read here :One in four UK teenagers in care have attempted to end their lives, study says | Health | The Guardian
Youth Violence
The Youth Endowment Fund has published a report exploring children and young people’s accounts of their involvement in violence in the UK. The systematic review brings together 25 years of research with children and young people aged 10- to 24-years-old who have been involved in, or at risk of, serious violence.
The review highlights five narratives describing how young people become involved in, or move away from, serious violence: difficult lives; hypermasculinity; financial reward; blurred boundaries of ‘at risk’; and towards desistance. The review identifies gaps in the evidence base, including the underrepresentation of girls and young women, some minority ethnic groups, and migrant populations. I am particularly interested in the concept and issues around hypermasculinity.
This year Talk Consent have been working in schools across the borough to raise awareness around Violence Against Women and Girls. I think there is a counter part to that debate which is the role and place for men and boys in society. We need to build positive role models which look normal and acceptable across the piste. This narrative (found on page 81 of the report) around hyper masculinity highlights issues for both boys and girls caught up in an image focus fuelled by trying to find one’s place in a society, which is often seen as precarious and unjust and can easily lead to violence and exploitation.
📌 Read here: Insights from YEF’s first systematic review of UK qualitative research | Youth Endowment Fund
Neglect & Perinatal Support
The NSPCC has published several new case studies which demonstrate how GCP2A can be used to: strengthen parenting capacity; support midwives to explore concerns; inform decision-making; and show parenting strengths.
📌 Read here: Graded Care Antenatal (GCP2A) assessment tool | NSPCC Learning
EBSNA
On a lighter note the BBC recently published this article about the work going on the South Tyneside. This gallery is using art to support young people experiencing Emotionally Based School Avoidance and it made me think of the work of Our House happening in our own borough to support young people who are finding it difficult to attend school.
📌 Read here: Monet masterpiece to go on display at South Shields gallery – BBC News
Best wishes,
Adela
