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 key topics from recent conferences and studies, covering themes such as transition, inclusion, oracy, and speech and language development. Below, you’ll find summaries and links to valuable resources aimed at supporting schools in these areas.
Transition
I attended a Transition conference at the University of Manchester. It was run by a team of educational psychologists from the university who have been conducting research into life transitions, particularly the primary to secondary transfer.
I am particularly interested in this area because transition is a tricky time for all young people, but it can be especially challenging for vulnerable children who may lose their trusted adult at that time. Dr Charlotte Bagnell, the lead researcher, has designed a tool to measure wellbeing across the transition period. I know a number of schools have signed up to participate in the research. The aim of the questionnaires is not only to measure anxiety and fear but also excitement, focusing on the positive aspects of change and how that can help build children’s resilience. If we only ever discuss transition in negative terms, then it will inevitably have negative associations.
This week, the FFT have also released some analysis of attendance across the transition period. The effect on absence of going to a new school – FFT Education Datalab. Interestingly, if I am interpreting the data correctly, there is actually an improvement in attendance during the autumn term, but absence increases sharply after subsequent half terms. The reasons for this are not extrapolated here, but I think this would be worth exploring at a borough level.
📌 Read here: The effect on absence of going to a new school – FFT Education Datalab
IncudEd
I also attended IncludEd run by The Difference in January. This conference focused on inclusion, I had been invited as guests of Pupil Pathways, the organisation that runs Foresight Inclusion. I attended a number of really interesting talks, particularly around knife crime and criminalisation, as well as the importance of trusted adults. This links to the need for children and young people to have safe spaces to turn to when they need help.
The conference also brought to light the issue of lost learning through exclusion, particularly its disproportionate impact on children from disadvantaged backgrounds. This aligns with our own data in the borough regarding exclusions and children with a social worker. This is leading to a widening attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers, with a knock-on effect on raised unemployment rates among excluded children.
The recommendations include greater investment in mainstream schools to help them support a wider range of needs, and the implementation of early intervention strategies to address issues before they escalate.
Oracy
I have been doing quite a lot of reading around oracy. This interest was sparked by a request for training from a school and fuelled by research highlighting the issue of poor oracy among young people from disadvantaged homes.
The EEF and various research institutes have written comprehensively on the impact of poor oracy and its knock-on effects as young people progress through the school system. Oral language interventions | EEF evaluates oral language interventions and highlights the benefits, particularly for disadvantaged children, of focusing on literacy early on. Additionally, The SecEd Podcast: Teaching oracy in the secondary school was a particularly interesting listen, offering simple and practical ideas that resonated with me.
I strongly believe oracy should be a key area of focus because the evidence is clear about the value it adds to young people. If they can’t say it, can they think it?
I particularly like the work of Voice 21, and I know some schools in the borough are already affiliated with the organisation. However, for ease, perhaps our framework should consider oracy across the curriculum in two strands:
- Language for Relationships – focusing on emotion naming, code breaking, and how we communicate with one another.
- Language for Learning – focusing on vocabulary and ideas building.
These are just initial ideas, and the work will continue to formulate a plan. If anyone reading this has strong opinions on oracy, please get in touch—I would like this to be a collaborative process.
📌 Read here: Oral language interventions | EEF, The SecEd Podcast: Teaching oracy in the secondary school communication speaking skills talk classroom literacy teachers education school students.
Speech and Language
This is not strictly research, but I wanted to highlight a new resource created by our LBBD early years SALT worker. Please take a moment to check out this TikTok, which contains various Speech, Language, and Communication tips. The account, @early_years_slt, provides expert advice and practical strategies to support speech, language, and communication development.
I know many of the readers of these emails have contact with families, foster carers, and professionals who support young children. These videos can be accessed via the TikTok app or through a web browser at www.tiktok.com/@early_years_slt.
Best wishes,
Adela
