It is widely acknowledged that, across the United Kingdom and the USA, childcare practitioners often struggle with cases of child neglect, because of the difficulties involved in attempting to define the problem at hand, and balancing these cases with others in the caseload that may appear more pressing, such as physical abuse. Consequently, in an…

Taking on a primary school that was placed in special measures in 2001 for the author's first headship in 2003 was a risky venture. During the intervening two years, the local authority support had focused on behaviour management and "the basics", but attainment had not improved and termly official inspections noted stubbornly…

This article investigates the influence of wealth, a frequently neglected aspect of the economic circumstances of families, on children's development. Using the UK Millennium Cohort Study, it explores whether parental wealth (net total wealth, net housing wealth, net financial wealth, and house value) is associated with children's cognitive…

Neglected in policy and the public consciousness, Alternative Provision is the expanding putty of the education sector, working within the gaps left by other agencies to re-engage children. Yet to engage children, Alternative Provision must first engage families and home visits are crucial to this process. Often triggered by absences or…

Aims: The present article seeks to explore the historical context of relationships and sex education (RSE) and examine the positioning of 'No Outsiders' within this. Consideration is given to the credibility of arguments against the implementation of No Outsiders in education settings and examination of whether diversity strands of 'sexual…

Children's Centres are an under-researched type of organisation, and leadership practices within Children's Centres are yet more neglected and unknown. This action research reveals how leaders of these Children's Centres understand and verbalise their leadership practices, which leadership practices are serving them well and can be levered for…

Although handwriting is often considered a matter of presentation, a substantial body of international research suggests that the role of handwriting in children's composing has been neglected. Automaticity in handwriting is now seen as of key importance in composing but this proposition is relatively untested in the UK and the assumption has been…

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study conducted in a large Reform Jewish Sunday school in the UK. It focuses on learners' experiences and perceptions of learning to read Hebrew in the school as well as in the other sites in which they were learning to read. These experiences and perceptions are neglected in other research accounts.…

Social class mobility from grandparent to grandchild is a relatively neglected topic. Grandparents today are often healthier and more active, and have longer relationships with their grandchildren than in previous generations. We used data from the UK's Millennium Cohort Study (n = 8570) to investigate the influence of maternal and paternal…

This small-scale interview study considers experiences, difficulties and dilemmas of local Special Educational Needs (SEN) professionals such as SEN caseworkers, and examines the neglected ethical dimensions of their role. It argues that fostering "ethical knowledge" (Campbell, 2003), rather than an increase in prescriptive guidance,…

Identifying gifted and talented children and providing appropriate educational experiences for them has been firmly placed on the educational agenda in England by the Labour government since 1999. In the U.S.A., gifted education has received a high profile for several decades. In both countries, however, the needs of the younger gifted child have…

Until recently, children and young people's experiences of international migration and mobility have received minimal attention. Young migrants are either neglected in migration and childhood/youth studies or depicted in theoretically essentialist frameworks as model or problem ethnic minorities. This paper focuses on a neglected issue with…

This paper focuses on the role of curricular content on social mobility, an issue largely neglected by social mobility studies. Using data from the National Child Development Study we investigate the extent to which secondary school curricula account for social class differences in the chances of entering into the service class and avoiding a…

The central aim of this paper is to undertake a critical review of arguments which propose that chess should be taught in schools and other educational settings. In particular, I offer an answer to the question: "Should chess be taught in early childhood?" Many claims have been made about the educational benefits of chess instruction. In…

By September 2009 there were approximately 30,000 higher level teaching assistants (HLTAs) in English schools. All of these HLTAs are expected to be able to deliver pre-set lessons in place of a teacher. Often, they are determining the pedagogical approach and range of activities used to deliver the lesson's objectives. Consequently, there is a…