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There are many pressing questions about how to deliver adult social care services. Where research evidence exists to address these questions, there is often limited use by social care commissioners, providers and the workforce. Sometimes this is attributed to the lack of perceived relevance and accessibility of the research itself, at other times it is considered to be a matter of individual and organisational capacity. As things stand, there is a gap between social care research and practice. Improving interaction between different stakeholders in the research process is a contemporary mechanism for promoting the production of research that is useful, usable and used. This paper describes one collaborative approach called research-practice partnerships (RPPs). These partnerships share the goal of benefit for all partners and are supported by a growing international evidence base. This paper summarises some of the key literature from different countries and contexts where the approach has been tried. It highlights the main features of RPPs, introduces a project setting up three new partnerships in the care home sector in England and highlights aspects of the theory of change that will guide the evaluation of the partnerships. In doing so, the paper introduces a promising collaborative approach to a social care audience and considers whether RPPs have the potential to achieve meaningful and impactful research in social care contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Looked after children and care leavers (denoted as LAC) are often described as a 'hard to reach' group of young people, and their voices are rarely sought to inform academic research. Methods: This paper reports on experiences and reflections of a group of children and young people and academic researchers who developed a Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) group that was set up in the context of an ongoing health service intervention trial with LAC. Setting and participants: Eighteen qualitative semi‐structured interviews were conducted with seven LAC, the participation officer within a North East Children in Care Council and the four researchers involved in developing and facilitating the PPI group. PPI sessions (n = 9) each approximately 1 hour in length were conducted over an 18‐month period. Analysis: The qualitative interviews were transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data, and direct quotes are used within the paper. Main outcomes: The LAC used the PPI group to produce a 5‐minute video to highlight why they think young people should be involved in research. Overall findings suggested that it was feasible to develop a research‐related PPI group with LAC. Findings from the research were used to co‐develop 'top tips' of working with vulnerable young people such as looked after children. Conclusion: This paper has shown that PPI with LAC can be done if a co‐production approach to research is taken. It also suggests that assumptions regarding the capabilities of young people as researchers need to be re‐evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To explore higher education institution (HEI) perspectives on the development and implementation of trainee nursing associates (NAs) in the primary care workforce in England. Background: Current shortages of primary health care staff have led to innovative skill mix approaches in attempts to maintain safe and effective care. In England, a new level of nursing practice, NAs, was introduced and joined the workforce in 2019. This role was envisaged as a way of bridging the skills gap between health care assistants and registered nurses and as an alternative route into registered nursing. However, there is limited evidence on programme development and implementation of trainee NAs within primary care settings and HEI perspectives on this. Methods: This paper draws from a larger qualitative study of HEI perspectives on the trainee NA programme. Twenty-seven staff involved in training NAs, from five HEIs across England, were interviewed from June to September 2021. The interview schedule specifically included questions relating to primary care. Data relating to primary care were extracted and analysed using a combined framework and thematic analysis approach. Findings: Three themes were developed: 'Understanding the trainee role and requirements', 'Trainee support in primary care' and 'Skills and scope of practice'. It is apparent that a more limited understanding of the NA programme requirements can lead to difficulties in accessing the right support for trainees in primary care. This can create challenges for trainees in gaining the required competencies and uncertainty in understanding what constitutes a safe scope of practice within the role for both employers and trainees. It might be anticipated that as this new programme becomes more embedded in primary care, a greater understanding will develop, support will improve and the nature and scope of this new level of practice will become clearer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Bronchiolitis is a seasonal, global acute lower respiratory tract infection caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and is a leading cause of hospital admission in young children. A peer-led (parents to parents) intervention was implemented to empower parents of children at risk of bronchiolitis and reduce hospital admissions. This paper reported the evaluation that aimed to gain the perspectives and experiences of five key stakeholder groups. Methods: A qualitative remote interview-based design, informed by Appreciative Inquiry was used. Thematic analysis was used. Results: Sixty-five stakeholders participated: parents (n = 43; mothers, n = 42), Parent Champions (n = 9), Children's Centre Managers (n = 8), Children's Centre Group Leaders (n = 11), and Core Team (n = 4). An overarching theme 'Parents reaching out to parents' was supported by five sub-themes (Raising awareness and sharing knowledge; Creating connection, trust, and confidence; Flourishing in their role as a Parent Champion; Rising to the challenges; and Knowledge is power, prevention is key: the government needs to know this.) Conclusions: Parent-to-parent peer support via the Parent Champions was perceived positively by parents who wanted to learn and improve the lives and health of their children. Parent Champions were successful in delivering information. Considering the socioeconomic burden of bronchiolitis to services and families, the potential for an upstream, relatively low cost, high-reach innovative intervention, as evidenced in this project, seems a valuable opportunity for improving children's respiratory health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Engaging with the public is a key element of health research; however, little work has examined experiences of public involvement in research dissemination. The aim of this paper was to assess the extent of public involvement, experiences of public advisers and resulting changes in the dissemination of the North West Coast Household Health Survey (HHS). Methods: Three writing groups allowed public advisers to contribute to the dissemination of the HHS. A public workshop was set up to aid the co‐production of the research evidence and discuss the experiences of public advisers involved with the survey in March 2018. A focus group with public advisers was conducted in August 2018 to understand their experiences of involvement. Data were analysed using thematic analysis and coded by two researchers. Writing groups are still on‐going. Results: Fourteen public advisers contributed via three face‐to‐face writing groups, by actively interpreting findings and helping in the write‐up of research articles and by presenting talks at the public workshop. At the workshop, seven public advisors contributed to setting priorities for data analysis from the HHS. Five public advisers took part in the focus group, which highlighted that whilst public advisers were generally satisfied with their involvement, they would like to be involved in more activities. Conclusions: Members of the public shaped the dissemination of evidence and provided guidance for future steps. Public advisers were mostly positive about their involvement in the dissemination of the HHS, but highlighted the need for more transparency and support from researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The English Learning and Skills Sector (LSS) contains a highly diverse range of learners and covers all aspects of post-16 learning with the exception of higher education. In the research on which this paper is based we are concerned with the effects of policy on three types of learners - unemployed adults attempting to improve their basic skills in community learning settings, younger learners on Level 1 and 2 courses in further education colleges, and employees in basic skills provision in the workplace. What is distinctive about all three groups is that they have historically failed in, or been failed by, compulsory education. What is interesting is that they are constructed as 'problem learners' in learning and skills sector policy documents. We use data from 194 learner interviews, conducted during 2004/5, in 24 learning sites in London and the North East of England, to argue that government policy assumptions about these learners may only be 'half right'. We argue that such assumptions might be leading to half-right policy based on incomplete understandings or surface views of learner needs that are more politically constructed than real. We suggest that policy-makers should focus more on systemic problems in the learning and skills sector and less on problematising groups of learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing learning programmes to enhance the formation of generic skills is an international concern in education and training policy. This paper provides a broad survey of the development of generic skills policy in England from 1975 to 2002, drawing on both the economic and educational literature. It demonstrates that, despite an evident demand for generic skills in the English economy, successive waves of education and training policy intended to stimulate the supply of such skills have failed to deliver the desired results. Such failure is accounted for using a policy instruments and institutions framework. This suggests that the failure of generic skills policy can be attributed to a combination of weak policy design, the interaction of generic skills policy with other market-led reforms of education and training in England, and broader exogenous socio-economic trends. The paper concludes that current initiatives to develop key skills for all 16-19 learners in England are unlikely to succeed without substantial changes in the current education policy environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates the need to anticipate employers' future skills requirements, and shows how London Skills Forecasting Unit is addressing this problem. The paper first suggests that employers require advice and labour market intelligence in order to determine their skill requirements effectively, and to ensure their future competitiveness. It then shows that educational and training institutions also need to anticipate employers' requirements, and so supply side institutions also need to anticipate employers' skills demand Finally, some theoretical evidence for skills forecasting is presented together with some practical developments of forecasting techniques undertaken by the Unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Delivering research skills training to health professionals through short, applied sessions outside a formal higher education program, can help fill gaps in training and build research capacity in clinical settings. This has been the endeavor of some of the Applied Research Collaborations funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research in England since 2014. How to evaluate this type of training in terms of the wider impact it may have, has not featured heavily in the literature and methods have largely borrowed from more generic approaches to training evaluation which can over-simplify outcomes and ignore longer-term impacts. Methods: We developed the framework in four stages: mapping potential impacts of our research skills training courses to identify key concepts; shaping into three domains in which impact could be expected, informed by established definitions of research capacity building; testing the initial framework and adapting wording of impacts; refining the framework into a practical tool. Results: The final framework specifies types of impact in three domains of influence - individual, group/organization and health system, and maps these against key questions to guide inquiry, as well as suggested methods for capturing the impact and expected timeframe for each type of impact. Discussion: The framework provides a structure for guiding the evaluation of research training as well as a focus on medium-longer term impacts, encouraging a broader and continuous approach to evaluation. It is hoped this will support educators in other contexts and fields, in the planning of a wider range of training evaluation activities, to capture impact more fully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term 'Black Wednesday' has been used to describe the August national changeover day, a day when a new cohort of inexperienced doctors start work, many of whom are absent from patient care to attend organisational induction and mandatory training. In this paper, we report on the development and implementation of a novel, interactive e-learning programme for induction and mandatory training for junior doctors in a district general hospital in south-west England from August 2013. This comprehensive mandatory-training programme with summative assessment saved 19.5 hours of trust time per trainee. Since the programme's inception, the completion rate has been 100% (n = 370). Subgroup analysis of starters from August 2013 (n = 141) showed that 85.7% completed by day 1 (mean time of completion 3.0 days before day 1, standard deviation 14.2 days). Importantly, 90 minutes of induction was freed on Black Wednesday, enabling earlier, ward-based clinical orientation, thereby enhancing patient safety. We believe that this is the first programme to combine induction with fully assessed, comprehensive mandatory training in a single package. Such an approach is suitable for widespread application and is to be implemented regionally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2000, Skills for Life, a new strategy for literacy, numeracy and language education was introduced in England. It included new core curricula, tough new targets for learner achievement, and significantly increased accountability requirements for teachers and colleges. Many teachers found aspects of this new system difficult. This paper analyses interviews carried out with teachers in 2002 to identify the reasons underlying their resistance. In the interviews, teachers consistently drew on a well-defined discourse which defined 'good' teaching as teaching that is responsive to the learner, negotiating teaching in response to learners' goals and characteristics, and flexible in the teaching moment. Resistance arose when aspects of the centralised strategy were perceived to constrain teachers' ability to respond to learners in this way, being driven more by external demands and advance planning than by responsiveness to learners. Teachers attempted to develop strategies to maintain responsiveness while working within the new strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we study whether substituting family inputs with school resources in an academically oriented environment has an impact on achievement in high-stakes national examinations. We use administrative data for England to estimate the effect of attending a selective boarding school that admits an unusually high share of pupils with low socio-economic status on attainment at the end of compulsory education. By using propensity score matching we obtain comparable control groups in selective non-boarding schools. Our main finding is that the probability of being in the top decile of achievement in the exams increases by about 18 percentage points compared to 59% for controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This article offers a reflection by a novice researcher undertaking an integrated clinical academic internship with the National Institute for Health Research and Health Education England. Aim: To offer insight into research internships, and demonstrate the benefits and challenges encountered. Discussion: Exposure to research while remaining in clinical practice gives nurses the opportunity to increase their knowledge, develop research skills and network. Associated challenges include feeling like a novice, balancing the demands of clinical practice and research, and the development of new skills. Conclusion: Internship programmes can create health systems in which practitioners also undertake research but there are associated challenges. Implications for practice: Research internships offer nurses insight and exposure to a world of research that may previously have been invisible to them; they can act as a platform for nurses to develop clinical academic careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reexamines the economics of premodern apprenticeship in England. I present new data showing that a high proportion of apprenticeships in seventeenth-century London ended before the term of service was finished. I then propose a new account of how training costs and repayments were distributed over the apprenticeship contract such that neither master nor apprentice risked significant loss from early termination. This new account fits both the characteristics of premodem apprenticeship and what is known about the acquisition of skills in modem and premodern societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We give a quantitative analysis of the nature of occupational change – based on the utilisation of skills – as women make the transition between full-time and part-time work. We show that one-quarter of women moving from full- to part-time work experience downgrading. Women remaining with their current employer are less vulnerable and the availability of part-time opportunities is far more important than the presence of a pre-school child in determining whether a woman moves to a lower-skilled occupation. These findings indicate a loss of economic efficiency through the underutilisation of the skills of many of the women who work part-time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the results of a study of skill loss conducted at Warwick University in England. Rate of performance decay over a wide range of skills and tasks; Skill loss in non-relevant employment and in unemployment; Comparison of value of output loss and refresher training cost; Implications of different training methods in producing different degrees of skill retention.