Search

Since the mid‐19th century, there have been concerns in England about suboptimal outcomes for care leavers. This paper draws on original data from case files of children who were admitted to the Children's Society between 1887 and 1894, and a contemporary study of outcomes for girls who had been brought up in Poor Law district schools, to explore the basis for these concerns. Widespread destitution in the community meant that many children in care were better fed, clothed and educated than their contemporaries. However, those who left the Poor Law schools were singularly ill prepared for independence, and the much vaunted training offered by the voluntary societies did not prepare children to enter occupations that would provide stable or well‐paid employment. Emerging understanding of the needs of care leavers for continuing support and protection was translated into policies and practices that continue to be relevant a hundred years later. However, factors that shaped the experiences of 19th century care leavers, such as short‐term financial considerations which led to compressed and accelerated transitions, and the principle of less eligibility, still tend to conflict with attempts to ensure that their needs are adequately met today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an account of an innovative research project that enabled the co‐creation with justice‐involved young people of a transformative framework of practice, termed Participatory Youth Practice (PYP). We present a description of our participatory research processes and reflect on our attempts to rebalance inherent power dynamics when working with marginalised young people. We demonstrate how young people's meaningful participation in research can strengthen their participation in service design and delivery. The embedding of the PYP framework in youth justice practice across a large region in England is a formative step in understanding the importance of young people's participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Screening can detect cancer earlier. Uptake of breast, cervical, and bowel cancer screening in England is below 75%. This study identifies the barriers and facilitators underpinning HCP screening behaviours which can support screening uptake, and reviews the design of real-world interventions targeting these, assessing for congruence between the two. The aim was to provide recommendations to improve the design of interventions.Design and Methods: Barriers/facilitators were identified by a literature review and qualitatively coded using the theoretical domains framework (TDF). Interventions were identified by stakeholders and coded using the behaviour change wheel and the taxonomy of behaviour change techniques. Congruence was assessed through comparing the intervention designs with behavioural science experts' recommendations which link the TDF domains to intervention design. Recommendations targeted missed opportunities.Results: Barriers/facilitators were extracted from 60 papers and most frequently coded to the TDF domains: environmental context and resources, knowledge and beliefs about consequences. Thirty-one interventions were identified, most frequently education, training or enablement functions, delivered via communication/marketing or service provision, and using BCTs designed to shape knowledge or highlight the consequences of or antecedents to screening. Intervention design was largely congruent with recommendations. However, there was less use of persuasion and modelling intervention functions and a reliance on BCTs such as providing instruction when other BCTs could be considered.Conclusions: Recommendations include to consider a broader range of intervention functions and BCTs, particularly for training interventions which should make use of recommended BCTs such as 'graded tasks'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Equals Formal Curriculum English Scheme of Work has been designed for that very small percentage of the school population, perhaps as low as one or two per cent, who have global learning difficulties (GLD) to such a degree that they are consistently working at levels significantly below their age‐related peers for all of their academic lives. The term GLD includes all those in England currently ascribed as having severe learning difficulties (SLD) and many if not most, currently ascribed as having moderate learning difficulties (MLD). Evidence of the difficulties faced by such pupils will become increasingly obvious beyond Year 1 at age 6, because the difficulties are global rather than specific. That is, they are likely to affect all learning, but will be particularly apparent in numeracy and literacy. This paper, the first of two, seeks to clarify why reading and writing are so extraordinarily difficult for this population and posits that the answers lie in challenging perceived wisdoms within the education system's predilections towards (i) regarding phonics as the only solution to reading difficulties (ii) persisting over time (and in the face of evidence to the contrary) with the view that children, young people and adults with GLD can make sufficient progress within phonics teaching and (iii) the use of differentiation of a standardised national curriculum model as being a sufficient answer to global learning difficulties. Clearly the main language used in England is English, but the principles and ideas outlined in this paper should apply in any language which uses a phonic structure when teaching language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the evolution of age‐group‐ and gender‐specific mortality and mortality inequality in England between 2003 and 2016, by comparing small geographic areas ranked by deprivation and grouped into bins of similar population size. We show that across all age groups, but especially in the older age groups (65+), there has been a clear and significant reduction in rates of mortality since 2003. In spite of these improvements, we continue to see significant inequalities in mortality across most age groups in 2016 and evidence of rising inequalities among women in the 65+ and men in the 80+ age groups. Furthermore, we see a striking stalling of the downwards trend in mortality and mortality inequality observed between 2003 and 2010 during the years of economic austerity in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis in England between 2010 and 2016. Analysis of specific causes of death among adults aged 20–79 allows us to examine the drivers and dynamics of these trends in more depth, as well as to consider scope for, and types of, interventions that would be appropriate at different ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite strong evidence supporting the expansion of midwife‐led unit provision, as a result of optimal maternal and perinatal outcomes, cost‐effectiveness, and positive service user and staff experiences, scaling‐up has been slow. Systemic barriers associated with gender, professional, economic, cultural, and social factors continue to constrain the expansion of midwifery as a public health intervention globally. This article aimed to explore relationships and trust as key components of a well‐functioning freestanding midwifery unit (FMU). Method(s): A critical realist ethnographic study of an FMU located in East London, England, was conducted over a period of 15 months. Recruitment of the 82 participants was purposive. Data collection included participant observation and semi‐structured interviews, and data were analyzed thematically along with relevant local guidelines and documents. Results: Twelve themes emerged. Relationships and Trust were identified as a core theme. The other 11 themes were grouped into six families, three of which: Ownership, Autonomy, and Continuous Learning; Team Spirit, Interdependency, and Power Relations; and Salutogenesis will be covered in this paper. The remaining three families: Friendly Environment; Having Time and Mindfulness; and Social Capital, will be covered in a separate paper. Conclusions: A relationship‐based model of care was crucial for both the functioning of the FMU and service users' satisfaction and may offer a compelling response to high levels of stress and burnout among midwives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sheds new light on return migration from Australia to the UK in the latter nineteenth century. It uses data from shipping records, and from a random sample of the 23,000 Australian‐born in the 1911 Census of England and Wales. Based on these sources, it estimates some 20% of migrants to Australia returned: higher among the wealthy, but still 12% of semi‐ and unskilled working class migrants returned. There was a preponderance of women among returnees. From that, and other evidence such as the geographic spread of returnees across England, the paper argues that social networks played critical roles in decisions to return. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the Sixth Urban Change and Conflict Conference which was held at University of Kent in Canterbury, England during September 1987. The author talks about the current course of new urban studies as told in the Canterbury tale of the conference. The author has focused on the role of culture, political power and state policies in the social production of uneven development. When he took time to closely read the entire lot of papers presented at, Canterbury, he found despite the trend toward barefoot empiricism not all of the empirical studies presented at Canterbury represent an endgame in the current quest to link structure, consciousness and social action. Unfortunately, the handful of purely theoretical papers presented at Canterbury avoided this quest altogether by continuing to unfold the arcane "logics" of capital, the market, the state, or the world system without reference to any real people or places in particular. The papers dealing with the relationship between household restructuring and household polarization were among the best at linking theoretical discussion to the empirical specification of local and regional variations in economic and political change.

Presents a list of discussion papers of London Business School's Centre for Economic Forecasting in London, England for 1997 and 1998.

Provides information on the 2nd International Conference on Corporate Governance and Direction in England on October 13-15, 1999. Request for papers on five key topic areas; International speakers; Booking form.

Whilst the link between young people's well‐being and the creative arts is strengthening, there is a lack of research which focuses on the roles that artists play to help teachers and parents engage young people in the creative arts. This paper explores the benefits of and barriers to artists working in education in six European countries (England, Iceland, Germany, Greece, Italy and Austria). Using the '5A's model of creativity' and a view of professional development taking place within 'landscapes of practice', the data were analysed in order to explain how creativity is operationalised in the different contexts. Our study highlights the need for policy at a national and transnational level to value the creative arts in order to help teachers cross boundaries and utilise the full potential of the creative arts in schools. Our study also highlights that further research is needed into how artists shape teaching and curriculum and how schools engage parents in the creative arts in order to build an evidence‐base relating to young people's positive mental health that can affect policy at these levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports findings from a study which sought to offer primacy to the voice of the child, using narrative approaches to encourage children and young people to share their lived experiences of neglect. Using a constructivist approach, this paper explores the relationship between the voice of the child and their narrative of neglect. Drawing on the notion of 'family narrative', the discussion examines how children's views are constructed and reconstructed through the process of telling. This research documents that whilst practitioners seek to present the authentic voice of the child, our understanding of 'voice' should be problematized to take account of the fact that it is mediated through a number of filters and lenses. By attending to the voice of the child in the context of their narrative, practitioners may move closer to understanding the lived experience of the individual by exploring feelings, motivations and the myriad of factors which may influence how and for what purpose voice is shared. Engagement with the voice of their child in the context of their narrative, facilitates the development of a social work meta‐narrative to inform effective intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Fingertip impressions preserved in the surface of clay artefacts can provide demographic details about the people who manufactured and decorated pottery vessels, and by extension allow exploration of the composition of communities of practice engaged in pottery manufacture. This paper describes the development of a method of measurement and analysis of fingertip impressions which were sometimes used as decorative motifs on pot surfaces. The technique can be applied to pottery from across archaeological periods; however, the research presented here focusses on communities of practice among Early and Middle Bronze Age potters of eastern England, and assessing their demographic make‐up through analysis of fingertip impressions. The preserved fingertip impressions reveal potting communities comprised children and women, but adult men were seemingly excluded, and suggest a connection between craft activity, age and sex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper unpacks new firm exit in a novel way. It theorizes that, even after controlling for a wide range of human capital and other factors, access to, and the management of, an overdraft facility powerfully influences the exit chances of a new firm. It then unpacks exits, distinguishing between new firms that exit leaving no debts (pure exiters) and those that exit leaving a debt (defaulters). A second distinction is between those exiting in the short‐ and the longer‐run. Using a bank‐based dataset, comprising nearly 6,000 new businesses in England and Wales tracked over a decade, it shows that, although there are similarities, financial management plays an important, but very different, role in explaining exit across the four groups. Overall, new firms with an overdraft have lower exit rates than those without, but the reverse is the case for defaulters. A second finding is that, although exceeding the terms of an overdraft enhances short‐run survival, it lowers survival in the longer‐run. These results highlight the powerful insights provided by private information held by the bank that is not normally available to academic researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How humans interact with nature affects the health of both people and ecosystems. Yet, long‐term data on nature engagement are scarce because traditional survey methods are expensive, time consuming and require commitment over multiple years. Digital data sources (e.g. aggregated data from online searches) have major potential as a supplementary source of information and, in the absence of available data, as a proxy for more direct measurement of nature engagement.Using Google Trends, we created a list of refined and relevant search terms relating to diverse outdoor spaces and activities. We then compared trends in Google search volumes in England across both a 1‐year and 10‐year period to those from Google Community Mobility Reports, and from nationally representative survey data (Natural England's People and Nature Survey and the Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment).Search, survey and mobility data all support a general increase in public engagement with nature since 2009, and a more substantial increase during, or following, the initial national 'lockdown' period of the COVID‐19 pandemic in England. Search volumes increased for many urban and rural outdoor green spaces (e.g. woodlands), blue spaces (e.g. reservoirs), exercise activities (e.g. walking, running and hiking) and explicitly nature‐based activities (e.g. fishing, wild swimming and encouraging wildlife).Overall, volumes of Google searches were more closely related with longer‐term (10‐year) trends from survey data, than shorter‐term changes during the COVID‐19 pandemic. There were statistically significant relationships between search volumes, survey data (self‐reported past behaviour) and mobility data (movement trends) for around half of comparisons. Of these, an average of 13–44% of variation in the data was explained.The findings show that Google Trends provides valuable information about public engagement with nature, which can help to supplement existing survey data by providing new insights about behavioural trends. The paper also provides a proof of concept for using Google Trends to understand changes in public engagement with nature, which could be applied to the many countries that lack long‐term survey monitoring. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Obesity rates are higher among people of lower socioeconomic status. While numerous health behaviour interventions targeting obesity exist, they are more successful at engaging higher socioeconomic status populations, leaving those in less affluent circumstances with poorer outcomes. This highlights a need for more tailored interventions. The aim of this study was to enhance an existing weight loss course for adults living in low socioeconomic communities. Methods: The Behaviour Change Wheel approach was followed to design an add‐on intervention to an existing local authority‐run weight loss group, informed by mixed‐methods research and stakeholder engagement. Results: The COM‐B analysis of qualitative data revealed that changes were required to psychological capability, physical and social opportunity and reflective motivation to enable dietary goal‐setting behaviours. The resulting SMART‐C booklet included 6 weeks of dietary goal setting, with weekly behavioural contract and review. Conclusion: This paper details the development of the theory‐ and evidence‐informed SMART‐C intervention. This is the first report of the Behaviour Change Wheel being used to design an add‐on tool to enhance existing weight loss services. The process benefitted from a further checking stage with stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developments in improved monitoring, asset management, and resource efficiencies led to the water industry promising a step‐change in the design and operation of these facilities: the "blending" of traditional engineering equipment with digital technologies. These apparent benefits inevitably produce new challenges of regulating an emerging techno‐political landscape. One of the regulations is Europe's Network and Information Systems Security Directive, which aims to improve cyber security across critical infrastructure providers. This paper focuses on the implementation of Network and Information Systems in the context of the water sector in England. At the national and supranational levels, Network and Information Systems acts as a boundary object that gathers diverse communities of practice without the need to establish common goals. Further, in the process of transposing the Directive into the sectoral context, Network and Information Systems requires interpretation by expert communities. We show how translating the regulatory scope to the sectoral landscape involves prioritizing some water governance goals over others. As diverse expert communities converge in their collaboration practices, their priorities align or stand in tension with public interests. We argue that cyber security regulations have potential to reconfigure water governance by refocusing strategic priorities away from traditional concerns of environmental governance. We suggest ways to maintain diverse collaborations across engineering, computing, and water expertise that Network and Information Systems implementation remains aligned with the goals of water governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To reassess the trends in upper urinary tract (UUT) stone disease burden and management in the UK during the last 5 years. Methods: The present paper is our third quinquennial analysis of trends in the management of renal stones in England. Data were collected using the Hospital Episode Statistics database for the years 2015–2020 inclusive. These were then analysed, summarized and presented. Results: The number of UUT stone episodes increased by 2.2% from 86 742 in 2014–2015 to 88 632 in 2019–2020 but annual prevalence remained static at 0.14%. The number of UUT stone episodes in those of working age has remained static but increased by 9% for patients aged > 60 years (from 27 329 to 29 842). The number of shockwave lithotripsy (SWL) treatments decreased by 6.8%. There was a further increase in the use of ureteroscopy (URS) between 2015 and 2020 of 18.9%. Within this subgroup, flexible URS had the most rapid increase in use, with a rise of 20.4% from 7108 to 8558 recorded cases. Over the 20‐year period from 2000 to 2020 there was a remarkable 257% increase in URS cases. There was a further decline in open surgery for UUT stone disease by 40%. Stone surgery day‐case numbers have increased by 14.7% (from 31 014 to 35 566), with a corresponding decline in the number of bed days of 14.3%. Emergency cases increased by 40%, while elective cases saw a slight increase of 1.9%. Conclusion: The present study shows a plateauing in the prevalence of UUT stone disease in England in the last 5 years, with a move towards day‐case procedures and an increase in the proportion of emergency work. For the first time in England, URS has overtaken SWL as the most common procedure for treating UUT stone disease, which might reflect patients' or physicians' preference for a more effective definitive treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the life‐history research approach, outlining its key aims and traditions. It suggests that what is often missing from life‐history research is the inclusion of young children as life‐history participants. This paper considers some innovative means for constructing children's life‐histories across 5 years of their primary schooling in Britain. These include interviews based on activities, games, role‐play, pictures and filming, and photography. The article concludes by narrating a short life‐history of one child who is a participant in our life‐history study of 23 'lower‐attaining' children. To close, I consider the critical role of life‐history research in highlighting social injustice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author explores the plan of the Department for Education to require schools in England to join a multi-academy trust by 2030 and its implications for the special educational needs and disability (SEND) provision and for the role of the mainstream school SENCo. Topics discussed include the accountability of trusts and schools for delivering high quality and inclusive education for students with SEND, the 2015 SEND code and the risks in the sharing of a SENCo between schools.

About one‐fifth of the total school population in England was recorded as having English as an Additional Language (EAL) in 2018. This paper reflects on the problems presented by the lack of a comprehensive national strategy and guidance for EAL provision, support, and training, and how these issues reveal the existence of ethnocentrism within educational policy and practice in England. The findings are based on interviews with educational staff and participant observation in schools conducted in three schools in Manchester, UK between December 2019 and February 2020 as part of the Horizon 2020 MiCREATE project. The authors question whether categorizing multilingual pupils in opposition to monolingual English speakers serves any practical purpose or merely 'others' these children, and they call for broader recognition of multilingualism within the national curriculum and educational practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thousands of examiners are employed to mark candidate scripts from the suite of public examinations offered to students during the compulsory and post-compulsory schooling phases in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. All examiners undergo training to ensure that they interpret correctly, and apply consistently, the mark scheme for their particular paper. Traditionally this training has been delivered face-to-face, but several benefits of an online training environment have been identified. This paper outlines the findings of an experimental study designed to quantify and compare the effects of face-to-face and online training on experienced examiners' marking reliability. A sample of 89 experienced examiners was randomly allocated to either a face-to-face or online training group. The participants marked 30 General Certificate of Secondary Education History scripts prior to receiving training and another 30 scripts following training. Two measures of reliability were calculated: marking accuracy (absolute mark differences) and consistency (rank order correlations). The findings suggest that both modes of training had comparable, statistically significant positive effects on examiners' accuracy and consistency. The evidence indicates that online training may be an effective alternative to face-to-face training for the purposes of standardising examiners' marking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The built heritage of most cities is heterogeneous, hybrid and multiple. However, certain heritage objects and meanings are invariably privileged over others in place-making strategies. In this paper we are interested in the production of local heritage and design discourses and their impact on the regulation of conservation and change in the built environment. Using the example of the legacy of post-war (i.e. 1950s and 1960s) modernist development in Manchester, England, the paper explores the performative work of place narratives in conservation policy. The contested heritage value of post-war modernist development in the UK is particularly relevant, given the difficulties posed by aspects of 1950s and 1960s design set against increased pressures for conservation. Accordingly, the conservation of aspects of 1950s/1960s urbanism can be fiercely resisted by urban leaders. Empirically, we examine the ways in which post-war heritage has been selectively incorporated into the dominant design and heritage narratives of the city of Manchester. Looking beyond Manchester, the paper contributes to conceptual debates about the situated politics of heritage and the institutional work performed by heritage discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst sex-work policy in England and Wales claims gender-neutrality, local and national prostitution strategies primarily focus on female street-based sex workers. Men who sell sex are generally absent or inadequately considered in such policies, and measures to regulate commercial sex markets are rarely considered in terms of their impact on male working practice. Drawing on the Coordinated Prostitution Strategy for England and Wales, this paper has two aims: first, to offer a gender-based critique of the current policy framework for England and Wales by arguing that sex-work policy is infused by a gendered understanding of sex work in which male identities are neglected or assumed deviant; and second to explore the notion that understanding sex work as it is performed locally is valuable when generating local and national policy. Informed by gendered readings of policy, social understandings of masculinity, and the (in)visibility of male sexual commerce this paper explores male sex work in the context of Manchester, England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Socio-economic status (SES) is a powerful predictor of attainment. Research has identified multiple mechanisms that underpin the effect of SES on attainment. For example, self-regulation (processes through which individuals direct and control their attention, emotion and behaviour) has been identified as one mechanism mediating the SES attainment gap. However, previous studies have not directly tested the statistical pathways by which children from lower SES backgrounds develop low self-regulation skills and subsequently poor attainment at the end of primary school. Adding the home learning environment, which is associated with both SES and self-regulation, further fleshes out the longitudinal pathways., Aims: We propose and test a new model where the relationship between SES and school attainment is sequentially mediated by the family home learning environment and the child's self-regulation., Sample: This study uses the Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education data set to study 2311 English children., Methods: We measured SES (via socio-economic disadvantage) based on an index of low parental education, occupation and income at age 3+. The home learning environment was measured by the Home Learning Environment Index at age 3+; self-regulation was a teacher report on the Child Social Behaviour Questionnaire at age 4+ and attainment was measured via scores on national assessments of English and Maths at age 11., Results: Our measure of disadvantage predicted attainment. The home learning environment predicted children's self-regulation skills. The relationship between disadvantage and attainment was sequentially mediated by the home learning environment and self-regulation., Conclusions: These findings suggest that home learning environment and self-regulation may play a sequential role in perpetuating socio-economic disparities in education., (© 2023 The Authors. British Journal of Educational Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society.)

This article describes two studies. The first study was designed to investigate the ways in which the statutory assessments of reading for 11-year-old children in England assess inferential abilities. The second study was designed to investigate the levels of performance achieved in these tests in 2001 and 2002 by 11-year-old children attending state-funded local authority schools in one London borough. In the first study, content and questions used in the reading papers for the Standard Assessment Tasks (SATs) in the years 2001 and 2002 were analysed to see what types of inference were being assessed. This analysis suggested that the complexity involved in inference making and the variety of inference types that are made during the reading process are not adequately sampled in the SATs. Similar inadequacies are evident in the ways in which the programmes of study for literacy recommended by central government deal with inference. In the second study, scripts of completed SATs Reading papers for 2001 and 2002 were analysed to investigate the levels of inferential ability evident in scripts of children achieving different SATs levels. The analysis in this article suggests that children who only just achieve the 'target' Level 4 do so with minimal use of inference skills. They are particularly weak in making inferences that require the application of background knowledge. Thus, many children who achieve the reading level (Level 4) expected of 11-year-olds are entering secondary education with insecure inference-making skills that have not been recognised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 will be implemented in England and Wales in 2007 and have consequences for dietitians who work with people who may lack capacity to make specific decisions. This paper will explore issues arising from the introduction of the Act and considers the implications for dietitians involved in the delivery of clinical care, using enteral feeding as an illustrative example. If patients lack capacity to make specific decisions, dietitians will be required to record if, how and why they reached a decision, how they are involved in the decision making process and need to be able to justify their actions in relation to those decisions. This paper discusses the importance of dietitians’ involvement in best interests decision making and considers the implications of decision making where people have drawn up a Lasting Power of Attorney. The role of such advance decisions is discussed and consideration is given to the potential compatibility of perspectives between the patient and family that may give rise to disputes. Dietitians may be well placed within multidisciplinary team working to ensure patients and their carers are part of the decision making process through effective communication and support for patients. Dietitians in England and Wales must consider the implications of the MCA upon their clinical practice and others outside these jurisdictions may like to reflect on the relevance of such developments in their own contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contends that the absence of an opt-out class action remains a yawning gap within English civil procedure. Various recent reform proposals have favoured opt-in procedural vehicles as the way forward. However, key features of these proposals – an opt-in approach and the use of a representative claimant – are subject to considerable reservations in jurisprudence from both England and elsewhere. Following a critique of these features, the article proposes that an ‘opt-out regime with brakes’ should be introduced, taking into account both the requirement for proportionality under the Civil Procedure Rules, and the invaluable lessons provided by the established Commonwealth statutory class actions regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the highlights of the 24th annual British Mastitis conference held at the Sixways Stadium in Worcester, England on October 17, 2012. Andrew Biggs of Vale Veterinary Group discussed the mixed results of the "National Mastitis Survey 2012." Information on the national udder health programme in Ireland is provided. A discussion on antibiotic resistance and its impact on animal and human health was given by Ortec Consultancy's Declan O'Rourke.

This paper develops understandings of how being publicly identified and consequently labelled as 'looked after' can have damaging consequences for young people, particularly in how they are perceived by their peers in the context of schooling. Based on qualitative research in northern England utilising participatory approaches with young people and interviews with support staff, we explore barriers that inhibit young people's sense of belonging. We highlight how the very processes and practices set up to support the young people can often have unintended consequences by routinely positioning them as Other, before considering the implications for education and schooling in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a summary of several research papers of London Business School's Centre for Economic Forecasting in London, England, including `Monetary Union: The Ins and Outs of Strategic Delegation,' by Paul Levine and Joseph Pearlman.

Cangialosi, Alegría, and Colmenero have made a comment on a paper of ours [Polym. Eng. Sci. 2022:1–13], in which we discussed the concern that the enthalpy recovery data reported by Cangialosi and co‐workers [Phys. Rev. Lett. 2013;111(9):095701] for polystyrene aged up to 15 K below glass transition temperature was anomalous and contradicted existing experimental results from the literature over a similar range of aging conditions. Their response shifts the focus away from the raised questions about their experimental results and attempts to invalidate the data that we cited in support of our argument. Here we respond to the comment and add additional analysis that suggests the structural recovery response of glassy materials exhibits smooth behavior over the full range of measurements, up to 7 or 8 logarithmic decades. We do this by referring to the work on the intrinsic isotherm down‐jump and memory responses of poly(vinyl acetate) between 40°C and 15°C over six logarithmic decades by Kovacs [Fortsch. Hochpolym. Fo. 1963;3(1/2):394–508], the small‐strain tensile creep of poly(vinyl chloride) quenched from 90°C to 40°C (approximately 40°C below Tg) over seven logarithmic decades from Struik [Polym Eng. Sci., 1977;17:165–173], and the volume recovery behavior for aging times up to 3 months in a temperature range between 95°C and −50°C by Greiner and Schwarzl [Rheol. Acta. 1984;23(4):378–395]. We also add discussion that an isothermal aging procedure using a vacuum oven is highly vulnerable to temperature errors due to the problem of good temperature control when the heat transfer mechanism is primarily radiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both England and the Netherlands have seen efforts to liberalise their audit markets for local government in recent decades. According to economic theory, these should benefit buyers as increased competition produces lower prices and improved quality. Increasing the number of competing audit firms in markets traditionally dominated by few large firms is widely seen as a key ingredient to this process. However, liberalisation has taken different paths in England, compared to the Netherlands. In England, a national‐level collaborative purchasing arrangement has seen a small number of large firms competing, whilst in the Netherlands, a free market has led to the withdrawal by Big‐4 firms and rapidly growing market share by mid‐tier and small firms. In this paper, we analyse contrasting market developments in local public audit in England and the Netherlands and accordingly analyse the underlying factors through applying an established framework for market analysis from industrial economics, Porter's five forces framework, together with an institutional logics approach to further understand the factors involved. We find the Porter framework a useful tool to identify structural differences between markets but one that requires further analysis to explain underlying dynamics, which in the case of Dutch and English local public audit markets is effectively provided by the use of concepts from institutional logics including a historical contingency analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The UK low‐risk drinking guidelines were revised in 2016. Drinkers were primarily informed about the guidelines via news media, but little is known about this coverage. This study investigated the scale and content of print and online textual news media coverage of drinking guidelines in England from February 2014 to October 2017. Methods: We searched the Nexis database and two leading broadcasters' websites (BBC and Sky) for articles mentioning the guidelines. We randomly selected 500 articles to code for reporting date, accuracy, tone, context and purpose of mentioning the guidelines, and among these, thematically analysed 200 randomly selected articles. Results: Articles mentioned the guidelines regularly. Reporting peaked when the guidelines revision was announced (7.4% of articles). The most common type of mention was within health‐ or alcohol‐related articles and neutral in tone (70.8%). The second most common was in articles discussing the guidelines' strengths and weaknesses, which were typically negative (14.8%). Critics discredited the guidelines' scientific basis by highlighting conflicting evidence and arguing that guideline developers acted politically. They also questioned the ethics of limiting personal autonomy to improve public health. Criticisms were partially facilitated by announcing the guidelines alongside a 'no safe level of drinking' message, and wider discourse misrepresenting the guidelines as rules, and highlighting apparent inconsistencies with standalone scientific papers and international guidelines. Discussion and Conclusions: News media generally covered drinking guidelines in a neutral and accurate manner, but in‐depth coverage was often negative and sought to discredit the guidelines using scientific and ethical arguments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student borrowing is a major higher education public policy issue, with students in both England and the United States increasingly relying on loans to finance postsecondary education. Our paper examines prospective higher education students' attitudes towards debt in England and the United States. It exploits a unique dataset which allows us to compare students' responses to similar surveys conducted in both countries during the same time period. Our study is the first of its kind to explore how students' borrowing attitudes differ across the two countries. It confirms widespread loan aversion among prospective higher education students in both countries. But students in the United States are more debt averse than their peers in England. These debt averse attitudes also predict lower intentions to pursue higher education, potentially exacerbating existing inequalities in access. We consider how these attitudes to borrowing are likely shaped by each country's distinctive student loan system. We conclude that the design of loans matters. England's income‐contingent loan repayments, in contrast to North America's mortgage style repayments, make borrowing less risky and reduce the impact of loan aversion on participation decisions, while borrowing is more common, and the system less complicated, in England. Thus, there are lessons for other countries considering introducing student loans or reforming their provision. We contribute to the extant literature on the determinants of, and socioeconomic differences in, higher education participation and the overlooked role of student debt aversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: During the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic in 2020, elective gastrointestinal endoscopy services were abbreviated for fear of viral transmission. However, urgent suspected colorectal cancer (CRC) referrals continued. Serendipitously, a national study suggested that a new faecal immunochemical test (FIT) might be helpful in triaging patients with colorectal alarm symptoms. Methods: This was a single centre observational study of patients referred using NG12 criteria between March and August 2020. Patients were triaged to the urgent cancer pathway for FIT ≥ 10 μg/g and investigated using the latest National Health Service England guidance. Demographic data, method of investigations, cancer and polyp detection rates were compared to patients referred in the 6 months prior to the use of FIT as a triage tool. Results: In all, 1192 patients (median age 70) were referred using NG12 guidelines during the pandemic period, compared with 1592 patients (median age 72) in the previous 6 months. CRC detection was similar in both groups (n = 45, 2.8% vs. n = 38, 3.5%; P = 0.248). Two patients with a negative FIT (0.36%) had CRC. Using FIT as a triage tool resulted in a significant reduction in the use of endoscopy (n = 477, 43.6% vs. n = 1186, 74.5%; P > 0.001) with a significant increase in CT scanning (n = 696, 63.6% vs. n = 750, 47.1%; P < 0.001). Conclusion: The use of FIT in NG12 patients triaged during the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic reduced endoscopy but not CT scanning and did not compromise CRC detection rates. It is a safe method that aids in reducing the burden on services greatly. A negative FIT test does not absolutely exclude CRC. What does this paper add to the literature?: We show evidence from one of the first trusts in England to implement the faecal immunochemical test (FIT) as a tool to triage the investigation of patients referred on a suspected colorectal cancer (CRC) pathway outside of a trial setting, showing it is safe and aids in reducing the burden on endoscopy in the everyday clinical setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Ascertaining whether mental health service users have children is a clinical requirement in UK health services, and acknowledgement of a patient's parenting role is necessary to enable engagement with their parenting experience and to facilitate support, both of which are associated with improved outcomes for the parent–child dyad. The current study sought to investigate the practice of mental health practitioners working in UK adult mental health services with regard to the following: Ascertaining whether patients have children; engagement with the parenting role of patients; engagement with the construct of 'think patient as parent'. Methods: Self‐report online/paper survey of 1105 multi‐disciplinary adult mental health practitioners working in 15 mental health trusts in England. Results: A quarter of adult mental health practitioners did not routinely ascertain whether patients had dependent children. Less than half of practitioners engaged with the parenting experience or the potential impact of parental mental health on children. Conclusions: The parenting role of patients is not routinely captured by large numbers of practitioners working in adult mental health settings. This is despite it being a mandatory requirement and an integral component of the systematic care of the adult, and preventative care for the offspring. Failure to engage with patients who are parents is a missed opportunity with profound downstream public health implications. The practice deficits identified in this study should be viewed in terms of broader structural failures to address the intergenerational transmission of poor mental health. Practitioner points: Some parents who have mental health difficulties may struggle to provide appropriate and effective care to their children. The parenting role can also exacerbate mental health difficulties.Identification of dependent children is a mandatory component of adult mental health clinical practice and is necessary to understand a parent's support needs.A quarter of adult mental health practitioners are failing to do so. A missed opportunity to engage with the support needs of the parent–child dyad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper discusses some key findings taken from a qualitative study conducted with gay and lesbian adopters and foster carers in England and Wales. The study examined the experiences of 24 self‐identified lesbians and gay men, who had been involved in adoption or fostering processes since the introduction of the Adoption and Children Act, 2002. This article will explore why participants chose to adopt or foster and their approach to relationships generated through these routes. Findings indicate that gay and lesbian applicants troubled dominant conceptualisations of family and kinship and revealed both heteronormative and nuclear constructions of parenting within adoption and fostering social work. In contrast, participants often demonstrated a reflexive and creative approach to caring for looked after children. This paper will therefore consider how professionals can recognise nuanced or complex relationships, situated beyond traditional frameworks, through drawing upon wider concepts within sociological literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effects of COVID‐19‐induced lockdowns on recorded crime in England. The enforcement of lockdowns at both the national and local levels allows unveiling the impact on criminal activities by type of shutdown policy. Using official crime data across the universe of local authorities, we find that unlike local lockdowns national lockdowns significantly change the shape of recorded criminal activity, with the first nationally‐imposed lockdown having the strongest impact. Findings also reveal that police operations play a prominent role in explaining changes in reported crimes. Back‐of‐the‐envelope calculations suggest that lockdowns reduced the economic costs of crime by £4.2 billion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) secondary art and design trainees facilitated an art education project for pupils at a specialist school for visual impairment (VI) in the Northwest of England. This paper focuses on the ways in which the art education project was designed to better prepare PGCE trainees for working with pupils with VI. There is an exploration of a series of reflections at the end of the art education project and again upon completion of the PGCE course. Feedback provided by PGCE trainees indicated the ways they were able to transfer the skills learnt regarding teaching pupils with VI into practice, as they embark upon their careers. Existing literature highlights variation across initial teacher training (ITT) in relation to what is taught regarding special educational needs, this is generally due to time constraints on one year ITT courses. The findings indicate these experiences have implications for practice. through following their journey, initially PGCE trainees were apprehensive about working with pupils with VI. However, facilitating the art education project enabled PGCE trainees to become more confident working with pupils. PGCE trainees were able to develop as teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the challenging – and frightening – times in which we now live, education is seen as playing a key role in making change for the better. However, the Department for Education's (2022) strategy on education for sustainability and climate change, applicable to schools in England, is lacking in many areas and fails to address students', teachers', and teacher educators' priorities. Crucially, the environment and climate emergency greatly concerns many children and young people and these issues should be addressed across the whole curriculum, not just in geography and science. Further, there needs to be more focus on emotions rather than facts, wellbeing rather than the economy. So, the question is: How can we 'green' art, craft and design education to ensure it is both effective and affective? Art can change the world because it is 'homeless, endless, and edgeless' – this sounds exciting but does not aid teachers in curriculum design. In this paper I will share an emergent manifesto for an environmentally responsible art, craft and design (ACD) curriculum... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, four colleagues working in teacher education reflect on a conversation. The conversation in question was a tangible discussion documented through frequent and purposeful email exchange, exploring traditionalist school art curricula through reference to lived experience, academic theory, and professional anecdote. The primary objective of this dialogic self‐enquiry was informal critical analysis of the cultural diversity and positioning of art objects that populate classroom curricula in English schools, starting with the 'African mask'. The secondary objective of our conversation was exploration of how complex talk on culture and curriculum might be modelled for schoolteachers yet to initiate similar conversations in their own professional contexts. We each provide reflections on the success of our conversation against these objectives and find that while email exchange provided some formal advantages for the structure of our discourse, this was not as we might have expected. The dialogue facilitated a rhizomatic deepening of our individual questioning of culturality in the classroom, which while nourishing was arguably unproductive in instrumental terms. Collectively, our reflections suggest that dialogue may be a critical catalyst for the latter, inherently private work of decolonising one's own critical teaching praxis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Friendship is a central focus in children's lives and is important for healthy development. During the Covid‐19 pandemic, children experienced restrictions on their interactions with friends. This research heard the voices of 10 children (7–11 years) in England regarding their friendships, drawing on data collected through creative participatory methods including drawings, photography and collages, and accompanying unstructured interviews. Findings provide new insights into how children endeavoured to maintain their friendships through virtual interactions, street/doorstep visits, and artwork, and how friendship disruption affected their well‐being. This paper argues for educators to heed the implications for the period of 'Covid recovery'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2021, Birmingham County Football Association (BCFA) in partnership with Newman University carried out a quantitative online review to assess coaches, volunteers, parents and young people's understanding of safeguarding information, policies and procedures in relation to football. This paper examines the findings from the children (aged 5–11) and young people (aged 12–17) using the Six Principles of Safeguarding to assess the current safeguarding measures in place to protect children and young people (CYP) playing grassroots football. The review found that whilst most CYP felt safe when playing organised football, there were some concerns raised from the young people in relation to angry parents, abuse and racism. Most children in both groupings had heard of the term safeguarding, but fewer had heard of the term welfare, and struggled to explain what welfare meant. A key finding and concern is that many CYP are not aware of the role of the Club Welfare Officer at their football club or that this might be someone to whom they can disclose issues concerning them. Furthermore, it became evident that further research, awareness raising and implementation of listening to and acting on children's voices needs to be fully embedded into safeguarding practice in children and young people's organised football. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Growing evidence of mental disorders among people going through the criminal justice system suggests the potential benefit of courts adding a Mental Health Treatment Requirement (MHTR) when sentencing an offender to a Community Order (sentence) in England and Wales. Although available since 2003, MHTRs have not been widely used, and there is little evidence on outcomes. Aim: To conduct the first large‐scale evaluation of mental health outcomes of people with an MHTR as part of their community sentence across multiple sites in England and Wales. Methods: Data were collected from 14 sites in England and Wales about individuals who were given an MHTR as part of a community sentence. They were assessed before and after this. During the MHTR, they received a psychotherapeutic intervention by assistant psychologists in a primary care framework. Measures of psychological distress (Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation—Outcome Measure), anxiety (Generalised Anxiety Disorder‐7) and depression (Patient Health Questionnaire) were completed before the MHTR was implemented and after completion. Results: Where paired sample t‐tests and Wilcoxon signed ranked tests were used, with samples ranging between 309 and 447 individuals, clinically significant changes were obtained for all measures. Most individuals (63%) were identified as experiencing a reliable change in at least two out of the three scales. Finally, a negative linear relationship, between measures at the start of the intervention and reliable change, was identified with higher pre‐measures, indicating that more initial distress, anxiety and/or depression were associated with more sizeable changes. Conclusions: This paper provides the first substantial evidence in support of the MHTR within a primary mental healthcare framework as an effective pathway to reduce mental health problems among individuals under probation supervision as part of a sentence after conviction for a criminal offence. This supports the expansion of the provision across England and Wales. Future research should take account of the non‐completers and explore the relationship between the MHTR, mental health improvements and reoffending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the nature of climate change education-related policy influence in England at a time when public consciousness about the need to accelerate climate change action was heightened, and as the 2018 climate strikes gathered momentum around the world. Informed by Foucault's concept of 'governmentalities', and using data generated through 24 exploratory interviews and reflexive thematic analysis, we examine the extent to which influential individuals were advocating for policy change. We discuss the nature of policy influence with particular reference to the 'stances' that individuals adopted relative to climate change education policy influence and noting a common tendency exhibited amongst participants which was a tendency towards 'deference'. Coupling our insights with theorisations of dissent, we consider how 'infra-political dissent' could support key individuals to 'step up' and influence for more effective policy relative to climate change education, and to other areas of education or environment policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why teachers choose their career has been a popular topic of research in many contexts since the introduction of the FIT-Choice framework by Watt and Richardson in 2007 to study teacher motivations. Although altruistic motivations have been identified as the common driving factor behind preservice teachers' (PSTs') decision to enter the field, there are other motivational factors--such as teaching being a career that fits well with family commitments, or choosing teacher education as a 'fallback' option--that are widely reported in different contexts. The introduction of incentives for student teachers in certain subjects has been subject to media criticism in England as promoting 'bursary tourism'. This study investigates the career entry motivations and teaching perceptions of PSTs from a university that is one of the key teacher education providers in the country, using the FIT-Choice framework. The paper discusses the findings (N = 115), including validation of the FIT-Choice scale, collecting data on 12 motivations and six perceptions, along with preliminary findings. It was identified that intrinsic career values were the highest rated motivation, followed by altruistic values such as the desire to make a social contribution and being a part of shaping the future of children and adolescents. Perceived abilities were also rated higher, while personal utility values and task returns--including monetary rewards--were rated very low. While the participants agreed that the job is professionally and emotionally demanding, it was promising to note that they were highly satisfied with their career choice, implicitly indicating their intention to continue in the teaching profession. Gender differences, along with field of study and training pathway differences in motivations and teaching perceptions are also discussed, with practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breaktimes are ubiquitous in English schools. Research suggests they have social value for children, but school staff often have a range of concerns about breaktimes and tend to undervalue them. However, there is little understanding about these times, not least because data are not collected about their organisation and characteristics. This paper brings together data from three national surveys undertaken in 1995, 2006 and 2017 of head teachers of primary and secondary schools to provide an understanding of the nature, organisation and staff attitudes towards breaktimes and how they have changed over 25 years. At each survey point, completed questionnaires were received from representative random samples of over 1000 primary and secondary schools. Results showed marked reductions in the average total amount of time for breaks, the virtual abolition of afternoon breaks and a decline in time available for lunchtime breaks. The reductions were largely for behavioural reasons and to increase time for learning. Results also show variations in the length of breaktimes across school types and in relation to socioeconomic disadvantage, and changes to the amount of supervision provided by schools. Attitudes towards breaks varied across primary and secondary phases, and the withholding of breaks was used by schools to address poor pupil behaviour and disengagement. Schools continued to have concerns about the management of behaviour during breaktimes, even when breaks had already been shortened. It is suggested that staff undervalue the potential contribution that breaktimes afford the development and wellbeing of children and young people in school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This paper considers home from the perspective of people living with dementia supporting ongoing discourse around ageing in place and the significance of creating more inclusive communities. Methods: Forty‐six home tour interviews led by people living with dementia were conducted in England and Scotland to better understand the connectivity between home and neighbourhood for people living with dementia. These interviews used a range of participatory and creative approaches including video, photographic images and in situ interviews. Data were analysed via reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Three themes were identified in data analysis. 1. Connected home and neighbourhood, where participants revealed the dynamic relationship between home and neighbourhood; 2. Practices of home, where participants discussed the everyday nature of their homes and routines; and 3. Displaying home and family, which reflected participant's biographical homes in the context of living with dementia. Discussion: The findings show that home holds multiple meanings for people living with dementia. For example, home is understood as a part of the neighbourhood and an extension of the home space into gardens and backyards, thus extending existing discourses that solely focus on the inside of people's homes. For people living with dementia, homes are also sites of negotiation and renegotiation where new meanings are created to reflect the changing nature and context of the home. There is not one fixed solution to these issues. Support and understanding for people living with dementia will need to evolve to adapt to the shifting dynamics and multiple meanings of home. Key points: Neighbourhoods begin within homes and are interconnected. This relationship has important implications for the discourse of ageing in place.'Home' for people living with dementia holds the same meanings for those without dementia, but with some notable differences. It is important to recognise the shifting dynamics of home and to recognise the complexity of home in the context of dementia. There is not a fixed solution to the challenges of ageing at home with dementia, but support and understanding need to evolve alongside people with lived experience.Homes are a site of renegotiation where new meanings are created to reflect the changing nature of home and the lived experience of home for those with dementia.The study has provided findings through innovation in the research design. The employment of creative methods enabled people living with dementia to participate in sharing their own narratives of home.The work provides evidence where there is a current gap in understanding 'what matters' about home for people living with dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2019, the Government for England published a consultation document on the changes to energy conservation and ventilation in homes for 2025, with an interim change effective from 2022. The 2025 proposed target was issued as the "Future Homes Standard." The Standard is aiming to produce highly efficient non‐domestic buildings which use low‐carbon heat and have the best fabric standards possible. Buildings built to the Future Buildings Standard will be zero carbon ready, with the ability to decarbonize over time alongside the national grid without any further energy efficiency retrofit work. The target for 2025 is effectively some 80% improvement in energy and carbon compared to the 2013 regulation. Midland Heart Housing Association decided to trial the various options available in the Future Homes Standard under a project called "Project 80." This comprises an initial development of 12 family homes, constructed with a mix of AAC and aggregate concrete masonry. The first residents moved into their homes in 2022 and have gone through training to understand how the technologies will work in their homes. The homes model how to do this in three different ways, using different technologies. The constructions using AAC are given in this paper, with the technical details of the build. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]