Emerging issues from The Good Childhood Inquiry

1. Emerging issues from The Good Childhood Inquiry Bob ReitemeierChief Executive The Children’s Society Childhood, Well-being and Primary Education Conference London, 17 March 2008

2. Emerging issues from The Good Childhood Inquiry • This presentation will focus on: • Emerging issues raised in evidence to The Good Childhood Inquiry from: • 9,500 children and young people • Over 1,500 adults and professionals • Some research evidence that relates to these issues • Questions to consider

3. According to children, what is a good childhood? • Friends • Relationships in general • Love and support • Having fun and enjoying life • Bullying

4. According to children, what is a good experience of learning? • Being with friends • A good education in a general sense • Teachers that are supportive, interactive & fun • Directing their own learning • Pressure of expectations, schoolwork and exams • Disruptive behaviour • Unfair or unreasonable rules

5. According to adults, what is a good childhood? • Love • A moral framework / guidelines for behaviour • Stability and safety • Time together as a family • Poverty • Family breakdown • The influence of TV and new technologies

6. According to adults, what is a good experience of learning? • Play and exposure to risk • Education of the whole child • Parental involvement • Tensions between ‘being’ and ‘becoming’ • Pressure on children to achieve • School choice and admissions policies • Disparities in learning experiences of different children

7. What do we know from research about friendship? • Friends are important to children from a very early age, and are linked to their social and emotional development (Dunn, 2004) • Friends are a protective factor e.g. when children start school and if they are being bullied (Ladd, 1990; Hodges & Perry, 1999) • More teenagers in 2006 (18%) do not have a best friend that they can ‘really trust’ than in 1986 (13%) (Collishaw et al, in press) • UK fared badly in UNICEF analysis of child-wellbeing and for children finding their peers ‘kind and helpful’ (UNICEF, 2007)

8. What do we know from research about bullying? • UK came 16th out of 21 countries for 11, 13 and 15 year olds reporting being bullied in previous 2 months (UNICEF, 2007) • Bullying is widely experienced: 5-10% persistently bullied (Sharp et al, 2002). But evidence of a slight decline recently (Smith, 2007) • Different types of bullying e.g. relational and cyberbullying; latter may be on the increase (Noret and Rivers, 2006) • Some children especially vulnerable e.g. children with a disability or SEN are 2 to 3 times more likely to be bullied (Smith, 2007) • Children are more likely to tell a friend than a teacher or parent but some tell nobody (Smith, 2007). Friends are an important protective factor (Hodges et al, 1999 Schwartz et al, 2000)

9. What do we know from research about disparities in learning? • At the individual level: • Rising attainment overall but persistent ‘long tail’ left behind: 25% do not get a single GCSE at C or above (Cassen and Kingdom, 2007) • In UNICEF analysis, UK above average for educational achievement, below average for staying on rates and for NEET (UNICEF, 2007) • Stark differences in attainment on basis of: • SES: 33% of FSM v 61% non-FSM get 5 A*-Cs • Gender: 61% of girls v 51% boys get 5 A*-Cs • Ethnicity: Chinese & Indian attain higher; but only 1/3 of Gypsy/Roma/Traveller at expected reading & writing levels at 7 • Looked after children: only 11% get 5 A*-Cs • (Equalities Review, 2007)

10. What do we know from research about disparities in learning? Progress in educational outcomes for very young children, by socio- economic status at birth Source: Feinstein reproduced in The Equalities Review (2007)

11. What do we know from research about disparities in learning? At the school level: • Wide variation in schools: • In bottom 10%, only 32% achieve 5 A*-Cs • In top 10%, 80% achieve 5 A*-Cs • A level of choice is exercised: >50% of secondary pupils do not go to their closest school (Burgess et al, 2004) • But poorer children less likely to have a good school amongst nearest three: 44% of FSM v 61% of non-FSM (Burgess et al, 2006) • Children’s Society poll: 51% of adults would be prepared to move house, and 14% to give false information to get their child into a good state school • What is a good school? One in which students progress further than might be expected from their intake (Sammons, 2007)

12. What do we know from research about different aspects of learning? • Different aspects of learning: • A rounded picture of a good school would assess attitudes, attendance, behaviour and self-esteem, as well as academic attainment (Sammons, 2007) • Social, emotional and academic competence complement each other • Learning to manage the emotions can assist learning (Greenhalgh, 1994) • Programmes that teach social and emotional competences (mainly in the US) linked to wide range of educational gains e.g. improved school attendance, higher motivation, and higher morale • (Durlak, 1995; Durlak and Wells, 1997; US Government’s General Accounting Office, 1995; Catalano et al, 2002).

13. What’s it all about? • What is the purpose of education? • Given the importance of friends to children, what can we do inside and outside schools to better support children’s friendships? • What should the respective roles of schools and parents be in children’s learning, and how might we better support the relationship between them? • How can we improve the learning experience of those that are not doing well in the current system e.g. children with low attainment, that regularly truant or have been excluded?

14. Emerging issues from The Good Childhood Inquiry