Education, Disadvantage and Place

Education, Disadvantage and Place
Author: Kerr, Kirstin
Publisher: Policy Press
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2014-09-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1447311213

In England, as in countries across the world, shrinking public funding, growing localism, and increased school autonomy make tackling the link between education, disadvantage and place more important than ever. Challenging current thinking, this important book is the first to focus on the role of area-based initiatives in this struggle. It brings together a wide range of evidence to review the effectiveness of past initiatives, identify promising recent developments, and outline innovative ways forward for the future. It shows how local policymakers and practitioners can actively respond to the complexities of place and is aimed at all those actively seeking to tackle disadvantage, including policymakers, practitioners, academics and students, across education and the social sciences.

Excellent Sheep

Excellent Sheep
Author: William Deresiewicz
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2014-08-19
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 147670273X

A groundbreaking manifesto about what our nation’s top schools should be—but aren’t—providing: “The ex-Yale professor effectively skewers elite colleges, their brainy but soulless students (those ‘sheep’), pushy parents, and admissions mayhem” (People). As a professor at Yale, William Deresiewicz saw something that troubled him deeply. His students, some of the nation’s brightest minds, were adrift when it came to the big questions: how to think critically and creatively and how to find a sense of purpose. Now he argues that elite colleges are turning out conformists without a compass. Excellent Sheep takes a sharp look at the high-pressure conveyor belt that begins with parents and counselors who demand perfect grades and culminates in the skewed applications Deresiewicz saw firsthand as a member of Yale’s admissions committee. As schools shift focus from the humanities to “practical” subjects like economics, students are losing the ability to think independently. It is essential, says Deresiewicz, that college be a time for self-discovery when students can establish their own values and measures of success in order to forge their own paths. He features quotes from real students and graduates he has corresponded with over the years, candidly exposing where the system is broken and offering clear solutions on how to fix it. “Excellent Sheep is likely to make…a lasting mark….He takes aim at just about the entirety of upper-middle-class life in America….Mr. Deresiewicz’s book is packed full of what he wants more of in American life: passionate weirdness” (The New York Times).

Becoming Educated

Becoming Educated
Author: John Smyth
Publisher: Adolescent Cultures, School, and Society
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014
Genre: Children with social disabilities
ISBN: 9781433122118

Becoming Educated examines the education of young people, especially those from the most 'disadvantaged' contexts. This book shifts the focus to matters such as taking social class into consideration, puncturing notions of poverty and disadvantage, understanding neighborhoods as places of hope and creating spaces within which to listen to young peoples' aspirations.

Overcoming Disadvantage in Education

Overcoming Disadvantage in Education
Author: Stephen Gorard
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2013-08-22
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1135009538

Governments, local authorities, school leaders, and teachers all over the world want to improve the educational attainment and participation of all students, and to minimise any systematic differences in outcomes for social and economic groups. A particular concern is for those students from backgrounds that may objectively disadvantage them at school and beyond. However, considerable effort and money is currently being wasted on policies, practices and interventions that have very little hope of success, and that may indeed endanger the progress that is being made otherwise. The poor quality of much education research evidence, coupled with an unwillingness among users of evidence to discriminate appropriately between what we know and do not know, means that opportunities are being missed. At a time of reduced public spending it is important that proposed interventions are both effective and efficient. Overcoming Disadvantage in Education is unique in the way that it: Shows where the solutions to underachievement and poverty lie combines primary(new), secondary (official) and published (review) evidence distinguishes between those possible causes of underachievement that are largely fixed for individuals, and those that are modifiable. There are evidence-informed ways forward in handling under-achievement and increasing social justice in education. This book shows which the more likely approaches are, and where further work could yield further benefits. This book will be a key text for students, developing academic researchers and supervisors in the social sciences, and for those research users charged with improving educational outcomes.

Reducing Educational Disadvantage: A Strategic Approach in the Early Years

Reducing Educational Disadvantage: A Strategic Approach in the Early Years
Author: Penny Tassoni
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 186
Release: 2016-05-05
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1472933001

Winner of the ERA award for Early Years _______________ On average, children from low income backgrounds enter reception with lower scores in literacy and mathematics than their peers. This book provides early years practitioners with the skills to narrow this gap. In the early years, children's cognitive development is largely shaped by their home environment, but research shows that on average, children who are entitled to free school meals start primary school with lower scores in reading and mathematics than their peers. As an early years practitioner, you can influence these children's learning within your setting, and help them to achieve the same levels as their more affluent peers. That's what this book aims to do: help you to narrow the gap. This unique book shows you how to provide a 'safety net' for children who are most at risk of underachievement. You will be taught about the different factors that positively impact upon children's learning (including adult interaction and literacy and mathematical experiences) and how they link to good practice within the EYFS. From tips for creating a rich, and diverse play environment for them to enjoy, to suggestions on how to carefully guide activities and experiences, this book will help you to establish a strong, long term education programme. You will be amazed at the impact you will have upon these children simply by making small changes to your practice and planning, and you might even increase your setting's chance of gaining an 'outstanding' Ofsted grade.

The Palgrave Handbook of Positive Education

The Palgrave Handbook of Positive Education
Author: Margaret L. Kern
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 788
Release: 2021
Genre: Child psychology
ISBN: 3030645371

"The approaches outlined in this volume will help expand the narrow focus on academic success to include psychological well-being for students and educators alike. It is a must-read for anyone interested in how positive outcomes such as life satisfaction, positive emotion, and meaning and purpose can be optimized in the educational settings." -- Judith Moskowitz, PhD MPH, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, USA, IPPA President 2019-2021 This open access handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the growing field of positive education, featuring a broad range of theoretical, applied, and practice-focused chapters from leading international experts. It demonstrates how positive education offers an approach to understanding learning that blends academic study with life skills such as self-awareness, emotion regulation, healthy mindsets, mindfulness, and positive habits, grounded in the science of wellbeing, to promote character development, optimal functioning, engagement in learning, and resilience. The handbook offers an in-depth understanding and critical consideration of the relevance of positive psychology to education, which encompasses its theoretical foundations, the empirical findings, and the existing educational applications and interventions. The contributors situate wellbeing science within the broader framework of education, considering its implications for teacher training, education and developmental psychology, school administration, policy making, pedagogy, and curriculum studies. This landmark collection will appeal to researchers and practitioners working in positive psychology, educational and school psychology, developmental psychology, education, counselling, social work, and public policy. Margaret (Peggy) L. Kern is Associate Professor at the Centre for Positive Psychology at the University of Melbourne's Graduate School of Education, Australia. Dr Kern is Founding Chair of the Education Division of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA). You can find out more about Dr Kern's work at www.peggykern.org. Michael L. Wehmeyer is Ross and Mariana Beach Distinguished Professor of Special Education; Chair of the Department of Special Education; and Director and Senior Scientist, Beach Center on Disability, at the University of Kansas, United States. Dr Wehmeyer is Publications Lead for the Education Division of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA). He has published more than 450 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and is an author or editor of 42 texts. .