At Risk Students

Below is a list of warning signs that an educator may see with these types of abuses. Warning Signs of Potential Abuse: Be aggressive, oppositional, or defiant * Act out, displaying aggressive or disruptive behavior * Fear of going home * Be described as â€Å"accident prone† * Being a low achiever * Showing regressive or less mature behavior * Dislike or shrink from physical contact These are just a few of the signs that are listed as â€Å"Behavioral Clues That May Indicate Child Abuse† (Cross-Tower, 2003, Para. ), since bruises are not always a sure indicator of abuse. Warning Signs of Potential Drug Abuse: * Withdrawal * Isolation Fatigue Depression * Aggressive Rebellious Behavior * Change in Friends * Drop in Academic Performance These are a few of the signs that In an article by Bowers (2013) and according to him, â€Å"[m]ore than one of these behavioral changes must be present In the student for a substantial amount of time before an assumption is made by a te acher about drug use† (up. 2).Warning Signs of Suicidal Tendencies: * Loss of interest in activities previously enjoyed * â€Å"Acting out† verbally or physically, at home or at school * Preoccupation with death and dying * Loss of Interest or participation In school life Sudden reports of trouble at school * Difficulty concentrating These are a few signs that could indicate, â€Å"[p]attention signs of suicidal feelings and Houghton† (Boson's Children Hospital, 2013, Para. 18); however, these could also be signs of depression.Moreover, a teacher should see assistance If these signs appear If one of my students had any of these signs, I would be concerned. The first thing I would do is my research and find out what the protocols are when reporting suspicions of child mistreatment or abuse. Secondly, in these cases I wouldn't second guess myself and I would report my suspicions to the appropriate authority, in addition, I would indicate that these are suspicions a nd that I do not know for sure if abuse is occurring. Furthermore I would do was talk to the child to see if they are willing to disclose what is going on with him or her.If the child discloses anything, I will add that to my suspicions when I turn in my report to the proper authorities. I will continue to keep a watchful eye on the student, and if anything else occurs after I make my report, I will turn that information in as well. Next, I will follow the progress that is going on in the case and ask for any updates available. Moreover, my main priority at all times is my student's well-being and I will continue to report each case f abuse I witness because it is my responsibility to ensure my student's safety and well-being when he or she is in my care.

Submit and Syllabus

Facts:-During fall 2012, Simpson submitted a Syllabus Acknowledgement. -Course syllabus contains information about course requirements, grading procedures, and late or missing assignments. -Course syllabus informed students that Assignment 10 was due no later than 12pm, November 2, 2012. -Simpson turned in assignment at 12:31pm on November 2, 2012 -Professor Skinner reduced Simpson’s grade from 100 to 85. -Simpson had not asked for additional time to complete the assignment.Professor Skinner admitted he would have given an extension had Simpson asked for one. Issue: Does Professor Skinner have the discretion to deduct an arbitrary number of points from a late assignment? Holding: Yes, Professor Skinner does have the discretion to deduct an arbitrary number of points from a late assignment. Reasoning: The court cited that the fact that Simpson neither read nor understood the Syllabus Acknowledgement is irrelevant. Simpson signed and submitted the Acknowledgement. Therefore Simp son agreed to follow the course requirements.He the violated those terms by knowingly submitting his assignment late. He is subject to a penalty for submitting his assignment late. Simpson should have been aware of his rights and duties as a student. Since he knowingly submitted his assignment late and/or failed to request additional time, Professor Skinner had the authority and discretion to impose the 15 point penalty. The course syllabus states that â€Å"assignments are due on time. Late points may be applied at the instructor’s discretion. † (Syllabus, p.2)â€Å"Students may submit requests for extra time. If granted, the instructor cannot deduct late point. † The Syllabus Acknowledgement states, in plain English, that by signing and submitting the Acknowledgement the student avows that he had â€Å"read the syllabus and agrees to all the course requirements. † (S. A. p. 11) Simpson admitted that he submitted a Syllabus Acknowledgement without readin g it. The syllabus does not limit the instructor’s discretion in any way, therefore it is the decision of the court that the grade of 85 is upheld.

Science Friction Lab Report

I. Purpose/Problem/Question Which type of friction is the largest force – static, sliding, or rolling? Which is the smallest? II. Background Information From our previous activities that we did in class, I know that static friction is a very large force. The force is larger than rolling, sliding, and fluid friction. I also learned that rolling friction is the smallest type of force. This information may connect to my final analysis. III. Hypothesis If static friction is the largest force, then either sliding or rolling friction have to be the smallest force. IV. Experiment Materials * Scissors String * Textbook (covered) * Spring scale (force meter) * 3 to 4 wooden or metal rods Procedure Cut a piece of string, and tie it in a loop that fits in the textbook. Hook the string to the spring scale. Practice the three steps several times before you collect data. To measure next the static friction between the book and the table, pull the spring scale very slowly. Record the largest force on the scale before the book starts to move. After the book begins to move, you can determine the sliding friction. Record the force required to keep the book sliding at a slow, constant speed.Place two or three rods under the book to act as rollers. Make sure the rollers are evenly spaced. Place another roller in front of the book so that the book will roll onto it. Pull the spring scale slowly, Measure the force needed to keep the book rolling at a constant speed. V. Data/Results | Trial 1| Trial 2| Trial 3| Average| Static Friction | 4 N| 7 N| 6 N| 5. 67 N| Rolling Friction| 1 N| 2 N| 1 N| 1. 33 N| Sliding Friction| 4 N| 4 N| 5 N| 4. 33 N| Experimental Error: No cover on textbook. VI. Analysis I found out that static friction has the most amount of force than the others.The smallest amount of force was the rolling friction. It was by far a smaller force than static friction. Static friction had an average of 5. 67 N of force while rolling friction only had an average of 1. 33 N of force. Just for the record, sliding friction had an average of 4. 33 N of force. In this experiment, I learned that static friction has more force than I thought it did. In the beginning, I thought it was a very small force because I connected the word â€Å"static† to the static we watch on television when there is no connection.That is why I though that it was a weak force. It turned out to be the other way around. I did do one experimental error which was that there was no cover on the textbook I was using. Some other experimental errors could have been that the wooden planks were defected or the spring scale was defected. Some human errors might have been that I read the spring scale wrong. Another error would be that when I calculated static friction, the book might’ve slid without me noticing. The results I came up with at the end turned out to be the way I predicted.My results did in fact support my hypothesis. VII. Conclusion After all the experimentat ion, I figured out that static friction is the largest force of rolling and sliding friction, and that rolling friction is the smallest of the forces. VIII. Post Lab Questions Q: Which type of friction was the largest? Which was the smallest? A: The largest type of friction was static friction. The smallest was rolling friction. Q: Do the results support your hypothesis? If not, how would you revise or retest your hypothesis?A: The results do support my hypothesis. Q: Compare your results with those of another group. Are there any differences? By working together, design a way to improve the experiment and resolve possible differences. A: In the group that I compared with, the results were not that different. The results were infact very similar. The only thing that had a big jump was the average of the static friction. My average was 5. 67 N and his was 7. 33 N. I think this is because I did not have a cover on the textbook, but he did.

Conflicting Issues in Business Organizations Essay

Conflicting Issues in Business Organizations - Essay Example Making use of conflict as an agent of equalizing the differences, business organizations are sure to gain strength from the said idealism. As mentioned earlier, competition among organizational members is one particular form of conflict. However, instead of seeing it as a major source of conflict of differences in the organization, it could be used as the key matter that could motivate people in achieving higher than what the others is able to achieve. In this track, the conflict of competition is already viewed as something that is healthy for the organizations' sake. However, dealing with the situation usually involves more than just making amends between the two different ongoing opinions between two different individuals or groups at that, who are thriving within a certain single organization. The conflicts between people and how each undeniable misunderstanding occurs are based in a process of conversing, interpreting and wrong response. To understand further, here are some of the communication problems that occur which usually turns into different levels of relationship conflicts: This is the way by which a person intends to manipulate the thinking of the other person through questioning the attitudes of the other. Not only that, the situation usually aggravates the questioning of the attitude of the other towards the other person. Robert Bolton comments on the matter saying: "Many of us feel we need to be critical, or other people will never improve we make a negative evaluation of the other person, for his or her actions, or attitudes." (1999) The attitude of man to even aggravate the situation being faced by the other because of some emotional attachment to the issue makes this particular roadblock an effective way of stopping or heating up a particular conversation. Name-calling At some point, when people get pissed off because of a heated conversation, they tend to course the other or at times they name-call the others with insulting titles that makes it hard for the other party of communication to understand clearly what is happening. The result then leads to a more aggravated heated conversation. Bolton further adds, "Name calling and labeling usually have negative overtones to both the sender and receiver. Labeling prevents us from getting to know ourselves and other individuals." (1999) Diagnosing At some point, when people argue over something, they become too much sensitive with how the other reacts upon a certain situation or how a person intends to talk back to them. The sensitiveness results to diagnosis of the reaction of the other and the way of speech that he or she uses within the conversation. Instead of simply listening to what the person says, reading between the lines becomes another way of decoding the bodily message of the person who is speaking. Another comment from Bolton reads: "We analyze why a person is behaving as he or she is. Playing amateur psychiatrist. Diagnosing is a form of labeling. Instead of listening to the substance of what a person is saying, some people play emotional detective." Praising Evaluatively Praising others with the good things that they do is not wrong. However, praising

Secret reserve accounting is likely to create conflict between Essay

Secret reserve accounting is likely to create conflict between management, shareholders and employees - Essay Example It would represent the surplus of available assets over the capital and liabilities. It is not apparent in the ledger too. Creating secret reserves is likely to strengthen the financial situation of the organisation concerned. The actual financial position and the financial position observed through the balance sheet would be different – the financial position of the company would be stronger than its apparent situation on records. As a result, conflicting inferences are likely to be obtained when it comes to secret reserve accounting. Creating secret reserves will definitely involve the management, some of the employees and the shareholders are likely to remain in dark. Secret reserve accounting will not show even under the suspense account and affect the capital flow in a concealed fashion. Undervaluation of available assets, omitting the rise in asset values, providing extra depreciation on the assets that are fixed, etc. are the methods of secret reserve accounting. In thi s context, the question is in the form of the following statement: Secret reserve accounting is likely to create conflict between management, shareholders and employees. – Critically discuss. ... After that, the various conflict scenarios between the management, shareholders and employees will be critically discussed. Last, the conclusion will be drawn with the final opinion about the research statement. Literature Review The academic literature in the context of secret reserves reveals interesting opinions and scholastic approaches. First, a view on the nature and scope of secret reserve as an accounting term should be considered. â€Å"Secret reserves – this accounting term has been made to cover a multitude of sins: whenever objection is taken to pessimistic writing off of invested values, or disproportionate charges of depreciation, or again to charges to operations or revenue, for capital expenditures which should have been applied to the increase of assets, the answer is, secret reserves.† (Esquerre, 1978) So if the owner of a corporation is creating secret reserve and implementing related accounting practices, his/her capital assets have likely been knock ed down into the pit of secret reserves and that their book value, as it stood at the time, was likely preposterous. Hence the questions in issue would be: Does the owner want to deceive the shareholders, the government, the public or his own self? Does he wish to submit to the directors, the shareholders, the banks and the public, financial statements with a mental footnote to the effect that things are not in truth what they would show on their face? And if it is well to hide the owner’s wealth from some people (in his perspective), can it be believed that anyone capable of reading balance sheets is not in a position to follow accounting facts from year to year, and to point out fluctuations in wealth not supported by the statement of income submitted, and thus unearth secret

Jet Li as Transnational Actor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Jet Li as Transnational Actor - Essay Example He has taken different career paths such as martial arts, film production, martial arts and acting. He started training for martial arts when he was still a young boy. He trained rigorously in Wu Bin and this helped him in winning a championship in the Wushu competition. This was the turning point of his life. He retired from Wushu when he was 19 years old. He now started acting in several Chinese martial arts film. Later he performed in other Hollywood movies the Expendables being on of the movies that hit the box office movies list. This article is review of Jet Li development in his career an actor, how his various roles in varied cultures have grown him and the overall public reception he has had. Jet Li Careers in Martial Art at Wushu Li was born the last born of a family of five children. When he was only two years, his father died leaving his mother with the huge responsibility of raising the children alone. Jet Li joined Wushu when he was very young. At the age of 8, his trai ners realized the talent that he possessed and he was enrolled for classes. He participated in the sports performed by the Wushu teams. This team would perform in the all Chinese games and this gave him the exposure he needed in martial arts. During this time, he was coached by Wu Bin and Li Junfeng. The coaches realized the talent in this young man and would even go an extra mile to ensure that he did not miss on practice and that he performed well. Jet Li came from a poor family background. The coaches would buy Jet Li family meat as this was the diet recommended for a fighter. A diet with meat as a predominant content was crucial to keep an athlete physically fit. As a member of the wushu team, He traveled to 45 different countries to perform. In 1974, he performed together with the Wushu team before the former president of America Richard Nixon. Nixon was deeply impressed by Jet Li prowess that he requested him to be his personal body guard. Jet Li turned this offer down because he said that he was not meant to protect an individual but hoped that when he grew up he would be able to protect a billion Chinese citizens. During this performance, he won the All Round National Wushu Championship a title he continued to hold for the next five consecutive years. When at Wushu, Jet Li trained on several Wushu martial skills. Among them include praying mantis fist, drunken fist, eagle claw fist, shape intent fist and northern long fist style (Ushan, 2011: 182). He retired from Wushu when he was just seventeen and this is the time he began his acting career. Acting Career Chinese Films Li releases his first film in 1982 and it was called the Shaolin Temple. This movie became a hit in china and opened him to Chinese film. He later relocated to Hongkong where he acted in several Chinese martial arts movies. He got his screen name in 1982 when a publicity company in Philippines though that his real name was hard to pronounce. They likened his new career with a jet whic h takes off very fast. The name jet Li was born and was placed on his movie poster. Soon, people started referring him with his new name which is stuck and he has used it ever since. In 1991, he acted in another Chinese film called the Once Upon a Time in China. Here, he assumed the role of a legendary hero who fought against invaders thereby safeguarding and protecting the lives and property of his countrymen (Leon, 2005: 216). Later he acted in the movie fist of Legend which was a

Four Circles of HR Professionalism Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Four Circles of HR Professionalism - Assignment Example This involves having a knack for managing people and conducting activities which may include hiring and recruiting the staff, managing work culture and job performance within an organization, training the personnel working within an organization, assuring that the staff complies with the rules and regulations in an organization, and the overall management of the behaviour of personnel at the workplace (Sartain &Finney 2005). Thereby in a professional context, any HR manager does need to be astutely aware of as to how to conduct oneself at the workplace (Kulik 2004). There stand to be some predominant professional considerations related to the workplace that an HR manager does need to hold sacrosanct. As an HR I am well aware of the fact that within a professional environment it is not only the sacrosanct ‘best practices’ but also an array of rules and regulations that my conduct needs to be subservient to. I am well aware of the fact that for the personnel I manage, I am the actual company. Not only the staffs that I manage to view me as the management but in the courts of law, I will also be considered to be the actual employer (Muller 2012). This realization has a serious impact on my professional conduct. I am well aware of the fact that as an HR manager I will always be directly held responsible for the things I do or fail to do for the employees (Muller 2012). The other thing that I always keep in my mind is that employees never leave organizations; they mostly tend to leave bosses. Thereby I also keep in my mind that every employee that comes to work in the organization is not a passive toolbox, but rather a complete person with a heart and a mind and a soul. My approach towards employees is always imbued with concern and I hold very human expectations from them. I well understand the fact that employees do always need a feedback. Whether they are doing a good job or are not doing well, the employees are mostly not able to ascertain it until they are evinced an honest feedback (Slade 1994). I have also realized that extending a timely feedback to the employees does go a long way in assuring organizational efficiency and thereby as an HR professional I make it a point to be thorough and prompt with the feedback I extend to the employees.  

Income Statement - Ford Motor Company Assignment

Income Statement - Ford Motor Company - Assignment Example Income statement is different from the balance sheet because the latter represents a single instance of time (for example, a week). Income statements are for a longer time period that is a year or quarter of a year (Pandit and Phillips, 2004). The term revenue is the amount of money received after selling a product or providing a service. Revenues are mentioned in the start of an income statement. They also represent the total sale made by a company in a time. The revenue generated once calculates, helps in determining the profits made by a company. This covers all the expenses in maintaining a business. The cost for the operational unit of the business is also added in this. Operating expenses include the money spent on market research, development of products, marketing and promotion of goods and services and intellectual property rights (patents, trademarks etc.). Some items that are not accurately measured may not be reported (Garrison et al. 2003). After having calculated the total revenue and expenses incurred, it becomes easy to calculate profit. Profit is revenue minus total expenses. They are referred to as the bottom line of an income statement because unlike revenues that are reported at the top of the income statement, profits are reported at bottom (Ford Motor Company Annual Report, 2012). An analysis of Ford Motors Company’s income statement from year 2012 shows the following facts. The total revenue was $133,559,000. The cost of revenue was $116,107,000. The gross profit was $17,452,000. Amongst the operating expenses, the amount spent on research and development is Zero$. The net income is $5,665,000. The net income to include extra expenses is 5,665.0 $. The net income excluding extra expenses is 5,665.0 $. This shows that throughout these years (2011-2014) the company has shown impressive growth. The company has been successful in reducing the percentage of sales for income tax

Guerrilla Marketing An alternative to classical marketing instruments Essay

Guerrilla Marketing An alternative to classical marketing instruments - Essay Example The difficulty with these traditional tools for marketing lies in areas of cost, as these are often expensive campaigns which require the efforts of internal and external expertise in order to make these campaigns bring a positive return on investment. For the smaller to mid-sized company, sometimes the classical marketing efforts are just too expensive to launch successfully without straining the brand budget. The purpose of this proposed research project is to investigate whether or not guerrilla marketing is more effective than other traditional methods for building rapid consumer interest. It has already been established that the costs of classical marketing instruments are sometimes just too high for the smaller business and these companies, in order to compete with larger and more budget-capable competitors, these brands require low-cost efforts to build stronger presence in their consumer target markets. Since it is completely unclear whether or not guerrilla marketing has the potential to bring better results than more costly and complicated marketing campaigns, it is important to identify different methods in which guerrilla marketing can and should be used to bring better results in consumer sales. Guerrilla marketing, best defined as a rather unconventional and innovative marketing technique which gathers consumers’ attention in unusual ways, is a new type of marketing which is becoming commonplace in today’s businesses, especially those with smaller marketing budgets. Guerrilla marketing is a more direct, in-your-face type of marketing which attracts rapid attention from desired consumer target audiences and uses tactics which create connection through lifestyle or personal consumer interests. For example, the Pepsi-Cola company conducted research among Hispanics and discovered that this group was drawn by colas with a cherry flavouring and product brand names whi ch are catchy and rememberable. The results

Macbeth - Monologue script as Fleance Assignment

Macbeth - Monologue script as Fleance - Assignment Example sh that your beloved husband, my father has passed away.Sorrow weighs upon my heart like an anchor, and it drowns me to the depths of this ocean of hopeless hopes. The events that led to this horrendous moment in my life are still hard for my tongue to speak of them because Im still shocked by the death of my father. As dad and I dismounted from our horses, we lit a torch due to the night being pitch black with an atmosphere of tragedy looming above our heads.Almost like a premonition, my father said:†It will rain tonight† (3:3:16).These three men murdered Father, and I could do nothing to save him.By the abundance of grace from the heavens, I escaped by a whisker. However, the image of father’s life was slowly leaving his body was painted on the walls of my head.I then remembered what he told me concerning the prediction the witches portended on father’s descendants.It became as clear as the blue in the sky that Macbeth played a significant role in the demise of my beloved father.It was further enhanced after I saw the identity of one of the murderers as father held them off while I escaped.Anguish and rage descended upon me and his last words, etched in my memory would become my spear of vengeance that would destroy Macbeth and his infernal reign over the land. It might be highly possible that while father was being killed, Macbeth would make an appearance in front of people, and this would be his perfect alibi.While he did this, he could have his minions kill father, and if this did not succeed, he might have resolved to frame father for the murder of Duncan, which would justify his execution. Oh mother I have heard the â€Å"Foul whisperings† of â€Å" unnatural deeds†(5:1:61) for the gossips are abroad in the eating halls of the Thanes, the market places, and the kitchens, with rumours that Macbeth and his Lady are â€Å"in blood stepped in so far â€Å" (3:4:136-137). The rumor was that Lady Macbeth was the principal orchestrator to King Duncan’s death

Bioethics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Bioethics - Assignment Example Weight measurements will be taken, and these can be compared with results from the literature about what is healthy and normal for the particular breed of dog. Secondly, energy levels will be measured, again based upon what is normal for the breed. This will be subjective and assessed by trainers who do not know which diet the puppies are taken, to make sure there is no bias. Finally, blood pressure measurements will be taken weekly throughout the course of the experiment to ensure that the puppies are healthy and to avoid ethical problems of the experiment. Another important part of designing a scientific experiment is to work out the participants, or the ‘sample’. Scientific studies work best with larger sample sizes to eliminate bias (Shannon & Kockler, 2009). When working with dogs, it can be beneficial to use a variety of breeds to ensure that the hypothesis and results can be applied to all dogs. Therefore it was decided that 100 dogs would be tested, 50 on each diet. 25 different breeds (or combination of breeds in mongrels) will be used, so that 2 of each breed will be taking part in each diet group. It is important to randomize the dogs that are chosen to go on each diet. Grouping each breed as a four and then randomly assigning them a diet is the best way of doing this (Shannon & Kockler, 2009). It is important that each one follows the diet strictly for the four weeks of the experiment, as any deviation from this could cause a false result. This means the dogs must be observed at all times to ensure that they do not eat any food from another dog’s meal. Each dog must also have the same amount of exercise and be housed in the same size kennel as the other dogs from that breed to ensure fairness when measuring the results. Differences in exercise could cause a major difference in the weight measurement particularly, and this would be a confounding variable. Each dog would also have to take their meals at

Multicultural Education by Keith Wilson Essay Example for Free

Multicultural Education by Keith Wilson Essay Multicultural education relates to education and instruction designed for the cultures of several different races in an educational system. This approach to teaching and learning is based upon consensus building, respect, and fostering cultural pluralism within racial societies. Multicultural education acknowledges and incorporates positive racial idiosyncrasies into classroom atmospheres. Pros of Multicultural Education A significant demographic transformation is on the horizon for the United States of America. Bennett (1995) estimates that by the year 2000, over 30 percent of our school age population will be children of color (p. 18). Additionally, research has indicated that ethnic minority students are disproportionately poor, dropping out of school, being suspended or expelled, and achieving far below their potential relative to the ethnic majority (Bennett, 1995). Consequently, teachers must prepare themselves and their children for the ever changing challenge of interacting and communicating with diverse races. Reduction of fear, ignorance, and personal detachment are possible benefits to a Multicultural education. The following excerpts are taken from Paul Gorski (1995), a University of Virginia Doctoral student during a case study interview: The idea of political correctness with the black race astounds me. I found it extremely interesting that some blacks in our class prefer to be called African American. In all of my classes I have felt like I was stepping on egg shells as to not offend the blacks in my class. I am honestly glad it is not that big of an issue to my fellow classmatesit promotes a more comfortable, genuine environment for me to be totally honest and carefree. Initially, the student interviewed in the case study reflected an attitude that would probably not facilitate consensus building, respect for other cultures, or fostering of cultural pluralism within different racial communities and in the classroom. However, with integrated curriculum, social activities, administrative support, and staff training, fear, ignorance, and personal detachment may be notably reduced in both students and teachers. Benefits to multicultural education can help to eliminate the crux of stereotyping, prejudice, racism, and bigotry (Fear, Ignorance, dis-ownership). Case study analyzed: 1. fear: I have felt like I was stepping on egg shells as to not offend blacks in my classes 2. ignorance: I found it extremely interesting that some blacks in our class prefer to be called African American. 3. dis-ownership: I am honestly glad it is not that big of an issue to my fellow classmates. The writer agrees with Hilliard and Pine (1990), if Americans are to embrace diversity, the conscious and unconscious expressions of racism (sexism) within our society must be identified and done away with (p. ). Multicultural education is the potential catalyst to bring all races together in harmony. Cons of Multicultural Education According to some views, if one wants to alienate and further fragment the communication and rapport between ethnic groups, implement multicultural education. As stated by Bennett (1995), to dwell on cultural differences is to foster negative prejudices and stereotypes, and that is human nature to view those who are different as inferior (p. 29). Thus, multicultural education will enhance feelings of being atypical. Schools in America may see multicultural education as a way to color blind their students to differences. Administrators may view the color blind approach as a gate keeper that assures equal treatment and justice for all students and as a way to facilitate compatibility and sameness of all cultures. A common statement from this line of thinking is, we are more alike than different. We should focus on the similarities and not the differences to achieve greater equanimity among the races. Ethnicity is breaking up many nations. If one looks at the former Soviet Union, India, Yugoslavia, and Ethiopia, all countries are in some type of crisis. Closer to home, one observes the divisiveness of the Rodney King and O. J. Simpson trials in our country, we can see how focusing on race and multiculturalism may lead to a further divisiveness between the races in America. Over time, multicultural education may have unplanned for and undesired consequences. For example, multicultural education rejects the historic American goals of assimilation and integration of ethnic cultures into the majority culture. Hence, the perception may result that America is a country of distinct ethnic groups, as opposed to a more traditional view of the country that involves individuals making decisions for the good of the order (Schlesinger, 1991). Multicultural education may increase the resentment encountered by students who feel that changes in school traditions, curriculum, and academic standards are not necessary to get along and respect students from ethnic minorities. Since many institutions resist change of any kind, passive resistance on the part of the administration may simulate acceptance of the tenants of Multicultural education. Of course, excepting the tenants of multicultural education should be avoided with enthusiasm and optimism. What would real Multicultural Education look like? The writer submits that multicultural education must have, as its crux, the below defining characteristics to achieve its purposes for students, teachers, parents, and administrators of the school system: a) a learning environment that supports positive interracial contact; b) a multicultural curriculum; c) positive teacher expectations; d) administrative support; and, e) teacher training workshops (Bennett, 1995). If one of the features is absent, frustration and heightened resentment may occur as backlash behaviors multiply. The effects of a positive multicultural climate may manifest in a number of ways, such as: a) diminished pockets of segregation among student body; b) less racial tension in the schools; c) increased ethnic minority retention and classroom performance; and, d) inclusion of a multicultural curriculum. In short, the multicultural educational environment should not be a microcosm of our present American society, with regard to issues of diversity and tolerance. Many factors determine a successful multicultural atmosphere, but the features as outlined above may be important indications of success. Administrative support for multicultural education is critical. How can a house stand if the foundation is fragile. Multicultural education will be as successful as commitment to it by school administrators. Regardless of the level of commitment (local, state, and/or national), programs initiated under the guise of multiculturalism must receive reinforcement from administrators who are accountable for the success of established multicultural initiatives. A key factor in any proposed multicultural initiative is curriculum development. A multicultural curriculum should be considered for several reasons: a) provides alternative points of view relative to information already taught in most educational systems; b) provides ethnic minorities with a sense of being inclusive in history, science etc. and, c) decreases stereotypes, prejudice, bigotry, and racism in America and the world. A significant demographic transformation is on the horizon for American schools. Educational institutions have been dictated too long by attitudes, values, beliefs, and value systems of one race and class of people. The future of our universe is demanding a positive change for all (Hilliard Pine, 1990).

Law Essays Certain Selling Arrangements

Law Essays Certain Selling Arrangements Certain Selling Arrangements The introduction of certain selling arrangements has imposed an unnecessary straitjacket on the development of the Keck principle. Not only is the Keck formula too narrow; paradoxically, it is also too broad in that it catches dynamic measures (such as restrictions on advertising) and therefore takes them outside the scope of Article 28 even though they do affect inter-state trade. (C. Barnard, The Substantive Law of the EU. The Four Freedoms (OUP 2d ed.) at 149). Discuss Article 28 (ex 30) EC provides that: â€Å"Quantitative restrictions on imports and all measures having equivalent effect shall be prohibited between Member States†. Although this may initially seem simple, it has caused substantial difficulties when it comes to measures having equivalent effect when the rules are indistinctly applicable (ie. they apply equally to domestic and non domestic goods). As will be seen, the confusion around dealing with these measures was intended by the ECJ to be halted by the judgment in Keck. This essay will critically evaluate the decision in Keck in order to consider whether it has indeed served this purpose. A definition of measures having equivalent effect to quantitative restrictions was introduced by the ECJ in 1974 in the case of Procureur du Roi v Dassonville: â€Å"All trading rules enacted by Member States which are capable of hindering, directly or indirectly, actually or potentially, intra-Community trade are to be considered as measures having an effect equivalent to quantitative restrictions.† Although this definition proved helpful to the Court, its application tended not to distinguish between indirectly and directly applicable measures. It was also very broad, leaving many regulations open to examination by the Court. This in turn lead to large amounts of litigation for the Court to deal with. In Rewe-Zentral AG v Bundesmonopolverwaltung fur Branntwein (â€Å"Casis de Dijon†) a narrower approach was adopted. The case concerned the legality of a German law which prescribed a minimum alcohol level of 25% for certain spirits, including cassis. German cassis was above the 25% level, but French cassis was not. Therefore, although the German law was indistinctly applicable, the result of the measure was to preclude the French cassis from the German market. The ECJ applied the Dassonville formula but went on to state that: â€Å"Obstacles to movement within the Community resulting from disparities between the national laws relating to the marketing of the products in question must be accepted insofar as those provisions may be recognised as being necessary in order to satisfy mandatory requirements relating in particular to the effectiveness of fiscal supervision, the protection of public health, the fairness of commercial transactions and the defence of the consumer.† The case therefore introduced the concept of the ‘rule of reason’ to applications of Article 28 in the context of indistinctly applicable measures. In the Cassis de Dijon case itself it was held that the measure had been enacted in the interests of public health and fairness to commercial transactions, but that it was not a necessary means to achieve these objectives and was therefore in breach of Article 28. The cases concerned the legality of a French law prohibiting the resale of goods in an unaltered state at prices lower than their purchase price. Keck and Mithouard were prosecuted for breach of this law but claimed that the rule was incompatible with EC law. The ECJ considered Article 28 and applied the Dassonville formula. It was stated that the legislation could have the effect of restricting the volume of sales of imported goods as it deprived traders of an important method of sales promotion. The Court then went on to state that:Although the Cassis de Dijon case placed a limit on the very broad approach of the Dassonville formula, it was not without its problems. The application of the ‘rule of reason’ was difficult for domestic courts. The ‘Sunday Trading’ cases demonstrated this when a challenge was made to the legality under Article 28 of national rules limiting Sunday trading. In some cases it was held by the national courts that the rules were just ified, in others that they were disproportionate. As a result of this uncertain approach, a change in the way the ECJ dealt with this problem was clearly necessary. This change came in the form of Keck and Mithouard which â€Å"marks an important turning-point in the Court’s jurisprudence on Article 28†. â€Å"In view of the increasing tendency of traders to invoke Article 30 of the Treaty as a means of challenging any rules whose effect is to limit their commercial freedom even where such rules are not aimed at products from other Member States, the Court considers it necessary to re-examine and clarify its case law on this matter.† The Court then considered the Cassis de Dijon case and the extent to which the application of rules which limited free movement of goods could be justified as in the public interest: â€Å"However, contrary to what has previously been decided, the application to products from other Member States of national provisions restricting or prohibiting certain selling arrangements is not such as to hinder directly or indirectly, actually or potentially, trade between Member States within the meaning of the Dassonville judgment †¦ provided that these provisions apply to all affected traders operating within the national territory and provided that they affect in the same manner, in law and fact, the marketing of domestic products and of those from other Member States.† It was therefore held that Article 28 did not apply to ‘selling arrangements’ and therefore the French law had not been in breach of the EC law. The decision in Keck has been said to be ‘lacking in principle’, yet it has also been praised for its ‘tendency to cut back on unnecessary intrusions into the laws of the Member States in cases where access to the relevant national market is not at stake’. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the decision is the distinction draw between rules that are to do with the product itself, and rules which relate to the selling arrangements in place for that product. Indeed, it has proved difficult to determine exactly what is meant by ‘selling arrangements’. In Hunermund pharmacists were prohibited from advertising, outside their premises, products which they were authorised to sell. It was held that this was a method of sales-promotion and was therefore outside the scope of Article 28. Moreover, in Banchero defendants to a smuggling charge invoked Article 28 in relation to Italian rules reserving the retail sale of tobacco to authorised distributors. The authorised distributors could only gain such status where the national body which held a monopoly over tobacco production in the country granted it. It was held that the system did not impede access to the national market, was a selling arrangement, and was therefore compatible with Article 28. In contrast, measures constituting requirements to be met, such as a Dutch law prohibiting dealings in gold and silver products not bearing certain hallmarks (Houtwipper) and German laws requiring the labelling of the contents of certain foods additional to those specified under EC law (Commission v Germany) are within the scope of Article 28 as they relate to the goods themselves, rather than merely the selling of the goods. The difficulties in lack of workable definition of a ‘selling arrangement’ are seen particularly starkly when considering the Courts’ approach to the advertising of goods. In Leclerc-Siplec the ECJ held that legislation which prohibits television advertising in a particular sector amounted to a selling arrangement. Therefore, even a complete ban on advertising of certain products will not come within the scope of Article 28 if the ban applies to domestically produced and imported products equally in law and in fact, as the Court held when considering a ban on television advertising directed at children under 12 in Komsummentombudsmannen v De Agostini. This means that the free movement of goods can be seriously hampered and the main provision designed to prevent this will have no effect whatsoever. In this sense, the approach offered by Keck is too broad. However, advertising and other measures intended to increases sales have not always been held to be ‘selling arrangements’. In Vereinigte Familiapress Zeitungsverlags- und Vertriebs GmbH v Heinrich Bauer Verlag Austria had prohibited periodicals from featuring prize draws or competitions. The ECJ formed the view that publishers would use such competitions with the hope of increasing circulation. However, the rule was held not to be a selling arrangement as it concerned the content of the magazine, equating to a requirement to be met. Article 28 applied and the Austrian rule was in breach of it. Although the measure was justifiable under the Cassis de Dijon formula, the provisions of Keck were too narrow to include this scenario. This approach therefore does not solve the problem created by the Cassis de Dijon case of uncertainty in application. Furthermore, in Schutzverband gegen unlauteren Wettbewerb v TK-Heimdienst Sass GmbH Austrian legislation provided that bakers, butchers and grocers may offer goods for sale on rounds in a given administrative district only if they also traded from a permanent establishment in that district or an adjacent municipality, where they offered the same goods for sale as they did on their rounds. It was that this amounted to a ‘selling arrangement’ but one which did have a differential impact on domestic traders and others. This approach therefore entails an analysis of market access, which was a factor in the pre-Keck jurisdiction, but which was supposedly outside of the Keck approach. The academic reaction to Keck at the time of the decision was in the main critical and it was argued that Keck placed too much emphasis on factual and legal equality at the expense of market access. It was suggested that denying that selling arrangements came within Article 28 as long as they did not discriminate in law or in fact ignored the importance of market access as trading rules could be formally equal yet still operate so as to inhibit market access. Academics have therefore argued for an approach based on market access, with a main advocate being Weatherill. He has suggested that the correct approach should be to focus on market access rather than just factual and legal equality. To this end he has proposed a modified test: â€Å"Measures introduced by authorities in a Member State which apply equally in law and in fact to all goods and services without reference to origin and which impose no direct or substantial hindrance to the market of that Member State escape the prohibition of Articles 30 and 59 [as were].† This opinion was not confined to academics, and was raised judicially by Advocate General Jacobs in Leclerc-Siplec. Jacobs AG felt that advertising could play an important role in breaking down barriers to inter-state trade and was therefore dissatisfied that it should be outside Article 28. He suggested a modification to involve a test of ‘substantial’ hindrance, so that if a substantial restriction on access to the market was acting then it should be caught by Article 28. However, this suggestion was not applied by the ECJ. Further judicial consideration has come from Advocate General Maduro in Alfa Vita where he stated that while Keck was intended to clarify the ambit of Article 28, it had ‘proved to be a source of uncertainty for economic operators’. He went suggested a three point solution: prohibition of all discriminatory provisions, whether direct or indirect; the requirement that any supplementary costs on cross-border activity be justified and; that any measure which impedes to a greater extent the access to the market and the putting into circulation of products from other Member States should be considered to be an MEQR. From the analysis above it may be concluded that although the Court in Keck attempted to resolve the problems of both the broad approach of Dassonville and the difficult to apply Cassis de Dijon, the result has been far from simplistic. Indeed, it is still unclear as to exactly what factors the court will consider when examining the legality of provisions in relation to Article 28. What is clear though, is that the Court is again willing to reconsider the approach and there may yet be a further attempt to restructure the approach to this area of free movement. Bibliography Barnard, C. (2001), â€Å"Fitting the Remaining Pieces into the Goods and Persons Jigsaw?†, 26 ELRev 35 Connor, T. (2005), â€Å"Accentuating the Positive: The ‘Selling Arrangement’, The First Decade, and Beyond†, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 54, 1, 127 Craig, P. De Bà ºrca, G. (2008), EU Law: Text, Cases and Materials, 4th Edition, Oxford University Press Enchelmaier, S. (2004), â€Å"Four Freedoms, How Many Principles?†, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 24, 155 Chalmers, D. (1994), â€Å"Repackaging the Internal Market – The Ramifictions of the Keck Judgment†, 19 ELRev 385 Fairhust, J. (2007), Law of the European Union, 6th Edition, Pearson Longman Gormley, L. (1994), â€Å"Reasoning Renounced? The Remarkable Judgment in Keck Mithouard† EBLRev 63 Reich, N. (1994), â€Å"The November Revolution: Keck, Meng, Audi Revisited†, 31 CML Rev 459 Roth, W.H. (1994), â€Å"Casenote on Keck and Hunermund†, 31 CML Rev 845 Steiner, J., Woods, L., Twigg-Flesner, C., (2006), EU Law, 9th Edition, Oxford University Press, pg 374. Weatherill, S., (1996), â€Å"After Keck: Some Thoughts on how to Clarify the Clarification†, 33 CML Rev, 885

Effect of Social Class on Children in the Educational System

Effect of Social Class on Children in the Educational System Social class and how it affects children aged 7 years and below within the English educational system This report considers recent research evidence related to inclusive education, and equality of opportunity, in relation to social class and how it affects children aged 7 years and below within the English educational system. A definition of inclusive education relevant to early educational practice will be offered. A literature review will be undertaken, that will principally examine the size of the social class differences amongst young children, and will go on to consider a case study of inclusive practice that was implemented at one English primary school. Recommendations for future research are made. Introduction Since the publication of the Plowden Report in 1967, it has been apparent that social class has a profound effect on the educational achievement of primary school children. In the past two decades, there have been a number of specific legislative changes that have altered the shape of primary school education. With the Education Reform Act(1988), schools have been required to undertake standardised testing of7 year old children in English, Mathematics and Science subjects. Furthermore, schools have been required to publish controversial ‘league tables’ of performance, alongside national averages, in their school prospectus publications. There have been several policies introduced to reduce the effects of deprivation on young children including Sure Start, and a planned widening of availability of nursery education all in the name of ‘inclusive education’ (Barnes, Belsky,Broomfield, Dave et al, 2004, p 46-9). Indeed, Geertz (2001) has argued that New Labour policy makers strive to â€Å"make all families like middle-class families, or at least the ideal-typical middle class family of much educational research† (p 7). However, there is surprisingly little empirical research evidence available on inclusive education, or equality of opportunity in early educational settings, with most studies focussing on secondary school children. This is also regrettable since Sammons and Sees (1998) have clearly shown that at the age of seven, prior attainment accounts for 26-43% of variance in national assessment results (p 389 – 407). Therefore, early teaching support of children with special educational needs, or affected by poverty or difficult personal circumstances would appear to be of immense importance to prevent children who start school behind their peers from falling further behind as their school careers progress. This report will critically assess available empirical studies related to the education of children aged 7 years and below within the United Kingdom. Furthermore, it will examine theoretical and philosophical perspectives on early inclusive education, and make recommendations for further research. Method The search strategy employed for the literature review involved searching electronic bibliographical databases for relevant research and policy papers related to the topic of inclusive education, and equality of opportunity, and social class issues with English school pupils aged 7 and under. No date restrictions were imposed on the searches, although most papers that were located and subsequently considered in this literature review were published in the 1990’s and2000’s. The electronic bibliographical databases that were searched were ERIC, the British Education Index and Psych Lit. Abstracts for each paper were inspected on an individual basis to assess their relevance to the literature review. Research papers within the terms of the literature review were then obtained from various library sources. However, it was felt that much of the research on early inclusive education would be found in the grey literature. Therefore, the Education Line database of conference proceedings, provided by Leeds University, was also searched for relevant papers. Finally, a search of the websites of highly regarded academic educational research centres, and government official statistics, was undertaken and further relevant research reports were obtained this way. Literature Review Although ‘inclusive education’ has been the buzz word of the education sector for many years, there is a lack of clarity in its definition. It broadly includes reference to a schools receptivity to accommodate the needs of all its pupils, and be â€Å"more responsive to pupil diversity†(Fiorina, Rouse, Black-Hawkins and Jull (2004), p 118). Furthermore, Fiorina et al (2004) have argued that inclusion and achieving high standards are not necessarily mutually exclusive goals, with some schools achieving both (p 115). Stephen and Cope (2003) have further elaborated on the interpretation of inclusive education, drawing distinction between the individual model where the deprived pupil is seen as ‘the problem’ (p 274) to be moulded into the school system, towards a social model of inclusive education. The social model acknowledges that there may be individual characteristics of the child that need to be considered, but also consider the possible institutional and operational barriers that hinder children’s entry and integration into infant schools. In their study, children from middleclass homes were supported by parents when they started infant schoolboy practising numeracy and literacy at home, and through more proactive involvement in school activities (p 273). Gallannaugh and Dyson (2003) have conducted a study of 25 practitioners working in three English LEA’s to assess what ‘inclusive education ‘development was possible in schools, and make sense of school responses to the inclusion agenda. Some teachers reported confusion over what ‘inclusive education’ was, since many official sources of information focussed on inclusion of children with special educational needs only(p 1). However, most teachers saw ‘inclusive education’ as provision for all children who were at risk of underachieving within the educational system, a version of inclusive education that is compatible with New Labour’s ‘social inclusion’ agenda ensuring that all members of society participate in the opportunities and activities of mainstream society (Blanket, 1999). A definition of inclusive education that attracted consensus amongst the teachers was â€Å"a set of broad values which we understood to be inclusive, and which we articulated as a commitment to equality, and increasing participation of all children (rather than one or other marginalised groups) in common education† (p 2). In synthesising research papers on social class related to early education, it is apparent that the term ‘social class’ has been interpreted in different ways by different authors. Sammons (1995) has highlighted that some researchers have attempted to â€Å"identify and separate the effects of different combinations of disadvantaging factors, noting that whilst not additive there is evidence of cumulative disadvantage (i.e. experiencing one factor such as low social class or low income on its own is less closely associated with low attainment than experiencing both these factors)† (p 467). Furthermore, Sparks (1999) has classified the different interpretations as including children from low income households, parental unemployment, paternal/ maternal occupation and inappropriate housing environment (p 10). She has examined research studies that look at each of these aspects, but only a few studies specifically examine the age range of 0 to 7 years. Pupils coming from a low income household, as indicated by eligibility for free school meals, appears to have marked effect on educational achievement at the age of 7 years and above (p 14). Furthermore, West, Pennell, West and Travers (1999) have shown that receipt of income support benefit by the household accounted for 66% of variance in educational achievement at a local authority level (p 10). Sparks (1999) has stated that â€Å"non-school factors are a more important source of variation in educational achievement than differences in the quality of education that students receive† (p 9).However, there is a broad consensus that schools can counteract some of the effects of social deprivation through inclusive educational practice. Indeed, empirical evidence suggests that schools have an independent effect of between 8% and 15%, and school effects are greater within the primary school sector (Reynolds, Sammons, Stoll, Barber et al, 1996 (p 140)). In the UK, research evidence on the effects of pre-school education are mixed (Sparks, 1999, p 12). However, research studies have indicated that when children receiving nursery education are compared to those receiving no nursery education, pre-school experience has a positive impact on achievement in national assessment tests at the age of seven (Sammons and Sees, 1998, p 400).However, poor families may not have access to quality services in areas where demand for nursery services is high. Middle class families, however, may have the advantage in that they can turn to the private sector provision where necessary. Smaller studies have shown an association between social class and early pupil attainment. However, stronger evidence is supplied by McCullum (1993) who compared aggregated Key Stage One results for local education authorities in England, against measures of social class obtained from the 1991 Social Census. This study clearly showed that social class, as evidenced through the number of social class 1 and 2individuals in the local population, showed a statistically significant and positive relationship with the Local Education Authority’s Key Stage One test scores, across all LEA’s sampled (p 95). Furthermore, Thomas (1995) has also shown how free school meal entitlement, and special educational needs, were strongly correlated with performance at Key Stage One (p 280). More recently, Sammons (1995) has studied 2000primary school children longitudinally at 50 ethnically diverse inner-city schools over a 9 year period. The children were monitored from the ages of 7 to 10 years. For the purpose of this report the results will be reported for the youngest of the cohort. The main purpose of the study was to assess primary schools effectiveness at developing cognitive and non-cognitive educational outcomes amongst children. Detailed records were kept on every child’s background characteristics such as ethnicity, socio-economic status and gender. For the purpose of the study, social class was measured as father’s occupation, and eligibility for free school meals. There were statistically significant differences in absolute attainment at ages 7, and above (p 479), with the biggest effect being in reading rather than mathematics performance. At 7 years, receiving free school meals accounted for just over 7% of variance in reading test performance, while having father working in an semi or unskilled profession accounted for 14.5%of variance, and having a father who was unemployed accounted for8.35%. However, for mathematics test performance, free school meals accounted for just 1.3% of variance, and having a father in a semi/unskilled profession accounted for 4.22% of variance while having father who was unemployed at the time of the study accounted for 2.57%of variance (p 471). This study was based on pupils attending primary schools in the decade of the 1980’s, and prior to the onset of the National Curriculum. It is the only longitudinal study of its kind that has been published using a British school population. With high statistical power afforded through the sample size, it is possible tube confident in the results. However, research studies are required that adopt a similar design but that are carried out now that the National Curriculum is an established format of educational provision within primary schools. Studies are also required that examine more dimensions of social class than the ‘outdated’ paternal occupation, and free school meals eligibility. In 1998, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority introduced a National Framework for Baseline Assessment for all pupils at the start of their school careers. The baseline assessment is a structured series of questions designed to assess pupils’ English ability, in terms of oral, reading and writing ability. In addition, early mathematical understanding is measured through a series of questions that require teachers to judge the ability of the child. Strand (1999) has studied the results of baseline testing of over 11,000 four year old children prior to their entry to primary school reception class. The data cover the period of 1993 to 1997, and are based at Wandsworth Local Education Authority in London. The results indicate that there are significant variations in baseline test score achievement based around a range of background factors such as age of child, gender, ethnicity and economic status. Measures of interest to the present literature review are length of preschool education by the pupil and entitlement to free school meals, which is the surrogate measure of social class used for baseline testing. Measures of attainment collected by the study were the LARR (Linguistic Awareness in Reading Readiness) test of emergent literacy and the teacher checklist described above. The results show statistically significant, strong correlations between school entrants on baseline measures and their subsequent overall Key Stage 1 achievement, in the region of 0.6 or above. Furthermore, the test battery are highly predictive of both English and Mathematics achievement in Key Stage 1 assessments in the individual subjects, with correlations in the region of 0.55 for mathematics, 0.55 for reading, and 0.49 for writing. The combination of the LARR objective measure of literacy, and the teacher checklist, together make the best overall indicator of later achievement for the children, compared to either test in isolation. Amount of preschool education received by children also significantly predicted Key Stage One achievement in all subjects. Furthermore, children in receipt of eligibility for free school meals were noted to score, on average, over five whole points less than their peers on baseline tests. Their mean scores were 29.7 (SD 11.4) compared to 34.9 (SD 12.2) for non-entitled children (p 20). In a further study, Strand (1997) tracked the educational progress of1669 Wands worth school children who had completed baseline assessments during 1992 and 1993. He considered the important of school effects, which is importance to social class considerations in the sense that schools are located in specific catchment areas that can be defined according the level of deprivation in the local community. The same assessment materials were used for this study as in Strand (1999). The pattern of achievement described for children eligible for free school meals at school entry was one where they started below other peers, in terms of baseline testing, and gradually fell further behind as time went by; as reflected in their Key Stage One performance (p 479). Composite measure of school effects of child performance at Key Stage One was taken to comprise of seven factors including gender ratio of school population, proportion of pupils with eligibility for free school meals and percentage of bilingual school pupils. Strand (1997)found that where there was a high rate of free school meal eligibility, this was one of the statistically significant factors, along with gender ratio and proportion of ESL pupils in school composite effects. â€Å"These compositional effects are significant even after each individual pupils baseline scores, sex, FSM entitlement and ESL background have been taken into account† (Strand, 1997, p 479). This means that school performance as a whole, as well as individual pupil progress, would appear to be associated with the proportion of free school meal claimants in the school population. Indeed, â€Å"It can be hypothesised that schools with a low proportion of socially disadvantaged pupils may have some benefits associated with their context: they may receive greater help from parents, have fewer disciplinary problems or an atmosphere more conducive to learning† (p 485). Buchanan-Barrow and Barratt (1998) have considered how young children understand school, and how this is affected by socio-economic factors, along with gender and birth-order. They suggest, â€Å"The school constitutes, in microcosm, a multifaceted and multi-layered society with an extensive and complex system†¦in order to operate successfully in this system, the young pupil needs to acquire an understanding of the connections between such important system-concepts as rules, roles, power and community† (p 250). A total of 112 children were included in the study from the age of 5 and upwards, at two primary schools in London. The first school had a free school meal ratio of 3% and was therefore broadly classified as a middle class school. The second school had a much higher free school meal ratio of 49% and the intake population was largely working class. Parents and teachers completed questionnaires, and the children were interviewed about their understanding of the power structure in the school, and their attitudes towards their school. In general, young children had the most positive attitudes towards school of all children studied. Furthermore, there were no differences in the attitudes towards school by socio-economic class, but there was a significant correlation between child and parental views on the school. The importance of the head-teacher in the power structure was evident in the responses of all children, butane understanding of the purpose of the class teachers was patchy until the middle primary years. The researchers closely examined the responses of the children at both schools for social class effects on comprehension and understanding of the school. At the middle-class school, the responses of the children followed general age trend patterns where children’s knowledge and understanding increased with years. However, for the working-class school, the pattern of responses were more complicated. Children were much less likely to discuss the role of parents, and children in the organisation and function of school compared to children at the other school. This suggests that children are not feeling ‘included’ in school, with a strong sense of membership that children often report at the middle class school (p263). Examination of parental responses to the questionnaire revealed broadly similar responses between schools, but working class parents reported feeling more welcome at the school than middle class parents. As Buchanan-Barrow and Barratt (1998) have suggested, â€Å"Since middleclass parents are likely to be readier to take issue, more assured of their ability to achieve their aims and better equipped to make their feelings known, it might be expected that the staff might be more wary of their interventions and less warm in their welcome. On the other hand, working class parents, without the same sense of empowerment, maybe seen as less threatening† (p 263). This is an important study in that it reveals age-trends in children’s understanding of school, and their place within the power structure and function of the school. According to Piaget cognitive theory, age-related differences in understanding are to be expected, as a combination of increased cognitive abilities with age. However, constructivism alone does not explain the individual differences in responses. The age related findings in the children’s responses may not be due to developmental changes in cognitive ability alone. In particular, social-interactional factors may have an important contribution to children’s understanding of the school, with parents, teachers and children’s interactions about the school being mediated by the age of the pupil. A social representation perspective would emphasise the individual differences in responses according to social class, gender and so forth (Elmer and Hana, 1993). However, this study showed that the acquisition of social knowledge and social understanding was more individual, than collective (p 265). Gallannaugh and Dyson (2003) have provided a useful detailed case study of how inclusive education can work at improving primary schoolchildren’s educational achievements. They collected data from one primary school (‘Broad mead’) in an urban area, primarily serving families of the local council housing estate where the eligibility for free school meals was above national averages. The school decided to address the specific issue of underachievement in writing ability during Key Stage assessments. The school had identified a group of middle ability school pupils who were failing to meet national expectations. School staff did not feel that poor teaching maybe the cause of the problem, and many teachers cited specific and concerted efforts by teachers to improve writing standards using a range of teaching strategies. However, â€Å"the school’s response to the problem was to problematize some of its existing practices. To some extent, this appeared to be a result of the realisation that customary practice simply did not ‘work’ in the sense that despite all efforts to hone teaching skills, the school had apparently reached a ceiling in attainment† (p 3). The school had moved towards a more experimental approach in the curriculum, and included new teaching strategies to help pupil learning such as thinking skills techniques. However, the actual underlying purpose of introducing a specific intervention was unclear, with more emphasis on anxiety about school performance compared to national standards, as opposed to inclusion for all. Nevertheless, it represented a departure from standard practice. Over the course of the project, the experience of implementing new approaches and of their impact on children’s learning led teachers to rethink their ideas about educational/ personal outcomes that are important to children. The original aim had been to improve achievement standards in writing, but the intervention had also appeared to impact on child self-esteem, learning in other subject areas, and educational confidence. The teachers reported that they valued these additional attainments in their own right amongst their pupils. Teachers had identified that the children had very limited learning techniques and strategies, and had therefore decided to focus on teaching children how to learn, in parallel to the curriculum subjects. When the research team interviewed teachers about why they felt their pupils had struggled in writing skills, it was generally felt that the critical barrier to raising all aspects of literacy was due to the fact that children entered school with very limited language skills that affected their access to most subjects. The head teacher felt that ‘catch up ‘once they started school was insufficient to counter the effects of poor literacy environment at home, and lack of family communication about education at home. This lack of preparation for school was complicated by local cultural factors such as socialisation of boys from working class households into the role of the ‘northern lad’ who was expected to behave stereotypically, and not necessarily express an interest in education. In summary, â€Å"some children came to school from families where education was not valued, with limited experiences, and(particularly in primary schools) limited language skills† (p 5). Gallannaugh and Dyson (2003) provide two competing perspectives on the work at Broad mead primary school. In one sense, teachers were willing to implement new teaching strategies as they had ‘internalised’ the demands of the national curriculum and school assessment system, but also the characteristics of working class children that make them deficit (p 7). This could be regarded as anti-inclusive practice since it aimed to socialise working class children into middle class ideals. However, an alternative perspective on the work at Broadmeadis that the school resisted the pressure and constraints of current educational policy, and found time to try out alternative learning strategies, which children self-reported as beneficial. Furthermore, teachers’ deficit view of the working class children was increasingly challenged as they were equipped with new skills to allow them to demonstrate their true abilities. Conclusion Recent Government policy has moved towards emphasising inclusive education, particularly in the early years. However, there is a danger that policy will remain mere ‘rhetoric’ unless there is evidence based research to provide teachers with practical skills to provide equality of opportunity for their pupils. Research studies have consistently shown that working class children are regarded as the ‘problem’ that must be adapted to the middle class educational environment of the infant school classroom. However, a social model of inclusive education that acknowledges individual difficulties in adaptation, as well as institutional barriers to learning maybe a more constructive approach. Teachers working within English schools are constrained in the classroom by their need to meet national curriculum requirements, and achieve required standards from their pupils. Conversely, teachers recognise that some children enter infant school poorly prepared forth demands of formal education through their home backgrounds, and require additional support. Implementation of special strategies to enhance the language, communication and thinking skills of children, such as at Broad mead school, maybe one solution. However, children of lower social class backgrounds may require long term intervention if ‘inclusive education’ is truly ‘inclusive’ throughout their school careers. This literature review has revealed the lack of research studies to support teachers’ implementation of effective strategies to promote learning amongst young children from deprived backgrounds. To date, research studies have concentrated on identifying the size of the discrepancy in performance between school pupils. The next step is to develop longitudinal, vigorous research programmes within English infant schools to inform evidence-based teaching practice. Furthermore, there is a need to explore the concept of social class, and how it affects young children, in more detail, and to understand how it interacts with other risk factors such as English as a second language. Sparks (1999) has shown that factors, such as social class, are associated with educational attainment, amongst young children. However, it is less clear about what aspects of social class are causal, and not merely correlated (p 10), and there is a need to investigate the specific aspects of social class that maybe associated/causing educational difficulties for children. References Barnes J, Balky J, Broomfield K, Sana D, Frost M, Melhuish E and the National Evaluation of the Sure Start Research Team (2005)Disadvantaged but different: variation among deprived communities in relation to child and family well-being. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 46.9, pp. 952 – 962. Blanket D (1999) Excellence for the many, not just the few. CBI Presidential Address 19 July 1999 (DFEE, London). Buchanan-Burrow E and Barratt M (1998) Individual Differences in Children’s Understanding of the School. Social Development 7.2, pp250-268. Elmer N and Hana J (1993) Studying social representations in children: just old wine in new bottles? In G Break well and D Canter (ends)Empirical Approaches to Social Representatives (Oxford University Press, Oxford). Fiorina L, Rouse M, Black-Hawkins K and Jull S (2004) What can national data sets tell us about inclusion and pupil achievement. British Journal of Special Education 31.3, pp. 115 -121. Gallannaugh F and Dyson A (2003) Schools understanding of inclusion: issues in inclusion and social class. (British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, Edinburgh). Geertz S (2001) Cloning the Blair’s. Journal of Educational Policy 16.4, pp. 365-378. McCollum I (1993) Testing Seven Year Olds – performance and context. Population Advice Note, pp. 93-101 (London Research Centre, London) Reynolds D, Sammons P, Stoll P, Barber M and Hillman J (1996) School effectiveness and school improvement in the United Kingdom. School Effectiveness and School Improvement 7, pp. 133 – 158. Sammons P (1995) Gender, ethnic and socio-economic differences in attainment and progress: a longitudinal analysis of student achievement over 9 years. British Educational Research Journal 21.4, pp. 465-485. Sammons P and Sees R (1998) Measuring pupil progress at key stage one: using baseline assessment to investigate value added. School Leadership and Management 18.3, pp. 389 – 407. Sparks J (1999) Schools, Education and Social Exclusion. (Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE, London). Stephen C and Cope P (2003) An Inclusive Perspective on Transition to Primary School. European Educational Research Journal 2.2, pp. 262 -275. Strand S (1997) Pupil Progress during Key Stage 1: A Value Added Analysis of School Effects. British Educational Research Journal 23.4,pp 471 – 487. Strand S (1999) Baseline assessment results at age 4: associations with pupil background factors. Journal of Research in Reading 22.1, pp. 14-26. The Plowden Report (1967) Children and their Primary Schools. (HMSO: London) Thomas S (1995) Considering primary school effectiveness: an analysis of 1992 Key Stage 1 results. The Curriculum Journal 6, pp. 279 – 295. West A, Pennell H, West A and Travers T (1999) The financing of school based education. (Centre for Educational Research, London). Effect of Social Class on Children in the Educational System Effect of Social Class on Children in the Educational System Social class and how it affects children aged 7 years and below within the English educational system This report considers recent research evidence related to inclusive education, and equality of opportunity, in relation to social class and how it affects children aged 7 years and below within the English educational system. A definition of inclusive education relevant to early educational practice will be offered. A literature review will be undertaken, that will principally examine the size of the social class differences amongst young children, and will go on to consider a case study of inclusive practice that was implemented at one English primary school. Recommendations for future research are made. Introduction Since the publication of the Plowden Report in 1967, it has been apparent that social class has a profound effect on the educational achievement of primary school children. In the past two decades, there have been a number of specific legislative changes that have altered the shape of primary school education. With the Education Reform Act(1988), schools have been required to undertake standardised testing of7 year old children in English, Mathematics and Science subjects. Furthermore, schools have been required to publish controversial ‘league tables’ of performance, alongside national averages, in their school prospectus publications. There have been several policies introduced to reduce the effects of deprivation on young children including Sure Start, and a planned widening of availability of nursery education all in the name of ‘inclusive education’ (Barnes, Belsky,Broomfield, Dave et al, 2004, p 46-9). Indeed, Geertz (2001) has argued that New Labour policy makers strive to â€Å"make all families like middle-class families, or at least the ideal-typical middle class family of much educational research† (p 7). However, there is surprisingly little empirical research evidence available on inclusive education, or equality of opportunity in early educational settings, with most studies focussing on secondary school children. This is also regrettable since Sammons and Sees (1998) have clearly shown that at the age of seven, prior attainment accounts for 26-43% of variance in national assessment results (p 389 – 407). Therefore, early teaching support of children with special educational needs, or affected by poverty or difficult personal circumstances would appear to be of immense importance to prevent children who start school behind their peers from falling further behind as their school careers progress. This report will critically assess available empirical studies related to the education of children aged 7 years and below within the United Kingdom. Furthermore, it will examine theoretical and philosophical perspectives on early inclusive education, and make recommendations for further research. Method The search strategy employed for the literature review involved searching electronic bibliographical databases for relevant research and policy papers related to the topic of inclusive education, and equality of opportunity, and social class issues with English school pupils aged 7 and under. No date restrictions were imposed on the searches, although most papers that were located and subsequently considered in this literature review were published in the 1990’s and2000’s. The electronic bibliographical databases that were searched were ERIC, the British Education Index and Psych Lit. Abstracts for each paper were inspected on an individual basis to assess their relevance to the literature review. Research papers within the terms of the literature review were then obtained from various library sources. However, it was felt that much of the research on early inclusive education would be found in the grey literature. Therefore, the Education Line database of conference proceedings, provided by Leeds University, was also searched for relevant papers. Finally, a search of the websites of highly regarded academic educational research centres, and government official statistics, was undertaken and further relevant research reports were obtained this way. Literature Review Although ‘inclusive education’ has been the buzz word of the education sector for many years, there is a lack of clarity in its definition. It broadly includes reference to a schools receptivity to accommodate the needs of all its pupils, and be â€Å"more responsive to pupil diversity†(Fiorina, Rouse, Black-Hawkins and Jull (2004), p 118). Furthermore, Fiorina et al (2004) have argued that inclusion and achieving high standards are not necessarily mutually exclusive goals, with some schools achieving both (p 115). Stephen and Cope (2003) have further elaborated on the interpretation of inclusive education, drawing distinction between the individual model where the deprived pupil is seen as ‘the problem’ (p 274) to be moulded into the school system, towards a social model of inclusive education. The social model acknowledges that there may be individual characteristics of the child that need to be considered, but also consider the possible institutional and operational barriers that hinder children’s entry and integration into infant schools. In their study, children from middleclass homes were supported by parents when they started infant schoolboy practising numeracy and literacy at home, and through more proactive involvement in school activities (p 273). Gallannaugh and Dyson (2003) have conducted a study of 25 practitioners working in three English LEA’s to assess what ‘inclusive education ‘development was possible in schools, and make sense of school responses to the inclusion agenda. Some teachers reported confusion over what ‘inclusive education’ was, since many official sources of information focussed on inclusion of children with special educational needs only(p 1). However, most teachers saw ‘inclusive education’ as provision for all children who were at risk of underachieving within the educational system, a version of inclusive education that is compatible with New Labour’s ‘social inclusion’ agenda ensuring that all members of society participate in the opportunities and activities of mainstream society (Blanket, 1999). A definition of inclusive education that attracted consensus amongst the teachers was â€Å"a set of broad values which we understood to be inclusive, and which we articulated as a commitment to equality, and increasing participation of all children (rather than one or other marginalised groups) in common education† (p 2). In synthesising research papers on social class related to early education, it is apparent that the term ‘social class’ has been interpreted in different ways by different authors. Sammons (1995) has highlighted that some researchers have attempted to â€Å"identify and separate the effects of different combinations of disadvantaging factors, noting that whilst not additive there is evidence of cumulative disadvantage (i.e. experiencing one factor such as low social class or low income on its own is less closely associated with low attainment than experiencing both these factors)† (p 467). Furthermore, Sparks (1999) has classified the different interpretations as including children from low income households, parental unemployment, paternal/ maternal occupation and inappropriate housing environment (p 10). She has examined research studies that look at each of these aspects, but only a few studies specifically examine the age range of 0 to 7 years. Pupils coming from a low income household, as indicated by eligibility for free school meals, appears to have marked effect on educational achievement at the age of 7 years and above (p 14). Furthermore, West, Pennell, West and Travers (1999) have shown that receipt of income support benefit by the household accounted for 66% of variance in educational achievement at a local authority level (p 10). Sparks (1999) has stated that â€Å"non-school factors are a more important source of variation in educational achievement than differences in the quality of education that students receive† (p 9).However, there is a broad consensus that schools can counteract some of the effects of social deprivation through inclusive educational practice. Indeed, empirical evidence suggests that schools have an independent effect of between 8% and 15%, and school effects are greater within the primary school sector (Reynolds, Sammons, Stoll, Barber et al, 1996 (p 140)). In the UK, research evidence on the effects of pre-school education are mixed (Sparks, 1999, p 12). However, research studies have indicated that when children receiving nursery education are compared to those receiving no nursery education, pre-school experience has a positive impact on achievement in national assessment tests at the age of seven (Sammons and Sees, 1998, p 400).However, poor families may not have access to quality services in areas where demand for nursery services is high. Middle class families, however, may have the advantage in that they can turn to the private sector provision where necessary. Smaller studies have shown an association between social class and early pupil attainment. However, stronger evidence is supplied by McCullum (1993) who compared aggregated Key Stage One results for local education authorities in England, against measures of social class obtained from the 1991 Social Census. This study clearly showed that social class, as evidenced through the number of social class 1 and 2individuals in the local population, showed a statistically significant and positive relationship with the Local Education Authority’s Key Stage One test scores, across all LEA’s sampled (p 95). Furthermore, Thomas (1995) has also shown how free school meal entitlement, and special educational needs, were strongly correlated with performance at Key Stage One (p 280). More recently, Sammons (1995) has studied 2000primary school children longitudinally at 50 ethnically diverse inner-city schools over a 9 year period. The children were monitored from the ages of 7 to 10 years. For the purpose of this report the results will be reported for the youngest of the cohort. The main purpose of the study was to assess primary schools effectiveness at developing cognitive and non-cognitive educational outcomes amongst children. Detailed records were kept on every child’s background characteristics such as ethnicity, socio-economic status and gender. For the purpose of the study, social class was measured as father’s occupation, and eligibility for free school meals. There were statistically significant differences in absolute attainment at ages 7, and above (p 479), with the biggest effect being in reading rather than mathematics performance. At 7 years, receiving free school meals accounted for just over 7% of variance in reading test performance, while having father working in an semi or unskilled profession accounted for 14.5%of variance, and having a father who was unemployed accounted for8.35%. However, for mathematics test performance, free school meals accounted for just 1.3% of variance, and having a father in a semi/unskilled profession accounted for 4.22% of variance while having father who was unemployed at the time of the study accounted for 2.57%of variance (p 471). This study was based on pupils attending primary schools in the decade of the 1980’s, and prior to the onset of the National Curriculum. It is the only longitudinal study of its kind that has been published using a British school population. With high statistical power afforded through the sample size, it is possible tube confident in the results. However, research studies are required that adopt a similar design but that are carried out now that the National Curriculum is an established format of educational provision within primary schools. Studies are also required that examine more dimensions of social class than the ‘outdated’ paternal occupation, and free school meals eligibility. In 1998, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority introduced a National Framework for Baseline Assessment for all pupils at the start of their school careers. The baseline assessment is a structured series of questions designed to assess pupils’ English ability, in terms of oral, reading and writing ability. In addition, early mathematical understanding is measured through a series of questions that require teachers to judge the ability of the child. Strand (1999) has studied the results of baseline testing of over 11,000 four year old children prior to their entry to primary school reception class. The data cover the period of 1993 to 1997, and are based at Wandsworth Local Education Authority in London. The results indicate that there are significant variations in baseline test score achievement based around a range of background factors such as age of child, gender, ethnicity and economic status. Measures of interest to the present literature review are length of preschool education by the pupil and entitlement to free school meals, which is the surrogate measure of social class used for baseline testing. Measures of attainment collected by the study were the LARR (Linguistic Awareness in Reading Readiness) test of emergent literacy and the teacher checklist described above. The results show statistically significant, strong correlations between school entrants on baseline measures and their subsequent overall Key Stage 1 achievement, in the region of 0.6 or above. Furthermore, the test battery are highly predictive of both English and Mathematics achievement in Key Stage 1 assessments in the individual subjects, with correlations in the region of 0.55 for mathematics, 0.55 for reading, and 0.49 for writing. The combination of the LARR objective measure of literacy, and the teacher checklist, together make the best overall indicator of later achievement for the children, compared to either test in isolation. Amount of preschool education received by children also significantly predicted Key Stage One achievement in all subjects. Furthermore, children in receipt of eligibility for free school meals were noted to score, on average, over five whole points less than their peers on baseline tests. Their mean scores were 29.7 (SD 11.4) compared to 34.9 (SD 12.2) for non-entitled children (p 20). In a further study, Strand (1997) tracked the educational progress of1669 Wands worth school children who had completed baseline assessments during 1992 and 1993. He considered the important of school effects, which is importance to social class considerations in the sense that schools are located in specific catchment areas that can be defined according the level of deprivation in the local community. The same assessment materials were used for this study as in Strand (1999). The pattern of achievement described for children eligible for free school meals at school entry was one where they started below other peers, in terms of baseline testing, and gradually fell further behind as time went by; as reflected in their Key Stage One performance (p 479). Composite measure of school effects of child performance at Key Stage One was taken to comprise of seven factors including gender ratio of school population, proportion of pupils with eligibility for free school meals and percentage of bilingual school pupils. Strand (1997)found that where there was a high rate of free school meal eligibility, this was one of the statistically significant factors, along with gender ratio and proportion of ESL pupils in school composite effects. â€Å"These compositional effects are significant even after each individual pupils baseline scores, sex, FSM entitlement and ESL background have been taken into account† (Strand, 1997, p 479). This means that school performance as a whole, as well as individual pupil progress, would appear to be associated with the proportion of free school meal claimants in the school population. Indeed, â€Å"It can be hypothesised that schools with a low proportion of socially disadvantaged pupils may have some benefits associated with their context: they may receive greater help from parents, have fewer disciplinary problems or an atmosphere more conducive to learning† (p 485). Buchanan-Barrow and Barratt (1998) have considered how young children understand school, and how this is affected by socio-economic factors, along with gender and birth-order. They suggest, â€Å"The school constitutes, in microcosm, a multifaceted and multi-layered society with an extensive and complex system†¦in order to operate successfully in this system, the young pupil needs to acquire an understanding of the connections between such important system-concepts as rules, roles, power and community† (p 250). A total of 112 children were included in the study from the age of 5 and upwards, at two primary schools in London. The first school had a free school meal ratio of 3% and was therefore broadly classified as a middle class school. The second school had a much higher free school meal ratio of 49% and the intake population was largely working class. Parents and teachers completed questionnaires, and the children were interviewed about their understanding of the power structure in the school, and their attitudes towards their school. In general, young children had the most positive attitudes towards school of all children studied. Furthermore, there were no differences in the attitudes towards school by socio-economic class, but there was a significant correlation between child and parental views on the school. The importance of the head-teacher in the power structure was evident in the responses of all children, butane understanding of the purpose of the class teachers was patchy until the middle primary years. The researchers closely examined the responses of the children at both schools for social class effects on comprehension and understanding of the school. At the middle-class school, the responses of the children followed general age trend patterns where children’s knowledge and understanding increased with years. However, for the working-class school, the pattern of responses were more complicated. Children were much less likely to discuss the role of parents, and children in the organisation and function of school compared to children at the other school. This suggests that children are not feeling ‘included’ in school, with a strong sense of membership that children often report at the middle class school (p263). Examination of parental responses to the questionnaire revealed broadly similar responses between schools, but working class parents reported feeling more welcome at the school than middle class parents. As Buchanan-Barrow and Barratt (1998) have suggested, â€Å"Since middleclass parents are likely to be readier to take issue, more assured of their ability to achieve their aims and better equipped to make their feelings known, it might be expected that the staff might be more wary of their interventions and less warm in their welcome. On the other hand, working class parents, without the same sense of empowerment, maybe seen as less threatening† (p 263). This is an important study in that it reveals age-trends in children’s understanding of school, and their place within the power structure and function of the school. According to Piaget cognitive theory, age-related differences in understanding are to be expected, as a combination of increased cognitive abilities with age. However, constructivism alone does not explain the individual differences in responses. The age related findings in the children’s responses may not be due to developmental changes in cognitive ability alone. In particular, social-interactional factors may have an important contribution to children’s understanding of the school, with parents, teachers and children’s interactions about the school being mediated by the age of the pupil. A social representation perspective would emphasise the individual differences in responses according to social class, gender and so forth (Elmer and Hana, 1993). However, this study showed that the acquisition of social knowledge and social understanding was more individual, than collective (p 265). Gallannaugh and Dyson (2003) have provided a useful detailed case study of how inclusive education can work at improving primary schoolchildren’s educational achievements. They collected data from one primary school (‘Broad mead’) in an urban area, primarily serving families of the local council housing estate where the eligibility for free school meals was above national averages. The school decided to address the specific issue of underachievement in writing ability during Key Stage assessments. The school had identified a group of middle ability school pupils who were failing to meet national expectations. School staff did not feel that poor teaching maybe the cause of the problem, and many teachers cited specific and concerted efforts by teachers to improve writing standards using a range of teaching strategies. However, â€Å"the school’s response to the problem was to problematize some of its existing practices. To some extent, this appeared to be a result of the realisation that customary practice simply did not ‘work’ in the sense that despite all efforts to hone teaching skills, the school had apparently reached a ceiling in attainment† (p 3). The school had moved towards a more experimental approach in the curriculum, and included new teaching strategies to help pupil learning such as thinking skills techniques. However, the actual underlying purpose of introducing a specific intervention was unclear, with more emphasis on anxiety about school performance compared to national standards, as opposed to inclusion for all. Nevertheless, it represented a departure from standard practice. Over the course of the project, the experience of implementing new approaches and of their impact on children’s learning led teachers to rethink their ideas about educational/ personal outcomes that are important to children. The original aim had been to improve achievement standards in writing, but the intervention had also appeared to impact on child self-esteem, learning in other subject areas, and educational confidence. The teachers reported that they valued these additional attainments in their own right amongst their pupils. Teachers had identified that the children had very limited learning techniques and strategies, and had therefore decided to focus on teaching children how to learn, in parallel to the curriculum subjects. When the research team interviewed teachers about why they felt their pupils had struggled in writing skills, it was generally felt that the critical barrier to raising all aspects of literacy was due to the fact that children entered school with very limited language skills that affected their access to most subjects. The head teacher felt that ‘catch up ‘once they started school was insufficient to counter the effects of poor literacy environment at home, and lack of family communication about education at home. This lack of preparation for school was complicated by local cultural factors such as socialisation of boys from working class households into the role of the ‘northern lad’ who was expected to behave stereotypically, and not necessarily express an interest in education. In summary, â€Å"some children came to school from families where education was not valued, with limited experiences, and(particularly in primary schools) limited language skills† (p 5). Gallannaugh and Dyson (2003) provide two competing perspectives on the work at Broad mead primary school. In one sense, teachers were willing to implement new teaching strategies as they had ‘internalised’ the demands of the national curriculum and school assessment system, but also the characteristics of working class children that make them deficit (p 7). This could be regarded as anti-inclusive practice since it aimed to socialise working class children into middle class ideals. However, an alternative perspective on the work at Broadmeadis that the school resisted the pressure and constraints of current educational policy, and found time to try out alternative learning strategies, which children self-reported as beneficial. Furthermore, teachers’ deficit view of the working class children was increasingly challenged as they were equipped with new skills to allow them to demonstrate their true abilities. Conclusion Recent Government policy has moved towards emphasising inclusive education, particularly in the early years. However, there is a danger that policy will remain mere ‘rhetoric’ unless there is evidence based research to provide teachers with practical skills to provide equality of opportunity for their pupils. Research studies have consistently shown that working class children are regarded as the ‘problem’ that must be adapted to the middle class educational environment of the infant school classroom. However, a social model of inclusive education that acknowledges individual difficulties in adaptation, as well as institutional barriers to learning maybe a more constructive approach. Teachers working within English schools are constrained in the classroom by their need to meet national curriculum requirements, and achieve required standards from their pupils. Conversely, teachers recognise that some children enter infant school poorly prepared forth demands of formal education through their home backgrounds, and require additional support. Implementation of special strategies to enhance the language, communication and thinking skills of children, such as at Broad mead school, maybe one solution. However, children of lower social class backgrounds may require long term intervention if ‘inclusive education’ is truly ‘inclusive’ throughout their school careers. This literature review has revealed the lack of research studies to support teachers’ implementation of effective strategies to promote learning amongst young children from deprived backgrounds. To date, research studies have concentrated on identifying the size of the discrepancy in performance between school pupils. The next step is to develop longitudinal, vigorous research programmes within English infant schools to inform evidence-based teaching practice. Furthermore, there is a need to explore the concept of social class, and how it affects young children, in more detail, and to understand how it interacts with other risk factors such as English as a second language. Sparks (1999) has shown that factors, such as social class, are associated with educational attainment, amongst young children. However, it is less clear about what aspects of social class are causal, and not merely correlated (p 10), and there is a need to investigate the specific aspects of social class that maybe associated/causing educational difficulties for children. References Barnes J, Balky J, Broomfield K, Sana D, Frost M, Melhuish E and the National Evaluation of the Sure Start Research Team (2005)Disadvantaged but different: variation among deprived communities in relation to child and family well-being. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 46.9, pp. 952 – 962. Blanket D (1999) Excellence for the many, not just the few. CBI Presidential Address 19 July 1999 (DFEE, London). Buchanan-Burrow E and Barratt M (1998) Individual Differences in Children’s Understanding of the School. Social Development 7.2, pp250-268. Elmer N and Hana J (1993) Studying social representations in children: just old wine in new bottles? In G Break well and D Canter (ends)Empirical Approaches to Social Representatives (Oxford University Press, Oxford). Fiorina L, Rouse M, Black-Hawkins K and Jull S (2004) What can national data sets tell us about inclusion and pupil achievement. British Journal of Special Education 31.3, pp. 115 -121. Gallannaugh F and Dyson A (2003) Schools understanding of inclusion: issues in inclusion and social class. (British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, Edinburgh). Geertz S (2001) Cloning the Blair’s. Journal of Educational Policy 16.4, pp. 365-378. McCollum I (1993) Testing Seven Year Olds – performance and context. Population Advice Note, pp. 93-101 (London Research Centre, London) Reynolds D, Sammons P, Stoll P, Barber M and Hillman J (1996) School effectiveness and school improvement in the United Kingdom. School Effectiveness and School Improvement 7, pp. 133 – 158. Sammons P (1995) Gender, ethnic and socio-economic differences in attainment and progress: a longitudinal analysis of student achievement over 9 years. British Educational Research Journal 21.4, pp. 465-485. Sammons P and Sees R (1998) Measuring pupil progress at key stage one: using baseline assessment to investigate value added. School Leadership and Management 18.3, pp. 389 – 407. Sparks J (1999) Schools, Education and Social Exclusion. (Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE, London). Stephen C and Cope P (2003) An Inclusive Perspective on Transition to Primary School. European Educational Research Journal 2.2, pp. 262 -275. Strand S (1997) Pupil Progress during Key Stage 1: A Value Added Analysis of School Effects. British Educational Research Journal 23.4,pp 471 – 487. Strand S (1999) Baseline assessment results at age 4: associations with pupil background factors. Journal of Research in Reading 22.1, pp. 14-26. The Plowden Report (1967) Children and their Primary Schools. (HMSO: London) Thomas S (1995) Considering primary school effectiveness: an analysis of 1992 Key Stage 1 results. The Curriculum Journal 6, pp. 279 – 295. West A, Pennell H, West A and Travers T (1999) The financing of school based education. (Centre for Educational Research, London).