Improving Children's Services

From Sure Start to Children's Centres

Speakers: Professor Angela Anning and Mog Ball

Centre for Research into Childhood (CRinCh)

This was a very seminar that I attended yesterday. The two speakers where launching their new book

Improving Services for Young Children: From Sure Start to Children's Centres

The seminar was very enlightening and certainly for me, a novice in this field, helped to fill out many of the blanks in my knowledge especially regarding the socio-political background underpinning the radical policy shift and investment into early years during the past 10 years. The two speakers have both played important roles in reviewing the effectiveness of Sure Start. Both were in the lead steering body and each commissioned elements of the National Evaluation of Sure Start, one of the most expensive and largest social science reviews undertaken in the UK by the government.

So what did I take away from the seminar? Well I now have a much better understanding of the policy decisions leading up to the £500 million investment by the government in 1997. I had not fully realising how far the UK had fallen behind other leading industrial countries at the time in the provision and support for very young children and their parents or to quote Mog Ball "the government saw it as a private matter as to what happened between children and parents in the 80s and 90s." Consequently this had lead to great swaths of inequality and poverty throughout the country with essentially little support for those parents and families most in need leading to a cycle of poverty, ill health and unemployment. Regardless of one’s political colours you cannot help marvel at the socio-cultural shift that has happened in the past 10 years since New Labour fresh from their general election campaign raise the this area as a major focus for investment and policy. Only this week we have Labour and the Conservatives during their part conference in Birmingham trying to outdo each her with family policies!

The Gender Divide

A predominant issues that needs careful reflection is the reality that although my research deals with parents the reality of my work to date means that it is mothers who form my sample. It is interesting to note that even today, women seem to be, by far the primary care givers for children. An example of this is with the Bingo 'n' Butties group that I attend on Wednesday mornings, not one man attends the session bar me. This also goes to all of the support staff. Across the service and outreach workers that I have met not one of them is male. Does this matter? Certainly there has been a lot written in but the subject with Sure Start guidance suggesting that there should be "a male Father's outreach post" although I have yet to come across one.

This question can be asked on two levels: a) how it relates to me as a researcher and b) sociologically. Dealing with the first point how does it affect my research? Certainly many feminist researcher talk about women interviewing women.

Dealing with the sociological question -- this is something I don't have any ready answer to. In an attempt to find out a little more I am reading Diane Reay's Class Work : Mother's Involvement in their Children's Primary Schooling. Perhaps it should be no real surprised that mothers take the predominate role in dealing with children, yet my thoughts were that in our current world men would take a bigger role. Then again reflect against the growing feminisation of say education, especially primary schools, or the near total feminisation of any kind of early years provision should we be surprised where men are absent from child care?

A little celebration

Success...last night I finally fished  the first transcription phase of my research.  This does not mean that there will not be anymore transcriptions but the bulk has been done.   This process has seemed to have gone on for years in reality it has taken me two months which in itself seems life-time--an incredible amount time but it  does include the summer holidays where not as much work as I would have liked got done!  

My new phase today, is to learn Nvivo 8 so anyone with advice on how best to use it please let me know.    It has been during the past 2 months that you realise that a PhD is not about being a genius, rather it is about slog and hard work.  The old adage comes to mind: "99% perspiration and 1% inspiration" is such a axiomatic truth. 

Volunteer work

I mentioned last time that there may be a possibility for me to volunteer with a support worker in an attempt to meet those hard to reach parents.   Well this week after the Bacon 'n' Butties group I met with the centre manager.  She seemed very positive and enthusiastic about me helping out. 

I am enormously looking forward to volunteering so, the wheels are in motion lets see where they go. 

Meadowfield Parents Group

Today I attended the first session after the school holidays at the Meadowfield's Bacon 'n' Bingo Parents Session. I feel that I am beginning to be accepted by some of those present and almost becoming part of the fixtures. I started a tentative conversation with some of the mothers today about local schools these conversations seemed to flow freely and easily enough. My aim for next week is to further cultivate these conversations with a view to being able to approach the ladies for an interview.

After the session I was speaking with the support workers about the difficulty accessing hard to reach parents--those people whose voices remain unheard and who miss out and much of the community work. One of the workers said that very often "it is those parents who shout the loudest" who get all the help and support with those in real need being missed out. She explained that the only way to get in contact within some people was to go 'cold door knocking' and that they were always on the lookout for volunteers. I said that I could happily commit for six months. Let’s see where this goes. It may be an opportunity to meet with those people outside of the connected social groups.

Back to work after a long not so hot summer...

It is so scary that my last blog post was so long ago.  I feel so ashamed that my good intentions of a regular post have slipped by.   I suppose since that time we have had this not so glorious summer in the UK, rain followed by more rain.  During this six week period both my son and wife have been at home this proving to be a bit of a distraction work wise.   That saying my past month has been spent purely transcribing my audio recorded interviews--which I hope to finish soon.     So as I have not much to report here his a holiday snap!

Thinking about class

I thought I better make another post.   My past few weeks have been very busy procrastinating, a thousand and one jobs you can find to do so that you don't have to transcribe! 

On a more serious note, my research has led me into the dangerous territories of class -  how does social class (whatever class may be) or background affect an individuals access to or ability to access information?    Certainly, from the interviews I have conducted thus far, all stereotypical assumptions seem to have been fulfilled.   

Pondering this issue I came across a very interesting Interview on the World at One (BBC Radio 4) with Trevor Philips head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission calling for greater fairness in the UK.  It seems that according to Philips said: 'Our growing hour glass economy is the issue of the 21st century, the division between the haves, the have nots and the never-will-haves. The great danger is that economic trends are pushing our country towards the entrenchment of greater and more divisive inequality.' 

What Philips is saying here as potentially huge implications for my research and at its early stage seems to be in full accordance.   His summary and the full PDF document can be obtained from here:  Single Equality Bill

Post Grad Conference

My time at the moment seems to be sucked up by interviews, reading and transcriptions-- oh and family...and...I am still only on the third transcription. 

The other week, I gave a presentation of my research to date at a multi-disciplinary conference of other PhD students and researchers from across the University.  This was a great opportunity to see what other people from other disciplines are up to and also see where there is overlap with what I am doing.  Certainly, a lecturer on the Health Studies course was very interested in what I am doing because of its closeness to heath information, this perhaps opening some future doors.  

So how did the presentation go?  Well on the face of it I felt I gave a good presentation, if we discount the projector failing half way through my slides and my managing to offend the 'pure' sociologists in the audience by my use of the loaded term 'chaotic lives' to describe the hard to reach poor--this cafuffle really opened my eyes.  It didn't help matters by my making a joke of it...leading to the question (in my mind), 'do sociologist have a sense of humour or are they so earnest that humour is taboo?' my personal reflection was that in this case humour is at the expense of other people therefore outlawed...   Anyway I will put that down to experience.  

PS - Does anyone know any good sociologist jokes?

Transcriptions

Ok, the research was going great until I realised how hard transcription is.  I spent quite some time on interview number one, playing it laboriously in Windows Media Player, and then RealPlayer and then QuickTime--non worked satisfactory. 

I have however, come across some free software called Express Scribe http://www.nch.com.au/scribe/ which seems to be helping.

Despite the joy of the new transcription software it is still a very long process, it is taking me around 8 hours to transcribe a 1 hour interview, hopefully I will speed-up a little.  This means that I will spend about 40 days in the next year just transcribing, that excludes coding and analysis--ouch....!

People have suggested that I employ speech recognition software, or even a real typist...or anyone mad enough to help me out; on reflection these sound like very tempting (even seductive) suggestions, yet I personally feel that I would loose out by using a quick fix.  As I transcribe I am forced to address each interview systematically and laboriously thus helping me force a fresh familiarity with each one.   So, if you read this, please remember me over the next few weeks and months as I continue to conduct interviews and then transcribe them....

PS.  If anyone has any suggestions to alternative transcription software I would be interested.  

Crystallising my purpose

I am in the process of doctoring one of my old power points for a presentation I will be giving in a few weeks.   The old ppt is the presentation I used at LILAC 2008, and so is not very old--and yet seems so out of date.  It is perhaps, a mark of the development of my thinking that it has changed.   So what has changed?  Well, it is in the crystallising my purpose.   My original proposal spoke a lot about information literacy, a term, which  I believe, certainly in the English speaking West, is inextricably linked to academic libraries and or some kind of mechanistic training programs, rather than an overarching notion of tying together the strands of information seeking, information use and information behaviours.   As a term, information literacy conjures up preconceived notions by its very statement.   So back to my purpose,

• How do parents in modern Britain seek meaning and answers to their questions to make informed decisions?
• What sources do they turn to and how do they then construct meaning and assess relevance and trustworthiness?

Lower Income Groups (Reflections)

Yesterday, I spent the day at a primary school in one of the most deprived areas of Leeds.  During the day I spoke with and interviewed a number of mothers.   As I reflect after the event, a number of points seem to be highlighted in my mind.

• There seems to be an attitude of self sufficiency with a group of mothers.  They state that their problems are their own, and that they have to get on with it.  And yet, when things go wrong they blame the authorities who they were dealing with at the time for not helping enough.  When probed, they themselves did not or do not seek help from other sources.
• So far, only one father has been interviewed.  Does this reflect on the information seeking process as a whole i.e. it is the  mother who generally seems to take the lead?   It is true that in many cases not all of the parents are together.
• In the school that I was at yesterday I was surprised by the amount of Internet use by parents; maybe it was just who I spoke to yesterday, but it seemed as if the parents in this lower socio group really used the web more than 'middle class'  mothers.  Determining how successfully they used it is indeterminate at this stage.  (Was this as a result of the courses offered through the school for parents which included ECDL, CLAIT, and computer use??)

Certainly, I might be worth using this school and other similar ones as case study examination as part of my research.

Observations"

Today I attended, for the second time, the Whybeck Parents Forum.  My initial aim was to been seen, so that the parents would get to know me and hopefully agree to be interviewed.  

The forum is lively and energetic, with parents given an opportunity to have a say in the 'running' of the school.   The forum, is more than this however, it provides a social setting for the mothers (predominately women who attend).     It struck me today, as I attended (sometimes I can be a little dense) that what I was in fact doing was an observation in an ethnographic sense.  My aim now is to continue to attend and see how the group develop--there is rich source material in this parents forum.  

This reminds me of the remarks made by Charmaz (2006) who discusses the need for 'rich data' commenting that a "researcher can rarely make persuasive, much less definitive, statements from limited data" (p. 18) -- she also quotes Dey (1999: p. 119) who refers to a "smash and grab data collection strategy."

Transcribing Data

A challenge with the approach of allowing 'yesterday's' data (or interviews in my case) (Guba and Lincoln, 1985) to shape the direction of 'today's', is that in my case, it means that I have to write up the transcriptions from audio recordings of the interviews.  A couple of weeks in to my fieldwork, I have conducted five interviews, and have yet transcribe any of them (procrastination?). 

To give a little perspective, Today (Monday), I have another interview, Wednesday (five interviews) and Thursday (one interview).  Thus by the end of the week I will have approximately 12+ hours of interviews to transcribe.    This is why Guba and Lincoln, recommend that the researcher does not audio record interviews,  rather that he or she writes notes during the interview.  Such recommendations, although logical, in practice does not work and is impractical (and may put off the interviewee, as well as hinder the flow of the process), for a free flowing semi-structured interview, conducted by a novice researcher (me!). 

Hard to Reach Parents

Ok, Friday 13th June, 11.15am  this should be the time  that I interview one of my first hard to reach parents and my first DNA.  I have two booked today through the community team working with parents.     Saying that as I type a text has come through from my parent saying that she can't make the appointment.  The glimmer of hope for me is that she has asked me to call her back next week.   That said, I think that I need to start thinking creatively about how I approach those parents who have chaotic lifestyle, and even unlike the parent that I am meeting to day are not plugged into any community.  How do I do this?    One possibility may be to select a couple of geographic areas, and approach the community organisations and re-approach the schools and centre my focus there?     Possible sources of help of gate keepers:

• Community churches
• Refuges & Charities
• Youth Groups
• Mums and tots
• Heath Visitors

Research Development

Guba and Lincoln emphasis that refection and refinement is a fundamental part of the research process.  Today, I was reviewing the scenario sheets I use for the interviews.  It apparent that the two scenario's I currently use are very similar i.e. both health related.   I really need to develop another scenario, maybe education related.  Lets see what comes out of the research.

Fieldwork

My fieldwork is now taking a postpositive naturalistic bent.  I have been hugely influenced by Guba and Lincoln's 1985 classic Naturalistic Inquiry.  This book is having a profound effect on my thoughts and the development of my research. 

Naturalistic research is not research by osmosis, it is depended upon a systematic and robust implementation of research design.  It certainly is not the easy route that many may have you think it is.

LILAC 2008 Presentations

LILAC 2008 presentations are now available at:

http://www.lilacconference.com/dw/2008/Conference_programme.html

These are all power point files and may prove to be very interesting.  I know that I have just made some great contacts!

LILAC 2008 - Day 2

This is the day I get to present by brief summary of my research. The day starts badly, very badly.  After what was an excellent nights sleep at the hotel, I set off to drive to the conference in good time.  However, two minutes later, car is stranded with a major gear box failure.  Anyway, the RAC have to transport my car back to Leeds, and I have to call the conference 'help line' and explain that I will be late for my slot.  Thankfully, they manage to reorganise the slots.  

It all meant of course that I managed to miss the key note speaker Patricia Senn Breivik -- that was a great shame.  However, the rest of the day was very interesting.  My little presentation seemed to be well received.

LILAC My Reflections

How did I find LILAC 2008? The whole event was expertly organised by the CGD LILAC committee members - thank you to them! There was a number of very inspiring and interesting presentations--yet my own feeling is that the overwhelming focus of the conference was Information Literacy in an academic context. This reflects the wider context of current information literacy theory: a status quo, I hope to challenge.

LILAC 2008 - First Day

This was my first LILAC (Librarians Information Literacy), a conference that I have wanted to attend for a few years now.  This year the conference was held in Liverpool, a city I had not really visited.  For me, the conferences gave me an opportunity to present a summary of my research.   As this was my first conference, I felt very much like the new kid in town, although the first evening presented a excellent opportunity for networking.

My one learning curve, make sure that you book a hotel near to the conference venue.  In an attempt to save money, my hotel, although very nice in a heap 'travel lodge' type of way was some way from all the action of the conference.  Oh well, lets put it down to experience!

Letters, Letters! Part 2

My previous post mentioned that Education Leeds had kindly distributed 223 letters to the head teachers of primary schools in Leeds. These letters were delivered during the past two days. Well, a note of good news, my first head teacher contacted me today, hopefully, this won't be the only one but, yet it still remains a minor result, and an encouraging end to a busy week.

Letters, Letters

The past few days have been busy. I have had various meetings with officials from Education Leeds who are willing to help me approach school head teachers and parents. Anyway, after writing a letter to each of the 223 primary school head teachers, Education Leeds have allowed me to use their internal mail system. Never, had I realised, how long it would take to mail merging, print and stuff into envelopes 223 letter—my sympathies goes out to all admin people everywhere!

Peer Review

Last Wednesday we held the first Innovation North Doctoral Symposium. This was a small, but perfectly formed gathering of students and speakers working in the Information Management field. It always amazes me (and I know it shouldn't) how isolated one becomes, when you put your head down and work away on your project. Meeting and receiving peer reviewed feedback on your work can be a brutal experience (through the outsiders critique and peer review) yet very therapeutic and beneficial experience. Perhaps, reflecting back I can say that as my feedback, certainly was very positive, and the probing questioning as to my topic and method, providing me with plenty of food-for-thought.

Parenting

I have been looking at modern parenting on and off for the past few weeks. This started when my director of studies (DOS) asked me to examine the sociology of parenting in Britain. It has been a fascinating paper, charting the sociological and physical changes to families in the past 30 years. What has proved particularly fruitful for me is realising just how much attention the British government has given to families and parenting through its Every Child Matters initiative and the Children’s Plan. This government’s prioritisation and emphasis has really provided my work with an additional and ‘unintended’ foundation, relevance—even legitimacy.

Here are some useful links:

Byron Review of Technology

Children's Plan

Department of Children Schools and Families

Every Child Matters

A Quick Update

This is my first post of the year. What’s on the agenda – well, this is going to be a busy year. Already I have received three book chapters to review and, thankfully have had my abstract for LILAC 2008 accepted.