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Category: Research & Scholarship

Home-schooling in the COVID-19 crisis: survey launched

Posted on by Andrew McAteer

A team from Stranmillis University College’s Centre for Research in Educational Underachievement (CREU) ran a survey for parents/carers home-schooling children aged 3 to 18/19 within the context of the 2020 COVID-19 restrictions in Northern Ireland. There is now a second version: CLICK HERE FOR THE NEW SURVEY.

The team of Dr Glenda Walsh, Dr Noel Purdy, Dr Jonathan Harris and Dr Jill Dunn are keen to gather information from parents/carers about the everyday realities of home-schooling for children who would normally be in day care, playgroup, nursery, special, primary or post-primary settings.

They will use the data gathered to better inform the ongoing work of the Department of Education, the Education Authority, schools and voluntary sector organisations who are already working to support parents/carers in their home-schooling efforts.

Dr Noel Purdy, Director of CREU, explains, “This is an important and timely survey and we would encourage as many parents and carers as possible to take some well-deserved time out from home-schooling to complete the survey by noon on Friday 8th May.  And please tell your friends and share the survey so that we have as many responses as possible, allowing us to have as representative a picture of what home-schooling is really like across all age groups and abilities in Northern Ireland.”

Click here to find the new survey.

The Centre for Research in Educational Underachievement is based at Stranmillis University College, Belfast.  It is committed to researching issues around achievement affecting children, their parents/carers and teachers in Northern Ireland and beyond, and is guided by the principles of rigour, partnership and impact.  Read our recent blog post on homeschooling here.  See also ‘Playful Ideas for Active Minds’ – free resources, ideas and activities produced by our PGCE (Early Years) students to minimize the impact of school closure on young children’s educational development.

 

Accessing SEN support in mainstream schools – new research report reveals significant challenges for parents/carers and children

Posted on by Andrew McAteer

This week, the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People (NICCY) published a suite of reports exploring issues preventing children and young people from fully realising their rights to an effective education in the context of SEN provision in mainstream schools.

As part of this comprehensive review, a team at Stranmillis University College led by Director of Research and Scholarship, Dr Noel Purdy, conducted an extensive survey into the views of parents and carers about their experiences of accessing or attempting to access services and support for SEN for them and their children.

Some of the findings published today are that:

  • Only 1 in 8 respondents felt that there were adequate facilities and services in place to meet the needs of all children and young people with SEN
  • Only 1 in 6 respondents felt that all children with SEN have equal access to services without discrimination of any kind.
  • Less than 1 in 5 believed that the SEN process is child-centred, while a similar proportion felt that the education environment is adaptable in order to meet the needs of children with SEN.
  • Only 1 in 7 felt that children and young people with SEN receive a quality service which meets their needs, and the same proportion of parents felt that the views of children with SEN are sought and taken into account in their education and development of policy and services.
  • Only 1 in 10 agreed that there is timely and appropriate cooperation and integration of services to ensure a holistic approach is taken to meet the needs of children with SEN

The comprehensive report includes a review of the policy context, the methodology for this element of the wider NICCY review, detailed analysis of the online survey responses completed by 608 parents and carers, thematic analysis of the 10 focus group interviews conducted in each of the EA regions including the digital summary representation of a post-it note exercise, and excerpts from 6 further in-depth individual interviews with a range of parents and carers.

The full report conducted by Stranmillis University College and the Centre for Research in Educational Underachievement, entitled Too Little, Too Late: The views of parents/carers on their child’s experiences of the Special Educational Needs (SEN) process in mainstream schools, can be downloaded now along with the full suite of ‘Too Little, Too Late’ reports, from NICCY’s website here: www.niccy.org/senreviewreports