Doctorate in Professional Educational

Thinking of becoming an Educational Psychologist?

Come and find out about our exciting three year doctoral level training programme in Applied Educational Psychology; which is approved by the Health Professions Council and accredited by the British Psychological Society.
The open evening will provide you with the opportunity to meet with Tutors and to enjoy informal discussions with current Trainees and recently qualified EPs. You will learn about:
· Recent developments in EP training
· The course philosophy, structure and organisation
· How to apply for training and funding
· The process of selection
· Relevant reading and pre-course experiences.
We encourage applicants from minority groups.

For further information please contact Lorraine Fernnades : l.fernandes@ioe.ac.uk

Swedish free schools and academic achievement

Research from the IOE on Sweden's 'free school' reforms suggests that the entry of new schools had a positive effect on pupils' academic achievements. But according to a survey of the evidence by Rebecca Allen, the benefits are small, they are predominantly focused on children from highly educated families and they do not persist: scores are no higher in the end-of-school exams.

The findings appear in the latest issue of Research in Public Policy (published by the Centre for Market and Public Organisation, CMPO).

Allen concludes that the experience of Sweden is helpful, but necessarily limited, in the extent to which it can help predict the impact of school reforms in England. One reason for this is that the schools also underwent a radical decentralisation of the education system, which would seem to be critical for promoting diversity and productivity gains through experimentation in free schools.

Sweden also has fewer reasons to be concerned that a free school system will produce greater school stratification since the country's lower levels of income and skill inequalities mean there is far less need for parents to choose schools based on social composition. It is also possible that Sweden's stronger tradition of non-standard schooling – such as Steiner and Montessori schools – is leading to a greater diversity of provision than parents in England would ever demand.

Why music education deserves to be protected from public spending cuts

The remarkable range of music education opportunities currently available to young people and adults in the UK is a vital national resource that must not only be preserved but developed, even at a time of severe public spending cutbacks, says a new book published this week by the Institute of Education, University of London.

Music-making should be part of any long-term strategy relating to quality of life for all, argue Professor Susan Hallam and Dr Andrea Creech, editors of Music Education in the 21st Century in the United Kingdom: Achievements, analysis and aspirations.

The book itemises the positive impacts that music-making can have on the intellectual, social and personal skills of children and young people. For instance, in the early years it enhances the ability to differentiate between sounds, which contributes to the development of language skills and literacy.
Research has shown that it also helps to build self-reliance, friendships, and sensitivity to other people's emotions.

The book, which includes contributions from 17 authors who are either IOE staff or have close connections with the Institute, examines the formal and informal music education opportunities that are available from the early years, through primary, secondary, further and higher education, and into later life. It also has chapters on listening, singing, instrumental music, the role of technology, creativity, performance and assessment, special educational needs and the training of music teachers.

Professor Hallam and Dr Creech conclude that the UK has arguably the best music education in the world. The key to its success, they say, are the general music classes and weekly extra-curricular instrumental tuition in primary and secondary schools, delivered by well-qualified and enthusiastic teachers. Historical analysis shows that when these fundamentals are not in place musical activity disappears, along with all the benefits it brings.

The book's contributors include:

Pauline Adams (Institute of Education, London), John Conlon (Institute of Education, London), Dr Andrea Creech (Institute of Education, London),  Dr Colin Durrant (Institute of Education, London), Jessica Ellison (Institute of Education, London), Dr Helena Gaunt (Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London), Professor Susan Hallam (Institute of Education, London), Dr Evangelos Himonides (Institute of Education, London),  Kate Laurence (Institute of Education, London), Dr Hilary McQueen (Institute of Education, London), Professor Adam Ockelford (University of Roehampton), Dr Ioulia Papageorgi (Institute of Education, London), Ross Purves (Luton Sixth Form College), Dr Lynne Rogers, (Institute of Education, London),  Dr Jo Saunders (Institute of Education, London), Dr Maria Varvarigou (Institute of Education, London), and Professor Graham Welch (Institute of Education, London).

Music Education in the 21st Century in the United Kingdom: Achievements, analysis and aspirations will be launched at an event in the Institute of Education on Thursday, July 15. Further information on the book from:

David Budge
d.budge@ioe.ac.uk
020 7911 5349
07881 415362
Notes for editors
1. Music Education in the 21st Century in the United Kingdom: Achievements, analysis and aspirations, ISBN 978-0-85473-899-1, £23.99, paperback, 370 pages, can be ordered from all online book retailers or directly from John Smith's Education Bookshop. Tel: +44 (0)20 7612 6050. Fax: +44 (0)20 7612 6407. Email: ioe@johnsmith.co.uk. www.ioe.ac.uk/publications
2. The book has been produced partly to mark the Government's Tune In – Year of Music initiative, which ends this summer. The IOE also undertook a major literature review last year to support the launch of the Year. Entitled The power of music: its impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people, the literature review can be downloaded from http://www.ioe.ac.uk/Year_of_Music.pdf
3. The Institute of Education is a college of the University of London specialising in teaching, research and consultancy in education and related areas of social science and professional practice. The 2008 Research Assessment Exercise judged almost two-thirds of the work submitted by the IOE as internationally significant, and 35 per cent as 'world leading'.

Millennium mothers want university education for their children

The Millennium generation of UK children may have the most educationally ambitious mothers ever, a new study suggests.

No less than 97 per cent of them want their children to go on to university, even though most did not have a higher education themselves, researchers at the Institute of Education, University of London, have found.

Today, roughly a third of young people in the UK progress from school to higher education. However, that proportion will be much higher in 10 years' time if the mothers of children born in the first few years of the new century get their way, a survey of almost 14,000 families has shown.

The Millennium Cohort Study, which is tracking the development of children born in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland between 2000 and 2002, found that 96 per cent of mothers with the lowest qualifications want their seven-year-olds to go on to higher education. The figure for those with postgraduate qualifications is only slightly higher (98%).

Attendance at parents' evenings is also encouragingly high, say Dr Kirstine Hansen and Dr Elizabeth Jones, who analysed the responses to the study's latest survey. The vast majority of families (93%) had been represented at a parents' evening, and more than half of those who had not attended one said that their school had not yet held such an event.

Most parents also told the researchers that they help their child with their reading, writing or maths homework. Eighty-five per cent of parents with either no qualifications or the most basic certificates said they offer such support.

"The overarching impression from the parental interviews is one of all families, right across the social spectrum, taking an interest in the Millennium children's schooling and aspiring for them to do well," Dr Hansen and Dr Jones say. "This is a positive sign because previous research has shown that parental involvement and interest in their children's education is a strong predictor of later educational success."

The study's latest survey, conducted in 2008/9, also found that the average amount of time that seven-year-olds spend on homework is 86 minutes a week. Seven-year-olds in Northern Ireland appear to do most homework (115 minutes per week on average), followed by children in Scotland (87 minutes), England (84 minutes) and Wales (69 minutes).

In England and Wales it is recommended that children in Years 1 and 2 of primary school should spend one hour a week on homework. In Scotland and Northern Ireland schools are given discretion over homework policy.

The findings appear in a report published today by the Institute of Education's Centre for Longitudinal Studies: Millennium Cohort Study, Fourth Survey: A User's Guide to Initial Findings. Copies of the report can be downloaded from www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/MCSFindings.

Further information from:
David Budge
(off) 020 7911 5349
(mob) 07811 415362
Notes for editors

1. The Millennium Cohort Study has been tracking the Millennium children through their early childhood and plans to follow them into adulthood. It covers such diverse topics as parenting; childcare; school choice; child behaviour and cognitive development; child and parental health; parents' employment and education; income; housing; and neighbourhood. It is the first of the nationwide cohort studies to over-sample areas with high densities of ethnic minorities and large numbers of disadvantaged families. Previous surveys of the cohort were carried out when the children were aged nine months, three years and five years. The study is housed at the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at the Institute of Education. It was commissioned by the Economic and Social Research Council, whose funding has been supplemented by a consortium of government departments.

2. Data from the fieldwork for the fourth survey of the Millennium cohort are now available from the UK Data Archive www.esds.ac.uk.

3. The contract for data collection in MCS is awarded under competitive tender to specialist agencies. For three of the four surveys undertaken to date the data collection was carried out by the National Centre for Social Research, who in turn sub-contracted the interviewing in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. The agency responsible for the second round of data collection was Gfk-NOP, who sub-contracted in Northern Ireland to Millward Brown.

4. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues. It supports independent, high quality research which has an impact on business, the public sector and the third sector. The ESRC's planned total expenditure in 2009/10 is £204 million. At any one time the ESRC supports more than 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and independent research institutes.

5. The Institute of Education is a college of the University of London that specialises in education and related areas of social science and professional practice. In the most recent Research Assessment Exercise two-thirds of the publications that the IOE submitted were judged to be internationally significant and over a third were judged to be "world leading". The Institute was recognised by Ofsted in 2010 for its "high quality" initial teacher training programmes that inspire its students "to want to be outstanding teachers". The IOE is a member of the 1994 group, which brings together 19 internationally renowned, research-intensive universities.