Background: Overprescribing of off-licence psychotropic medications, particularly antipsychotics, for challenging behaviours in people with intellectual disabilities without a psychiatric disorder is a significant public health concern. In the United Kingdom, the National Health Service England launched an initiative in 2016, 'STopping…

Across a carefully detailed argument, the shortcomings, inconsistencies and contradictions of the government's recent "Reading Framework" are made clear in the light of a substantial body of academic research on the nature of reading and the development of literacy. The dogmatic approach taken towards these issues by government and by…

In this article, Ajay Chaudry and Heather Sandstrom review research on child care and early education for children under age three. They describe the array of early care and education arrangements families use for infants and toddlers; how these patterns have changed in recent decades; and differences by family socioeconomic status, race, and…

The strengths and abilities children develop from infancy through adolescence are crucial for their physical, emotional, and cognitive growth, which in turn help them to achieve success in school and to become responsible, economically self-sufficient, and healthy adults. Capable, responsible, and healthy adults are clearly the foundation of a…

This article reveals the Foucauldian docile body manufactured within the Department for Education's special educational needs and disability code of practice 2014 through employment of a theoretical lens of embodiment and an analytical focus on only three words. In problematizing the concepts of support, employment and independence, we seek to…

In this paper, I examine whether generalized trust and education, as well as social security policies of welfare state institutions matter for cross-national differences in subjective well-being (SWB), because knowledge on this issue is still lacking. For this purpose I integrated the insights of two sociological theories: Social Function…

The author analyzes the growth and nature of internal evaluation from the 1960s to the present and suggests that internal evaluation has been on the increase because of its perceived importance. Although the 1960s were characterized by a rich intellectual development of evaluation theory and practice, the fiscal conservatism of the 1980s ushered…

This paper explores the experiences of teaching assistants studying for a Foundation degree programme and the perceived impacts such a programme has on their job role and self-esteem. A review of the related literature gave rise to three research questions that were addressed via focus groups with teaching assistants employed across four different…

Extant between 2004 and 2011, Aimhigher was the UK government's flagship national initiative for widening participation to higher education for young people from disadvantaged social groups, with costs approaching 1 billion British Pounds. Its demise was predicated on a perceived lack of progress and the absence of compelling evaluative research.…

Following September 11, 2001, the number of international students coming to the United States dropped for the first time in over 30 years. While enrollments have rebounded, the U.S. image has declined in the Muslim world and elsewhere. To improve global attitudes toward America, the U.S. government funds higher education for international…

This paper examines the long-term effect of enrollment in center- or school-based care programs on the academic performance of language minority students in the USA. The study applies a longitudinal multilevel analysis to a nationally representative database, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K). Of particular interest are the…

Perceptions, attitudes, and job outcomes of participants in four British preemployment government-sponsored training programs were compared (78 job club, 95 work-based training, 52 Jobplan, 106 New Deal) were compared. Respondents in job club and work-based training had positive reactions and consequently got more jobs. Responses will provide…

Urban regeneration programs fail because they are largely short term, trickle-down does not work, different policy areas are not coordinated, community partnership involves tokenism, they are not targeted where most needed, and government funding is given with one hand while being taken away with the other. (SK)

Interviews with 15 participants in New Deal, a British training program for unemployed 18-24 year-olds, revealed overall skepticism about government training programs, distrust and disillusionment, little support for what the government identified as different about New Deal, and low expectations of long-term employment outcomes of the program.…

Analysis of the United Kingdom's Modern Apprenticeship program, designed to increase intermediate job skills, shows that in many sectors, apprentices leave without completing qualifications, especially in sectors with no history of apprenticeship. A key problem is lack of employer demand conflicting with the government's focus on improving social…