scholarly journals Assessing Program Delivery from the Perspective of Service Providers: the Ontario Early Years Centres’ School Readiness Program

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziba Saadati
Keyword(s):  
School Readiness ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Program Effectiveness ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Support Network ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Delivery Methods ◽  
Program Delivery ◽  
Early Childhood Learning

This paper assesses the School Readiness program as delivered in two Ontario Early Years Centres (OEYCs) in Toronto. Information about program goals and delivery methods gleaned from interviewing three Child Development Consultants who ran the program in the last year is analyzed within the context of existing scholarship on and practices in early childhood learning and development. The interviewers' observations and comments form the basis for the assessment of the effectiveness of the OEYC School Readiness program. An important part of assessing effectiveness is determining whether the OEYCs and program workers have set clearly defined learning outcomes for program participants and how, if at all, the program measures these outcomes. In assessing program effectiveness, one of the factors considered is to what extent the OEYCs acknowledge and address the needs of an important demographic: immigrant children (and their support network of parents/caregivers and families). The observations and recommendations made in this study are intended to help service providers in the OEYCs develop a best practice model for program delivery, including arriving at a better sense of how they conceive of school readiness.

scholarly journals Assessing Program Delivery from the Perspective of Service Providers: the Ontario Early Years Centres’ School Readiness Program

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziba Saadati
Keyword(s):  
School Readiness ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Program Effectiveness ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Support Network ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Delivery Methods ◽  
Program Delivery ◽  
Early Childhood Learning

This paper assesses the School Readiness program as delivered in two Ontario Early Years Centres (OEYCs) in Toronto. Information about program goals and delivery methods gleaned from interviewing three Child Development Consultants who ran the program in the last year is analyzed within the context of existing scholarship on and practices in early childhood learning and development. The interviewers' observations and comments form the basis for the assessment of the effectiveness of the OEYC School Readiness program. An important part of assessing effectiveness is determining whether the OEYCs and program workers have set clearly defined learning outcomes for program participants and how, if at all, the program measures these outcomes. In assessing program effectiveness, one of the factors considered is to what extent the OEYCs acknowledge and address the needs of an important demographic: immigrant children (and their support network of parents/caregivers and families). The observations and recommendations made in this study are intended to help service providers in the OEYCs develop a best practice model for program delivery, including arriving at a better sense of how they conceive of school readiness.

Learning, development and the early childhood curriculum: A critical discourse analysis of the Early Years Foundation Stage in England

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-336
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Wood
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Child Development ◽  
School Readiness ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Performance Criteria ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Learning And Development

This article focuses on the national policy framework for early childhood education (birth to 5 years) in England – the Early Years Foundation Stage, specifically the use of child development theories as the underpinning knowledge base for practice. The aim is to understand what constructions of learning and development are foregrounded in policy, and their implications for curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. Critical Discourse Analysis methods are used to expose learning and development as messy constructs, and to propose three arguments. First, the evidence base for the Early Years Foundation Stage relies on selective appropriation of child development theories, and findings from government-funded research. These sustain normative discourses, reflecting a Piagetian ontology of ‘development leads learning’, through which children become ‘knowable’ and ‘measurable’. Second, the Early Years Foundation Stage shifts from developmental processes to learning outcomes as the basis for constructing curriculum, assessment of children’s outcomes and school readiness. Third, the Early Years Foundation Stage constitutes a discursive regime, which influences how practitioners must fulfil performance criteria that serve multiple purposes of assessing outcomes, evaluating standards and defining ‘quality’. From a critical perspective, this analysis questions the efficacy of the Early Years Foundation Stage in addressing the problems of equity and inclusion in diverse societies. The Early Years Foundation Stage exemplifies the policy technologies that can be discerned in international contexts, through which specific forms of curriculum coherence and control are produced. An alternative ‘learning leading development’ onto-epistemology is proposed, which offers potential for challenging the (il)logic of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

Community midwifery: a primary health care approach to care during pregnancy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Ailsa Munns
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Health Staff ◽  
Liaison Officer ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Comprehensive Primary Health Care ◽  
Torres Strait

Comprehensive primary health care is integral to meaningful client-centred care, with nurses and midwives central to partnership approaches with individuals, families and communities. A primary health model of antenatal care is needed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in rural and remote areas, where complex social determinants of health impact on pregnancy outcomes, early years and lifelong health. Staff experiences from a community midwifery-led antenatal program in a remote Western Australian setting were explored, with the aim of investigating program impacts from health service providers’ perspectives. Interviews with 19 providers, including community midwives, child health nurses, program managers, a liaison officer, doctors and community agency staff, examined elements comprising a culturally safe community antenatal program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, exploring program benefits and challenges. Thematic analysis derived five themes: Organisational and Accessibility Factors; Culturally Appropriate Support; Staff Availability and Competencies; Collaboration; and Sustainability. The ability of program staff to work in culturally safe partnerships with clients in collaboration with community agencies was essential to building meaningful and sustainable antenatal strategies. Midwifery primary health care competencies were viewed as a strong enabling factor, with potential to reduce health disparities in accordance with Australian Government and research recommendations.

Time to get back to nature

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 26-27
Author(s):  
Sian Marsh
Keyword(s):  
Best Practice ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Outdoor Learning ◽  
Best Practice Network ◽  
Practice Network

The sights, smells and sounds of early years outdoor learning are more important than ever in our post-lockdown world, says Sian Marsh of Best Practice Network.

Towards an EU research framework on forensic psychiatric care: Introduction, structure, activities and results of cost action Is1302

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S584-S584
Author(s):  
L. Castelletti ◽  
F. Scarpa
Keyword(s):  
Best Practice ◽  
Psychiatric Care ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Psychiatric Symptoms ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Mentally Ill Offenders ◽  
Mentally Disordered Offenders ◽  
Cost Action ◽  
Forensic Psychiatric

IntroductionForensic psychiatric care is aimed at improving mental health and reducing the risk of recidivism of mentally ill offenders. For some mentally disordered offenders long forensic psychiatric care is required. Due to different legal framework, policies and resources in member countries, treatment programs and care provided for these subjects may vary substantially across Europe.ObjectivesCOST Action IS1302, a EU project aimed at establishing a European network of researchers, clinicians and service providers about long-term forensic psychiatric care, has involved nineteen European countries for 2013 to set the basis for comparative evaluation and research on effective treatment and the development of best practice in long-term forensic psychiatry in Europe.MethodIt is constituted by three main areas of interest and research. One group works on determination of patient characteristics, looking into prevalence, duration of stay and the most determinant characteristics of long term patients. The second area of research aims at obtaining better understanding of complex external factors that influence the poor progress of patients residing for an above average time in forensic services. Third group of research focuses on knowledge about specific needs brought about by psychiatric symptoms and how these specific needs might optimize the quality of life of patients in long term forensic psychiatric care.Results/conclusionsLaunched four years ago, the action is at its last of activities. We display features, activities and data emerging from the research conducted so far.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Network Management and Service Systems

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rainer Alt ◽  
Clemens Eckert ◽  
Thomas Puschmann
Keyword(s):  
Network Management ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Service System ◽  
Financial Service ◽  
Service Systems ◽  
Service Science ◽  
Support Network ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
Dynamic Configuration ◽  
Oriented Research

Service science views companies as service system entities that interact with other entities to create value. In today's networked value chains competition is no longer among companies, but among networks that may be regarded as service ecologies. Following service science each entity comprises a dynamic configuration of resources and structures, thus a variety of design aspects needs alignment within these ecologies. To manage service ecologies this article suggests to link insights from network management with service science. A multi-dimensional framework consistently describes the organizational aspects of network management among service system entities as well as the required processes to align activities between service system entities and the possible information systems to support network management. The framework emerged from a design-oriented research project based on eleven interviews with managers from financial service providers in Germany and Switzerland.

scholarly journals Re: Privacy; investigating the accessibility of online legal documents in relation to the privacy paradox

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Elizabeth Ivy Calvert
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
Personal Privacy ◽  
Delivery Methods ◽  
Online Data ◽  
Official Document ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Motivation To Read ◽  
Legal Documents ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
Time Required

<p>Website Terms of Service and Privacy Policy documents are the delivery methods employed by online services to inform internet users of how information is treated on their platform. When users fail to read or understand these documents, many issues can arise. These issues take shape in the form of unwillingness to use services, misunderstandings of how online data is treated, and/or user concerns for personal privacy. Currently, the leading factors influencing user motivation to read these documents include (but are not limited to) document length, complicated language, and time required to read. To encourage users to engage with these documents, this research investigates the delivery methods service providers use to present these legal documents online. During the course of this investigation, the proposal of a new method of presenting website Privacy Policies to users is explored. This tool, ‘Re: Privacy’, was developed with the aim of increasing user awareness of online data treatment, whilst minimising the factors that dissuade users from reading the official document. Published alongside Re: Privacy is a comprehensive analysis of website legal documents and user understanding of these documents. This analysis also provides an investigation into user understanding of current website legal documents, and how user understanding can be improved.</p>

Learning takes center stage as BT enters new global markets

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-10
Keyword(s):  
Best Practice ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Technical Staff ◽  
Practice Approach ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Learning Pathways ◽  
It Training ◽  
Training Company

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to observe how telecommunication giant BT has used e-learning to prepare more than 6,000 information technology (IT) and technical staff over the past 2 years to support a move into new markets. Design/methodology/approach – Reveals how the company met the challenges of rapidly improving the skills of IT and technical staff, standardized a best-practice approach to IT training across key lines of business and increased levels of staff engagement. Findings – Charts the creation of flexible learning and development programs known as accredited-learning pathways (ALPs), which have since been developed to cover wider areas of employee training at BT. Practical implications – Explains that ALPs now form a key part of BT’s strategic workforce improvement initiatives and are instrumental in embedding continuous learning and accreditation for IT skills. More than 6,000 people have completed ALP content since the program inception in 2011. Social implications – Reveals that the success of the program resulted in BT being awarded the Best IT Training accolade at the training company Skillsoft’s annual user conference in 2013, by a panel of independent industry experts. Originality/value – Provides the inside story of a key development initiative at a major international telecommunications company.

E communication in crisis communication Best practice for tourism destination management organizations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonella Capriello ◽  
Simone Splendiani
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Public Relations ◽  
Crisis Communication ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Support Network ◽  
Tourist Destinations ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Destination Management Organizations ◽  
The Impact

The role of crisis communication is becoming increasingly important in disaster management, especially considering the impact that disasters can have on the image and reputation of tourist destinations. Although the literature has begun to focus on this topic in recent years, the greater number of natural disasters and the impact of new media communication tools, make this theme particularly interesting for further scholarly investigation. Developing an effective crisis communication strategy requires consideration of the role that local authorities, including destination management organizations (DMOs) play, the channels they use, and the content that should be included. Numerous authors have analyzed this issue from a chronological perspective in terms of the difference phases of a crisis starting from preparation and ending with recovery. However, a series of strategic requirements emerge alongside these phases for successful crisis management, including: - Cooperation with the media in providing information to the public; in particular, imparting a consistent message to all stakeholders to build credibility and preserve the image of organizations and destinations. - Preparedness and the capacity to plan an effective communication response to a crisis in advance, paying attention to the specific characteristics of each case. - The development of a public relations plan that creates a support network for the dissemination of communication across multiple channels facilitated by the web and Information Communications Technologies (ICTs).

Participatory Budgeting

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henriette I. Weber ◽  
Sebastian Vogt ◽  
Lisa-Marie Eberz-Weber ◽  
Holger Steinmetz ◽  
Sascha A. Wagner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Participatory Budgeting ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Participation Process ◽  
Political Decision Making

Consultative participation of citizens in political decision-making processes has been increasing in order to facilitate democratic legitimacy and responsiveness. Consequently, participatory budgets have been established as a 'best practice' for consultative participation of citizens in political decision-making processes. The authors compare participatory budgets of 31 German municipalities. An analysis of differences between successfully and unsuccessfully rated participatory budgeting processes provides informative insights and allows for in-depth comparison on a municipal level. The authors show that external service providers and electronic participation channels significantly increase the number of participatory citizens and are positively connected with pursued objectives of dialog processes and public responsiveness as well as efficient and effective decisions. Furthermore, the acceptance of all participants proved to be a key factor for a successful public participation process. The authors' analysis opens up new starting points for further research.

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