This article discusses the work of Susan Isaacs (1885-1948), the IOE's (Institute of Education), first director of the Department of Child Development. In addition to introducing child psychoanalysis to the UK, Isaacs was instrumental in mapping out the basis for a conceptual understanding of the role of aspects of imagination (which she termed…

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and related approaches are receiving increasing focus from education policy makers and educational psychologists. However, the extent to which ACEs research and theory can be used to inform practice continues to be a topic for debate. The present paper explores the development of ACE-informed practice within…

This paper explores the interaction of ethnicity and friendship in a kindergarten in England. Existing literature from different traditions, such as developmental psychology, sociocultural theory and postmodernism, suggests that pre-school children tend to choose friends from the same ethnic group. The research was carried out using an…

Two experiments attempted to reconcile discrepant recent findings relating to children's color naming and categorization. In a replication of Franklin and colleagues ["Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 90" (2005) 114-141], Experiment 1 tested English toddlers' naming and memory for blue-green and blue-purple colors. It also found…

Service supervision has become a central feature of the training of child psychotherapists in the UK. This paper reports on the work of a research workshop set up to explore the task and its complexities. The paper draws on several years of monthly meetings of a highly experienced group of supervisors. It discusses the methodology for studying…

This paper reflects upon the developing role of educational psychologists (EPs) within the local authority Children's Services, from the starting point that the EP role has, through numerous reviews, been clearly conceptualised. Detailing the philosophy and framework for the inception of Children's Services in England, the authors propose two…

This study examined posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and comorbid disorders in 70 preschool children (ages 3-6) and their caregivers following Hurricane Katrina. Children's rate of PTSD was 50.0% using age-modified criteria. The rate of PTSD was 62.5% for those who stayed in the city and 43.5% in those who evacuated. Of those with PTSD, 88.6%…

This article considers the future of professional educational psychology by addressing challenges and tensions, while presenting a positive view tempered by realism. It starts by considering recent definitions of the role but asks whether one needs to be a professional psychologist to use psychological knowledge and understanding. It is argued…

The Government's recent Creative Partnerships initiative in England represents part of the resurgence of interest in creativity which was stimulated by the NACCCE's 1999 "All our futures" report. However, many questions remain about the impact and processes of creative partnerships. The field of creativity research has been dominated by…

This study investigated children's sensitivity to spelling consistency, and lexical and sublexical (rime) frequency, and their use of explicitly learned canonical vowel graphemes in the early stages of learning to spell. Vowel spellings produced by 78 British children at the end of reception year (mean age 5 years, 7 months) and 6 months later in…

This article reports on the findings of a questionnaire survey of 142 educational psychologists from England and Wales on their approach to the assessment of children with learning and behavioural problems. Participants were asked to report on the frequency with which they used a variety of approaches to assessment, including interviews with…

This revised and expanded version of the 1960 classic "Summerhill," edited by Albert Lamb, portrays Summerhill School throughout its development. The book reveals A. S. Neill's fundamental belief in the self-regulated school in which children make their own rules and determine for themselves how much they will study. Neill's commitment…