The Department for Education (DfE) commissioned this high-level research in December 2024 to understand, through analysis of the 2023-24 yearly reports, how safeguarding partnerships have developed their approaches in the past year. Yearly reports must be published in accordance with the requirements set out in the Children Act 20041 and Working…

Purpose: The rates of children looked after by local authorities in England have been rising for more than two decades. This study was conducted to determine what approaches local authorities have adopted that they perceive to be the most effective in preventing the need for children to come into care. It also considers how they evaluate these…

The promotion of social and emotional well-being and positive mental-health has become a key focus for governments across the world, with schools seen as prime locations to facilitate improvements in these areas for children. In response, schools have implemented a wide-ranging package of support designed to target well-being and mental health,…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, questions abounded about how best to support children during the 'new normal' where homes, often instead of schools, were identified as the usual sites of learning. Educational research has explored the impact of COVID-19 on schools, education and learning, and childhood studies research has shown the impact on…

This article assesses the evolving dimensions of sympathy education in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It focuses on the League of Pity, the juvenile branch organisation of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). In its early years the League sought to emphasise Christian service and self-denial,…

The COVID-19 pandemic shone a light upon the issue of food insecurity in families, with school closures (for most children) drawing concern not simply because of the impact upon pupils' education, but also due to the lack of free school meals available for children in families with low incomes (Lalli, 2021). Since the pandemic, families in the…

This paper discusses the responses of schools and teachers in England and some other developed countries to Trans children, that is, those who feel that their assigned sex at birth was not correct. These children may be defined as Trans, that is wanting to change their assigned sex, or in other ways, such as having gender distress or dysphoria, or…

Signs of Safety is a strengths-based approach to work with children and families where there are concerns about abuse or neglect. Signs of Safety is widely used in the UK and internationally, and there is a growing range of empirical research exploring its use within statutory children's social work. However, there is little research exploring…

Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) remains a significant concern in the English context with a broad professional research base expanding at pace in response to serious case reviews and government inquiries into historical sexual abuse. Whilst educational psychologists (EPs) have an established role in child protection and safeguarding, the work they…

This is the fourth colloquium for "Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood" on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study, and marks the recent publication by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development of reports on the first round of this study. In…

In recent years, there has been unprecedented awareness within policy and research of the disadvantageous trajectories that looked-after children and young people (LACYP) often face; particularly in relation to their education, health and wellbeing. Despite the perceived capacity of sport, physical activity and physical education to contribute to…

This article draws upon legislation, policy, guidance and recently published research in order to explore why illegal exclusion, sometimes known as off rolling, is an under-researched area of education, and what the most significant barriers are to gaining a clearer understanding of the scale of, and reasons behind, the practice. In doing so, the…

This article brings together two distinct but interrelated fields: human rights education (HRE) and safeguarding. It endeavours to show that the former can be beneficial for the efficacy of the latter. By extending an argument put forward recently that for HRE to be effective it must enable children to recognise and respond to lived human rights…

Autistic children comprise a large group of young people who are looked-after by their local authority and for whom educational outcomes are amongst the poorest of all children in care. Virtual School Heads (VSHs) in England have a statutory responsibility to improve the educational outcomes of children in care following the implementation of the…

This article sheds light on how chronic health conditions impact upon concepts of inclusion in children's early childhood education and care in England; it draws upon findings from a small-scale research project which highlights the need to consider health, in particular, the impact of chronic health conditions on early childhood education and…