scholarly journals Children in care in education: Who is entered for exams and who reaches critical thresholds of success at age 16?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aoife O’Higgins ◽  
Nikki Luke ◽  
Steve Strand
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thresholds ◽  
Children In Care

Children in care in school: who is entered for exams and who reaches critical thresholds of success at age 16?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aoife O'Higgins ◽  
Nikki Luke ◽  
Steve Strand
Keyword(s):  
General Population ◽  
Autistic Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Minimum Standard ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Critical Thresholds ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Children In Care

Background Being entered for exams and reaching key educational thresholds, for example five A* to C (including English and Mathematics) at GCSE, are important markers of participation and success in secondary education. However, little is known about the prevalence and make-up of children in care reaching these thresholds. Method Using secondary data analysis, we compared the proportions of children in care, children in need and children in the general population who achieved four key thresholds, including exam entry and 5 A* to Cs, including English and Maths. We then focused on children in care and examined factors that predicted exam entry and achieving 5 A* to C including English and Mathematics.Results Children receiving social care interventions were less likely than children in the general population to be entered for exams or to reach important educational thresholds. For children in care, several socio-demographic, care and educational factors predicted their likelihood of success. No children with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder or who had ever been permanently excluded were recorded to have achieved 5 A* to Cs, including English and Mathematics. Children with poor attainment at Key Stage 2 were also at significant risk of not achieving this threshold. Implications Practitioners and policy-makers should consider the modifiable risk factors for poor educational performance and be aware of groups of children in care who are at significant risk of not achieving a minimum standard which could open doors for their future.

The Poverty of Policy: Examining Care Leaving Policy in Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
pp. 234930032098239
Author(s):  
Anduamlak Molla Takele ◽  
Messay Gebremariam Kotecho ◽  
Philip Mendes
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Adulthood ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Vulnerable Children ◽  
Child Policy ◽  
Policy Frameworks ◽  
The Status ◽  
Adult World ◽  
Care Leavers ◽  
Orphan And Vulnerable Children ◽  
Children In Care

International research consistently shows that young care leavers’ journey from care to emerging adulthood is characterised by adversities such as unemployment, poor academic performance, homelessness, involvement in criminal activities, mental illness and early parenthood. As research evidence points out, such negative outcomes are closely linked with the existence of multiple placements, lack of mentoring, limited connections with significant others, the absence of early preparation to leave care, and a dearth of or inadequate policy frameworks that entitle care leavers to use aftercare support schemes. In order to support care leavers’ transition from care to emerging adulthood, Global North countries have implemented an independent care leaving policy framework that serves as a scaffolding for challenges that would arise from care leavers’ exploration of the adult world upon leaving care. However, such experience in formulation of policy to empower care leavers to be an independent adult is not well developed in countries in Global South due to the infant nature of research on care leaving and a preference for addressing the issues of care leavers in the existing child policy frameworks rather than formulating a special policy that deals with care leaving. The status of Ethiopia in this regard is not different. Existing policy frameworks concerning children have failed to address the needs of Ethiopian care leavers despite the existence of over five million orphan and vulnerable children in the country most of whom are placed in institutional childcare centres. This article presents the case for an independent care leaving policy in Ethiopia to address the multifaceted needs of children in care and improve the care leaving service in the country. Thus, the study will shed light on the state of care leaving policy in the world and lessons for Ethiopia to support Ethiopia’s attempt to serve the most vulnerable children in care by developing its own care leaving policy.

scholarly journals Robustness of Cyber-Physical Supply Networks in Cascading Failures

Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 769
Author(s):  
Dong Mu ◽  
Xiongping Yue ◽  
Huanyu Ren
Keyword(s):  
Load Distribution ◽  
Cascading Failure ◽  
Cascading Failures ◽  
Supply Network ◽  
Supply Networks ◽  
Defense Strategies ◽  
Critical Thresholds ◽  
Network Load ◽  
Physical Node ◽  
Simulation Results

A cyber-physical supply network is composed of an undirected cyber supply network and a directed physical supply network. Such interdependence among firms increases efficiency but creates more vulnerabilities. The adverse effects of any failure can be amplified and propagated throughout the network. This paper aimed at investigating the robustness of the cyber-physical supply network against cascading failures. Considering that the cascading failure is triggered by overloading in the cyber supply network and is provoked by underload in the physical supply network, a realistic cascading model for cyber-physical supply networks is proposed. We conducted a numerical simulation under cyber node and physical node failure with varying parameters. The simulation results demonstrated that there are critical thresholds for both firm’s capacities, which can determine whether capacity expansion is helpful; there is also a cascade window for network load distribution, which can determine the cascading failures occurrence and scale. Our work may be beneficial for developing cascade control and defense strategies in cyber-physical supply networks.

scholarly journals Measurement invariance of the short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale and latent mean differences (SWEMWBS) in young people by current care status

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Anthony ◽  
Graham Moore ◽  
Nicholas Page ◽  
Gillian Hewitt ◽  
Simon Murphy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Measurement Invariance ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Mental Wellbeing ◽  
Short Version ◽  
Living Situation ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Mean Differences ◽  
Children In Care

Abstract Purpose Studying mental wellbeing requires the use of reliable, valid, and practical assessment tools, such as the Short version of the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS). Research on the mental wellbeing of children in care is sparse. The current study aims to: (1) examine the unidimensionality of SWEMWBS; (2) assess measurement invariance of SWEMWBS across children and young people in care compared to their peers not in care; and (3) investigate the latent factor mean differences between care status groups. Methods We used data from the 2017 School Health Research Network Student Health and Wellbeing (SHW) survey, completed by 103,971 students in years 7 to 11 from 193 secondary schools in Wales. The final data include a total of 2,795 participants (46% boys), which includes all children in care and a sub-sample of children not in care who completed the SWEMWBS scale fully and answered questions about their living situation. Results Confirmatory factor analysis supported the unidimensionality of SWEMWBS. The SWEMWBS is invariant across groups of young people in foster, residential and kinship care compared to children and young people not in care at configural, metric and scalar levels. Findings from latent mean comparisons showed that young people in care reported lower mental wellbeing than their peers, with those in residential care reporting the lowest scores. Conclusions Findings suggest that SWEMWBS is a valid scale for measuring differences in mental wellbeing for young people in care similar to the population.

scholarly journals Prioritizing conservation actions in urbanizing landscapes

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. K. Ettinger ◽  
E. R. Buhle ◽  
B. E. Feist ◽  
E. Howe ◽  
J. A. Spromberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coho Salmon ◽  
Predictive Accuracy ◽  
Critical Threshold ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Conservation Action ◽  
Critical Thresholds ◽  
Species Response ◽  
Response Data ◽  
Conservation Actions ◽  
Preservation And Restoration

AbstractUrbanization-driven landscape changes are harmful to many species. Negative effects can be mitigated through habitat preservation and restoration, but it is often difficult to prioritize these conservation actions. This is due, in part, to the scarcity of species response data, which limit the predictive accuracy of modeling to estimate critical thresholds for biological decline and recovery. To address these challenges, we quantify effort required for restoration, in combination with a clear conservation objective and associated metric (e.g., habitat for focal organisms). We develop and apply this framework to coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), a highly migratory and culturally iconic species in western North America that is particularly sensitive to urbanization. We examine how uncertainty in biological parameters may alter locations prioritized for conservation action and compare this to the effect of shifting to a different conservation metric (e.g., a different focal salmon species). Our approach prioritized suburban areas (those with intermediate urbanization effects) for preservation and restoration action to benefit coho. We found that prioritization was most sensitive to the selected metric, rather than the level of uncertainty or critical threshold values. Our analyses highlight the importance of identifying metrics that are well-aligned with intended outcomes.

Reading with Angels: Improving Literacy among Children in Foster Care

2013 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 54-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Knight
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Literacy Outcomes ◽  
Children In Foster Care ◽  
Love Of Learning ◽  
Outcomes For Children ◽  
Children's Literacy ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Children In Care

The Pyjama Foundation is an Australian charity working to improve the literacy and numeracy outcomes for children in foster care. The foundation delivers the Pyjama Foundation Love of Learning programme, a learning-based mentoring programme in which volunteer ‘Pyjama Angels’ visit children in care each week to read books, play games and engage in other learning-based activities.This study surveyed 121 Love of Learning mentors (‘Pyjama Angels’) to assess their perceptions of the relationships they had developed with the children they mentored and of the children's improvement in their literacy skills, a key aim of the programme.The statistical data analysis based on the structural equation modelling and multiple regression approach showed that several factors had a statistically significant impact on the mentors’ perceptions of the children's improvement in literacy skills: relationship with the child, child's engagement and tenure in the programme, and frequency of meetings. Age and gender of the mentors were not found to have a statistically significant impact on mentors’ perceptions of this improvement, while mentors’ perceptions of their relationship with the children was the most important factor influencing their perceptions of improvement in literacy skills. The study did not include objective measures of the children's literacy outcomes, so its results are limited to the mentors’ perceptions. However, this study offers valuable insights for mentoring programmes working with children living in foster care.

Fire spreading experiments on heterogeneous fuel beds. Applications of percolation theory

2000 ◽  
Vol 30 (8) ◽  
pp. 1318-1328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Nahmias ◽  
Hervé Téphany ◽  
José Duarte ◽  
Sophie Letaconnoux
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Work ◽  
Percolation Theory ◽  
Dynamic Behaviour ◽  
Fire Spread ◽  
Directed Percolation ◽  
Final State ◽  
Critical Thresholds ◽  
Scale Models ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Fire Spreading

In the experimental work presented here, fire spread was studied through various laboratory and full-scale models containing different types of combustible and noncombustible materials. We have examined the dynamic behaviour of the flame front and the final state (after extinction) on randomly created heterogeneous zones, both with and without wind. The principal conclusion is that critical thresholds exist, for the ratio between combustible and noncombustible parts, at the transition between nonpropagation and propagation of the fire. This result is common to all types of spreading (with or without wind). The values of the critical thresholds in the nonwind-driven experiments are those of the percolation theory. The critical exponent, obtained for wind-driven experiments, is in accordance with current values suggested by the directed percolation approach.

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