Seaneen Sloan

• BSc (Hons), PhD
• Lecturer at University College Dublin

Children’s School Lives (CSL) is a mixed methods national cohort study of primary schooling in Ireland. This study aims to provide information on children’s learning, engagement, and wellbeing, in the context of primary school curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, with a focus on social equality and inclusion. CSL has an accelerated cohort design i...

Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world with a literacy level of 51%. The government has oficially abolished school fees; however, families still have to cover various education-related costs for their children. This paper analyses the nature of the schooling costs in Sierra Leone. It shows that despite the abolition of school fee...

This paper explores the generationing of education and development in five villages in Northern Sierra Leone. Understood as ‘fields’ governed by power dynamics, we consider how the interactive ‘fields’ of generation, education and development coalesce, re/structuring adult and child ‘being’ and ‘doing’. We explore the tensions that arise between tr...

In spite of widespread initiatives to improve access to education for girls, substantive concerns remain. While there is a rich and growing body of literature on gendered experiences of school in majority world contexts, absent is a focus on how this intersects with children’s out of school lives. Further, research with children in rural communitie...

This article, emerging from a wider study on the professional development needs of women teachers working in Catholic convent schools in the Republic of Pakistan, explores the perspectives and experiences of school leaders and Principals who developed professional development programmes. This area, which has been under-researched in the professiona...

Concerns have grown regarding the increased prevalence of social, emotional and behavioural difficulties observed in young children in primary school settings. Contributory factors are multiple and varied but one consistent emphasis has been on the negative effects of children’s poor attachments with significant others which, due to contextual fact...

Background. The benefits of breastfeeding are well documented and the World Health Organization (WHO) specifically recommends exclusive breastfeeding for six months and up to two years with complementary food. The UK and Ireland continue to report the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the world. Ireland has the lowest reported rate of 'having ever b...

Background There is growing consensus regarding the importance of attending to children’s social and emotional well-being. There is now a substantial evidence base demonstrating the links between a child’s early social and emotional development and a range of key longer-term education, social and health outcomes. Universal school-based intervention...

Within-school segregation of pupils by attainment remains prevalent, despite evidence that these practices detrimentally impact outcomes for those in low attainment groups. This article explores the hypothesis that ‘ability grouping’ by setting impacts pupil self-confidence, precipitating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Survey data from 11,546 11/12 ye...

Zippy's Friends is a social and emotional learning programme currently delivered in UK primary schools as well as across 30 countries worldwide. It aims to develop coping and social skills among five to seven year old pupils. It typically runs over the course of one school year, and is designed to be delivered by the class teacher on a whole-class...

Physically Active Lessons (PAL) involves adapting lesson plans to combine short bursts of physical activity with academic content. Based on a US programme, PAL is being developed for use in a UK primary school context by a research team at the University of Bristol. The intervention aimed to increase physical activity by introducing an additional 9...

Quest is a whole-year group approach to teaching English in Key Stage 3. Pupils are grouped according to their current level of reading comprehension, typically with smaller classes for the lowest attaining groups. Key components of the programme include: an emphasis on collaborative (or ‘cooperative’) learning; a requirement that participating tea...

Research on the effects of breastfeeding on child cognitive development has produced conflicting results, and many studies do not account for infant stimulation in the home. The aim of this study is to determine whether breastfeeding predicts enhanced cognitive development in one-year-old infants after controlling for the main socio-economic and en...

Health visiting services have been restructured from being universal for all children to targeting families in need. UK recommendations on infant feeding have also recently changed. With the many sources of information available on feeding babies, it is important to know where parents get feeding advice and which sources they find valuable. In this...

Evidence relating to the effect of early weaning on infant weight and weight gain is conflicting. The aim of this paper is to compare weight and weight gain in two groups of infants; one group weaned before 4 months (early weaned), the other weaned at 4 months or after. Feeding practices were assessed through semistructured interviews with mothers...

The Growth, Learning and Development (GLAD) study aimed to examine how a broad range of factors influence child weight during the first year of life. Assessments were undertaken within a multidisciplinary team framework. The sample was drawn from the community and data collection was undertaken in the four Greater Belfast Trusts. Twohundred and thi...

be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be co...