New
birth cohort launched
Sweep 5 findings and annual conference
Sweep 6 progress
Reaching a wider audience
GUS data update
How
GUS is being used
Early
Years news
Links to other new research
Links to other birth cohort studies
Contact us
New birth cohort launched
Our interviewers have now started to visit our ‘Birth Cohort 2’ families. We will be recruiting over 6,000 families who have a baby born between 1st March 2010 and 28th February 2011. Interviews will take place when the baby is 10 months old. The information collected will be used to find out if the circumstances and experiences of children in Scotland are changing and whether current policies and services for young children and their families are helping to improve lives. A wide range of stakeholders have contributed to the development of the questionnaire for the new cohort.
Sweep 5 findings and annual conference
Findings from the fifth round of data collection with our original birth cohort will be published during May this year. Four new reports on the following topics will be launched at our annual conference on 19th May in Glasgow:
1. Stability and change in
early childhood – the impact of significant
events
2. Parenting and child health outcomes
3. Cognitive development between pre-school and school entry
4. Parental service use and informal support networks in the early years
The conference will open for bookings from the middle of March. If you have received this newsletter by e-mail, you will receive an invitation to attend the event. If you have received this newsletter from a colleague and would like to join our e-mail list please sign up through our website home page . You can also keep an eye on our events page.
Sweep
6 progress
The sixth round of annual interviews with our existing birth cohort
runs until May 2011. By the time of their Sweep 6 interview, the children
are nearly 6 years old and all have started primary school. As well
as updating core information on family composition, socio-economic
circumstances, childcare, housing and child health, the sweep 6 interview
is also collecting data on contact with and support from the child’s
grandparents, awareness of and attendance at parenting programmes,
early experiences of primary school, levels of physical activity and
social networks. The children and their mothers are also having their
height and weight measurements taken.
Birth cohort 1 families will not be visited next year but will be contacted again to arrange an interview when the children are aged just under 8 years. The families with children in the older cohort may not be visited for a few years but we will stay in touch and keep them up to date with what is happening with GUS.
If you are taking part in GUS and have moved home, please contact us with your new address by e-mailing gus@scotcen.org.uk or by completing the change of details form on our website. This will make it easier for us to keep in touch with you.
Reaching
a wider audience - disseminating GUS findings
The GUS team have been busy getting out and about disseminating
findings. Recently we’ve given presentations to North Lanarkshire
Council, East Lothian Equally Well Test Site ‘Support from
the Start’ and NHS Grampian Public Health amongst others.
We took part in a ‘GUS day’ for third year B.Ed students
at Moray House where future teachers enthusiastically engaged with
recent findings from the study and discussed the implications for
them in the classroom. Future presentations include Inverclyde
Child Protection Committee and Aberdeenshire Council Early Intervention
event.
Professor Sarah Cunningham-Burley
from CRFR will give a presentation using GUS at the next Holyrood
Early Years event on 16th March 2011 in
Edinburgh. Also at this event, Professor Susan Deacon, Scotland’s ‘Early
Years Champion’ will present the findings and recommendations from
her recent ‘dialogue on early years action’. For more information
or to book a place please click
here.
You can now follow GUS on Twitter:
@growingupinscot
Read our Parenting and
Poverty article on the CRFR
blog (Posted 21st December 2010)
Take part in our interactive
quiz to find out how your family compares
to other Scottish families.
GUS
data update
The second journal article using GUS data will be published this
month in the Maternal
and Child Health Journal. Investigating
the topic of ‘Juggling work and motherhood: the impact
on employment and maternity leave on breastfeeding duration’ Valeria
Skafida from CRFR found that mothers working as full-time employees
had a higher risk of stopping breastfeeding early than non-working
mothers and self-employed mothers. Mothers who took longer maternity
leave breastfed for longer. The relationships between employment,
maternity leave and breastfeeding duration remained significant
even after controlling for the known predictors of breastfeeding
like maternal education and social class.
Our findings reported so far represent just a fraction of the analysis
possible using the data. To maximise the value from GUS, we are keen
for academics and others to use the data to inform their own research.
Data from the first four Sweeps of GUS are available to download from
the UK
Data Archive
There is no cost to download the data but you have to register with
the UK Data Archive/ ESDS. Data documentation including copies of survey
questionnaires is available to download from the Archive or from the
GUS website (see Using GUS data button)
For an A-Z of findings to date please see our A-Z Topic Index, covering 70 topics.
If you are using GUS data, please let us know (contact lesley.kelly@ed.ac.uk)
For a list of postgraduate projects past and present to make use of GUS data, please click here.
For further support in quantitative data analysis skills please visit the AQMeN website.
How GUS is being used
New Pre-birth to Three Guidance from LTS
GUS features in the new Pre-birth to Three Guidance from Learning and Teaching Scotland (see section 7 below). Findings from GUS have also been used to inform the development of the new Maternal and Infant Nutrition Framework and proposals for a new Parent Education Syllabus .
Early Years Framework – Data and Indicators
The multi-agency Early Years Framework Data and Indicators Group (DIG) aimed to identify and develop a meaningful, manageable and robust set of indicators against which progress toward national and local early years outcomes can be assessed. The group produced a report, an outcomes framework and a list of supporting indicators, which were published in September 2010. Data from the Growing Up in Scotland study contributes to a number of the indicators included.
The indicators have the potential to be used to monitor changes and progress toward early years outcomes and inform decision-making, both at national and local level. They also allow for comparison between specific population groups and areas of Scotland. To download the documents please click here.
If you have used GUS findings
in any way to inform your work, please let us know so that we can demonstrate
the contribution of our research. Please e-mail lesley.kelly@ed.ac.uk
with a brief description and/or link.
Early Years news
Scottish Parliament Finance Committee Inquiry into Preventative Spending
The Finance Committee of the Scottish Parliament have been holding an
Inquiry
into Preventative Spending to discuss the merit of public bodies
spending money on services to prevent, rather than deal with, negative
social outcomes
Their report published
on 11th January 2011, summarises some of the evidence received from a
range of early years proponents including Detective
Chief Superintendent John Carnochan from the Scottish Violence Reduction
Unit; Dr Harry Burns, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland; Alan Sinclair
from the Centre for Confidence and Well-being; Dr Suzanne Zeedyk from
the University of Dundee and Susan Deacon, Early Years Champion for the
Scottish Government. The evidence submitted to the Inquiry in both written
and oral form makes interesting reading for anyone looking for evidence
about the merits of prevention, early intervention and increased spending
for early years services.
The report concludes that Scotland’s public services must focus
more on preventing problems rather than reacting to problems once they
have occurred. The committee calls for a shift from reactive to Preventative
Spending, which will require sustained planning and investment and long
term political commitment.
See also
Early Intervention: The Next Steps
An independent report to the Government by Graeme Allen MP
Financial impact of the early years report
This
study considers the benefits of early intervention and support by looking
specifically at the benefits in Scotland – in the
short, medium and long term - for children with no additional needs,
children
with moderate additional needs and children with severe additional
needs.
The
Early Years Framework – progress so far
This document provides an update on progress made on the Early Years
Framework by the Scottish Government and partners, two years on from
publication of the original document.
New Maternal and Early Years website from NHS Health Scotland
A New Maternal
and Early Years website for professionals was launched
by NHS Health Scotland at their Early Years conference in October. The
website has been designed to be used by early years professionals across
the NHS, Local Government and the Community and Voluntary Sector and
aims to support partnership working and the delivery of shared outcomes.
Revised Pre-Birth to Three Guidance from Learning and Teaching Scotland
Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) have published revised National
Guidance. The national guidance and multimedia resource Pre-Birth
to Three: Positive Outcomes for Scotland’s Children and Families replaces
Birth to Three: Supporting our Youngest Children. It was revised in
collaboration with key partners to support and inform practice across
Scotland. The national guidance sets out to facilitate students and
staff working with and on behalf of our youngest children and their
families.
It includes important information on pre-birth and brain development
and it reflects the principles and philosophy which underpin the Early
Years Framework and Curriculum for Excellence. It highlights practical
case studies and makes reference to current research to support improved
evidence-based practice.
New help for young parents in Dundee
A
New Family Nurse Partnership pilot for Dundee is being launched
to help young parents give their children the healthiest start in
life.
The best possible start
New tools for the delivery of child and maternal health were launched
by the Scottish Government on 18th January 2011:
A
Refreshed Framework for Maternity Care in Scotland
Improving
Maternal and Infant Nutrition - A Framework for action
Antenatal Inequalities Guidance (evidence into action)
New Breastfeeding National Marketing campaign
A
new look at Hall4 – the early years – good health for every
child
Play Talk Read
There are new materials on the Play
Talk Read web resource to encourage parents
to ‘have fun from day one’ with their babies and children.
Holyrood Early Years conference – Towards Positive
Child Development
16th March 2011, Edinburgh
http://earlyyears.holyrood.com/
Links to other new research
Independent Review on Poverty and Life Chances
The final report of the Independent Review on Poverty and Life Chances, conducted by Frank Field MP, was published on December 3rd 2010. The report sets out a new approach to meeting the Government’s target of abolishing child poverty. Click here to read the final report, The Foundation Years: Preventing Poor Children Becoming Poor Adults
Improving parenting does not level the school playing field
Researchers from Institute of Education using data on seven-year-olds from
the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) have found that children’s progress
during their first two years of school is still largely driven by their social
class.
Poverty and child inequality in the UK
A new UNICEF report on child inequality in 24 developed countries has shown
that income poverty has the greatest impact on child inequality in the UK.
UK levels of income poverty push the most disadvantaged children further behind
compared to similar countries, such as France and Germany.
The Home Front
This report by the think-tank DEMOS provides an up to date understanding of
the pressures and influences on parents, and makes recommendations to policy
makers for where to go from here in developing parent-focused policy.
Millennium
Cohort Study – Fourth Survey (age 7) – initial
findings
Reports on a wide range of topics including family demographics, education
and childcare, parenting and child health. Also includes comparisons between
Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Interesting chapter on the findings
from the self-report exercise where the children completed a questionnaire
on the topics of ‘hobbies, friends, feelings and school’.
Growing
Up in New Zealand – before
we were born
This report provides what is a first for longitudinal studies worldwide: data
from interviews with both parents before the child was born.
Growing
Up in Ireland – the
infants and their families
This report presents the first summary of the characteristics and circumstances
of nine-month-olds in Ireland today.
Interventions for promoting early child development for health:
An environmental scan with special reference to Scotland
Produced by the Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research, this review
aims to provide policy-makers with a synthesis of international research evidence
that assesses the effectiveness of early childhood interventions aimed at equitably
promoting cognitive and social development and to suggest potential areas for
action in Scotland.
Links to other birth cohort studies
Millennium Cohort Study
http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/
Growing up in Ireland
http://www.growingup.ie/
Growing Up in Australia (Longitudinal Study of Australian children)
http://www.aifs.gov.au/growingup/
Growing Up in New Zealand
http://www.growingup.co.nz/
GUS
Contacts
Paul Bradshaw, Research Director, The Scottish Centre
for Social Research
paul.bradshaw@scotcen.org.uk
Lesley Kelly, GUS Dissemination Officer, CRFR, Edinburgh University
lesley.kelly@ed.ac.uk
Wendy
van Rijswijk, Senior Research Officer, Scottish Government
Wendy.vanRijswijk@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
If
you no longer wish to receive information about GUS, please
contact lesley.kelly@ed.ac.uk to
be taken off the e-mail list.
GUS is funded by The Scottish Government and
is being carried out by The
Scottish Centre for Social Research (ScotCen) in collaboration with the Centre
for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR) at the University of Edinburgh and the MRC
Social and Public Health Sciences Unit in Glasgow.