New survey evidence - Under 18-year olds’ views on Scottish Independence

With 100 days left before the vote on whether Scotland should become an independent country on Monday, 9 June, AQMeN hosts an event to present findings from a new survey on the youngest voters in this referendum.

The referendum on Scotland’s constitutional future in September 2014 will see 16- and 17-year old voters coming to the polls for the first time at the national level in Scotland. Following on from the AQMeN survey project last year, the team from Edinburgh University’s School of Social and Political Science will present updated findings based on a completely new survey conducted in April and May 2014. The survey addressed voters who will be able to participate in the referendum this September but who are currently under the age of 18 and therefore excluded from other representative surveys on this topic. While some polling institutes include 16- and 17-year olds in their samples, there are too few members of this age group in those polls to allow for any specific in-depth engagement with this age group.

The only comprehensive, representative survey of this age to date has been conducted as part of this project illustrating how the newly enfranchised young people suggested they would vote in 2014 and allowing us to examine what drove their decision making. Using the new data we will now be able to see whether one year later the campaigns have been able to engage with young people in an effective way and thus changing their views and perceptions.

Venue: Royal College of Physicians, 9 Queen Street, Edinburgh

Date: Monday, 9 June 2014

Time: 09.30 – 12.30

There will be coffee and tea during the registration from 09.30 until 10.00. The presentation will begin subsequently and will be followed by an open discussion with the audience and the research team providing ample space for questions and engagement. Places are limited. Register for the event here.



This news and information item first appeared on the home page of  goodenoughcaring.com on May 25th, 2014

The East End Film Festival : films about children and young people and films made by them

Alison Poltock, the Artistic Director of London’s East End Film Festival which this year runs from June 13th to June 26th suggests the following films may be of interest to regular visitors to the goodenoughcaring website.

Angels in Exile

• Angels In Exile is a challenge to pervading myths about street children. The street kids of DurbanSouth Africa mainly have no way out of a cycle of violence, murder and abduction. The film embeds itself in the community, many of whom are huffing glue as a means of temporary escape, and who are in turn facing addiction and a life of crime. The film was made over 8 years and follows Zuleka and Ariel, chronicling their entire adolescence and their fight to survive both immediate dangers and their memories of the awful circumstances that originally forced them on to the street. Sensitively narrated by Charlize Theron, Angels in Exile reminds us that street chilfdren are exactly that, children. (Director : Billy Rafferty)

• In Mass E Bhat one boy’s story weaves together the stories of several children to explore what means to grow up in Bangladesh. As social worker Nasir wanders the alleyways of Dhaka’s Korrail slum searching for working children he can enrol in school, he recounts the story of his own childhood, and his journey through a rapidly developing country. (Director : Richard York)

• Screen Test Shorts is a collection of short films programmed in collaboration with Screen Test, the national student film festival, celebrating the best work from students based in London colleges.

• The Internet’s Own Boy : The Story Of Aaron Swartz  A programming prodigy, information activist and a tragic casualty of the crackdown on so called 'internet piracy’, Aaron Swartz was an internet celebrity from his role while he was 14 years old in developing RSS to co-foundind Reddit, he was a pioneer of the digital realm. He was also a political campaigner, whose dream of a better world meant access to information, a cause which led to him, under the pressure offacing a 35 years jail term and heavy fines, to take his own life. (Director : Brian Krappenberger)

• Neighbours : From Mumbai to Mile End A Selection of short documentary films made by young people about hoods in Mumbai and East London exploring how generations take root in, and young people make use of, their environment in these two very different but vibrant cities. The films feature rag-picking, breakdance, ghettoization and enjoying a day in the hood. The Screening will be followed by a discussion on what home means. This is a collaboration between Mile End Community Project, School of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences and Queen Mary, University of London.

• Willow and the Wind A school window is broken, and kids can’t concentrate because the rain is getting in. The culprit isn’t allowed back into class until he mends it. So he carries a large pane of glass by hand across the countryside in a gale. The wing blows; but will he crack? This simplest of stories becomes an epic quest, poetic and breathtakingly beautiful. It has big-hearted humanism, but Hitchcockian tension too. An edge-of-seat masterpiece. (Director : Mohammad Ali Talebi)

Willow and the Wind

Access the East End Film Festival’s full programme for the venues and scheduling of these and all the other films and events the festival at East End Film Festival programme.

This news item first appeared on the home page of goodenoughcaring.com on May 24th, 2014

On June 15th, 2014 the Scottish Issue of the goodenoughcaring Journal goes online

The next issue of the goodenoughcaring Journal comes in peace on June 15th, 2014, even though this date falls just a week short of the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn and in the midst of the propaganda battle going on over September’s forthcoming referendum on Scottish independence. Nevertheless, one of the principal themes of this issue will be a consideration of different aspects of a childhood in Scotland but their will also be articles of a wider nature too. We hope readers will find that discussion of the way children from different backgrounds have been and are being brought up in Scotland will be of general interest. Articles which are already promised for this issue have been written by David Divine, Ni Holmes, Laura Steckley, Jeremy Millar, Mark Smith, Calum Strathie, George Muir, Cynthia Cross, John Stein, Noel Howard, Charles Sharpe and Robert Louis Stevenson have already been promised and more may be on their way. Submissions of articles for this issue are still being welcomed. This news item first appeared on the home page of goodenoughcaring.com on May 21st, 2014.

Changes on the goodenoughcaring website and Journal

Visitors to the site and readers of the Journal will be aware that finding our website on the internet was an unpredictable exercise during a large part of April. This was due to changes we are planning for the management system of the site which we hope will allow us more variety in the way we can communicate ideas. Our problems cannot be put down to technology, rather they are due to our human imperfection. We do not have a set date for the changeover to the new system but we'll put up a notice on this page as soon as we do. Thank you for your patience.

This news item first appeared on the goodenoughcaring home page on May 7th, 2014

Aspirations and Ambitions, Changing Lives through Learning : the Scottish Institute of Residential Child Care National Conference 2014

The SIRCC National Conference, 2014 will be held on Wednesday and Thursday June 10th and 11th at the Hilton Grosvenor in Edinburgh EH12 3EF.

The theme of the conference is Aspirations and Ambitions, Changing lives through learning and the keynote speaker is Kriss Akabusi MBE

SIRCC writes ,”As a sector we are familiar with lifelong learning, which recognises the ability for us to learn and grow, even after the institutions of school and higher education. However, children and young people in residential child care are often affected by a disrupted educational experience throughout these important years. How can we as a sector use Curriculum for Excellence as well as other opportunities to further contribute to their learning, play, and conversation, and nurture creative pursuits in their day-to-day lives? Conference delegates will join speakers, participate in workshops and enjoy a range of networking opportunities. The conference will provide a venue to discuss and debate important local, national and international perspectives on some of the most creative and exciting aspects of residential child care practice.”

The cost for delegates is :

Two-day conference, including awards and conference dinner £275.00

Two-day conference fee to attend on Tue & Wed £240.00

One-day conference fee to attend on Tue £135.00

One-day conference fee to attend on Wed £135.00

Method of payment :

For invoice and PO payments: book through our online booking service

For Credit/Debit card payments:: book through Strathclyde secure online shop

If you'd like more information about the conference programme please go to :

celcis.org

This news item first appeared on the home page of the goodenoughcaring website on April 10th 2013

Fresh out of the stove comes the piping hot issue 14 of the goodenoughcaring Journal

It's out ! It's hot! We hope it's to your taste. In this issue Luci Ashbourne asks how we can understand the organisational re-enactment of traumatised children and young people. Kevin Ball feels quality in residential child care can be enhanced by an effective Regulation 33 visitor and John Burton writes about compliance and abuse in care settings. Cynthia Cross suggests Donald Winnicott remains relevant to residential child care, while John Fallowfield cites Donald Winnicott among others in his penetrating essay about child development and observation in social work. Joel Kanter explores new ground in his explication of Clare’s and Donald’s notion of the social worker/therapist as 'transitional participant' when in relationship with children traumatised by dislocation. Kiaras Gharabaghi commits to the necessity of giving those whose work is to look after troubled children an education worthy of their profession. Patrick Tomlinson uses Winnicott’s game "The Squiggle' to develop his unique thinking about communicating with traumatised children, and Charles Sharpe mines into Clare Winnicott's interview with Alan Cohen, and the writings of others to excavate the gems she has to offer residential child care. Jeanne Warren’s article comments on the Scottish philosopher, (and contemporary of the Winnicotts) John Macmurray’s and the American educationalist, Nel Nodding’s ideas about the importance of relationships in the education of children. Charlotte Witheridge writes about the application of psychodynamic thinking to residential work with children and Mark Smith questions the application of the psychodynamic thinking to residential work with children.

Bob Royston adds to our series of childhood memoirs, in a poignant account of the time he spent living in a ‘country club’ when he was a boy. John Stein remembers Richard T. Cass, the first social worker he ever met. Sara Kirkwood gives a touching account of children's experiences of foster respite care in a Scottish hutting community. We round things off with an article from a magazine conducted by Charles Dickens. The article “The Girl from the Workhouse” might lead us to think that some things never change. Yet it also tells us that some things do.
The  issue 15 of the goodenoughcaring Journal will be published on June 15th, 2014.

Social Care Ireland Conference, 2014 : Diversity in Practice

The Social Care Ireland national conference takes place on April 1st, 2nd and 3rd, 2014 at the Silver Springs Moran Hotel, Tivoli, Cork.

The theme of the conference is Diversity in Practice.

The main speakers include Kathleen Lynch, Paddy Doyle , Gordon Jeyes , Denise Lyons , Catherine Byrne , Janet Rich, Colin McGinn , Rachel Moran , Kieran McGrath , andFrieda Finlay.

For further information and to register for the conference go to http://www.socialcareireland