Read an Academic Journal
Read and Share an academic paper around the area of child development with a peer
Evidence: Add a reference for the academic paper and write a reflection of the key findings (2 hours)
Geddes, R. Frank, J. and Haw, S. (2011) ‘A rapid review of the key strategies to improve the cognitive and social development of children in Scotland’, Health Policy, 101(1), pp. 20-28.
This article highlighted the importance of early childhood development as it is strongly influenced by:
- Wellbeing
- Mental health
- Competency in literacy and numeracy
- Social participation
- Obesity
- Heart disease
- Criminality
- Economic productivity
They stated that Britain ranked last in child wellbeing out of 21 developed countries which suggests that we need to improve the health and wellbeing of children in our society.
They looked at using early intervention schemes as a way of reducing the health inequalities and found that they can reduce lifelong disadvantage. They suggested that significant improvements were made in all domains of child development.
Home and centre based programmes focusing on developing the needs of children and parents appear to be effective. This article also suggests that the assessment of community and home programmes can be evaluated when the children reach school age as schools will be to notice a difference in the level of support pupils are getting outside of school and whether or not this is making a difference to their development.
