December's Reading List

This month, we're looking back at our favourite reads this year and the writing that has shaped our thinking in 2021.

This Equity Framework, designed by We All Count back in February 2021, takes a look at the way in which inequity can manifest throughout the course of data projects. The framework provides a systematic way of looking at data projects, structured over seven stages: funding, motivation, project design, data collection and sourcing, analysis, interpretation, and communication and distribution. It promotes a cycle of ‘discovering, exploring, implementing, and exploring’ and shares a number of helpful steps, checklists and practical tools to follow and use.

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If you’re still battling back-to-back Zoom sessions, this may interest you. In the first peer-reviewed article that systematically deconstructs ‘Zoom fatigue’ from a psychological perspective, Professor Jeremy Bailenson examines the psychological consequences of spending hours each day on video calling platforms and the steps we can take to remedy our overexposure.

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Thinking more specifically about involving children and young people in research, this open access article from Linnea Bodén in Children’s Geographies, published in March 2020, challenges assumptions around ‘good’ ethical research practices and the linear progression from research on, to, with for and by children. The paper argues that we should not deem research as inherently better or worse based on where it falls along this participatory scale, and that these dominant articulations of ethical practices mask more nuanced readings or context-specific considerations of what is ethical.

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In April, The British Academy published an independent review for the Government Office for Science on the long-term societal impacts of COVID-19. Its companion report ‘The COVID decade’ concluded that there are nine interconnected areas of long-term societal impact arising from the pandemic which could play out over the coming decade, and offers a range of policy issues for consideration about how to respond to these social, economic and cultural challenges beyond the immediate short-term crisis. 

Specifically, the report touched on the predicted impact of negative mental health and wellbeing for children and young people, as well as the implications of school disruption that will likely be felt for young people at all levels of education, but not equally. The Education Endowment Foundation’s median estimate also predicted that the attainment gap for pupils eligible for free school meals will increase by 36%, reversing the progress made since 2011 in narrowing performance differences.

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We hold a few ‘Learning Partner’ roles at the Centre, and we really loved this exploration of how the role differs from that of an evaluator along with a reflection on the context that has enabled “the unstoppable rise of the Learning Partner.” This piece was the first in a series of blogs by Keira Lowther at Dartington Service Design Lab.
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This article, by Max French in the latest issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, argues for a different approach to outcomes frameworks, using them for ‘performance attraction’ rather than ‘performance management’. French makes the case for using outcomes frameworks “to articulate a shared vision that is compelling and accessible enough to motivate cooperation and foster collaborative innovation among multiple parties over the long time periods necessary to bring about social change”. French sets this against the New Public Management framing of outcomes, which he argues ultimately only serves the interests of those in power, underplays complexity and encourages gaming. NPM specifically, he notes, does not support ‘future improvement’, which should always be the main goal of outcomes measurement

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This blog from Sheila Robinson is also a helpful reminder that learning is a (super) curvy process, and of the power of ‘retrieval practice’ for adults and young people alike. Robinson notes how “our beliefs result from what we’ve learned — some synthesis of what we’ve been deliberately or inadvertently exposed to and what we’ve worked hard to learn” and that it therefore “makes sense that we try to understand what influences that which makes it into our long-term memories.” Robinson highlights that by taking ownership of our own learning, we can protect ourselves from misinformation, and also prompts us to consider the ways in which we might support those we work with to do the same, with some helpful tools and strategies for doing so shared at the end.

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A report from Pro Bono Economics, published in August, shared the findings of a study commissioned by the Children’s Services Funding Alliance, and takes an in-depth look at a decade of change for children’s services funding. There is a particular focus on early intervention versus crisis intervention spending (based on Department for Education statistics) and a suggestion that the “current direction in children’s services is neither delivering value for money to the taxpayer, nor delivering the best possible outcomes for children, with a risk that this has already sparked a vicious circle for children’s outcomes and taxpayer costs.” Read more and download the report here.