New base for research into childcare
Catherine Gaunt
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
A forum to promote collaborative childcare research in Northern Ireland was launched at Queen's University Belfast last week. It includes a new internet database to provide a central reference point of work being carried out in Northern Ireland for practitioners and professionals working with children in social care, education, psychology and nursing.
It includes a new internet database to provide a central reference point of work being carried out in Northern Ireland for practitioners and professionals working with children in social care, education, psychology and nursing.
The chair of the new Childcare Research Forum, Dr Kathy Higgins of the Queen's University Institute of Childcare, said the initiative would help co-ordinate childcare research and share best practice.
Dr Higgins said, 'With the forthcoming ten-year Children's Strategy we have the opportunity to inform and develop services to meet the needs of children. Local research will be key to evidencing and shaping better outcomes for children.'
Members of the forum include academics from Queen's University Belfast and the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland's Commissioner for Children and Young People Nigel Williams, Barnardo's, the NSPCC and the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister.
The Childcare Database is at www.ark.ac.uk/orb/child.html.