Introduction
Researchers play a highly significant role in delivering new insights to the world regarding various aspects. The endeavor is highly involving and often requires investigators to plan effectively before performing it. The reasons for conducting research vary, including explaining an emergent event by extending knowledge, tackling perceived social issues, and finding a better way of handling the situation. Accordingly, research on children is a substantially new paradigm focusing on the young generation’s lives and plights. The shift in perspectives on children’s affairs reiterates the point that the group is there, not to be seen as perceived before, but to be heard and appreciated as real society members.
Study Analysis
Governments and societies treat children growing up without parents differently. This is mainly because living in foster care involves special aspects that many teenagers struggle to endure. Governments worldwide, and especially in Europe, have policies to direct this group’s treatment by social work professionals and teachers, which mainly operate on the limited available knowledge about the population.
Accordingly, Jones et al. (2020) focus on the treatment of ‘looked after’ children and intend to deliver a better way of handling young learners under foster care. Particularly, the scholars aim to inform a holistic paradigm shift from the present government’s policies. Equally, they propose to transform the way teachers and social workers treat ‘looked after’ children and how the young fellows interact with their peers in school and other social settings.
Several government measures meant to protect ‘looked after’ children in school are punitive. Jones et al. (2020) point out that some of these practices lead to the branding and othering of young learners by professional peers. The matter thus causes pain instead of helping the less privileged students. Jones et al. (2020) fault the use of the acronym ‘LAC,’ the inverted version of CLA (children looked after), in the policy.
According to the researchers, ‘LAC’ implies the insufficiency of the homophone ‘lack,’ which promotes branding and othering of young persons. Jones et al. (2020) further report that teachers and social workers should not openly mark and treat CLA individuals. The scholars reiterate that children under care do not like being known by their colleagues growing up in a typical family setting due to the common belief that LAC learners are deficient.
Some teachers equally discriminate against children growing up in foster care. Jones et al. (2020) observe that many teachers in the schools participating in the research act extremely permissive toward the LAC pupils, allowing the learners to remain behind the others in the class willingly. Notwithstanding, pupils with known LAC situations do not learn freely like their colleagues.
Instead, the pupils have to struggle to manage their identity and balance classroom content comprehension. Jones et al. (2020) note that this is a hefty burden to the group, thus disadvantaging them substantially. Perhaps LAC learners facing the issues identified by the researchers do so because of the mistaken government policy that informed excessive attention on the group.
The Aim of the Dissemination Strategy
All scholarly works exhibit a definite purpose that the investigators aim to meet. Solving a problem, growing knowledge about a matter, and devising improved ways of handling an issue are all possible intentions of various research works. However, not all scholarly or scientific investigations cause the intended effects. The matter arises from several reasons, but mostly due to erroneous or inadequate dissemination tactics utilized by the researchers.
Jones et al. (2020) is one such great research work handling a highly sensitive issue. The study informs the present work’s endeavor to disseminate the findings to all the accessible stakeholders through the most convenient propagation channels.
The present dissemination plan exhibits several aims based on the findings of the research under review. Jones et al. (2020) exhibit several takeaways or findings for different groups. Firstly, the dissemination strategy wants to tell young LAC pupils the essence of keeping their situation private, lest their peers use it to brand them erroneously. Jones et al. (2020) point out that learners living in foster care struggle to assume hard personalities amidst hurting branding from fellow learners growing up in typical families. This overburdens the lot, reducing their self-esteem, self-worth, and self-concept.
According to scholars, many grown LAC pupils understand the danger, thus keeping their family information highly safeguarded. Nonetheless, children entering the care while young lack the knowledge to control their confessions, making it significantly harder for them to evade branding and hurting labeling after growing up in the same schools.
Equally, pupils from standard family settings must learn about the study’s findings regarding them. The population should know that their act of othering the LAC students is wrong and causes their peers immeasurable damage. Disclosing the findings to the group stands to transform their mockery and inquisitive nature regarding the experience of the other team. Notwithstanding, teachers must learn about Jones et al.’s (2020) realizations to improve their handling of LAC pupils.
Jones et al. (2020) say that many tutors let learners from foster care be free to do whatever they want in the classroom. For example, some facilitators do not care whether the population completes homework or not. All the teachers do is ask whether the pupils live in a care facility before engaging in the freestyle mode to confirm their curiosity. The treatment directly implies that children under foster care exhibit comprehension issues, which perpetuates the group’s unfair labeling by peers and educators.
Social workers getting the investigation’s results will stop calling children under care to leave classes for unwarranted guidance sessions wrongfully scheduled during the day when the learners are in class learning. The researchers note that the social workers’ behavior sees many LAC pupils miss even evaluation tests that they never receive from the teachers, who most likely brand them incompetent.
A similar message should go to the school administrators to devise accommodative schedules that adequately allow children under care to attend their frequent special programs while attending all the classes of the day. This is particularly important because Jones et al. (2020) observe that the policy is rigid and does not allow social workers to make changes based on the local situation. Research participants, policymakers, parents, academic researchers, and the public are the other principal audiences that the research findings must reach for maximum effect.
Target Audience
Numerous stakeholders play major roles in the undertakings involving looking after children in the UK. Examples of such players include parents, academic researchers, social workers, pupils, policymakers, the public, and parents. Staff working in schools with children under care equally constitute an important audience for the research findings. Notably, learners and pupils participating in the study need feedback on the findings about them and whether possible solutions exist to their plights. Parents, social workers, teachers, and policymakers concerned with improving the learners’ situation and learning experience must also receive the appropriate message from the research on how to act.
Research Significance
The research under review is highly effective and has something for everybody. The looked-after learners, inclusive of those who never participated in the study, should learn about the need to protect their private information about the family setting. That is because bullies in the school environment use the information to intimidate them due to the prevailing culture and mentality that being an LAC pupil implies lacking intelligence (Jones et al., 2020). Moreover, peers schooling with LAC learners must also become cognizant of the harm they cause to their colleagues and then receive the appropriate counseling from teachers to end the hurting labels. Teachers then need to know the essence of treating all pupils fairly and ensuring the success of every apprentice.
Social workers attached to learning institutions will be challenged to develop local programs that match those of the schools they work in, giving LAC students ample time to attend classes. This amendment will further help conceal information about the learners living in foster care, making their lives in school less upsetting. Teachers and social workers receiving information about the results will collaborate to help LAC students manage stress, especially now that many act normal or unhurt, causing a substantial emotional burden that jeopardizes learning. Academic researchers receiving Jones et al.’s (2020) qualitative study findings will have an opportunity to investigate the matter further. Policymakers will reform policies to eliminate differences established by the government’s differences-breeding strategies that ‘other’ LAC students, while parents will learn the essence of guiding their children to act compassionately towards others.
Significant Barriers to Reaching the Audiences
Almost all the targeted audience is accessible via different channels, including seminars, journal publications, newsletters, videos, book chapters, mass media, social media, and policy journals. However, most of these dissemination methods are costly, while some of the few affordable channels lack authority and reliability. This situation creates notable barriers to reaching the targeted audience. Nonetheless, conferences with all the study participants, journal publications, policy journals, book chapters, and social media are the best-chosen strategies for the dissemination process.
Dissemination Strategy
Specific Research Findings to Communicate
Information gathered from the study is targeted at various parties. These include the LAC learners and all the professionals participating in the research work, academic researchers, policymakers, and the public. Others include the general academic fraternity and the public, including parents of all learners. The LAC groups will learn the essence of accepting oneself and protecting private information.
Teachers, social workers, and school boards involved in the study will understand the need to harmonize treatment among all learners and the importance of establishing local arrangements that promote inclusivity and fairness and fight bullying through branding. Parents need information about the essence of teaching children empathy so that schools and homes become harmonious. Policymakers and the government will learn the essence of eliminating the unnecessary.
Methods of Dissemination
Conferences, journal publications, and social media are the primary information distribution techniques to focus on first for the study’s results. The first channel will serve all the study participants now that they come from a common locality. The meeting will include parents, students of all kinds, school-based policymakers, social workers, teachers, and all the available stakeholders. Journal publications will deliver the report to academic researchers and peers for reviews and further studies on the subject.
Lastly, specifically targeted social media messages will be available through different online sites, including the involved institutions’ websites and those of the researchers, to reach the public. A YouTube video containing the findings will be created, and the links will be shared widely via printed and social media channels for maximum coverage among all audiences. These three dissemination approaches are affordable and have higher coverage, making them the best preliminary methods of spreading the results (Robb, 2014). The investigators will later develop book chapters for publication and long-term utilization by all interested parties.
Practical and Ethical Problems in Implementing the Strategy
Seeking informed consent, ensuring confidentiality, risk minimization, honesty, and intellectual property appreciation are some of the primary ethical issues to consider during the dissemination process. Moreover, the investigators will ascertain that all information linkable to a specific individual is eliminated to promote confidentiality (Pascal & Bertram, 2014). Risk minimization involves avoiding any information that revives or causes bitterness to individuals affected by the issues being reported while being open and reporting issues as they genuinely are from the investigation, taking care of the honesty aspect (Pascal & Bertram, 2014). Intellectual property acknowledgment comes in when quoting information protected by other sources through patents and copyrights. Observing all these requirements is not easy, leading the researchers to toil to comply.
Conclusion
The present dissemination project’s purpose is to reach and enlighten all stakeholders, and particularly inform policy and practice changes that cause otherness in schools regarding the handling of looked after children. The strategy’s amalgamation of conferences, journal publications, and social media platforms will heal, reaching every targeted audience and making the strategy successful. The UK establishes care facilities to offer better protection and support for effective growth among children from troubled families. The state also has policies to direct the operations of these schemes. However, investigations into the matter show that the government’s endeavors cause more harm than good to the LAC students.
Reference List
Jones et al. (2020) “‘We are the same as everyone else just with a different and unique backstory’: Identity, belonging and ‘othering’ within education for young people who are ‘looked after’,” Children & Society, 34(6), pp. 492–506. Web.
Pascal, C, and Bertram, T. (2014) ‘Disseminating Research: Shaping the Conversation’ in Clark, A., Flewitt, R., Hammersley, M. and Robb, M. (eds) (2014) Understanding Research with Children and Young People. London: Sage in association with The Open University, pp. 269-282.
Robb, M. (2014) ‘Disseminating Research: Shaping the Conversation’ in Clark, A., Flewitt, R., Hammersley, M. and Robb, M. (eds) (2014) Understanding Research with Children and Young People. London: Sage in association with The Open University, pp. 237-249.