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School starting age: the evidence

24 September 2013

Earlier this month the "Too Much, Too Soon" campaign made headlines with a letter calling for a change to the start age for formal learning in schools. Here, one of the signatories, Cambridge researcher David Whitebread, from the Faculty of Education, explains why children may need more time to develop before their formal education begins in earnest.

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Photo-voice image from the AskAIDS project

Breaking sex education taboos in Africa to tackle AIDS

19 June 2012

New research focusing on educating young people about sex and HIV/AIDS in Africa is using innovative techniques – such as ‘photo-voice’ and role-play – to discover what African children know about sex and where they learn it from.

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Morag Styles.

The Case for Children’s Poetry

11 October 2011

Morag Styles may be the only Professor of Children’s Poetry out there. Having recently taken up her new role, here she explains why poetry for the young matters – and why it is time to stop treating it as the poor relation of the adult form.

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Maria Nikolajeva.

Fantastic Mr. Dahl

07 September 2011

To mark Roald Dahl Day on September 13th and the 50th anniversary of James And The Giant Peach, Professor Maria Nikolajeva explains why he remains such an important figure for young readers.

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Twilight literature

The Twilight Zone?

03 September 2010

The effect on the teenage brain of books like Twilight and the Harry Potter series is to be examined at Cambridge University.

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Empty swingset

A Class Apart

26 May 2010

Despite our best efforts, social mobility in the UK does not seem to be improving. Diane Reay, Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge, will be speaking at Hay about the hereditary curse of the English education system and her developing vision for a “socially just” replacement.

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Twilight literature

Researchers get serious about kids’ stuff

03 February 2010

A new centre for the study of children's literature, which will analyse material ranging from classics such as Alice In Wonderland to Disney films and video games, is opening at Cambridge University.

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