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Early Learning Partnership Project Strand 1 – Delivery

 

The Family and Parenting Institute is overseeing a consortium of seven voluntary agencies in the delivery of the Early Learning Partnership Project.

The seven providing partners are Barnardos, ContinYou, Coram Family, FWA, Home-Start, NCH and Pre-School Learning Alliance. These agencies will be working in turn with a number of smaller agencies who will help to deliver the 12 complementary tried and tested approaches across 20 localities.

Although more research is needed to help us understand what works, three kinds of early years' family interventions show promise for children's development:

• those that enhance mother/child, mother/father and father/child relationships, through encouraging attachment, sensitivity and responsiveness in mother and father, and working with couple relationship difficulties;
• those aimed at the home learning environment through encouragement of play, conversation and aspiration;
• and those offering direct practical assistance and guidance to parents in families with serious difficulties.

Each of the providers has already delivered and received favourable evaluations of the approaches they are using. They are split roughly half and half between those that train practitioners to work directly with parents over the course of the project and those that are directed at parents from the outset.

 

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The Seven Lead Partners

Barnardos – Located in Northumberland, Newcastle and Bristol the Barnardos projects is partnering PEEP (Peers Early Education Partnership). In the North East they are using an adaptation of the Parent Early Education Package aimed at fathers with children under 3. In Bristol the same package is delivered in the home and aimed at both parents. Skills for Life group training using the PEEP approach is delivered to isolated families who would not access mainstream provision without support across the city. This service works closely with Children's Centres and other early years support services.

ContinYou is partnering Pen Green Research in Leeds, Bradford, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire to provide the PICL (Parents Involvement in their Children's Learning) for staff in children's centres so they can help parents understand how their children develop and learn. In addition an adapted version of SHARE training has been introduced to family learning to families that include children of three and under.

In Telford, Thurrock Community Mothers has developed a programme that focuses on the involvement of midwives and health visitors in the identification of families whose children are at risk of learning delay.

Coram Family is partnering Parents as First Teachers (PAFT) in Camden and Islington. Using PAFT's model and materials the project provides individual outreach and centre-based programmes to parents of young children. These materials have also been incorporated into parenting group work programmes. PEAL (NCB) training with some input from One Plus One is used as underpinning theoretical support for staff.

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Family Welfare Assocation (FWA) is partnering Home-Start, and PAFT as well as using FWA's Newpin family play programme in the Breckland District Council area (Norfolk), Sheffield and Southwark.

The project enables:

• Improved parenting and parent/child relationships delivered by FWA Home based family support services informed by attachment theory and child development training
• Early Learning using Home-Start home based play (adapted from PAFT) and other packages delivered by Home-Start volunteers and FWA staff in the home
• Learning through play with other children and parents delivered in centres with other delivery partners using FWA's Newpin family play programme
• Behaviour Management delivered by Home-Start and FWA home based support services

The FWA programme is delivered through home based family support.

Home-Start is partnering One Plus One and Book Start in Worcestershire and four London boroughs. Using Home Start's established approach of volunteer based parenting support this project provides extra training for volunteers to enable them to enhance their contribution to support parents with their children's development.

Two modules have been developed:

• Home-Start works with One Plus One to adapt their Brief Encounters model for volunteers to use with families. This strand included a focus on attachment between parent and child and on family relationships.
• "Let's find out – using other resources", develops and strengthens the Home-Start module introducing Bookstart ideas and resources to families through volunteers. thus giving families an opportunity to engage in their children's learning.

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NCH is partnering Parents as First Teachers (PAFT) and the Campaign for Learning in North Solihull activities to extend the work already in place to reach fathers of children aged 1-3.

The project has three strands:

• Increasing the level of service provided locally by NCH
• training of workers in the use of the (PAFT) tool to support home visiting
• Campaign for Learning providing and delivering the Family Learning Works materials to engage parents who are working, primarily in relatively low paid work, and who are not using centre-based parent support services.

Pre-school Learning Alliance is partnering the National Childminding Association (NCMA), PEEP, ICAN and PEAL in Cumbria and Staffordshire. NCMA's and the Pre-School Learning Alliance's successful approach to engaging parents is used to contact and support isolated families. These families are offered the communication, language and learning support developed by PEEP and ICAN. The project also uses the logistical capacity of the Alliance and NCB to raise awareness among parents and practitioners of the importance of engaging families in children's learning. The project builds upon existing local infrastructure in the target areas.

 

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The 12 Approaches

Book Start

Works through locally-based organisations to give free packs of books to babies with guidance materials for parents and carers. Bookstart plus for 18mths and training for workers. Bookstart is supporting Home-Start in two areas.

Campaign for Learning
Training and materials for practitioners in their programme Family Learning Works, supporting parents who are working, primarily in low paid jobs and who do not access centre provision.

Home-Start Listening and Learning with Children
Based in part on the Coram model "Listening to Young Children" as well as findings from Home-Start's recent internal research project. This work aims to strengthen further the relationship between parents and children and thus to enhance communication with children. It works to enhance the children's confidence, self esteem and communication skills in readiness for learning.

ICAN
Independently evaluated approach to support parents of pre-school children with primary language difficulties through a variety of resources and materials to assist practitioners. ICAN is being used by PLA in two areas and by FWA.

Newpin Family Play programme
A programme of 8 one hour family play sessions and can be run through existing groups – ante/post natal, playgroups and nurseries.

One Plus One
Training to workers on Brief Encounters model for supporting practitioners to work with relationship problems. Training and resources for practitioners working with parents on parental conflict.

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PAFT (Parents as First Teachers)
An evaluated parent education and family support programme for families with children pre-birth to five years. Through a series of meeting between practitioners and families, it aims to help parents support and enhance their child's early learning and development. PAFT materials are being used by Coram, Home-Start, NCH and FWA to support the development of their work with parents.

PEAL (Parents, Early Years and Learning)/NCB
Training and materials for practitioners to support/develop work with parents on children's learning, increasing practitioners' understanding of the evidence base on child development and parental involvement, and assisting settings to identify how to progress. 1 day setting-based self assessment followed by 1 day face-to-face training. PEAL is being used by PLA and Coram to support their projects.

PEEP (Peers Early Education Partnership)
A tested programme delivering training for practitioners, materials to support parents on children's learning from birth to five. PEEP has a number of packages and is being used by:

• Barnardo's in two areas: in the North East to engage with fathers with children under 3 accessed through the network of children's centres and in the South West to deliver PEEP to people at home and through their centres, accessing parents with learning difficulties, fathers and asylum seekers,/li>
• PLA and NCMA in two areas: Cumbria and Staffordshire to engage and support isolated families.

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PICL (Parents Involvement in their Children's Learning)
A 3 day training course, Parents Involvement in their Children's Learning (PICL), for staff in children's centres, half in leadership roles and settings, half working with families in their own homes. The training is eventually cascaded to all staff in the centre so that they can give parents an understanding of how babies and very young children develop and learn. The Pen Green Research approach will be used by ContinYou to support their development work with schools creating children's centres and other services for parents with under 3s.

Share
A 'hands-on' approach to involving parents and carers in their children's learning and development and in supporting parents and carers in delivering the five key outcomes as set out in Every Child Matters. Share promotes parental involvement and seeks to support the role parents and carers can take in supporting their children's learning and development. The ContinYou Share Family Learning Programme has operated in England for the past nine years and is now in over 110 Local Authorities, 2,200 schools and a diverse range of settings, including Sure Start centres and community nurseries.

Thurrock Community Mothers
CDMP is a community development initiative where experienced local mothers help parents with young children in their local community to identify and address their own and their children's needs. The monthly visiting programme supports parents in their own homes. It has strong involvement and engagement with health services.

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