Maria Evangelou

From Hard to Reach to How to Reach: A Systematic Review of the Literature on Hard-to-Reach Families.

This paper presents a review of the literature relating to hard-to-reach families which has been published over the last 12 years in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia. The purpose of the review was twofold: to gain insights to understandings of the term ‘hard-to-reach’ within these services – education, health and social – which might be aiming to access such families in order to help them improve their life chances and to explore the ways in which services have been successful in engaging the families. A consistent message to emerge from the review is that complex issues need complex solutions which in turn need time to implement. Additionally, it is clear that services need to develop diversity of support provision in order to meet the varying needs of families and that services need to develop a shared script for working with them.

The Birth to School Study: evidence on the effectiveness of PEEP, an early intervention for children at risk of educational under‐achievement

This article presents the findings of the Birth to School Study (BTSS) a longitudinal evaluation of the Peers Early Education Partnership (PEEP); a family‐focused intervention aimed at promoting early literacy, numeracy and self‐esteem in a community at risk of educational underachievement. The main aim of the study was to investigate the effects of PEEP on the children and families from the community it served. Embedded within this aim were dual objectives: to determine if the intervention had an effect within the community as a whole, and simultaneously to determine whether it had an effect on the sub‐group of families who participated in the PEEP weekly sessions. Outcomes in favour of the intervention were found for parents and for childrens progress in language and early literacy skills, both at community and sub‐group level. The study is located within a discussion of social exclusion, the potentially mediating influence of education and the accessibility of literacy skills to intervention and change.

International perspectives on transition to school: reconceptualising beliefs, policy and practice

Vertical (from home to different institutions) and horizontal (within the same and different settings) transitions are very important to children’s lives and a research topic of great interest and ...

Playgroups as Sites for Parental Education.

There is widespread international interest in parental education as a means of promoting educational equality through improving educational outcomes for young children. The research in this area suggests an association between the home learning environment and children’s educational outcomes and highlights the importance of parental education for supporting young children’s learning through play. This article reviews the international literature around parental education initiatives (or ‘interventions’) in early childhood and then considers playgroups as potential sites for parental education. The article identifies the universal features of playgroups that make these sites appealing for the implementation of parental education initiatives and discusses the complexities associated with the design of interventions aimed at meeting the diverse needs of parents attending playgroups. It concludes by providing a case for community playgroups as cultural contexts, to be considered sites for parental education through curriculum aimed at supporting parents to actively engage in their children’s learning and development through play.

Supported playgroups in schools: bonding and bridging family knowledge about transition to formal schooling

Abstract Supported Playgroups in Schools (SPinS) are a new initiative in the Australian early childhood education landscape. SPinS are playgroups hosted by a playgroup coordinator co-located on a local school site. Research has identified positive benefits of playgroup participation for children and families. However, little is known about the potential for SPinS to contribute to families’ knowledge about transition to formal schooling. This paper uses the social capital concepts of ‘bonding’ and ‘bridging’ to examine caregivers’ perspectives on their participation in a SPinS with potential to build parental knowledge about their child’s transition to formal schooling. Three main elements of caregivers’ participation in SPinS with such potential are identified, and these elements are mapped into a continuum of low-to-high bonding and bridging relationships to illustrate the potential for SPinS to contribute to the development of increased knowledge about transition to formal schooling by families of young children.

Disadvantaged families are at greatest risk from austerity cuts to children's centres.

As authors of the research outlined in your report we were pleased by The BMJ ’s coverage of our findings on children’s centres.1 However, we also showed that the threat posed by austerity cuts was even greater in the 20% most financially disadvantaged …

A Review of the Services Offered by English Sure Start Children's Centres in 2011 and 2012.

This paper presents a review of the family services that were offered by a sample of 121 English Sure Start Children’s Centres in 2011 and 2012. Children’s Centres are community based facilities that aim to improve outcomes for at-risk families and children through the delivery of a range of services largely aimed at families with young children. Services commonly offered include: health advice, childcare and early education, employment advice, informal drop-in facilities, and specialist support on parenting. This paper provides a snapshot of Children’s Centre service provision in 2011 and 2012 and documents the extent of change. A picture of broad stability was observed in the numbers of services that centres reported offering (from a list of 47 services grouped into 11 categories). However, some Children’s Centres also appeared to be changing the focus of the services that they provided. Some centres seemed to be shifting towards providing greater outreach (rather than parent-support) and services which were targeted (rather than universal).

Inclusive Classroom Profile: a pilot study of its use as a professional development tool

ABSTRACT Research has highlighted that children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) might be at risk of receiving less-than-outstanding experiences in settings typically rated as outstanding. There are still significant barriers to the implementation of high-quality inclusive practices in early years settings: inadequate preparation of early educators for implementing inclusive classroom practices, and a lack of reliable and valid measures for assessing the quality of inclusive practice. The Inclusive Classroom Profile (ICP) was designed to measure the quality of inclusive classroom practices that can support the developmental needs of children with SEN in early childhood programmes. This paper describes the first study that explored the feasibility and usefulness of the ICP measure for quality improvement. The usability of the ICP was explored in the context of a partnership between a team of early years inclusion advisors and inclusive settings in one local authority in south England. Early years advisors received training for using the ICP and performed follow-up feedback visits to settings. Advisors achieved reliability proficiency and rated the ICP measure and training programme positively. Future research needs to investigate how the ICP might support quality improvement through designing and piloting the effectiveness of a multi-component professional development programme.

Children’s Centres: An English Intervention for Families Living in Disadvantaged Communities

The role of the parent has been clearly defined in the literature as having a positive influence on children’s emotional, behavioural and educational development, more so than other factors such as maternal education, poverty, peers socio-economic status and schooling (DfES in Every child matters (Green Paper). DfES, London, 2003; Desforges and Abouchaar in The impact of parental involvement, parental support and family education on pupil achievement and adjustment. A literature review. DfES, London, 2003). Supporting the capacity to parent is of prime interest when considering how to improve opportunities for the most disadvantaged families and their children. This chapter focuses on one particular English intervention entitled the ‘children’s centre’. Drawing on international literature and definitions of parenting support, this chapter will explore some of the research evidence collected by the Evaluation of Children’s Centres in England (ECCE) study which focuses on how children’s centres conceptualise, choose and deliver parenting and family support services to families. A number of characteristics of effective interventions have been identified within the literature as having the greatest impact on improving child outcomes (Glass in Child Soc 13(4): 257–264 1999; Sure Start in The aim of sure start. http://www.surestart.gov.uk, 2001; Johnson in Impact of social science on policy. http://www.esrc.ac.uk/_images/Sure_Start_final_report_tcm8-20116.pdf, 2011). These include the following: a two-generational focus that targets both the parent and child together; multifaceted approaches that include amongst others, enhancing family relationships; services which are non-stigmatising, lasting long enough to make a difference, locally driven, culturally appropriate, sensitive to user needs and centre-based. This chapter will explore these findings in order to address three research questions: (1) Who are children’s centres serving? (2) What are children’s centres doing? and (3) How are children’s centres approaching their work? The chapter will conclude with policy implications and future directions for programmes that share similar characteristics to English children’s centres.