Developing Centres for Children and their Families

Dr Margy WhalleyTasmaniaApril 2009

Centres for Children and their Families – For example, Pen Green in

Corby

“ In every small community there should be a service for children and their families. This service should honour the needs of young children and celebrate their existence. It should also support families, however, they are constituted within the community”

Pen Green 1983

Centres for Children and their Families rooted in the locality

• Early Years Education

• Extended hours, extended year provision to support children and families

• Inclusive, flexible, education with care for children in need and children with special educational needs

• Adult community education

• Family support services

• A Focus for voluntary work and community regeneration

• Training and Support for early years services and Primary practitioners

• Practitioner Research and Professional Development

A Centre with Comprehensive Provision for Young Children and

their Families

1. Pen Green Nursery School Provision for children 2-5yrs

2. Pen Green Baby Nest Baby and Toddler Provision 1-3yrs

3. Nurture Group For vulnerable children from 1-3yrs

4. Creche Provision For 100+ children a week 0-5yrs

5. Childminder Network for children from 0 – 5 years

6. After school services and holiday play schemes for all local children from 4 - 11

7. Parent and Infant Support Groups including Growing Together groups, Infant and Toddler

massage sessions, Groups for parents with adult mental health issues and for parents

with drug or alcohol issues, extensive drop-in community groups, weekend groups for

fathers, adult learning groups, groups for parents and children with disabilities

The Baby Nest

Pen Green Nursery – ‘The Den’

Pen Green Nursery – ‘The Snug’

The Soft Room

The Water Room

Extended Provision – across centre

The Beach

The Tower

Extended Provision – across centre

The Discovery Area

The Snoezelen

Extended Provision – across centre

The Garden

Pen Green: A Centre with a strong value base

• Parents and children both have rights

• Being a parent is a complex and difficult role

• Parenting is a key concern for both men and women

• The belief that parents are deeply committed to their children

• That early years educators and family support workers need to recognise parents’ roles as their child’s first and most consistent educators

• That there must be a culture of high expectations in all our early years centres and services

Centres for Children and their Families Need to Adopt A Community

Development Approach

Services defined by the community - parent led needs assessment - parents co-constructing the services

Children, staff and parents having the power to

change things and find new ways of workingcollaboratively- not having to put up with things the way they are

Centres for Parents and Children are underpinned by Two Key Concepts:

Advocacy and Agency

• Advocacy - parents and early years educators speak up on behalf of, intercede on behalf of their children and themselves

• Agency - children, parents, staff believe they can change situations and determine the outcomes of an activity. Agency reflects self esteem and self confidence. A child high in agency will readily become involved in challenging problems and will be appropriately assertive in actions with peers

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Family Support Team (including Sure Start home visiting, Home Start and the Group Work Programme) & Community Health Team

Adult Community Education Team

Guardianship Diagram

Adult Community Education Team

Education & Learning 0 – 3’s Team

Education & Learning 2 – 5 Team

After School & Playscheme 4 – 11’s Team

Family Support Team (including Sure Start home visiting, Home Start

and the Group Work Programme) & Community Health Team

Research, Training & Development Team

Guardianship – Domains

(Teams with a specific focus)

Guardianship – StrandsStrands of Activity/Responsibility across every Domain

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Centres for Children and their Families can turn the curve on

poverty and low aspiration

This requires;

1. Action for children2. Action for parents3. Action for workers

A key objective is to Develop Aspirational Children, Parents and Workers

1 Action for Children: Leading the Learning

• A rich curriculum – equalizing the cognitive stimulus received by all children in their early years

• A constructivist pedagogy – recognizing the role of parents and the rich pedagogy in the home, on the traveller site, in the community

• Developing feisty children: Children with a sense of chuffedness (self esteem and self efficacy)

Chuffedness

2. Action for Parents

Parental Involvement in Children’s Learning

We know that young children achieve more and are happier when staff work together with parents and share ideas

about how to support and extend children’s learning

(Athey, 1990; Meade 1995)

Sandra

Yvonne

Sharing Knowledge: Staff as cultural brokers/ mediators

“The roles of professional experience and parents’ everyday experience are seen as complementary but equally important. The former constitutes a ‘public’ (and generalised) form of ‘theory’ about child development, whilst the latter represents a ‘personal theory’ about the development of a particular child. An interaction between the two theories or ways of explaining a child’s actions may produce an enriched understanding as a basis for both to act in relation to the child. Only through the combination of both types of information could a broad and accurate picture be built up of a child’s developmental progress.”

(Easen et al, 1992)

The Child

Observations in Nursery

Staff Feedback to Parent’s

Provision inHome

Observations At Home

Provision inNursery

Parent’s Feedback to Staff

The Pen Green Loop

Louise

Parents as Advocates

“Nothing gets under a parents skin more quickly and more permanently than the illumination of his or her own children’s behaviour. The effects of participation can be profound.”(Athey, 1990, p66)

Outcomes from working in this way: Developing Cultural Capital (1)

• There is a sharp focus on children’s learning and development

• Parents are encouraged to watch their children’s learning at home and in the setting

• Parents become actively involved in supporting and extending their child’s learning

• Parents develop a shared dialogue with their children’s early years educators and teachers

• Parents sustain this commitment over time (they may go on and work towards qualifications as Early Years educators)

Outcomes from working in this way; Capacity Building and Social

Regeneration (2)

1983-85 Parents conceptualising services Parents appointing staff Parents as volunteers Parents sharing power

1985-87 Parents as service providers Parents engaged in their own learning

1987-90 Parents as group leaders Parents as community activists

Parents at Pen Green

1990-97 Parents as co-educators involved in their children’s learning

1997-08 Parents as trouble shooters Parents as policy makers Parents as co-researchers Parents as school governors

Outcomes from working in this wayNew models of governance

21st Century Model

Porous

Accessible

Engaging

Personalized

Adaptive

Enabling

20th Century Model

Monolithic

Hermetic

Alienating

Standardised

Pre-programmed

Persecutory

With thanks to Demos

3 Action for Workers: Developing

A Multi-Disciplinary workforce and sustaining the ability of staff

• Developing reflective Practitioners

• Developing practitioner Research across disciplines

• Developing Leadership learning across disciplines

• Developing an outcomes approach for all staff

What is the Outcomes Approach?

How can it help Children’s Centres

to meet their challenges ?• The Outcomes Approach is also

known as Results Based Accountability or ‘Turning the Curve’

• It poses three key questions in terms of provision for children and families;

• How much did we do?• How well did we do it?• Is anyone better off?

(Mark Friedman, School of Policy Studies Institute, California)

‘Turning the Curve’ in your Centre for Children and their Families using the Outcomes

Approach

• Identifying your challenges, your critical issues and the things you currently celebrate

• Getting yourself, your team, parents, families and other agencies in your community ‘around the table’ and all deciding what you want to ‘turn the curve’ on

• Thinking about the small, feasible steps needed to achieve your outcomes

• Using data to establish a baseline from which you can move towards your outcomes

• Action planning strategies which will achieve your desired outcomes

• Establishing performance measures which will allow you to measure your progress towards your outcomes

• Find ways to sustain this work over time – future proofing

Sustain-our-ability

Sustain-able-development

“Standardization is the enemy of sustainable development”

A Systemic Approach to the Development of Centres for Children and their Families

•Centres for Children and their Families are part of a wider community system, and so pro-active engagement with the community, its local authority, agencies, educational and social centres, is critical. No centre is an island.

•Centres for Children and their Families must be user-centric, they are there to serve all families in their community, and so users must have a clear and strong voice in the role, activities and operation of the centre. This is critically important for users who traditionally have had the least voice and the least engagement with public services.

•To engage with the child we must engage with the parents and the family system. Parents’ feedback must guide the collaborative future of the centre.

•The professionals at the centre must recognise that they, too, are part of a complex social and educational system comprising the centre and its wider community. This has ramifications on staff training, continuous professional development, attitudes and behaviour

Sustainability – local responsiveness

•Leaders of Centres for Children and their Families , must have in their job descriptions the leadership of change, because change there must be if we are to engage those who find it hard to access services.

•In its day to day functions, Centres for Children and their Families must be open to the wider children’s services system and recognise the value that other organisations and disciplines can bring, such as, adult educationalists, paediatricians, health practitioners, social workers, nursery nurses, midwives, psychotherapists, mental health works, and professional managers in business, financial control, and project management. In short, collaboration and innovation must become natural, and be managed effectively.

© M Whalley, R Bose 2009

A Systemic Approach to Children’s Centre Development (continued)

Dr Margy Whalley

Director of Pen Green Research Base

Telephone 0044 1536 443435

Fax 0044 1536 463960

Email mwhalley@northamptonshire.gov.uk

Website www.pengreen.org