SOCIAL INNOVATION AND

EXPERIMENTATION

VIDA-PROJECT

Bente Jensen

AARHUS UNIVERSITY,

DENMARK

Conference, Wroclaw

Monday 26 September 2011

“Innovative responses to the

Social Impact of the Crisis”

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Content

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• Policy issues

• VIDA-project – a social innovation-approach

• The Evaluation methodology and meaures tested

• Conclusion and policy recommendation

Political Issues

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• Danish Social Politics on ECEC (Dagtilbudsloven,

2004/2011) aims to improve all children’s and

young people‟s well-being, development and

learning

• Prevent negative consequences for children

growing up in a socially impaired environment –

prevent marginalisation and social exclusion

• Promote continuity and cohesion between

different offers

• Give all families flexibility and various choices

• Learning and child environment contributes to

promote the aims (Ministry of Social Affairs, 2011, LBK no. 314, 11. april 2011

Political Issues – major problems 123

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Socially disadvantaged children identified as

• Children with a socially impaired background

(predicted by poverty, unemployment among

parents, short or no education, parents on welfare

payment and/or difficult divorces).

Political issues -major problems 123

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Socially disadvantaged children (...cont.):

• have high risk of being involved in child service

systems related to the identified poor socio-

economical conditions.

• may have less developed cognitive and social

skills and are at high risk of being excluded from

early age in day care

• day care may (re)produce social inequality

Political Issues – summary

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•Staff is not educated to meet these social

political issues, to implement new legislation

(regarding to Clearinghouse Review (Nordenbo

et al., 2010, evaluations (2006, 2008)

•Public Policy in the ECEC often not aligned with

evidence-based knowledge(Pianta et al, 2009)

•

Background Research showed that what works is:

An early effort (children from age 3) targeting children’s learning and cognitive development in day-care (e.g. Garber, 1988).

High-quality care (structure and process), i.e. well-educated staff, good staffing, systematic curriculum-based efforts with attention to socio-emotional and intellectual development (Currie & Neidell, 2007, Melhuish, 2003).

A combination of day-care program and parental involvement appeared to generate the greatest effect (e.g. Kaminski, 2007).

Offers for parents that do not involve day-care may even have a directly negative effect (e.g. Roberts et al., 1989, Wasik et al., 1990, a new Clearinghouse Review, VIDA 2011:02).

Educated staff more effective measured in youth competences (PISA) at ending school

Cost-benefit analysis showed that longterm benefit outweigh the costs involved, especially for disadvantaged groups (Heckman, 2008)

VIDA-Knowledge Based efforts for

socially disadvantaged children

• To improve socially disadvantaged children‟s well-

being, learning, inclusion (VIDA)

• To improve parents‟ believes on and actual own

parental capacity to improve children‟s

development (VIDA+)

• VIDA compares 1) VIDA (Basis) with the 2) same

program supplemented with VIDA (Basis +)

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VIDA – Education and Training

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• Staff are educated to develop and work with a detailed curriculum

based on knowledge about „ what works‟, analyse situations in the

individual day-care (e.g. composition of children, staff‟s preconditions

etc.)

• Education program serves as a platform that ensure that staff:

• Change practice based on theories and evidence of „what

works‟ – and on guidelines (VIDA – VIDA +)

• Construct curricula that comprises the goals, methods and

specific content relevant to specific target groups learning, well-

being, 3-6 yrs children (VIDA) and parental involvement (VIDA+)

• Work with including learning environment for all children –

improving learning opportunities through inclusion - new creative

experiments

Implementation of VIDA Program

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Materials and tool are developed to improve staff‟s

innovative skills to implement VIDA by

Knowledge

Knowledge element – involves a Qualification Folder, dialogue and knowledge-sharing

By education program and workshops for manager and one employer, by teachers from University Colleges, 3 times (once a year 7 days pr. 4 months (2011, 2012, 2013)

Reflection

Reflection and critical analysis element – involves tools and questions that trigger reflection on existing practice and goals for renewal and improvement of practice.

By reflection and knowledge-sharing in local networks after the courses and placed in-practice-training (supported)

Action

Action and change element – staff develop new procedures (action plans) that meet the social political and evidence-based challenges Knowledge and reflection-elements are used to work intensive – systematically with wellbeing, learning, social inclusion.

By courses form managers in facilitating change, innovation (based on a perspective of change in and of organisations

Meeting new challenges – a summary

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• A traditional – one-way – educational model, that simply teach staff in new knowledge is not enough

when the goal is social innovation

• An innovative interactive-way - educational model

(VIDA) implies that staff participate in developing creative solutions, work with innovation in organisations

• Involves 7,000 children in general day-care,

randomized control trial (RCT-design) at the

institutional level (120 institutions) in four

municipalities (2010 -2013)

• The program includes all groups of children;

about 95% of all Danish children attend day-care

• Implemented by educated and non-educated

staff, because that is common in Denmark.

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Testing the two VIDA Programs - a Social Experiment

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• Implemented in a determined and systematic

manner in 80 intervention day-care centres (+ 40

day-care centres that constitute the control

groups)

• The intervention covers both a basis program and

a basis + parental program

• Sampling

Experimental Study of

the VIDA Program (cont.)

Sampling and measures. 7000 children in 120 day care centres - 4 municipalities

2300 children in 40 day

care centres - 4

municipalities selected for

VIDA-Program

2300 children in 40 day-

care centres -4

municipalities selected for

VIDA+Parental Program

2300 children in 40 day

care centres - 4

municipalities selected for

control-goup of

institutions

2. Meausures

Primo 2012

3. Measurements

Primo 2013

Baseline measurements

primo 2011

2. Measurements ultimo

Primo 2012

3. Measurements

Primo 2013

2. Meaurements

Primo 2012

3. Meaurements

Primo 2013

Intervention starts medio

2011

Baseline measurements

primo 2011

Intervention starts medio

2011

Baseline measurements

primo 2011

Measures used

Child (3-6 yrs)

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Effects of the intervention are measured through the

different domains of the “Strength and Difficulties

Questionnaire” (SDQ).

Effects are also measured on different cognitive learning

goals, e.g. language, science, concentration

(measurements inspired by EPPE, Sylva, Melhuish et al, 2011)

Data are correlated with data from Statistics Denmark

(civil registation no. (CPR) on each child),

Long-term Effect measures

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Effect measurements are supplemented (if funded)

with measures measures in a longitudinal perspective:

•Children‟s entrance to school (school-readiness)

•Children‟s competence by leaving school (Pisa)

•Youth education

•Later employment

•Crime

•Etc.

VIDA compared to

International Programs of ‘What works’

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• All are model program experiments (RCT designs).

• Perry Preschool program (US): 123 children, randomized control at

the individual level. Special education program

• Abecedarian (US): 97 children, randomized control at the individual

level. Special education program

• ASP program: 3,000 children in universal day-care, randomized

control at the institutional level in two municipalities (pilot)

• VIDA program: 7,000 children in general day-care, randomized

control at the institutional level in four municipalities.

• VIDA – represents larger samples to test the success of interventions in

general day-care. Main reason for designing a new innovative

program, emphasising social inclusion as a part of the intervention.

Preliminary results

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Treatment effect on SDQ measures (ASP-program) of

non-cognitive aspects with lower conduct problems,

lower hyper activity and peer relational problems

conditional on the fraction of children with emotional

symptoms (Jensen and Holm, 2011).

Results from VIDA-baseline (oct 2011) show a

successful randomization

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The VIDA program differs from international intervention

programs (e.g. Perry Preschool) by:

1) A resource-oriented view on socially disadvantaged

children, focus on social inclusion

2) Understanding intervention as a social innovation,

means that staff are educated to use evidence-

based knowledge in order to bring „theory in

practice‟

3) – developing social changes in the entire

organisation and society

Conclusion

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Based on VIDA as Social Innovation - policy in three levels:

• MAKRO-LEVEL • VIDA Education as a Program at University Colleges

• Higher levels of educated staff as policy

• MESO-LEVEL.

• Education of managers to work with organisational change (social innovation), facilitation

• Municipalities implementation VIDA program in all

day-care centres, organize the work in

interdisciplinary supporting teams • MIKRO-LEVEL.

• Staff educated to work evidence-based and

reflective

Recommendations

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VIDA Project – Social Innovation and Experimentation

financed by Danish Ministry of Social Affairs

For further information: www.dpu.dk/vida

Bente Jensen, Project manager, Aarhus University E-mail: bj@dpu.dk Photos from ”That will teach them – the child from day care to graduation”, DPU, 2009