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Working with Children and Families
Dr Margy Whalley Thursday 6th October 2016
The Pen Green Centre ‘Project’ 1983-2016
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Integrated centres for children and families – a global ‘project’
Children and family centres working collaboratively with parents and the wider community have the capacity to transform children’s life chances.
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Pen Green Integrated Centre for Children and their Families
“ In every small community there should be a service for children and their fami l ie s . Th i s se rv ice 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 “building on what has gone before”
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Tracer Study: The voices of their childhoods
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Integrated centres for children and families matter. They matter to the families and children who use them, to the staff who work in them and for them, to the local authorities who are accountable for them and to those who share the ambition to reform the way in which public services are organised and delivered.
What makes these centres so distinctive is the collaboration and co-operation of different professional groups, and how they bring together services for children and their families in new and radical ways.
Children’s centres in the 21st Century Document Pen Green/Innovation Unit 201 – page 9
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Integrated centres for children and families require a different kind of community engagement;
‘How’ is more significant than ‘what’
By encouraging families to participate in the re-shaping of the shared context in which they live out their individual lives
By supporting parents and children to become effective public service users
By building the capacity of children, families and communities to secure outcomes for themselves
By harnessing the community’s energy for change and parent’s deep commitment to ensuring that their children have a better deal
With thanks to Demos, the Scottish Government, Pen Green
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Roots and Routes: a town that marches
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‘Co-production’ – 21st Century
‘Co-production means delivering public services in an equal
and reciprocal relationship between professionals, people
using services, their families and their neighbours. Where
activities are co-produced in this way, both services and
neighbourhoods become far more effective agents of
change.’
(From Boyle and Harris: 2009 ‘The Challenge of Co-production’)
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“Finally, because timebanking and co-production grow out of my own life and work in the civil rights movement, I have to
add that hell-raising is a critical part of co-production and of the labour that it entails it must value. Those with wealth, power authority and credentials hold those assets as stewards
for those who came before and in trust for those yet unborn. They must be held accountable - and sometimes that requires the creation of new vehicles that give rise to scrutiny, to questioning, to criticism, and to social protest. Timebank programmes can create those vehicles in ways that enlist the
community - and that tap the knowledge that the community has about what is working and what is not working”
Professor Edgar Cahn Washington Civil Rights Lawyer
No more throwaway people: the co-production imperative
Hell-raising for equality and social justice
Uppingham
Corby
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The two key concepts that underpin the work:
▪ Advocacy - parents and early years educators speaking on behalf of, and interceding on behalf of children
▪ Agency - children, parents, staff believing they can change situations and determine the outcomes of events. Agency reflects self esteem and self confidence. A child (or adult) high in agency will readily become involved in challenging problems and will be appropriately assertive interacting with peers
e.g. Pen Green legal advisory service for SEND children 2016
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• Poverty
• Coping with major changes
• Divorce
• Conflict over access
• Physical and emotional abuse
• Trauma
Issues for children and parents using the centre
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• Coping with daily transitions
• Being part of complex family networks that form and reform
• Living in more than one home
• Attending more than one daycare setting
• Coping with parent’s complex shift patterns
Issues for children and parents using the centre
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Data needs to drive services but it should never be used to define families
1. Safeguarding in Corby • rates of child abuse/neglect 15 times higher
than national average where domestic violence is a factor
• referral and re-referral rates amongst the highest in England
2. Neighbourhood Level Challenges in Corby • 22% of Corby children live in poverty; some
neighbourhoods up to 45% • 24.5% in low income ‘working poor’ families; some
neighbourhoods up to 43% • pockets of poverty/social challenge
3. Education and Well Being in Corby • Some neighbourhoods have over 35% of
adults with no qualifications (England average 22%)
• Corby children’s well-being low, particularly in relation to education outcomes (Corby 28.4% national average 19.8%).
4. Health in Corby • 50.2 % of Corby families live in health deprivation spots
(England average 19.6%) • low breastfeeding and high obesity rates • professional concern regarding infant/adult mental
health • increase in number of children with disability/special
needs
5. Population expansion in Corby • 35% increase in 0-5s in the last 3 years (Northamptonshire 13%
in same period) • very significant increase in ‘white other’ (largely Eastern
European) families 1.9% - 10.5% in 10 years
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Integrated centres for children and families are about social justice: equality is better for everyone
• disadvantaged • discouraged • confidence sapped • stigmatised • segregated • social anxiety
From ‘The Spirit Level’ Wilkinson and Pickett
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Children’s Centres deal with complexity
“…there is little value in having a generous and open mind if
life is primarily a struggle for survival, where there are few
or no trusted neighbours and where it is better not to think
about other people’s states of mind… Thoughtfulness is
not useful in a thoughtless culture.”
(Sebastian Kraemer, 1999)
Safeguarding Children & building up their
emotional wellbeing & resilience
Well qualified social work and family
support staff; comprehensive home
visiting services, development of informal social
networks, need for a strong outcomes focus
and effective supervision for staff
Securing children’s progress and development
Well qualified teachers, (QTS/ITT) and Early
Educators. Effective assessment from 0-5 tracking progress,
action learning sets across children’s centres and into schools, highly
developed key-worker role, need for a strong
outcomes focus.
Comprehensive family support • Focussed interventions for minoritized groups who may find it
hard to access existing public services (Requires comprehensive data sets – socio spatial mapping, staff appropriately trained and with a strong commitment to
social justice, prepared to work in a different way)
Developing the children and family centres as a learning organisation • Involving parents in their children’s learning • Encouraging parents to take up community education/adult learning opportunities – • Children’s centres as the ‘University of the Workplace’ & ‘Teaching Hospitals’ • Ensuring all staff are well informed rigorous thinkers with good supervision and support
Challenges
Interventions
Child
Challenges
The “Primary Task” of integrated centres for children and families
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Pen Green Centre for Children and FamiliesA place for learning through dialogue with others
• Early years education 0-5yrs
• Extended hours, extended year provision to support families
• Inclusive, flexible, education with care for children with
additional needs and children with special rights (SEND)
• Adult Community Education
• Family Support Services and Integrated Health Services
• Focus for voluntary work and community regeneration
• Training and support for early years practitioners
• Research and Development
• Leadership Professional Development
• Early Years Teaching Centre/Teaching School
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Baby Nest
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Couthie
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Pen Green Nursery The Den
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Pen Green Nursery The Snug
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The Studio
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Extended Provision across centre
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Extended Provision across centre
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Extended Provision across Centre
The Garden
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The Beach
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The Sandpit
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Pen Green Research, Training & Development
Base and Leadership Centre
Practitioner Research, Training, Development, Innovation
Pen Green Integrated Centre for Children and
Families
Pen Green maintained Nursery School and Children’s Centre
Pen Green Teaching School Alliance
……two halves of one constantly evolving whole Early Years Teaching Centre/Teaching School
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Practice based evidence: parents and practitioners as partners in research
▪ Parents involvement in their children’s learning
▪ Children’s emotional well-being and resilience
▪ Ghosts in the Nursery: Issues of adult attachment
▪ Children’s Communication 0-3: Parents as
language tutors
▪ Co-constructing differentiated pedagogical
approaches
▪ Co-constructing a baby nest provision to
support family life in the 21st century
▪ Children as philosophers
▪ Leadership in children’s centres
▪ Policy transfer: integrated centres for children
and families (UK, Germany, New Zealand,
Australia)
▪ ‘Being in relation’ – children engaging with their
peers
▪ Emotional routes of learning
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Pen Green
A Centre that encourages children to be all that they can be
“…our image of the child is rich
in potential, strong, powerful,
competent and, most of all,
connected to adults and
other children.”
Loris Malaguzzi
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I’m strong;
I’m able to challenge;
I’m able to question
I’m able to choose;
I feel good about being me
Communities of Oppression ‘Learning to be Strong’ - children, parents and staff
1984 ‘Learning to be strong’ A curriculum document for parents and children
Children should feel strong
Children should feel in control
Children should feel able to question
Children should feel able to choose
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A centre where all children are encouraged to be feisty children: children with a sense of agency
and resilient despite adversity
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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)
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Sharing Knowledge With Parents: 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)
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Co-education
Parents are involved in supporting their own child’s learning and development 24/7 - this needs to be recognised and home learning
and nursery learning needs to be shared
Parents engage in adult community education
Parents get involved in devising or delivering services for other parents
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In Children’s Centres Parents and Staff Share Observations
• Film the children at home • Keep a diary • Film the children at the centre • Apply theory to the observations • Make portfolios about children’s interests
and critical concerns
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Outcomes
▪ Support for children and parents is offered during all critical transitions
▪ Staff, parents and children have meaningful conversations that support the children’s development
▪ Parents and workers become more aspirational ▪ Workers and parents develop their advocacy skills ▪ Involvement on the relationships parents have with their child’s
educator at nursery and subsequently at school ▪ Study groups are embedded in early childhood settings and
local schools ▪ Parents undertake adult education, professional development
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Community Education Opportunities at Pen Green • GCSE English or equivalent •GCSE Maths or equivalent •Introduction to Computing •Computer Literacy and IT (CLAIT) •Sign Language City and Guilds Stage 1 •Creative Connections – overcome the barrier to writing •Family Literacy/Numeracy •Communication Skills •Creche Workers Course (NOCN) •Homestart (NOCN) •NVQ in Early Years and Education L2 and L3/NVQ Playworkers (now CACHE Diploma) •Counselling Skills Course •Between Ourselves •Confident Parents/Confident Children (NOCN) •Introducing Childminding Practice •Making Choices •Sewing/Crafts Group •Protective Behaviours •Stress and Relaxation •Skills for Work/Confidence Building Course •Baby Massage (IAIM Certificate) •Involving Parents in their Children’s Learning NOCN •Parents as Researchers NOCN
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EYITT Training
University of Bedfordshire
Initial Teacher Training University of Hertfordshire (2015)
PhD Early Years Leadership Leicester University
MA In Integrated Provision for Children and Families Leicester University/University of Hertfordshire Early Development and Learning Research Methods Practitioner Research Working With Parents and their Infants and Young Children Working With Families and Complexity Leadership Learning within Teams
University of Hertfordshire (2015)
Advanced Module in Groupwork
Homestart Training
Group Work Training (introductory)
Emotional Roots of learning – Northern School of Psychotherapy
‘University of the Workplace’
PEN GREEN AS A LEARNING ORGANISATION - developing the early years workforce
An Early Years Teaching School Teaching School Alliance
BA (Hons) Top-up In Integrated Working with Children and their Families in the Early Years University of Hertfordshire
Foundation Degree in Integrated Working with Children and their Families in the Early Years Hertfordshire University On site and on location in Devon, Kegworth and Bradford
Adult Community Education Courses Functional Skills Get Creative Transactional Analysis Counselling Skills Mood Mapping
Family Learning Programmes Maths English ESOL
Parents Involved in their Children’s Learning groups Parents’ Support Groups / Discussion Groups
Aim Awards credit for courses at levels 1 & 2 e.g., Crèche Work Training, Confident Parents/Confident Children Parents as Researchers New Start Volunteer course
CACHE Level 3 Diploma for the Early Years Workforce (EYE)
Level 3 Award in Preparing to Work in Home-Based Childcare
The Climbing Frame of Opportunity
System Leadership Training for children’s centre leaders NPQICL*
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Integrated centres for Children and families create opportunities for building powerful connections:
• Between practitioners across disciplines and across sectors
• Between professionals and children
• Between parents and professionals
• Between parents and children
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An integrated approach requires;
• A shared philosophy (shared vision and values and a principled approach to practice)
• A multi- disciplinary team with all or most disciplines represented • Shared leadership and management and consistent ways of
working • Proximity, the co-existence of all services on one campus,
developing seamless services • Co-production (community engagement, participation)
Adult Community Education Team
Education and Learning 0-‐3’s Team
Education and Learning 2-‐5’s Team
Research, Training & Development Team
Leadership
Access: Poverty, D
iversity, Equality Pe
dagogy
User V
oice Co-‐Prod
uctio
n
After School &
Practitione
r Research and Evaluatio
n
Playscheme 4-‐11’s Team
Involving Parents in their C
hildren’s L
earning
Professio
nal D
evelop
men
t
Family Support Team (including Sure Start home visiting, Homestart and the Group Work Programme) & Community Health Team
Safeguarding Children &
Building Self Esteem
Strand
s of A
ctivity
(across the
cen
tre)
Domains (teams with a specific focus)
Head of C
entre,
Director of
Research, A
ll SM
T &
Governing Bo
dy
All SMT &
Governing
Body
Led by
Depu
ty
Head of
Centre
Led by
Director of
Research &
Assistant
Director
User
Voice
Led by
Depu
ty
Head of
Centre
Led by
SMT
Led by
Assistant
Director of
Research &
Head of
Nursery
Led by Teacher/Head of Centre
Led by Early Education & Childcare Specialist
Led by Teacher/Head of Nursery
Led by ASC Co-‐ordinator
Led by Social Worker & Deputy Head of Centre
Led by Director of Research
Adult Community Education Team
Family Support Team (including Sure Start home visiting, Homestart and the Group Work Programme) & Community Health Team
Research, Training & Development Team
Education and Learning 0-3’s Team
Education and Learning 2-5’s Team
After School & Playscheme 4-11’s Team
Guardianship – Domains (Teams with a Specific Focus)
Lea
de
rsh
ip
Ac
ce
ss: P
ove
rty,
Div
ers
ity, E
qu
ity
Ped
ag
og
y
Use
r Vo
ice
Co
-Pro
du
ctio
n
Pra
ctit
ion
er R
ese
arc
h a
nd
Eva
lua
tion
Safe
gu
ard
ing
Ch
ildre
n a
nd
Bu
ildin
g S
elf
Este
em
Pro
fess
ion
al D
eve
lop
me
nt
Invo
lvin
g P
are
nts
in t
he
ir C
hild
ren
’s L
ea
rnin
g
Guardianship Strands (Strands of Activity/Responsibility across every Domain)
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Pen Green is all about Co-ProductionEncouraging parents and children to be effective public
service users: creating social and cultural capital
• Parents have the right to expect high quality, flexible services that
respond to the changing needs of their families. Services need to be
flexible and responsive to 21st century challenges to family life
• Staff need to believe in parent’s deep commitment to supporting their
children’s learning. They need to encourage parents to increase their
competence
• Parents and staff both need to have high expectations of the children.
They need to work together to help children be all that they can be
• Parents have a commitment to being involved in designing, developing,
delivering and evaluating local services. We have to release the great
untapped energy within the community
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Community Participation Driving Service Delivery
1981-82 Campaign against the local Borough Council to re-roof local housing stock
1982-83 LAG – Local Advisory Group against the Pen Green Centre
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
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1990-97 Parents as co-educators involved in their children’s learning Parents as paid workers
1997-07 Parents as trouble shooters Parents as policy makers Parents as co-researchers and evaluators Parents as governors
2007 – 2012 Parents developing innovative projects
– Total Place Corby Parents developing websites, Facebook, Twitter
Parents running local, regional and National
Campaigns
2013 Parents and children as committed, critical and vigilant public service users
2016 Parents develop their own civic charitable bodies (CIO) Legal Advice Centre for SEND
Community Participation Driving Service Delivery
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Volunteer Engagement in co-production
Informal Social Networking inside and outside centres
NewStart Volunteers (within children’s centres)
Group Leaders/ Parent researchers/evaluators
Home-‐Start Volunteers
Parent School Governors (across the school system)
Single Issue activists for example; •Parents with children with special rights •Fathers not living in the family home •Parents from minoritized groups
Parent community activists (Breast feeding support, Out of hours services) Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) Trustees
Parent champions linked to political representatives (Borough Council/ County Council),
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The future: Integrated Centres for Children and Families
A future model could be different. The starting point could be
that of local people co-constructing the design for their own children’s centre. There would still be a need for qualified staff, and for professional services. The shift would be that in every centre local people would be supported to do more for themselves and would become far more discerning consumers of public services over which they have far greater control.
The key will be to redesign services to enable more reciprocity;
people want to identify their own solutions. Children’s centres could become firmly rooted in their communities and one of their purposes would be to create and sustain strong, supportive relationships for people to draw on.
Children’s centres in the 21st Century Document Pen Green/Innovation Unit 201 – page 9
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All staff parents and children are Practitioner Researchers
• Where the ethics of the encounter with co workers, parents and children are paramount • Where all ECE workers are encouraged to see themselves as
researchers of their own practice • Where there is a commitment to developing new research
methodologies that support Research from the Underside, • ‘The values I hold are such that I long for the end of poverty and the
promotion of equality. My interest in research is thus just this, how can research help the poor?’ (Holman, 1987, p.669) • Where people’s answers are believed and acted upon • Where research both informs and leads to improvement in practice • Where participation in the research process can be emancipatory
for participants • Where the critical questions are generated by users and providers of
the service
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Integrated centres for children and families engage effectively with children, parents and
the wider community:
• When staff are well qualified, opportunities for reflection and dialogue have a strong theoretical base • When staff are well supported, in provision that is well resourced and securely funded • When staff adopt an ‘equal and active’ approach • When staff have cultural humility • When staff are capable or cultural brokerage and mediation •When staff think systemically
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Reflexive Professionalism
• Exploring dissensus • Valuing the ‘other’ • Co-constructing knowledge with children,
parents and colleagues • Always acting with a focus on change
With thanks to; Jan Peeters 2008 Michael Vandebroek 2009
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Dr Margy Whalley
Research Associate
Telephone 07725234557
Email [email protected]
Website www.pengreen.org
Manaus, Brazil 1979
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Lessons from Brazil
• Dar um jeito
• Desconstruir
• Conscientizacao
• Bruxa
• Sabedoria
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Lessons from Papua New Guinea
• Cultural negotiation – consult and co-construct
services with those that want to use them
• Oppressive and dominant cultures generally
disempower (I might be the problem for other
people)
• The importance of multiple perspectives
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• Take what people offer and build on it • Pride matters: never humiliate; never blame • Find reciprocal ways of working • Look to your elders for help • Don't accept being minoritized • Insist on complexity • If you’re seen as ‘trouble’ take it as a compliment • Seize the day and leave no-one behind
Lessons from indigenous peoples Australia, New Zealand and Corby
