early child care and education
Knowledge review that tells us what works in improving family-based support for children’s learning. It is based on a rapid review of the research literature involving systematic searching, analysis of key data, validated local practice examples and views from both people using services and providers.
It summarises the best available evidence that will help service service providers to improve services and ultimately outcomes for children, young people and their families.
An interactive e-learning resource created to support individuals in achieving outcomes for children.
Report that presents findings from a rapid review of research and national data on the impact of certain background characteristics on outcomes for children in the early years. It seeks to identify the approaches that are most effective in reducing educational disadvantage and promoting positive outcomes.
The review focused on children from birth to seven years of age and included evidence published since 2000. A total of 465 items of literature were identified and considered for inclusion in this review.
Knowledge review that tells us what works in narrowing the gap in outcomes for young children through effective practices in the early years. It is based on a rapid review of the research literature involving systematic searching, analysis of key data, validated local practice examples and the views from both people using services and service providers.
It summarises the best available evidence that will help service providers to improve services and, ultimately, outcomes for children, young people and their families.
Children in Scotland resource, including newsletters, briefings and reports on the subject of early years.
Study that sets out to consider some of these issues, exploring three of the most common and easily accessible measures used in England for identifying the quality of centre-based early years settings.
Study that explores what we do and do not know about the roles that ‘informal childcare’ play for different families. It shows how these have evolved over the past decade – and discusses how they may continue to evolve – in the light of demographic and policy changes.
The All Party Parliamentary Group for Sure Start was founded in June 2010 in order to enable Parliamentarians to focus on and further the understanding and development of Sure Start centres.
During 2011 the group undertook a series of inquiry sessions designed to hear the views and experiences of a range of key stakeholders at the heart of Sure Start delivery. The sessions were designed to inform Parliamentarians‘ understanding of the factors influencing local decisions, the way that services are being reconfigured and explore ways that services can be developed and improved.
The free entitlement to education is the Department’s primary financial intervention in children’s early education. All three- and four-year-olds are entitled to 15 hours per week of free education, starting the term after a child’s third birthday. The scope of the entitlement has evolved since it was introduced in 1998 for all four-year-olds.
These reviews described long-term cost-benefit analyses of three early childhood interventions - the Abecedarian Program, Perry High/Scope and the Chicago Child-Parent Centers. All were undertaken in the United States and targeted mostly underprivileged black communities. Given this context, it is argued that results of the three studies are not easily transferable to modern contexts in countries such as England. The results indicated should therefore all be read with the caveat of ‘for the specific population in these studies’. This topic is included in the EPPI-Centre knowledge library.

