early child care and education

Survey of local authorities to explore their expectations and aspirations for what the legislation might deliver for early childhood education and care in Scotland. Views are presented in the context of the current debate about the importance of investing in provision for young children and their families. The survey suggests those responsible for providing and commissioning these services in local authorities strongly favour introducing a legal entitlement to integrated early childhood education and care and school age childcare.

Website of organisation that supports parents and carers in their role as their children's first and most important educators.

Short film that has been made by Media Co-Op, for all pre-school support organisations (HomeStart, First Step and Sure Start) who help parents to show what the services offer and can offer to all parents of any background or walk of life. The parents speak about their experience, opportunities and the great support they get from these charity based organisations. Susan Deacon (Member of the Scottish Parliament) was apart of this feature film and will be using this in one of her campaigns.

Video resource produced by the Children's Parliament where Professor Susan Deacon undertakes an exploration of the importance of the early years of children's lives.

Resource that covers 47 topics related to the development of the child, from conception to the age of five, and presents the most up-to-date scientific knowledge.

Report that explores the feasibility of and rationale for the design of an outcome evaluation framework aimed at assessing the impact of the play@home scheme on the scheme’s four main objectives: physical activity, movement skills, cognitive/language development, and parent-child bonding. The project was conducted in two interlocking phases.

Review to gather together, describe and comment on international evidence on the educational experiences offered to young children. It was commissioned by the Scottish Executive Education Department at a time when the existing curriculum guidance (A Curriculum Framework for Children 3 to 5, SCCC, 1999) was under review and a national process of educational reform for children aged 3-18 was under way.

Report that presents findings from the evaluation of the You First pilot programme, undertaken by Ipsos MORI Scotland, in collaboration with Professor Sarah Cunningham-Burley. The study was commissioned by Communities Analytical Services on behalf of the Children and Families Directorate and the Directorate for Employment, Skills and Lifelong Learning.

Report from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child that summarises the most current and reliable scientific research on the impact of relationships on all aspects of a child's development, and identifies ways to strengthen policies that affect those relationships in the early childhood years.