Study Of Early Education And Development: Good Practice In .

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Study of Early Educationand Development:Good Practice in EarlyEducationResearch reportJanuary 2017Meg Callanan, Margaret Anderson, SarahHaywood, Ruth Hudson and SvetlanaSpeight – NatCen Social Research

ContentsList of figures5List of tables6Executive Summary81.Introduction16Research Aims16Background to the study16Policy background16Overview of SEED19Previous research on quality in early years provision20Methodology21Sampling and recruitment21Fieldwork22Report coverage2.22Learning and development23Curriculum planning24Assessment monitoring and tracking progress31Stages in the assessment process31Assessment tools32Application of assessment data33Views on how to support effective assessment34Views on what works in supporting children’s learning and development35Personal, social and emotional development35Early language and communication38Cognitive development392

Supporting transition3.39Supporting transitions into the setting39Managing transitions within settings44Managing the transition to school (or to another provider)45Management and 4Approaches to self-evaluation55Partnership working and sources of advice4.5.Sources of advice and support57Nature of partnership working60Staff recruitment, retention and development62Recruitment and levels of staffing63Retaining staff66Continuing professional development68Engaging with parents and home learningHow parents choose an early years setting and form a judgement about its qualitySources of information parents draw on to judge quality6.57727376Communicating with parents78Supporting home learning84Conclusion90References93Appendix A97Case study sampling973

Recruitment99Fieldwork and analysis100Appendix B102Recruitment leaflet for setting managers102Parent recruitment letter and FAQs103Setting manager topic guide104Parent topic guide1084

List of figuresFigure 2.1 Features of good curriculum planning24Figure 3.1 Characteristics of effective leadership505

List of tablesTable 1 Definitions of ‘good’ and ‘excellent’ quality98Table 2 Achieved sample of early years settings98Table 3 Interviews achieved in each case study provider6100

AcknowledgementsWe would like to thank all the early years settings who took part as case studies of goodpractice and to the setting staff, parents and Local Authority staff who gave up their timeto participate.Many colleagues at NatCen Social Research were involved in designing and carrying outthis study. We are grateful to Tom Chadwick, Amanda Craig, Anna Kaxira, NatalieMaplethorpe, and Dr Emily Tanner.This evaluation is carried out by NatCen Social Research in partnership with theUniversity of Oxford, 4Children and Frontier Economics. We would like to thank ourpartners there Professor Ted Melhuish, Sue Robb and Dr Gillian Paull for their supportand insightful comments on the report.We are also grateful to Maura Lantrua, at the Department for Education (DfE) and themembers of the SEED Advisory Board for their input into the design of this study andtheir helpful comments on this report.7

Executive SummaryIntroductionThis study explores how good quality early years settings articulate, establish and sustaingood practice that has the potential to improve child outcomes. Focusing on provision fortwo to four-year-olds it examines good practice in relation to curriculum planning,assessment and monitoring, staffing, managing transitions and communication withparents and home learning.MethodologySixteen case studies were carried out across England with a range of early years settingsassessed as having ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ quality provision by 4Children as part of thewider SEED project. The instruments used to gather information on process quality werethe revised Infant-Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS-R), the revised EarlyChildhood Environmental Rating Scale (ECERS-R) and its curricular extension ECERS-Eand the Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Wellbeing scale (SSTEW). Furtherdetail on the quality assessments instruments used can be found in Appendix A.Case study settings included maintained nursery classes, as well as a range of privateand voluntary settings including day nurseries and pre-schools from across England.Case studies involved face-to-face interviews with setting managers and staff andtelephone interviews with parents and Local Authority staff. In total, forty-eight interviewswere carried out with setting staff; forty-nine interviews with parents and six with LocalAuthority staff. Fieldwork was carried out between November 2015 and March 2016.Summary of findingsLearning and developmentCase study settings identified a range of features of good practice in relation to learningand development.Curriculum planningGood practice in relation to curriculum planning included approaches that were: Tailored to individual needs;Capitalised on children’s interests in order to achieve learning outcomes;Flexible and responsive so that plans could be changed or adapted to followthe interests of the children and / or respond to external events;Informed by on-going assessment;Grounded in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework; andDifferentiated for age and stage of development.8

Staff at early years settings also thought that curriculum planning was strengthened byconsultation and input from staff at all levels and regular evaluation through observationand staff discussion. Finally, settings stressed the importance of communicating planningeffectively so that staff understood the aims and objectives and were clear on their roles.Assessment, monitoring and tracking progressAssessment and progress tracking were believed to be only valuable if used effectively tosupport learning and development, identify children requiring additional support, and feedinto curriculum planning. Features of good practice felt to support this included: Regular communication between staff to raise awareness of issues identifiedthrough assessment;High staff /child ratios that gave staff sufficient time to carry out regularobservations and;Effective use of digital assessment tools that supported practitioner judgementsand facilitated timely analysis of data.Effective assessment and progress tracking could be undermined by inconsistentpractice which failed to truly reflect a child’s stage of development or how far they hadprogressed. Employing trained staff with a good understanding of child development;carrying out regular audits and quality checks on assessments; and moderatingjudgements were viewed as features of good practice to tackle this issue. Providingsufficient time for staff to carry out effective assessment was also viewed as critical.Views on what works in supporting children’s learning and developmentSetting staff placed the personal, social and emotional development of their children atthe heart of their practice. Strategies identified as effective in supporting thisdevelopment included staff modelling prosocial behaviour; small group activities thatsupported children to work together, share and take turns; a consistent approach tobehaviour management and using snacks and mealtimes as an opportunity to fosterprosocial behaviour.Fostering happy and confident children was a primary goal. Warm and positiverelationships between staff and children; consistency and routine; and strongrelationships with parents were all viewed as features of good practice that supportedwellbeing. Encouraging children to do things for themselves; involving them in decisionmaking and supporting them to find their own solutions to conflicts were elements ofgood practice felt to encourage self-regulation and independence.To support early language development and communication, settings prioritised creatinga ‘language rich’ environment through the use of songs, nursery rhymes, stories andproviding time for adult/child and peer to peer interaction. High quality adult/childinteractions were viewed as essential, as was encouraging home learning and the qualityof parent/child interactions through activities and reading at home.To support cognitive development and instil a lifelong love of learning, strategies includedtaking a child-led approach, ensuring access to a wide range of resources that were age9

appropriate; using visual aids to support learning; and providing an environment with ageappropriate furniture and equipment. Staff with the professional knowledge and skill tosupport this learning underpinned this good practice.Supporting transitionFeatures of good practice thought by staff and parents to support transitions into settingsincluded carrying out home visits; gathering information from parents about the child; andworking in partnership with other settings to gather relevant information and support thechild with the transition. Setting visits; gradually increasing the time children attended;matching activities to children’s interests; and providing consistency and routine werestrategies felt to help children to settle. Setting staff also felt they had a role to play insupporting parents with the transition and that it was important to be proactive in keepingparents informed about how the child was settling in.In settings which catered for children from babies to pre-school, strategies had been putin place to facilitate smooth transitions within settings. Gradually introducing the child tothe new room, and taking a flexible approach to the allocation of a new key person(changing this if the child bonded with a particular member of staff) were thought to befeatures of good practice. Underpinning this was the view that transition should becarried out at the child’s pace and that it was important to build in flexibility to anyarrangement. Consulting parents, keeping them informed of the process and sharinginformation effectively between staff through transition meetings were also importantfeatures.Good practice in relation to supporting transitions to school included effective informationsharing with schools through transition reports, school visits to settings, and consultingparents on the information that was being shared. Taking children to visit their newschool, and building on-going relationships with local schools were features of goodpractice that were felt to help children make the transition smoothly. Setting staff alsodescribed putting in place activities to prepare children for the move, such as activities toencourage greater independence.Management and leadershipLeadershipEffective leadership was felt to be essential to good practice in early years. Managersand staff reflected that effective leaders in early years were those that had a clear visionfor the setting; valued and fostered team working; had good professional knowledge;engaged effectively with the wider early years sector; sought continuous improvement;fostered good relationships with parents; had strong organisational skills and delegatedeffectively; prioritised staff continuing professional development (CPD) and embeddedclear systems and processes.CommunicationCommunication between staff was viewed as important because it underpinned manyother aspects of good practice including curriculum planning, assessment andmonitoring, and effective relationships with parents. Staff valued formal channels for10

information sharing including regular staff meetings, but also stressed the value ofregular informal communication. Staff Facebook pages, information boards and informalcatch-ups were all valued as ways in which staff could keep each other informed. Openplan environments were particularly highlighted as a feature that helped this informalcommunication.EvaluationOngoing evaluation of setting practice was considered a hallmark of good practicebecause it ensured practice was constantly being reviewed and refined. Observations ofsetting practice by both senior managers and ‘peer to peer’ were seen as an effectiveevaluation tool, both to assess how well activities were meeting the needs of children,and to evaluate staff practice. Audits of children’s progress records and the settingenvironment were also used, as were internal self-evaluation reflection sheets andinternal inspections.Partnership working and sources of adviceTo support good practice, settings sought to work in partnership and access advice andguidance from a range of sources. Local Authorities were felt to play an important role inthis by co-ordinating early years clusters; running conferences; delivering training andproviding packages of support to settings that were judged by Ofsted as inadequate orrequiring improvement, as well as offering advice and guidance on SEND andsafeguarding. Ofsted were also identified as a source of support as were specialistservices including speech and language therapists, psychologists, physiotherapists andoccupational therapists.Some Local Authority and setting staff reflected that reductions in funding to LocalAuthorities had led to cuts in the services they were able to offer and consequentlypartnership working between settings was becoming increasingly important. Goodpractice included visits and information sharing with other settings, and working inpartnership with Children’s Centres including sharing facilities, and seeking advice andguidance from their early years specialist teachers.Staff recruitment, retention and developmentRecruitment of staffHigh quality staff were viewed as the foundation for good practice, but recruitment wasviewed as challenging largely because pay levels across the sector were felt to be low.When recruiting staff, settings looked for a range of qualities including a goodunderstanding of child development and the EYFS; high quality interactions with children;enthusiasm for early education; and an ability to communicate with and engage parentseffectively.Case study staff recognised the importance of qualifications. In settings that employed aqualified teacher, staff felt this added an additional focus on teaching and learning andimproved the quality of curriculum planning and assessment. Experience was also highlyvalued, and careful consideration was given to the mix of staff within settings to ensurethat less experienced staff were supported by more experienced colleagues. Soft skills11

including warmth, empathy, an enjoyment of working with children and goodcommunication skills were also qualities settings looked for.Some case study settings chose to operate at staff/child ratios higher than statutoryrequirements because they felt this increased the quality of their provision by giving staffmore time to spend with each child. In other case study settings, it was financiallyunviable to operate at ratios higher than statutory requirements.Staff retentionBecause settings valued staff experience and recruitment was felt to be challenging, staffretention was a priority. Features of good practice that supported staff retention includedgood communication and team work; strong leadership; flexible working practices;strategies that made staff feel valued (e.g. social events and discounted fees for theirown children to attend the setting). Opportunities for career progress were also seen asimportant for staff retention, but opportunities for this were more limited in small settings.Continuing professional development (CPD)High quality settings prioritised on-going CPD to develop professional practice; to keepup-to-date with new research on effective practice; to build networks and share goodpractice and to support staff retention. Settings identified a number of challengesaffecting CPD. These included cuts in Local Authority funding that had reduced theavailability of external training; pressures on their own budgets that made it difficult torelease staff for training because of cover costs; and limited time available to attendtraining.Internal training delivered by senior practitioners was viewed as a cost effective approachto CPD, and setting staff also reflected on the value of learning through experience andobserving colleagues. Peer-to-peer observations and regular observations by senior staffwere highlighted as particularly effective approaches to supporting staff development. Tomaximise the cost effectiveness of attending external training, settings put in placestrategies to disseminate learning from courses to all staff through staff meetings. On-linetraining courses were also viewed as a cost effective and easily accessible format fortraining, particularly for larger providers and nursery chains with large staff bodies. Therewere also examples of settings supporting staff to work towards qualifications and someworked closely with local colleges to support apprentices through their Level 2 and Level3 qualifications.Engaging with parents and home learningHow parents define high quality provisionParents judged the quality of early years settings by taking into consideration a range offactors: Their ‘word-of-mouth’ reputation (e.g. how well friends’ and relatives’ children ‘goton’ at the setting; feedback on the staff; and the extent of waiting lists). Staff/child interactions (particularly the warmth of the interactions between staffand their child during setting visits and open days).12

Although not a consideration for all, some parents actively chose settings on thebasis that the staff/child ratios were high and they felt this would ensure their childgot the individual attention they needed. Parents felt reassured if their setting had good staff retention because this wasfelt to be an indicator of a happy workforce and because stable staff providedcontinuity of care. Mixed views were held by parents on the qualifications staff should have. Forsome, staff qualifications were taken into consideration when choosing a setting.For others, it was assumed that all staff would be relevantly qualified and so thiswas not something they enquired about. For another group of parents, experienceof working with children and the quality of the staff/child interactions wereprioritised over qualification levels. Parents also took into consideration the facilities and equipment, looking foradequate space inside and outside; availability of a good range of activities; andage-appropriate equipment. Safety was also an important consideration, and ‘word of mouth’ reputation forsafety was taken into account. Parents sought evidence of good security andsafety procedures during setting visits and open days.In addition to quality considerations, location and cost were also factored into decisionswhen choosing a setting for their child.Communicating with parentsTo support effective communication with parents, setting staff highlighted the importanceof being non-judgemental and building trust; getting to know parents individually andtailoring the mode of communication to their preferences; and ensuring effectivecommunication between staff so that all staff were able to answer parent queries.Email, online and text message communication was generally viewed positively byparents as a useful means of communication, although some preferred paper-basedmethods and some raised concerns about the privacy of social media platforms. Noticeboards were well received by parents, as were written feedback diaries.To further engage with parents, settings used a range of approaches includingencouraging two-way communication through parent feedback books; and providingopportunities for parents to volunteer at the setting.To keep parents informed of the progress of their child, settings held parents’ eveningsand kept progress records which were shared with parents. In some instances, settingswere using online assessment and monitoring systems that could be shared with parents.Parents who reflected positively on these approaches valued the immediacy of thefeedback and the ease of access, although some were less positive, preferring face-toface feedback to discuss the progress of their child.13

Supporting home le

This study explores how good quality early years settings articulate, establish and sustain good practice that has the potential to improve child outcomes. Focusing on provision for two to four-year-olds it examines good practice in relation to curriculum planning, assessment and monitori

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