Aims of the project
This research project, commissioned by Nesta and carried out by Isos Partnership, is seeking to explore the ways in which early education and childcare (ECEC) in England and early learning and childcare (ELC) in Scotland is and can be better integrated with support for families. We want to gather evidence about existing approaches that have brought together ECEC / ELC and support for families in England and Scotland. These findings will be used to inform policy recommendations to our steering group (which includes representatives from Department for Education and Scottish Government) and in our final published report. Full details about the project can be found here.
This survey
One of the ways we want to gather information for this project is by asking LAs in Scotland and England about the ways in which ECEC / ELC and support for families may or may not be integrated in their local areas. This survey has been designed to be completed by the Head of Early Years in each LA in England and by the ELC Lead in each LA in Scotland. We are asking for one response per LA – if you are completing this survey, you may wish to consult other colleagues before submitting your response. (There is an option to "save and continue", should you wish - please note that this will require you to provide your email address.)
The survey contains a series of questions about different types of integrated working between ECEC / ELC and support for families, and provides space to describe examples of good practice. The survey should take no more than 10-15 minutes to complete, depending on the level of detail of integrated working you wish to provide.
Terminology
In this call for evidence, we use the term “early education and childcare” in the context of the system in England to refer to the delivery of formal early education and childcare entitlements for children below statutory school age. We use the term “early learning and childcare” in the context of the system in Scotland to refer to settings (whether LA, private or third sector) delivering funded and regulated early education and childcare entitlements for children below statutory school age.
We use “support for families” to refer to a range of supports / services for families. While some supports / services may cover families with children of all ages, in this research we are specifically interested in integration of supports / services for families of children below statutory school age. These supports / services include practical, wellbeing and financial support for families – for example, support for early childhood development (health visiting, language development), ante and postnatal services, parenting support programmes, family wellbeing services, early help services, services that seek to address poverty or increase employability.
In this context, use the term “integration” to mean the joined-up delivery of ECEC / ELC and support for families to provide holistic support for children and families. This includes settings delivering ECEC / ELC for children and support for families as part of their offer, as well as joint working between settings and wider family support services.