Children & Young People Now
January 2011
Comment
Christine Davies CBE, Director, C4EO
As we start 2011, C4EO is pleased to be continuing to support the work of the children's
sector.
Alongside our sector-led work, last year C4EO also provided evidence to a wide range
of government reviews including Frank Field's review on poverty and life chances,
Graham Allen's work on early intervention, Professor Eileen Munro's review of child
protection, children's minister Sarah Teather's review of special educational needs
and disability, and Clare Tickell's review of the Early Years Foundation Stage.
Many of these contributions have come from C4EO's rapidly expanding evidence base
of effective local practice. We now have more than 100 published examples of what
is working in local areas, drawn from all parts of the country. These are examples
of developed and developing practice that can be replicated to suit local needs
and circumstances, demonstrating significantly improved outcomes for children and
young people. Many of these examples also provide evidence that improved practice
can deliver savings, not only to the agencies that run or commission them, but also
across public services more broadly.
Further evidence of what works, nationally and internationally, can be found in
the latest C4EO schools and communities review – Effective Classroom Strategies
for Closing the Gap in Educational Achievement for Children and Young People Living
in Poverty, Including White, Working Class Boys. This review, commissioned from
the Centre of Effective Education at York University, builds on the three earlier
reviews focusing on schools and communities and the Narrowing the Gap programme
led previously by the Local Government Association.
We were pleased to hear Education Secretary Michael Gove comment on the work of
C4EO last month. In his education spending speech, he said: "We will continue
to work with the sector, including organisations like C4EO, to develop and disseminate
the evidence base."
Finally, I would like to thank you all for your continued support for C4EO and wish
you a happy new year.
Making the difference
Joint working boosts language skills - Nottinghamshire
A strategy to make children’s speech and language a top priority is helping ensure
problems are tackled earlier
Language for Life focuses on early intervention to reduce speech and language problems.
The Language for Life strategy was drawn up a year ago but is built on 10 years
of partnership working.
Children's centres work closely with the speech and language therapy service, health
visitors, other NHS professionals, nurseries and schools, with support from the
county council.
The strategy, which is led by a multi-agency steering group, has a strong focus
on early intervention and prevention and a key goal is to reduce the number of children
starting school with speech and language problems.
In the past, speech and language was seen as the preserve of specialists so this
was about ensuring everyone played a role in identifying and preventing problems,
says early years adviser Jane Moore.
A key part of the strategy – which focuses on children from birth to age seven –
has been to improve support for parents.
Speech and language therapists attend antenatal groups and health visitors do speech
and language checks for all two-year-olds.
A new Home Talk service for children at risk of language delay involves six weeks
of home visits from therapists and encourages families to link up with other children's
centre services.
Speech and language therapists offer general support in children's centres as well
as providing specialist services.
"The strategy isn't about bolting on new services but about using the services
we've already got," explains Moore. "But it did take time to get everyone
on board."
Every children's centre has a language lead and the aim is for that to extend to
every early years setting and to make it an accredited role.
Results from Home Talk show that children have reduced language delay and parents
feel more confident in supporting children's speech and language development.
Schools say children are arriving better prepared and parents are more willing to
get involved in school life.
The Language of Life strategy will have its official launch in March as part of
the National Year of Communication.
Key points
- If some partners are not willing to get involved at first, then be persistent
- Extra funding can free speech and language professionals to do wider prevention
work
- Allowing individual speech and language therapists to do both specialist and community
work means they remain at the cutting edge of practice
Need to know
Displaying data - Why good presentation is vital
It is all very well collecting data to help councils and others make key policy
and funding decisions.
But if that data is not presented well then it may not be much use, argues Simon
Rutt, head of statistics at the National Foundation for Educational Research and
C4EO's data lead.
"Irrespective of whether data is in the form of counts, percentages, averages
or coefficients from sophisticated modelling techniques, the way that data is displayed
is vitally important if whoever has done the analysis wishes the outside world to
engage with that information," he explains.
Statistician Professor Hans Rosling has championed efforts to present data more
imaginatively and his website www.gapminder.org has a wealth of publicly available
international data displayed in a unique and engaging way.
"Of course this still requires someone to interpret its meaning and understand
its value but it highlights that lists of numbers can be exciting and engaging,"
says Rutt.
There are lessons there for local authorities when displaying data on their own
performance and how that has changed over time or how it compares with how well
other authorities are doing.
"The key question is: ‘Who is this information for?'", says Rutt. "Only
by understanding the audience and the purpose of the information can you make decisions
about the most effective ways of displaying it."
If data is to be shown to different audiences, such as strategic managers or the
public, then councils may have to look at different ways of displaying that information.
Using maps has the advantage of showing variations across geographical areas.
"Software development and the availability of data now allow a more interactive
display that can be more engaging," says Rutt.
"While a large amount of effort goes into collecting reliable information,
a significant amount also needs to be spent on disseminating that information and
making it accessible to many."
Where to go next?
Boosting attainment
Involving parents and carers in schools is one of the keys to boosting the educational
attainment of children from poor families, according to a new study by C4EO. Strong
leadership from headteachers is also vital, concluded the research review, which
looked at strategies to boosting the achievement of children and young people living
in poverty, including white, working-class boys. The full Schools and Communities
report and a summary can be found in the
Schools and Communities publications section on the C4EO website.. Three
other research reviews are available, covering education for children and young
people with additional needs, transitions and the role of schools in supporting
community cohesion.
Examples of best practice
More than 100 examples of local best practice are now available on the C4EO website,
covering key themes such as safeguarding, disability, early intervention and youth
services. Some case studies include videos showing successful projects in action
and all feature top tips for others. Visit the C4EO website
and click on the theme you are interested in to see examples of projects and services
that have been officially validated by C4EO as part of efforts to share best practice
across the children's sector. The site also features examples of promising practice.
E-learning
Children's services managers and practitioners can access a range of online learning
on the C4EO website. E-learning modules currently available cover the themes of
child poverty, disability, early years, safeguarding, schools and communities, and
vulnerable children. The modules are tailored for strategic leaders, senior managers,
frontline workers and information professionals. They include interactive exercises
to help professionals test their knowledge. Modules on working with families, parents
and carers will be available on the C4EO website soon.
Visit the E-Learning section of the website.
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