C4EO - for the sector from the sector
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Introduction
C4EO is building knowledge from a number of sources about how to improve outcomes for children. The first stage – the Early Years Knowledge Reviews – assessed research evidence and national data on:
the impact of disadvantage on outcomes for children; the potential and practical possibilities for improving children’s learning outcomes through family-based support;
the impact of integrated working on children’s development outcomes. The second stage – the identification of validated practice from the sector – is now underway.
The C4EO e-learning themes: Early Years; Disability; Vulnerable Children (particularly children in care); Child Poverty; Safeguarding; Families, Parents and Carers; Schools and Communities.
Welcome to C4EO's e-learning resource on the Early Years – part of our remit to gather and share local, regional and national evidence of what works to improve outcomes in services, especially for the most vulnerable children, young people and families.
The main messages from the research will not surprise you, since they link to the strands of policy that are already embedded in many local authorities and partnerships in response to the 2007 Children's Plan and to everyday practice in many early years settings. In particularly, they reinforce an ecological perspective where services are targeted to the child within the context of the wider family and carers.
However, the weight of evidence about the effects of poverty on children's outcomes, and the way in which it affects certain ethnic groups disproportionately shows just how important it is to ensure that the links between child and family poverty, early health problems, ethnicity and the Every Child Matters (ECM) outcomes for young children are understood by everyone in your service. The activity (in the Narrowing the Gap section) on the impact of different background characteristics for children in relation to the ECM outcomes is a quick and vivid way of illustrating this point for practitioners across the board.
We hope that this resource will be useful to you in your role as a senior leader, supporting the continuous professional development of your teams. Some of the material could be used as:
mini-seminars
an introduction to/or refresher session on the Outcomes Based Accountability approach
quick prompts for team reviews (e.g. checklist of reflection points).
About C4EO
C4EO's unique remit is all about 'gathering and sharing' evidence of what works. The research summaries on the C4EO website are supplemented by examples of validated local practice. Please check out these examples, and support our work through feedback and through sharing your local examples of effective practice. This way you can help us to continue to build the evidence base for effective early years work for the future.
– The authors
You can use the main navigation above to start working your way through this resource.
Early Years is the first of seven themes explored in this series of e-learning resources 
and addresses the following priority areas:
- Narrowing the gap in outcomes for young children through effective practices in the early years.
- Improving children's attainment through a better quality of family-based support for early learning.
- Improving development outcomes for children through effective practice in integrating early years services.
