Councils tackle young children's development gaps
Derren Hayes
Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Local authorities involved in a government programme to tackle developmental gaps in disadvantaged children have reported that it improved outcomes for under-fives and boosted the profile of early years in councils.
An evaluation of the £8.5m Early Years Local Government Programme found that among staff at the 27 councils involved, 63 per cent reported a significant improvement in children’s developmental outcomes and 21 per cent some improvement.
A similar proportion of local authority staff also reported that involvement in the programme resulted in improved outcomes for families.
The programme supported local services to put in place better arrangements identifying and supporting families in need and developing better working partnerships across different services - all of which led to better speech and language outcomes for children and families in these areas, the independent evaluation found.
The programme had two strands: the Early Years Social Mobility Peer Review Programme and the Department for Education’s Early Outcomes Fund (EOF).
The EOF used a variety of interventions to improve the quality of interactions between children, their parents and carers and the quality of their language and communication skills. These included ‘stay and play’ music and rhyme sessions, baby and toddler groups and individual support from health visitors and other professionals.
It funded eight projects in 27 councils: Leicester City with Derby City and Nottingham City; Wolverhampton with Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall; Staffordshire with Stoke-on-Trent; Luton; Doncaster with Barnsley, Rotherham, Sheffield; Halton; Salford with the nine other Greater Manchester Combined Authority local authorities; and Swindon with Gloucestershire.
The peer review programme was undertaken in partnership with the Local Government Association and the Early Intervention Foundation, and had been delivered in 27 councils by March 2020.
It found that peer reviews were perceived to have played an important role raising the profile of early years services in authorities. It also improved partnership working across different teams and departments, boosted engagement over the issue among senior leaders, assisted the development of standardised assessment tools and improved data collection.
Children’s minister Vicky Ford said: “We know the first few years of a child’s life are vital for development, especially for building up good speech, language and communication skills that set them on track to succeed. Since 2013 the proportion of children achieving a good level of development at the end of Reception year has gone from one in two to nearly three quarters of children – but we can and must do more to tackle early language development gaps.
“The findings published today not only show the progress we have made, but provide us with a comprehensive picture of where we need to focus our attention so we can continue to drive up improvements, particularly for the most disadvantaged children, closing those gaps.”
Public Health England has also announced it is to roll out a measure to help health visitors identify children who need additional support with speech, language and communication as part of their checks at age two and at 30 months.
The Early Language Identification Measure (ELIM) and intervention was successfully piloted with 1,000 health visitors in five areas - Derbyshire, Middlesbrough, Newham, Wakefield and Wiltshire - and will help make sure that families who need more help are identified and supported appropriately and in a timely way.
