Marion Macleod Senior Policy and Parliamentary Officer

1. Marion Macleod Senior Policy and Parliamentary Officer

2. Focus on children under three very important • Good outcomes depend on good inputs • Research findings interesting and useful • Programmes are popular with governments, particularly in Anglophone world – so is programme refinement the way forward?

3. Working for Inclusion – European research led by CiS looking at factors contributing to better and more equitable outcomes • Workforce qualifications • Integration of governance and strategy • Universal availability and accessibility (entitlement and cost) • Making the Difference - Education Scotland study 2012 • Knowledge of healthy child development and learning in early years is the important factor

4. Programmes can assure consistency of input across a range of provider settings • Predictability of outcomes • Easier to deliver in volume when workforce comparatively less well qualified • Usually objectively evaluated

5. Less opportunity for co-production and adaptation • Impact often greater on children with higher baseline thus may have adverse impact on equality • Scope for creativity and flexibility more limited • Not necessarily comparatively evaluated – does this achieve better outcomes than other actions? 1995

6. Research evidence suggests that we should focus more on what happens before two years of age

7. Attachment • Brain development • Cognitive ability • Lowest per capita investment

8. Scotland – the best place in the world to grow up?

9. Not there yet…..

10. Growing Up in Scotland • Many children falling behind in health and development early in life, with ongoing consequences • Doing well was related to the quality of ‘inputs’ children received • Lack of the right inputs was highly correlated with poverty and other kinds of disadvantage • Some parents did not have or could not readily access support • Better supported children surpassed those disadvantaged children who had performed better at earlier stages • ‘Quality’ of establishment correlation with child outcomes being explored

11. Curriculum for Excellence 2004 • Early Years Framework 2008 • Early Years Task Force 2011 • Early Years Collaborative 2012 • Common Core Skills 2012 • National Parenting Strategy 2012 • Children and Young People Bill 2014

12. Importance of good quality, integrated, preventive services from pre-birth onwards • Redirection of existing resources (£220m) and deployment of additional resources (£50m) • Improving practice in NHS • Workforce development – moving towards a graduate workforce • Direct support for parents and good parenting • Getting it Right for every Child • Additional hours for 3 and 4 year olds • Support for ‘looked after’ two year olds

13. Children as a priority in policy and resource allocation • Prevention not reaction • Refocusing of resources, at a time of austerity • Entitlement for all and extra help where the child’s optimal development will require this • Do what works best, not just what works

14. Leadership • Acting on best evidence • Recognition of context • Collective responsibility • Involvement and engagement • Monitoring and measurement • Capacity to change

15. http://www.childreninscotland.org.uk/wfi/ http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/inspectionandreview/Images/Making%20the%20Difference_tcm4-735922.pdf http://www.growingupinscotland.org.uk/ http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/11/20178/45862 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/01/13095148/0 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Young-People/Early-Years-and-Family/earlyyearstaskforce http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Young-People/Early-Years-and-Family/early-years-collaborative http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/06/5565 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/10/4789 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/07/7181

16. www.childreninscotland.org.uk http://www.childreninscotland.org.uk/earlyyears mmacleod@childreninscotland.org.uk

17. Thank you