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Children's Centres: an English intervention for families living in disadvantaged communities

Children's Centres: an English intervention for families living in disadvantaged communities
Children's Centres: an English intervention for families living in disadvantaged communities

The role of the parent has been clearly defined in the literature as having a positive influence on children's emotional, behavioural and educational development, more so than other factors such as maternal education, poverty, peers socio-economic status and schooling (DfES in Every child matters (Green Paper). DfES, London, 2003; Desforges and Abouchaar in The impact of parental involvement, parental support and family education on pupil achievement and adjustment. A literature review. DfES, London, 2003). Supporting the capacity to parent is of prime interest when considering how to improve opportunities for the most disadvantaged families and their children. This chapter focuses on one particular English intervention entitled the 'children's centre'. Drawing on international literature and definitions of parenting support, this chapter will explore some of the research evidence collected by the Evaluation of Children's Centres in England (ECCE) study which focuses on how children's centres conceptualise, choose and deliver parenting and family support services to families. A number of characteristics of effective interventions have been identified within the literature as having the greatest impact on improving child outcomes (Glass in Child Soc 13(4): 257-264 1999; Sure Start in The aim of sure start. http://www.surestart.gov.uk, 2001; Johnson in Impact of social science on policy. http://www.esrc.ac.uk/_images/Sure_Start_final_report_tcm8-20116.pdf, 2011). These include the following: a two-generational focus that targets both the parent and child together; multifaceted approaches that include amongst others, enhancing family relationships; services which are non-stigmatising, lasting long enough to make a difference, locally driven, culturally appropriate, sensitive to user needs and centre-based. This chapter will explore these findings in order to address three research questions: (1) Who are children's centres serving? (2) What are children's centres doing? and (3) How are children's centres approaching their work? The chapter will conclude with policy implications and future directions for programmes that share similar characteristics to English children's centres.

455-470
Springer
Evangelou, Maria
86b54370-048b-4e61-9f6a-c3f9bc5ff39d
Goff, Jenny
752333e2-1219-4f27-90b3-90e2c96fc3f1
Sylva, Kathy
0a7a1f5e-c538-405b-a74e-5518d0462d70
Sammons, Pam
6e0fda4f-4780-4368-a64e-637cb182428e
Smith, Teresa
11914599-58db-4efe-83e8-b864bf10ab56
Hall, James
29e17a2b-dca0-4b91-be02-2ace4abaa6c4
Eisenstadt, Naomi
02043407-118e-4bbb-8296-acf873b7c67a
Evangelou, Maria
86b54370-048b-4e61-9f6a-c3f9bc5ff39d
Goff, Jenny
752333e2-1219-4f27-90b3-90e2c96fc3f1
Sylva, Kathy
0a7a1f5e-c538-405b-a74e-5518d0462d70
Sammons, Pam
6e0fda4f-4780-4368-a64e-637cb182428e
Smith, Teresa
11914599-58db-4efe-83e8-b864bf10ab56
Hall, James
29e17a2b-dca0-4b91-be02-2ace4abaa6c4
Eisenstadt, Naomi
02043407-118e-4bbb-8296-acf873b7c67a

Evangelou, Maria, Goff, Jenny, Sylva, Kathy, Sammons, Pam, Smith, Teresa, Hall, James and Eisenstadt, Naomi (2017) Children's Centres: an English intervention for families living in disadvantaged communities. In, Handbook on Positive Development of Minority Children and Youth. Cham. Springer, pp. 455-470. (doi:10.1007/978-3-319-43645-6_27).

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

The role of the parent has been clearly defined in the literature as having a positive influence on children's emotional, behavioural and educational development, more so than other factors such as maternal education, poverty, peers socio-economic status and schooling (DfES in Every child matters (Green Paper). DfES, London, 2003; Desforges and Abouchaar in The impact of parental involvement, parental support and family education on pupil achievement and adjustment. A literature review. DfES, London, 2003). Supporting the capacity to parent is of prime interest when considering how to improve opportunities for the most disadvantaged families and their children. This chapter focuses on one particular English intervention entitled the 'children's centre'. Drawing on international literature and definitions of parenting support, this chapter will explore some of the research evidence collected by the Evaluation of Children's Centres in England (ECCE) study which focuses on how children's centres conceptualise, choose and deliver parenting and family support services to families. A number of characteristics of effective interventions have been identified within the literature as having the greatest impact on improving child outcomes (Glass in Child Soc 13(4): 257-264 1999; Sure Start in The aim of sure start. http://www.surestart.gov.uk, 2001; Johnson in Impact of social science on policy. http://www.esrc.ac.uk/_images/Sure_Start_final_report_tcm8-20116.pdf, 2011). These include the following: a two-generational focus that targets both the parent and child together; multifaceted approaches that include amongst others, enhancing family relationships; services which are non-stigmatising, lasting long enough to make a difference, locally driven, culturally appropriate, sensitive to user needs and centre-based. This chapter will explore these findings in order to address three research questions: (1) Who are children's centres serving? (2) What are children's centres doing? and (3) How are children's centres approaching their work? The chapter will conclude with policy implications and future directions for programmes that share similar characteristics to English children's centres.

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e-pub ahead of print date: 8 February 2017

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Local EPrints ID: 414826
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/414826
PURE UUID: 85454bb0-2838-4448-88de-acba86c0a52d
ORCID for James Hall: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8002-0922

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Date deposited: 11 Oct 2017 16:31
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 04:31

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Contributors

Author: Maria Evangelou
Author: Jenny Goff
Author: Kathy Sylva
Author: Pam Sammons
Author: Teresa Smith
Author: James Hall ORCID iD
Author: Naomi Eisenstadt

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