Transcript The Neighbourhood Nursery Initiative – Policy into Practice? Eddie McKinnon, Principal Researcher Pen Green Research, Development and Training Base EECERA Conference Reykjavik 2006 SOCIAL POLICY.

The Neighbourhood Nursery
Initiative – Policy into Practice?
Eddie McKinnon, Principal Researcher
Pen Green Research, Development and Training Base
EECERA Conference Reykjavik 2006
SOCIAL POLICY BACKGROUND TO THE
NEIGHBOURHOOD NURSERY INITIATIVE
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Labour government’s aim of halving
child poverty by 2010 and eradicating
it by 2020
Range of policy initiatives
Early Excellence Centres
Sure Start Local Programmes
Extended Schools
Neighbourhood Nurseries
Children’s Centres
PERNICIOUS UNEMPLOYMENT AND ITS EFFECTS
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Key causes of child poverty identified as
unemployment and low-paid/part-time work
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Poverty and disadvantage rooted in the
same communities over long periods of time
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Government’s “dual aims” to “tackle
worklessness and make work pay” (DWP,
2006)
THE NEIGHBOURHOOD NURSERIES INITIATIVE
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Neighbourhood Nurseries, located in the most
disadvantaged communities, would;
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Provide 45,000 new high quality childcare places
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Increase opportunities for parents to get jobs,
return to work or take up training or adult
education
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Costs of NNI places offset by up to 70% by
Working Families Tax Credit (now Working Tax
Credit)
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2001-2005 141 Local Authorities granted £128m
capital funding and £240m revenue funding
THE BABY AND TODDLER NEST AT PEN GREEN
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Baby and Toddler Nest opened at Pen Gren
in July 2004
12 full-time equivalent places
Places prioritised for families in the
catchment area
Catchment area includes areas of deep
deprivation (4 Super Output Areas in the
top 10% most disadvantaged in the UK)
Remaining places open to applications from
families outside the catchment area
GATHERING THE RESEARCH EVIDENCE
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Staff in the Baby and Toddler Nest and the
researcher co-constructed the research
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12 parents interviewed who were structured to
represent,
Current-, Past- and Non-Users
Reason for using the Baby and Toddler Nest
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Research staff used data on families’ use of the
Baby and Toddler Nest to create a socio-spatial map
showing reasons for usage and status of attendance
 The researcher interviewed a senior member of
staff in the Baby and Toddler Nest and had access
to documentation
FINDINGS FROM THE INTERVIEWS
Of 12 parents interviewed;
o 5 returned to own jobs after maternity leave
o 2 to new jobs after maternity leave
o 2 intending to seek work
o 2 staying at home with children
o 1 going into higher education
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 Juggling of work and family life, ‘tandem’ parenting
 Managing ‘coordination points’ in the day (Skinner, 2003)
 ‘Time-off’ from child – respite or choice
 4 Non Users raised issues about sessional care,
costs and lower age limit of 12 months
MEETING THE NEEDS OF THE
MOST VULNERABLE FAMILIES
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Must meet needs of “disadvantaged
families at greatest risk of social
exclusion” Beverley Hughes (2006)
Two-thirds of Children’s Centres not
targeting and tracking excluded groups
(NAO, 2006)
Toolkit for Reaching Priority and Excluded
Families guidance on data sources and
checklists for settings (TfC, 2007)
PRIORITIES, SUSTAINABILITY AND DATA
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How to inform the most vulnerable families in the
catchment area about the Baby and Toddler Nest,
engage with them and give them places?
How long to keep places ‘in reserve’ for the most
vulnerable families when demand outstrips supply
and empty places cost money?
Catchment area has ‘pockets’ of affluence and
areas of poverty side-by-side (Sylva et al, 2007)
Complication of provision based on post-coded
multiple deprivation data
Use Socio-Spatial Mapping data to establish
better understanding of family needs
Not ‘hard to reach’ but ‘difficult to access’