Progress and benefits of the Early years framework
By Anncris Roberts, Scottish Government
Published in December 2008, the Early Years Framework heralded
an important milestone in partnership working and represented a new
approach to policy development. Progress on the Framework
remains a key opportunity to shape the future and ensure children
have the best start in life.
The Scottish Government and COSLA recently (January) published
Early Years
Framework - Progress so Far accompanied by illustrative
case studies. There is clearly much excellent and
innovative work going on across the ten elements of
transformational change set out in the Framework.
The clear message of the Framework has always been that real
change is only possible through local implementation and joined up
action by local partners and agencies, focused in improving
outcomes for our youngest children.
However, the Progress so Far document was published
partly in response to comments from stakeholders that they would
welcome an update on the actions in the Framework for Scottish
Government and other national partners.
Highlights include:
- Publishing (last November) a
report on the financial benefits of early years
investment which showed that failure to intervene
effectively in a child's early years could result in a nine fold
increase in costs to the public purse
- Developing an outcomes framework and list of
indicators to assist local partners measure
progress towards national and local early years outcomes
- Establishing a Common Skills Working Group chaired by Anne
Houston of Children 1st, to agree a draft common core
skill set for those working with young children and their
families. These have recently been published for
consultation
- Establishing the PlayTalkRead campaign to
support, empower and enable parents to improve life chances for
their children
- Testing the Family Nurse Partnership early intervention
programme in the City of Edinburgh initially, followed by two more
test sites in NHS Tayside
- Developing and publishing a Pathway of Care for Vulnerable
Families 0-3
- Funding courses at Strathclyde, Stirling and Aberdeen
Universities to offer more specialised early years teaching
skills
- Launching, in 2009, the £4m Go Play fund, administered by
Inspiring Scotland
Further detail on these and other projects is available in Progress so
Far Hard copies are available from the
Early Years Framework Team earlyyearsframework@scotland.gsi.gov.uk]