Parents,
Early Years and Learning (PEAL) E-bulletin March 2008
Welcome to the third issue of the
quarterly PEAL e-bulletin.
We would like to thank everyone who supported
the project during this phase and who contributed to this
e-bulletin.
Contents:
- PEAL News
- PEAL funds practical development
- PEAL forum goes live
- PEAL accreditation
- National profile of PEAL
- Future of PEAL
- SCORGS News
- Barnandos – Babyfather Initiative
- Parents As First Teachers
- Conferences
- ELPP conference – June
- Early Childhood Unit's biennial national residential conference
– 19/20 June
- National Quality Improvement Network's conference "Fitting the
quality jigsaw together" – 30 April
- Early Years Foundation Stage: Effective Preparation &
Implementation Re-Run – 30 April
- Extended Schools Conference – 31 March
1. PEAL News
1.1. PEAL funds practice
development
All practitioners who attended a PEAL training
event in the first year of delivery (06-07) have recently been
invited to apply for funding to develop a project to enhance
parental confidence and involvement in children’s development and
learning. The response was very positive, with many excellent
applications. We had some difficult decisions to make, but
twenty-five children’s centres have now been selected and will
receive funding to support their practice. They have also been
offered some one-to-one contact time with a PEAL trainer, to bring
elements of PEAL directly to their setting. Each centre will
submit a short summary of their project, to share with others and
these will be posted on the website in March, as additional
practice examples. The projects include developing gardens
with families; encouraging shared observations at home and in
settings using digital cameras and camcorders; extending home
visits; developing play bags and story sacks with parents for home
use; art and music projects; and many more.
1.2. PEAL forum goes
live
The PEAL forum for practitioners on the web
has now been launched. This is an exciting development for
all those who have been on the training, and for anyone with an
interest in the subject of parental involvement in learning.
Please visit go to the forum section of the website and take a
couple of minutes to register. Then you can begin sharing practice
and experience.
1.3. PEAL
accreditation
PEAL accreditation has been very well
received. Almost all participants are now expressing initial
interest in gaining the recognised City & Guilds
Working with Parents qualification. Participants
in the PEAL training who would like more information on
accreditation are invited to visit the accreditation section.
1.4. National profile of
PEAL
The PEAL team are receiving requests to speak
at national conferences. Dr Kim Bevan spoke about parents and the
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) at the Nursery World
Conference held recently in Birmingham, and as a result PEAL has
been requested to provide a speaker for their next conference on 19
June in Manchester. Also, Helen Wheeler and Joyce Connor spoke at
the Education Show in Birmingham on 28 February and PEAL
took part in the Sure Start Children Centre’s Leaders
Exhibition in London on 5 March. The team is frequently asked
for speakers on how PEAL enables early years settings to meet
parental involvement requirements under the EYFS. Members of the
PEAL team will be speaking about this topic at future conferences,
including the Extended Schools Conference in London on 31 March and
the EYFS Conference in London on 30 April.
1.5. Future of
PEAL
The PEAL team is pleased to announce that
PEAL training will continue to be available through the Early
Childhood Unit of the National Children’s Bureau after March 2008.
We are now able to take bookings for events from April 2008,
bringing PEAL to local venues. PEAL training supports settings to
meet the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and
Children’s Centre Practice Guidance to work in partnership with
parents to enhance children’s learning and development.
Participants complete a day’s preparation activities in their own
settings and then attend a facilitated training day that explores
the underpinning research; examines the nature of relationships
with parents; considers how to overcome barriers to involvement and
highlights examples of successful practice.
All participants receive free resources
including a DVD. Participants can seek accreditation at level 3,
through City and Guilds, upon submission of a portfolio. It is also
possible to select an option for training and consultancy over two
days. This may be useful to organisations and local authorities who
wish to explore how PEAL will help to meet requirements in their
own area, and to train others to disseminate PEAL across a range of
settings and services.
For more information, to discuss
requirements and possible dates for a local PEAL event in 2008,
please contact Joyce Connor on 020 7843
6102.
2. SCORGS News
2.1. Barnandos – Babyfather
Initiative
Babyfather gains good practice recognition
from DCSF
Babyfather has had its African Caribbean
Fatherhood Programme included in a DCSF report as an example of
good practice. 'Engaging Effectively with Black and Minority Ethnic
Parents in Children’s and Parental Services' specifically
points out that it included the African Caribbean Fatherhood
Programme, 'for the good practice it has undertaken in engaging
with minority ethnic parents.'
Babyfather is an initiative working primarily
with African Caribbean fathers and those who work to support
them. The initiative - comprising of the Babyfather Alliance
and Barnardo's - supplies training and consultancy directly to
fathers and to professionals who work with the African Caribbean
community.
The DCSF report is available to
download from
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/DCSF-RR013.pdf
For more information on Barnandos
babyfather, please visit http://www.barnardos.org.uk/babyfather
2.2. Parents As
First Teachers
How quickly it’s gone! It seemed that no
sooner had we trained the ELLP1 teams with whom we were partnered
and sent them on their way to deliver the “Born to Learn” parent
support programmethan it was time to attend their farewell
conferences and hear their tales of achievement tinged with regret.
Similarly, the Reflective Supervision courses, delivered as part of
ELPP3, having got off to a slow start, gained momentum as the
months went on and finished in a headlong rush to the finish.Now
there is a need to draw breath and remind ourselves of what we do
and what we stand for.
Parents As First Teachers trains
professionals to work on a one to one basis with parents and their
children, pre-birth to 3 years, using the Parents as Teachers “Born
to Learn” programme, based on the most up to date child development
and neuroscience research and delivered in the home or other
appropriate setting. A key feature of Parents as First
Teachers is that it is the parent, not the project worker, who
works with his or her child to achieve the benefits of the
programme. It uses a strengths model, recognising that all parents
have strengths and that the parent is the child’s first and most
influential teacher.
Work with young families is demanding,
costly of effort and can be very draining. Parents As First
Teachers believes that the quality of supervision given to the
workers is key to the effectiveness of their outreach to the
families they serve. Therefore, in addition to the “Born to Learn”
training, PAFT UK offers courses in relationship-based reflective
supervision for supervisors supporting people who work with
parents.
Parents As First Teachers UK has relished
its involvement with the Early Learning Partnership Project,
gaining many new insights, participating usefully in the
Accreditation process and experiencing the joy of training many
highly experienced and keenly motivated family workers from Health
Visitors to Fathers’ Workers, from Homestart staff to Midwives,
from Children’s Centre Outreach Workers to Social Workers. It has
been a most stimulating experience!
For more information on Parents As
First Teachers, please visit http://www.parentsasfirstteachers.org.uk/
or call Pam Holtom on01844 345847.
3. Conferences
3.1. ELPP conference
A conference will be held on June 25 2008
in London where the results of a full evaluation of the ELPP strand
1 (Demonstration Projects) will be revealed. This event is
highly recommended for local authority Early Years Leads, National
Strategies Foundation Advisers, commissioners of parenting and
children's services, Directors of Children's Services, Children's
Services
Advisers, Government Office Parenting Leads, family learning leads
and those in the voluntary sector who are involved with this area
of work.
For more information contact the NCB
Conferences Department on 020 7843 6041.
3.2. Early Childhood Unit's
biennial national residential conference
The Early Childhood Unit's biennial national
residential conference will take place on 19 and 20 June 2008 at
Nottingham University. This very popular conference has been taking
place in Nottingham for the past 22 years. It is well known in the
sector for the quality of discussions and speakers, and for the fun
and networking to be had (not least at the gala dinner and
disco)!
In 2008 the theme of the conference will be
'Listening to young children... and those who care for them.' With
input from the NCB's government-funded Young Children's Voices
Network and from practitioners and researchers who are experienced
in participation, the conference will directly address the new
duties in the Childcare Act 2006 to take account of the views of
young children and their families in the development of policy.
For more information contact Jayne
Garner on 020 7843 6064 or email jgarner@ncb.org.uk
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS CONFERENCE HAS NOW BEEN
CANCELLED
3.3.
National Quality Improvement
Network's conference "Fitting the quality jigsaw
together"
The National Quality Improvement Network's
conference "Fitting the quality jigsaw together", will be taking
place at Manchester's MacDonald Hotel on 30 April 2008.
"Fitting the quality jigsaw together",
NQIN's second national conference, will bring together managers,
practitioners and policy makers from across the early years sector
to consider current policy and practice developments, and the
future of quality improvement within the children's sector.
Keynote speakers will include Michael Hart,
Ofsted's Children's Director and Helen Moylett, Senior Regional
Advisor from the Primary National Strategy.
For more information or to book your
place, please contact NCB's Conference Department on 020 7842 6441
or e-mail esmith@ncb.org.uk
3.4. Early Years
Foundation Stage: Effective Preparation & Implementation
Re-Run
Due to the overwhelming popularity of
February's conference in Birmingham, Nursery World
are re-running the day, to make sure all early years
settings are well prepared for the implementation of the Early
Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). This one-day conference will be held
in London.
Early Years Foundation Stage: Effective
Preparation & Implementation Re-Run in London takes place
on 30 April.
For more information visit:
http://www.haymarketevents.com/conferences/?fuseaction=eventIntro&eventID=3706
3.5. Extended
Schools Conference
Want to have your say on extended schools?
How about taking the chance to question Beverley Hughes
MP on the future of the programme, get involved in
interactive discussion groups with your peers
and interact with a multi-agency panel?
With representatives from six local
authorities; the police; the NHS; and charities, Children &
Young People Now are delighted to present their
fourth annual conference on this challenging topic. It will
take place on the 31 March in London.
For more information
visit: