2. Early Learning and Childcare and the Scottish Attainment Challenge
Making strong links

3. Why does ELC matter to equity : international perspective
“…early childhood education and care (ECEC) brings a wide range of benefits, for example, better child well-being and learning outcomes as a foundation for lifelong learning; more equitable child outcomes and reduction of poverty…”
OECD (2012) Starting Strong III: A Quality Toolbox for Early Childhood Education and Care in Executive Summary via web

4. Why does ELC matter to equity : national perspective
“…children’s life chances are most heavily predicated on their development in the first five years of life. It is family background, parental education, good parenting and the opportunities for learning and development in those crucial years that together matter more to children than money, in determining whether their potential is realised in adult life.”
Field (2010) The Foundation Years: preventing poor children becoming poor adults, The report of the Independent Review on Poverty and Life Chances London: HM Government via weblink

5. Why does ELC matter to equity : national perspective
“…pre-school has an important impact on children’s development. Whilst not eliminating disadvantage, it can help to ameliorate
the effects of social disadvantage and can provide children with a better start to school. Investing in good quality pre-school provision is therefore likely to be an effective means of achieving targets concerning social exclusion and breaking cycles of
disadvantage.”
The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Project:Findings from the Pre-school Period via web

6. Why does ELC matter to equity : Scottish perspective
The Scottish case for linking high-quality early learning experiences and future positive outcomes is well documented,
The Early Years Framework
Joining the Dots
Early Years Collaborative*
Growing up in Scotland
Building the Ambition
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Footnote:
* Now the Children and Young People Improvement Collaborative (CYPIC)

7. Some key messages
High-quality, universal early learning and childcare (ELC) is a key factor in mitigating low attainment throughout schooling, particularly for children growing up with socio-economic disadvantage.
High-quality ELC is generally beneficial to children’s holistic development and particular gains in cognitive development and early language can be long lasting.
As the first step in life-long learning, ELC provides unique opportunities to work positively with parents and carers about their role in supporting their child’s attainment.
Want to read more?
Click here for Section 2, Building the Ambition

8. Taking action 1 : high-quality universal provision
Experiences
Building the Ambition (2014) promotes that effective early learning pedagogy to benefit all children requires a blend of:
Enabling, well-considered learning environments that support the children within and just beyond their developmental stage;
Environments
Adults
Enriching, stimulating and engaging experiences; and,
Highly skilled and well attuned adults who understand their role in developing children’s learning capability.

9. How good is our universal provision?
Taking action 1 : high-quality universal provision
How good is our universal provision?
Click here for How Good Is Our Early Learning and Childcare?

10. Adults (practitioners/ parents/carers)
Taking action 1 : high-quality universal provision
Example
Improvement question
How well does our universal provision support early learning development?
Environment
Experiences
Adults (practitioners/ parents/carers)
How often do I audit the effectiveness of the environment to support language development?
In what ways do the experiences on offer to children invite them to talk and listen to adults and peers?
What verbal and non-verbal strategies do I use to support children’s expressive and receptive language?
What tools do I use to audit? Are these evidence-based? Am I am looking for the right things?
What particular talking and listening skills are being supported within experiences and across a range of experiences?
In what ways has my own professional development centred around my role in supporting children’s early language development?
What action have I taken recently to improve the environment to support children’s talking and listening skills?
In what do our routines provide opportunities for children to use their talking and listening skills in order to be successful?
In what ways have I worked successfully with parents/carers in helping them understand the importance of early language development?
Want to do more?
Building the Ambition
TalkingPoint
The Hanen Centre
The Communication Trust

11. Taking action 2 : identifying the ‘gap potential’
“A skilled five-year-old grows from a busy four-year-old, a curious three-year-old, a cuddled two-year-old, an adventurous one-year-old and a communicative baby.”
J. Lindon (2002)
Do you understand the factors that affect limited progress, for example, vocabulary acquisition?
What ‘gaps’ might be relevant for very young children?
What information do you gather from parents/carers that provides data, for example, about early language development and vocabulary?
How involved are multi-agency partners in helping you understand who may be at risk?
Need help?
Go to further reading.

12. Taking action 2 : identifying the ‘gap potential’
One ELC setting attached to a children’s centre had an agreed policy about the circumstances in which a child and their family would be regarded as ‘at a disadvantage’. This included children who were:
showing poor speech and language for their age and stage of development.
being looked after by someone other than their parents/carers, such as grandparents.
those whose family was known to be involved in crime.
those who had young or teenage parents.
those who had older siblings with a wide age gap between them.
Source:
Talking and listening across the four learning contexts via web

13. Taking action 2 : identifying the ‘gap potential’
How effectively do you use the GIRFEC tools for identifying the ‘gap potential’?
Source: via web

14. Taking action 3 : effective targeted intervention
Child(ren)
identified as having ‘gap potential’
Evidence of limited progress within universal approaches
Need for specific and more targeted support / intervention

15. Interventions for equity framework
Taking action 3 : effective targeted intervention
Effective targeted interventions in ELC need to:
Be chosen carefully to address the main area of concern.
Have a strong evidence base with proven success.
Be developmentally appropriate for children’s age and stage.
Support play-based learning and early learning pedagogy.
Read more about the Education Endowment Foundation here.
Interventions for equity framework

16. Taking action 4 : using universal approaches in a targeted way
There are a number of national programmes and initiatives available to support early learning, particularly to involve parents and carers.
Some families may take full advantage of all of these opportunities. Some families do not benefit from any. There is scope for a more targeted approach for those who are at risk of missing out.
Examples of such programmes:
Bookbug annual gifting programme
Bookbug sessions
Play Talk Read website
The Playbuses – Benji and Betsy

17. Click logo to go to Scottish Book Trust - Bookbug
Taking action 4 : using universal approaches in a targeted way
Example
The Bookbug Explorer Bag is given out to 3 year olds at nursery. Click here for full list of contents.
How equitable is your approach?
How do you ensure that those children who do not attend nursery or with poor attendance benefit from the full range of learning within their Explorer Bag?
In what ways do you model for identified parents and carers how to make best use of the materials in the Explorer Bag?
In what ways do you prepare children and parents and carers for receiving the Explorer Bag?
What additional support using the Explorer Bag is offered to children whose vocabulary is limited?
Click logo to go to Scottish Book Trust - Bookbug

18. What do these statistics tell you about our problem?
National picture :
what problem are we trying to solve?
What do these statistics tell you about our problem?
Source: Growing-Up in Scotland : Tackling Inequalities in the Early Years – Key Messages from 10 Years of the Growing-Up in Scotland Survey via web

19. what problem are we trying to solve?
National picture :
what problem are we trying to solve?
So, what needs to be done in ELC to help prevent poverty related low attainment?
“The gap between children from low-income and high-income households starts early. By age 5, it is 10–13 months. Lower attainment in literacy and numeracy is linked to deprivation throughout
primary school. By age 12–14 (S2), pupils from better-off areas are more than twice as likely as
those from the most deprived areas to do well in numeracy. Attainment at 16 (the end of S4) has
risen overall, but a significant and persistent gap remains between groups.”
Source:
Joseph Rowntree Foundation : Closing the attainment gap in Scottish education via web

20. Click on the title to read this advice.
What works - closing the vocabulary gap
How can schools develop a literacy-rich curriculum in P1-3 to help to close the vocabulary gap?
Consider. What more could be done in ELC to address the vocabulary gap before children reach P1?
Click on the title to read this advice.

21. What works - closing the vocabulary gap
In your setting:
The development of vocabulary is a key focus as part of the setting’s approach to early literacy.
Practitioners use daily routines to good effect to develop vocabulary.
Practitioners select a range of texts that support the development of new vocabulary.
Practitioners employ a range of strategies to develop children’s vocabulary, for example, using familiar stories/rhymes for adding sharing new vocabulary.
Practitioners understand the need for children to hear and use words for these to become core vocabulary; and, they plan regular opportunities for vocabulary development.

22. Where to look for evidence-based approaches to early language
Building the Ambition (2014) via the National Improvement Hub
Communication Trust
Communication Trust – Early Years
Department for Education (2012) Research evidence on reading for pleasure Her Majesty’s Government:London
Hanen Centre – Speech and Language Development for Children
ican - children’s communication charity

23. Where to look for evidence-based approaches to early language
National Literacy Trust
National Literacy Trust - Talk to your baby
Scottish Book Trust
Talking Point – the first stop for information on children’s communication
Thirty Million Words® Initiative (USA)

24. Useful references to support equity in ELC
Angelica Bonci, (2008); Emily Mottram & Emily McCoy (2010); Jennifer Cole (2011) A research review: the importance of families and the home environment The Literacy Trust
Closing the attainment gap in Scottish Education
Deacon, S. (2010) Joining the Dots : A Better Start for Scotland’s Children via web
Early Years Framework (2008)
Education Endowment Foundation - Early Years Toolkit
Education Scotland (2016) Interventions for equity via the National Improvement Hub

25. Useful references to support equity in ELC
Field (2010) The Foundation Years: preventing poor children becoming poor adults, The report of the Independent Review on Poverty and Life Chances London: HM Government via weblink
Growing up in Scotland
Improving children's attainment through a better quality of family-based support for learning
Lindon, J. (2002) Toddlers and very early learning, Early Education Learning Together Series 12. via web
Joseph Rowntree Foundation : Closing the attainment gap in Scottish education via web
OECD (2012) Starting Strong III: A Quality Toolbox for Early Childhood Education and Care in Executive Summary via web

26. Useful references to support equity in ELC
Ofsted, July 2016 Helping disadvantaged young children: how good are local authorities and early years providers? Part of: Ofsted early years survey reports via web
Save the Children (2015) Ready to Read - Closing the gap in early language skills
so that every child in Scotland can read well via web
Tackling inequalities in the Early Years
The Effective pre-school, primary and secondary education (EPPSE 3-16+) project via web
The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) project via web
Wave Trust publications

27. Join the #SAC community today (Glow login required)
Find out what other ELC practitioners are saying and doing to close the poverty related attainment gap.
Join the #SAC community today (Glow login required)
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