Scottish Pre-School Play Association (SPPA) ……..soon to be Early Years Scotland Supporting Parent & Child Engagement and Attachment Experiences within Toddler Groups

Context EYC Workstream 2 "85% of all children within each CPP have reached all of the expected developmental milestones at the time of month health review by the end of 2016”  North Lanarkshire Council identified that ‘levels of parental engagement’ was an issue and possible cause for children not meeting month milestones.  NLC in partnership with SPPA, piloted a small test of change where Play Practitioners worked directly with groups to increase and improve parental engagement  We developed a rolling programme of support with 6 toddler groups over 8 weeks based on play, literacy and numeracy

Changes/Improvements  Results indicated children and parents/carers benefited from supported play activities developing secure attachments  Key Measured Improvement: Increased participation between parent and child in Toddler Groups  Achievements to date:  Parents/Carers participate when actively encouraged to join in activities with their child during group session times  Self-reported evidence that Parents/Carers are continuing with quality learning experiences with children at home

Who is involved? North Lanarkshire Council Early Years Collaborative Identified priority groups and facilitated access SPPA Provided practitioners, developed programmes, worked with families North Lanarkshire Parent and Toddler Groups Engaged with practitioners and embraced the project Parents/Carers Key target group, learned new and transferable skills Children Participated in sessions towards improved outcomes

Data! Data! Data!  Levels of participation were measured on the basis of the number of Parents/Carers actively participating in joint activities with children at each session  The following slides show the levels of participation of the six groups involved in the project

Data! Data! Data! Parent/Carers participation levels - Cauldercruix

Data! Data! Data!

The Human Factor BARRIERS  Some Parents/Carers became so engrossed in a craft activity they needed to be encouraged to include child!  Some Parents/Carers required support to take part in activities initially  Some Parents/Carers had not been aware of the importance of providing healthy snacks  Where English was not the first language, Play Practitioners needed to ensure they used alternative strategies to support inclusion  Some Toddler Groups required additional guidance to strengthen internal leadership

The Human Factor BREAKTHROUGHS: Most Parents/ Carers now………..  happily participate in singing.  enjoy craft activities  take resources provided by the Play Practitioner, to use at home with child  respond positively to having a nominated ‘Facilitator’ to provide leadership, structure, guidance and a positive role model  regard the main purpose of the session as a valuable opportunity to interact with and support their child’s learning  place less importance upon whose turn it is to make tea/tidy up and more emphasis on providing rich learning experiences for their child  prefer having planned activities: this is now the case in all groups!

Next Steps To Date:  1 full block of facilitated Toddler sessions completed  New block now in progress  Currently still at testing stage with various aspects of this approach New Test:  Developed innovative ‘Stay and Play’ service where 4 new groups have been formed (This is a small test of change where the different models will be used for comparison purposes.)

“So What?” Quotes from Parents/Carers “We made Play dough with older brother at home” “I am in the process of making a music/song box inspired by sing it sacks” “I have made a treasure basket” What difference is the ‘SPPA Supporting Toddler Groups’ service making to date?  The interaction between parents and children in Toddler Groups has increased  Parents/Carers are now enthusiastically participating and engaging  Parents/Carers are replicating the activities at home

Investment of Resources  Provided Toddler Groups with expertise, resources, positive environment layouts to enhance children's learning and development  Provided Parents/Carers with resources and ideas to use in the home environment to improve shared approaches to learning through play with focus on literacy and numeracy  Children and Parents/Carers would benefit from having a dedicated qualified Facilitator

For More Information SPPA Contacts:  Audrey Anderson, Service Manager, SPPA  Karen Colquhoun, Play Practitioner, SPPA Web: #bestplacetogrowup