1. Children’s NEIGHBOURHOODS – WHAT WE KNOW
Alan Dyson

2. The issue
Social class remains the strongest predictor of educational achievement* in the UK, where the social class gap for educational achievement is one of the most significant in the developed world.
Perry, E. & Francis, B. (2010) The social class gap for educational achievement: A review of the literature. Report for RSA (London).
* and of health, employment, income, well-being…..

3. An eco-systemic approach

4. The Harlem Children’s Zone
One of our core beliefs is that in poor communities where, literally, all of the institutions are failing children, you can’t do one thing and expect you’ll solve the issue of scale. I mean, you can save some children with an early intervention programme, and you can save some children if you work with addicted mothers, and you can save some children if you have after-school programs. But if you start talking about how you’re going to save most of the children, you have to do all those things, and do them over the long term, and you have to make sure you count how many children actually received those services.

5. The HCZ pipeline

6. The principles Doubly holistic approach: Focus on a coherent area
cradle to career support
across all of the contexts in which children learn and develop
Focus on a coherent area
Based on a thorough analysis of the area’s distinctive dynamics
Range of partners & resources – including but not restricted to schools
Autonomous area-based governance and funding

7. The evidence Powerful rationale
Well-evidenced stand-alone interventions
Strong suggestions of interactive & cumulative effects
Possibility of ecological effects (the ‘tipping point’)
Need for robust evaluation

8. Some examples
Former extended services cluster in a (predominantly) white working class, post-industrial area on Tyneside
Academy & its partners in an inner-city area in Greater Manchester
Housing association & its sponsored academies in a peripheral area of Greater Manchester
Housing association & its partners in a multi-ethnic housing estate in London

9. Some key questions What outcomes are we aiming at – and why?
What’s a realistic timescale?
What’s in it for all the partners
How will partners co-ordinate this with their core business?
To whom is the initiative accountable – and how?
How will day-to-day activities be managed?
How will existing funds and resources be ‘bent’?
What happens when funding & policy change?
What happens when key players move on?

10. The report
Dyson, Kerr, Raffo & Wigelsworth Developing Children’s Zones for England

11. The evidence base
Dyson, Kerr, & Wellings Developing Children’s Zones for England: What’s the evidence

12. The book
Dyson, Kerr, & Raffo (2014) Education, Disadvantage & place: Making the local matter (Bristol, Policy Press)