@theEIFoundation eif.org.uk

CAREY OPPENHEIM, CEOWednesday 5th November, 2014

Child development and policy interventions

What should Early Childhood Development research focus on

• The development of non-cognitive skills in Early Childhood and their impact on a wider set of outcomes in adult life

• Effective perinatal interventions and practice

• Interplay between the quality of relationships between parents, their parenting and child outcomes

• Parenting and boys

• How to improve access and take up of Early Childhood interventions/services

• What interventions are being run in the UK

• Assessing risk

• Cost benefit analysis

• Medium and long term impact (little inter-generational research)

• What is it about what worked (or didn’t)

Key knowledge gaps that research should address

@theEIFoundation | eif.org.ukCHILD DEVELOPMENT AND POLICY INTERVENTIONS

Early Intervention Foundation Guidebook

@theEIFoundation | eif.org.ukCHILD DEVELOPMENT AND POLICY INTERVENTIONS

Challenges in taking research findings to inform policy making on early child development

•A lack of conclusive findings about the impact of interventions on outcomes (eg quality early years)

•The variability of interventions according to the context in which they are implemented.

•It is more difficult to measure the impact of practice and approaches than specific programmes yet this is most of what we do

•How do you embed the best of what can be learnt from specific programmes/evaluations to shape workforces, practice, regulation

•Waiting for a long time…..

@theEIFoundation | eif.org.ukCHILD DEVELOPMENT AND POLICY INTERVENTIONS

EIF What Works Review on what enhances parent child interactions in the early years•Understanding the opportunities for Early Intervention•Summary of findings from our review of interventions for children 0 – 5•Thee key outcomes:

oSupporting the parent/child attachment relationshipoSupporting children’s behaviouroSupporting children’s cognitive development

Publication in December 2014