Memorandum submitted by Klaus Wedell, CBE, Emeritus Prof. Institute of Education, University of London.

 

I have been the elected chair of the Herefordshire Early Years and Extended Services Forum for a number of years. The Forum brings together representatives of early years providers (private, voluntary, independent and maintained), as well as the relevant Local Authority Officers and heads of the children's centres. My post at the Institute of Education involved me with government policy development for services to children and young people with special educational needs. In my retirement, I have been living in the most remote rural area of Herefordshire, and so I have become very aware of the need to 'rural proof' policies on early years provision.

 

I am making this submission in my personal capacity. It does not necessarily represent the views of Herefordshire Council.

  

 

1 - SUMMARY

The aim of this submission is:

(i) - to explain the ways in which the Government's specifications for Children's Centres do not take account of what is needed to serve children and their families in remote rural areas. This is rooted in Herefordshire's experience of setting up Children's Centre Services(CCSs) in one particularly remote rural area.

(ii) - to describe some strategies used (and projected) for providing (CCSs) in a remote rural area. These are offered as an instance of 'rural proofing' of the government specifications.

(iii) - to make recommendations.

 

2 - THE MISMATCH OF SPECIFICATIONS:

These relate to two main aspects:

(i) - Access issues. The combination of sparcity of populations in remote rural areas and the distances and restrictions on travel make it impossible to serve a specified population with a Children's Centre set up in one location. This problem is exemplified in a hilly area to the west of Herefordshire abutting the Welsh mountains which consists of small villages and isolated farmsteads. The roads are mainly unclassified narrow lanes, with just a few miles of B roads. Mobile phone reception is non-existent in the valleys of the area. Bus services are largely limited to daily term-time school transport, and twice-weekly bus services to and from Hereford or Abergavenny on market days.

(ii) Identification of need.

The prevalence and degree of need is likely to be masked by two factors:

(a) the aggregate super-output area statistics for populations in remote rural areas mask high levels of deprivation as measured by the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). This is because the aggregate figures combine retired middle and upper income groups (including incomers) and lower income subsistence farming and other 'portmanteau employment' groups.

(b) historically the culture of the indigenous rural population is characterised by independence in dealing with problems. As a result, there is not a proportionate acknowledgement of objectively measured needs. The consequent limited service provision in the past has had two consequences:

- an acceptance either of make-shift measures which only partially meet needs, or of lower levels of support. Neither of these in fact match the requirements for early intervention, or of meeting the more serious needs of children and young people. Lower levels of support may also limit parents' scope for obtaining adequately paid employment or advancement,

- a fear of the perceived stigma of dependence on support.

 

3 STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING A SPECTRUM OF CHILDREN'S CENTRE SERVICES FOR REMOTE RURAL AREAS.

The objectives of early years policy are best served in remote rural areas by focusing on delivering a spectrum of CCSs across an area, rather than by setting up a single 'standard' Children's Centre building in one location.

 

4 This strategy involves identifying the range of existing formal and informal provision across many locations, and progressively complementing this in consultation with local community members. Such a consultative process inevitably takes time, since hastily superimposed measures are likely to antagonise communities, and so turn out to be counterproductive. Implementing the strategy is unlikely to match the current time scales for receipt of Children's Centre funding.

 

5 The resulting spectrum of provision is likely to include a wide diversity of partners and facilities. It is dependent on an incremental awareness of current and potential solutions, based on a carefully accumulated 'intelligence' network. The following instances of rural provision illustrate this diversity:

- supporting a private child care provider to use the facilities of a recently closed primary school,

- enabling a vicar who is interested in offering support by part-funding the remodelling of a portion of the parish church to locate children's centre work, (and incidentally also enabling a volunteer group to provide a public library service),

- encouraging a newly-appointed primary head teacher who is interested in collaborating with a voluntary playgroup as part of the school's extended schools policy,

- bringing together an intending registered private childcare provider and a secondary school which is keen to offer space for such a service as part of its extended school activity.

 

6 Such diversity of provision requires a highly flexible approach to planning. Care has to be taken to distinguish resources which are likely to be time-limited (eg through cycles of parent interest) and those where sustainability is likely to be achievable. Funding of CCS development has to be available over longer periods so that action can be taken as opportunities arise.

7 Direct stimulation of quality in provision can be promoted through the usual support arrangements, but staff need a greater capacity for a flexible approach to fit the diversity of settings. In addition, the LA Early Years Service can offer:

(i) specific projects - eg arrangements for travelling play-day activities,

(ii) toy library facilities,

(iii) flexible approaches to training (see below).

 

8 Linking universal and specialist services:

(i) specialist services preferably should be introduced within universal services, to avoid clients' concern about any perceived stigma (eg. social workers may initially need to work via informal parent contact within settings),

(ii) the need for mobile services applies particularly to specialist LA, PCT and third sector assessment and therapeutic services, because it is often difficult for 'specialists' to find space to meet clients.

(iv) the effectiveness (including cost-effectiveness) of operating in situ is achieved through eg. reducing missed appointments, lessening travel stress for children and families, greater specialist awareness of local contexts etc. The mobile facilities can be parked in locally 'acceptable' locations.

(v) In situations of severe unmet need, funding may have to be available:

(a) for client transport for assessment and treatment,

(b) for the loan of electronic communication equipment through which parents can maintain contact with the relevant specialist services.

9 Harnessing technology.

(i) Specialist services, across the range offered by the LA, the PCT and the third sector, should set up channels of communication (eg through 'virtual email surgeries' at which universal providers can obtain support for early intervention). Through such means staff in remote early years settings can both receive advice from specialists, and also brief them to make better use of their forthcoming local visits.

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(ii) CCSs should include the loan of electronic communication facilities to families of children during periods of support for children with more complex needs.

(iii) LAs need to maintain a regularly updated website of information on all the available services and resources relevant to CCSs.

(iv) LAs will have to provide effective maintenance of electronic communication equipment for all service members, so that contact is ensured

 

10 Problems and solutions regarding local recruitment and training of childcare staff:

(i) members of the rural community tend to have 'portmanteau' employment, ie a variety of contemporaneous part-time jobs, which make regular attendance for courses difficult. Work in child-care is often one form of income-generating part-time employment compatible with individuals' own children.

(ii) Difficulty in access to training is exacerbated by the longer travel time (and lack of public transport) in reaching courses offered in the main towns.

(iii) The limited educational attainment of some of the older generation makes those individuals reluctant to embark on formal training.

 

11 The above difficulties and disincentives can be met through harnessing technology for 'distance learning' in remote rural communities. Plenty of expertise is available to provide this form of training. Some of the small village schools in this rural area of Herefordshire have made their internet access resources available in out-of-school time for those individuals who do not have facilities at home, or who prefer to access courses in the supportive company of other 'students'. Learn Direct has often ceased to offer this kind of provision, since they require a take-up rate which is not usually achievable in remote communities. The LA would have to support on-line tutorial support, linked to the usual requirement for some face-to-face training and practical experience.

 

12 Wider LA policy contexts.

All the above strategies can, of course, be complemented by relevant LA developments and policies such as:

(i) the promotion of 'integrated services' through 'locality teams' which can contribute to the co-ordination of the universal and specialist services mentioned above,

(ii) the formation of local collaborative clusters of rural schools linked to Early Years provision, which can facilitate transition and continuity for children and their parents,

(iii) the recognition that CCSs can support the LAs' responsibility for maintaining rural communities (eg. that effective CCSs can offer an incentive for young families to settle in rural areas, and so avoid such localities turning into ghettos of older people. This implies that the funding streams available to LAs have to be applied in a joined-up way, and so increase overall cost-effectiveness.

 

 

13 RECOMMENDATIONS

(i) Early years provision in remote rural areas has to be conceived in terms of 'Children's Centre Services' (CCSs) rather than based in a single central building. These CCSs will be built up through local communities' involvement in a diverse spectrum of local facilities.

(ii) There has to be a recognition that aggregate IMD super-output statistics hide significant multiple deprivation in remote rural areas.

(iii) Time has to be allowed so that effective support can be flexibly and incrementally developed in collaboration and consultation with local communities, and so ensure sustainability. Funding time-scales have to match this steadier rate of development.

(iv) Collaboration between universal and specialist services has to be sensitive to local attitudes, and developed with regard to the cost-effectiveness of in-situ delivery.

(v) The establishment of innovative and effective use of technology (and its maintenance) is crucial to cost-effective service delivery.

(vi) Effective early intervention by Early Years Services lays the foundation for children and families to generate positive attitudes to support services as children grow older.

(vii) The funding of early years services should be seen by LAs and PCTs as integral to the implementation of their overall policies to sustain rural communities in their areas.

 

October 2009