The Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children and Young People's Services (C4EO) now offers an e-learning tool designed to make its data and research more accessible.
Interactive sections on its website are tailored to strategic leaders in children's services, senior managers and practitioners, information professionals and frontline practitioners. By clicking on the relevant section, users can negotiate a wide range of research, information, data and video case studies, and use interactive elements to test their knowledge and approach to practice.
Robert Kearney, interim head of communications, says, 'There is a lot of data on the site and we wanted to make it more user-friendly. The development of the e-learning resource helps people to extract their own sector-specific information swiftly and get the most out of all the available information. The interactive elements are designed to help users reflect on practice and develop their own improvement plans. There are also "how to" tutorials to develop skills.'
C4EO is an independent consortium, sponsored by the Department for Education, which aims to improve outcomes for children, young people and families by sharing evidence of good practice. Its key themes are early years, disability, vulnerable children (particularly those in care), parents, carers and families, youth, schools and communities. The NCB's Sue Owen is theme lead and chair for early years.
The main areas of C4EO's research and support include:
- Research reviews and interactive web-based 'progress maps' providing evidence of emerging good practice;
- Regional knowledge workshops to support participants in what works and achieving change;
- Online communities of practice for sharing experience and expertise on specific themes and issues;
- Tailored multimedia publications and outputs for different audiences.
C4EO has a range of events rolling out throughout the rest of the year. These include Families, Parents and Carers Workshops which explain how data can be used to improve outcomes for children on a local basis. The workshops provide a springboard for the development of local networks and other improvements.
Visitors to the C4EO website can also learn from local practice examples. In its early years review it outlines a number of initiatives. One of these shows how Darlington Borough Council designed a resource pack for parents and carers of threeto five-year-olds, with the aim of narrowing the gap between lowand high-achieving children. The pack provides a programme of structured physical activities, exercises for thinking skills and the prerequisites for literacy and numeracy and information on healthy eating. Feedback from children, parents and early years staff in the area has been positive and is having an impact on outcomes.
Further information: http://www.c4eo.org.uk/earlyyears/webresource