The report, Critical issues for 21st century children's centres, by the Innovation Unit at Pen Green Centre for Children and Families, in Northamptonshire, is based on a series of 'think tank' sessions with children's centre leaders.
Pen Green has also launched a steering group called the National Association of Children's Centres and is urging children's centre leaders to join. The group will focus on widening Continuing Professional Development opportunities and learning networks for children's centres.
The report was presented at a Penn Green symposium last week which was attended by around 200 children's centre leaders and children's minister Sarah Teather.
The report argues that children's centres which provide childcare prioritise disadvantaged families but that nurseries in the PVI sector cannot do so as effectively because of commercial constraints.
It says that a 'child premium' could be developed which would apply to childcare and early education and which would create an incentive for all nurseries to select the most disadvantaged children.
The report also says that the most outstanding children's centres will need to become training and development centres, in a similar way to teaching hospitals.
Dr Margy Whalley, director of Pen Green Research, Development and Training Base and Leadership Centre, said that the report states that, 'Early education and childcare in the best children's centres, where there are significant numbers of graduate teacher early educators, has undoubtedly raised the levels of achievement of the most disadvantaged children.
'EPPE showed that children who had attended poor quality/less effective nurseries and play groups generally showed no significant aged 11 benefits in improved outcomes compared with those who did not attend any early education or childcare provision.
'A future approach would see Centres for Children and Families with well-qualified staff as the preferred form of provision for all children in the UK, replacing the current "childcare versus education muddle". Existing phase 1 and 2 children’s centres could lead the way. Virtual and under-performing children's centres could be decommissioned.'
In another of the think tanks, children's centre leaders discussed the core purpose of children's centres. Participants agreed that children's centres should prioritise the disadvantaged and, while they agreed that some services should be universal, they felt that resources should be allocated according to the scale of disadvantage.
They also identified a public misconcepton that all children's centres have the same purpose and the same services, even though some centres do not have their own building or offer daycare. The report says that these misunderstandings have interfered with clarity about the core purpose of children's centres and improving outcomes. A future model of children's centres, it says, could be one where local people would identify what they need from the setting and redesign the services on offer to help people to do more for themselves.
Renaming children's centres as centres for children and families would reflect an increased focus on 'supporting families to support their children' and the need for staff to deepen their engagement with families, the report says.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Phone 01536 443435 for more on the new association or the research.