Parents Matter: Supporting the Birth to Three Matters Framework

Explores the role of parents and the extended family in the lives of babies and young children. This book argues that parent engagement is essential for developing partnerships within communities in order to give children the best start in life, and shows how this can be achieved.

This book explores the important role of parents and the extended family in the lives of babies and young children. It complements and extends the DfES Birth to Three Matters framework, which supports practitioners in working with children aged birth to three, and builds on the information provided in the companion book "Birth to Three Matters: Supporting the Framework of Effective Practice" (Open University Press, 2004). Written by academics, practitioners and policy makers interested or involved in the development of the Birth to Three Matters framework, this book argues that parent engagement is essential for developing partnerships within communities in order to give children the best start in life, and shows how this can be achieved.The book discusses ways in which services may be developed to involve parents more fully in the care and education of babies and young children. It looks at the powerful role of parents and grandparents in the lives of children. It considers how skilled practitioners can manage relationships to provide support for both parents and children at difficult times. It explores the ways in which parents can be helped to fulfil their own needs at the same time as meeting their children's needs. It includes discussion of families whose children have special needs or disabilities. "Parents Matter" is essential reading for early years professionals and students on courses in Early Education, as well as policy makers, professional development trainers, local authority trainers, social workers and health visitors who work with very young children.

List of Contributors		vii
Preface		xi
Acknowledgements		xiii
1 Why Parents Matter		1
Ann Langston
2 Becoming a Family		13
Clare Crowther
3 Grandparents Matter		26
Tricia David
4 Everyday Activities at Home: Meeting our Developmental Needs with our Young Children		39
Margaret Henry
5 'Don't You Tell Me What to Do'		53
Helen Moylett and Kim Holyman
6 Parents and Child Protection Matter		65
John Powell
7 Evaluating Better Beginnings		77
Mary Rohl and Caroline Barratt-Pugh
8 Health Matters		91
Elizabeth Howard
9 'Arty Farty Nonsense?': Working with Parents in the Art Gallery		101
Rachel Holmes
10 Special Lives: Working with Parents of Children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities		112
Julie Jennings
11 'Observe More...Do Less': The Approaches of Magda Gerber to Parent Education		127
Sue Owen and Stephanie Petrie
12 Young Parents Matter		138
John Powell and Alison Lockley
13 Children and Parents Matter: Research Insights from Integrated Child and Family Services in Australia		149
Ann Farrell, Collette Tayler and Lee Tennent
14 Future Matters		160
Lesley Abbott
Index		173

Prof Lesley Abbott is Professor of Early Childhood Education in the Education and Social Research Institute at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has a background in primary and early childhood education and has worked in both teacher education and multidisciplinary training and research developing one of the first multidisciplinary degrees in the country to meet the diverse needs of professionals working with young children and their families across a range of sectors and services. She has given evidence to Parliamentary Select Committees on early years issues, has served on a number of government committees and working parties and presented keynote papers at national and international conferences. She has worked in Australia, Singapore and Ireland where she helped to develop integrated centres for children and families together with new forms of cross-disciplinary training for professionals working in these services. In Belfast she worked with Health, Social Services and the Education department to develop a 'wrap around' programme to support families with young children in the Shankill community. She has directed a number of major research programmes including Educare for the Under Threes, funded by the Esmee Fairbairn Trust, and the recent, government funded project, Birth to Three Matters to develop a Framework to support practitioners working with children from birth to three years together with subsequent training programmes and materials.She has published widely, involving practitioners and families in research and writing thus providing opportunities for their voices to be heard.She recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the journal Early Years Educator in recognition of her work in the field of Early Childhood. Ann Langston is an early years consultant based at Manchester Metropolitan University. She manages the 'Birth to Three Training Matters' project and previously managed the Sure Start /DfES Birth to Three Matters Training Programme. She was a major contributor to the development of the Birth to Three Matters Framework and the Birth to Three Matters Childcare Workforce Materials. Caroline Barratt-Pugh is a Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education (0-8 years) at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia. Ian Barron is Principal Lecturer in Early Years and Childhood Studies and has wide ranging experience in early childhood settings. Clare Crowther is Senior Educator at Bridgwater Early Years Centre. Tricia David is Emeritus Professor of Education at Canterbury Christ Church University College, having officially retired in 2001. She was a Professor of Education at Canterbury Christ Church University College for seven years and prior to that worked at Warwick University for ten years, having been a headteacher of both nursery and primary schools earlier in her career. Ann Farrell is Associate Professor in the School of Early Childhood and Co-Leader of the Early Years Research Program at Queensland University of Technology. Margaret Henry has been a researcher, at the University of Queensland Education Queensland and the School of Early Childhood at Queensland University of Technology, in projects concerned with early development, the support of children with special needs, childcare, and collaboration with Indigenous families. Rachel Holmes is a Research Associate and Senior Lecturer at the Manchester Metropolitan University. Kim Holyman is the Care Manager in charge of under threes provision and family support at Tamworth Early Years Centre in Staffordshire. Elizabeth Howard is the Health Lead for a Sure Start programme where she supports and initiates contact with parents and carers of children 0-4 years of age and expectant mothers and is involved with strategies for health development. Julie Jennings is a trained teacher who has specialized in the care and education of children with special educational needs and disabilities. She is also a Froebel trained early childhood teacher. For RNIB, as Early Years Development Officer, her work promotes early childhood provision for children with a visual impairment, and their families. Iris Keating is a Principal Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. Alison Lockley trained as a Youth and Community Development worker and for ten years in supported housing, providing accommodation for single homeless people with a variety of support needs. Helen Moylett works for the DfES as a regional director for the Foundation Stage. Sue Owen is Director of the Early Childhood Unit at the National Children's Bureau. Carla Patterson is Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Health Research at Queensland University of Technology. Stephanie Petrie is a Senior Social Worker at the University of Liverpool. Doctor John Powell is Senior Lecturer and Multi-Professional Coordinator in Early Childhood Studies at the Institute of Education at MMU with particular interests in child protection, equal opportunities, children's rights, multi-professional perspectives, professional development and research. Mary Rohl is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia. Professor Collette Tayler is Professor and Head of the School of Early Childhood at Queensland University of Technology. Doctor Lee Tennent is a Senior Researcher in the Centre for Learning Innovation at Queensland University of Technology.