Integrated community schools, formerly called 'new community schools', have been designed to break down barriers between nursery, primary and secondary school environments and to improve links with the community. The Scottish Executive backed the scheme with a 30m investment programme in 2001 and has plans to make all schools integrated in the same way by 2007.
Julie Bowen, an education consultant working with Stirling Council, said that the council's pilot programme showed that early years workers will need to be central to plans for the schools. She said, 'Early years is an extremely significant part of what we do and we involved everybody from the beginning.
'Early years staff have access to all the staff development that is available to teachers. They work at a local level alongside all our colleagues working together to support children and their families.
'Nurseries are the first point of contact for children and so they are of intrinsic importance of what we are trying to achieve.'
Training and development programmes have included work shadowing, with nursery workers experiencing life in primary school, the health service and social services, while professionals working in other sectors have been able to learn more about the nursery environment.
A review of the pilots of new community schools identified barriers between professional groups as a possible pitfall.
Ms Bowen said that Stirling Council's development programme has helped in this regard. She said, 'Staff have become more realistic. They become more understanding of the problems other professional groups face. It does not break down the barriers between groups, but there is more understanding.'
Ms Bowen added, 'Staff understand the ethos of other professional work and how that is translated into day-to-day work. In Stirling we now have groups of professionals who know each other and are able to contact each other.'
In Glasgow, the city's nursery and primary schools are currently undergoing a multi-million pound revamp that will involve the building and formation of integrated community schools.
