News

New study into how nurseries work best with families

The National Day Nurseries Association is working with the University of Oxford to carry out a practice-based research project to indentify the innovative ways settings engage with families.
The study entitled ‘Exploring barriers and Opportunities for Parental Engagement in Childcare Settings’, aims to uncover nurseries’ best practice in engaging with families.

It will be led by University of Oxford professor and NDNA policy committee member Professor Kathy Slyva, who will work with early years practitioners from high quality member nurseries to explore issues around parental engagement.

Practitioners from settings with outstanding Ofsted ratings, and those who have competed NDNA’s e-Quality Counts quality improvement programme, are taking part in the scoping study.

The data collected during the study will help form guidance for NDNA members, and be used by the University of Oxford research team to develop a set of improvement strategies for nurseries.

Researchers from the university also hope to present the results of the project to policy-makers and practitioners at the European Early Childhood Education Research (EECERA) and NDNA conferences next year.