The biggest improvements related to children's communication, languageand literacy, reasoning and thinking, and their interaction withstaff.
Researchers from the University of Oxford, the National Centre forSocial Research and the Institute of Education were commissioned by theprevious government to carry out the four-year study among private,voluntary and independent early years settings.
The 35 EYPs interviewed as part of the study said the EYFS acted as acatalyst for improvements, particularly in child-led learning andmeeting the needs of the individual child.
Researchers found that EYPs had the most influence on the quality ofpractice in their own rooms, rather than across the whole setting. Themore time that EYPs spent in rooms with children, the greater theirimpact on the quality of provision in that room.
However, the report found little evidence of the impact of EYPs on thequality of provision for babies and toddlers aged under 30 months. Thereport suggests this could be due to the fact that EYPs are less likelyto work in infant and toddler rooms in nurseries.
While 91 per cent of EYPs in the survey spent time working in thepre-school rooms, only 44 per cent spent time supporting practice in theinfant and toddler rooms. On average, EYPs spent 18.4 hours a week inpre-school rooms, but only 4.7 hours with babies and toddlers.
The report recommends that, 'Settings should be encouraged to considerwhether graduate leaders are leading practice across the birth to fiveage range. Coupled with this, research is required to establish the mosteffective ways of raising quality for our youngest children throughworkforce development.'
Principal investigator Sandra Mathers said, 'We found clear evidencethat EYPs were effective in leading quality improvement for pre-schoolchildren. Settings that gained an EYP made significant improvementsrelated most strongly to direct work with children and the quality ofsupport for learning, reflecting the role of EYPs as "leaders ofpractice".'
The areas in which EYPs had the most impact were:
- the quality of support for communication, language and literacy
- positive staff-child interactions
- developing children's reasoning, thinking skills and scientificunderstanding
- developmentally appropriate schedules for children of all ages
- providing for individual needs and child-initiated learning throughplay.
The benefit of having an EYP was felt less in the areas of policy andprocedure, care routines, health and safety, the quality of the physicalenvironment, facilities and training for staff, and communication withparents. The report says this is due to these areas likely being withinthe remit of a nursery manager.
FURTHER INFORMATION
The Evaluation of the Graduate Leader Fund report can be found atwww.education.gov.uk
WHAT EYPs SAID
'I've started trying to develop numeracy in the setting, but sometimesfeel held back with my ideas.' EYP
'I think as a manager you have more oomph. The staff listen to you moreand you can't get away from that.' EYP and deputy manager
'I think NVQ members of staff haven't got a clue as to why we doanything. I don't want to sit there and bombard them with theories butthey need to understand why we do it, and about schemas, and all thosevery important theories, and why we're doing what we're doing.' ManagerEYP
'One of the first things that the staff said to me was, "Thank Godyou're here, now we can make these changes." Because for a long timethey wanted it to be more free for the children to lead.'
THE ROLE OF THE EYP
EYPs played a key role in promoting and driving improvements withinsettings, particularly in relation to the EYFS and other practitioners'interaction with children.
Interviews with EYPs, managers and nursery staff showed there were threekey factors that affected the way the EYP was able to effectively leadthe EYFS and improve practice. These were: leadership skills;involvement in management; and the extent to which the role and remit ofthe EYP was defined and agreed. These three elements combined to createthe most effective EYP role in driving improvement and leading practicein settings.
Study co-author Helen Ranns, who interviewed EYPs, managers and nurserystaff for the research, said, 'EYPs felt that you needed to be a managerto really make changes in a setting. Because EYPs do not have a definedrole, they felt that being a deputy manager or a room leader would givethem the authority to make changes. Other staff didn't really know whereEYPs fitted into the nursery hierarchy and often went to the managerfirst for clarification if the EYP asked them to do something.
'EYPs also expressed a desire to be able to move around the setting moreso that they could make changes in baby rooms. They felt that confiningthem to working with mainly pre-school children was stifling theiropportunities to make changes throughout the nursery.
'There was also a universally held concern about the future of EYPs, anda view that without clear career progression and better pay, many EYPswould go into teaching or end up working in local authoritysettings.'
Ms Ranns added, 'With the Early Intervention Grant not ringfenced andwithout the same level of funding, it will be tricky for localauthorities to decide on the best use of money - if it's not going to beused to fund EYP salaries, where will EYPs go?'
