The national evaluation of the wraparound care pilot project, released in July, concluded that although extended provision offered by pilot settings in the maintained sector emerged as the highest quality, followed by private day nurseries and then playgroups, the key factor for an integrated package is a 'quality core early education place' and that 'a "package" comprising a "school quality" early education place and extended provision in the maintained or the voluntary and private sectors could also provide a quality experience.'
The research, funded by the DfES, was carried out during 2002 and 2003 by the University of Oxford, the Institute of Fiscal Studies and the National Centre for Social Research. Researchers looked at five pilot areas across the UK - Cornwall, Ealing, Kirklees, Lancashire and York - that offer extended provision 'wrapped around' a core early education place to improve developmental outcomes for children and meet the needs of parents.
The research was based on two approaches: an 'extended education approach', where children experienced two core early education sessions, and an 'extended care approach', where the children experienced one core early education session plus separate extended care with another group of children, either in the same setting or with another childcare provider.
The report notes that the 'extended education' provided children with 'a more educationally stimulating experience' but notes also the findings from the Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) research, which found that children who have a daily session of quality core early years education experience the same outcomes as those who attend a provision full-time.
National Day Nurseries Association chief executive Rosemary Murphy criticised the language and terminology of the report and the division between care and education. 'The model should be based on provision for nought to five-year-olds where care and education is integrated.'
Funding for the main pilot programme finished in March 2003.
The report says that parents taking up the wraparound pilot provision thought that on the whole it provided affordable, good value and accessible childcare.
One of the early messages that emerges from the findings is that schools are an important resource in developing integrated provision.
For more information see www.surestart.gov.uk/_doc/index.cfm?Document=1063
