Building positive relationships - not just with children, but with parents and other professionals too - is central to early years practice that really makes a difference to children's lives.
This was one of the key messages for practitioners to emerge from the knowledge review of early years practice by C4EO, the Government-funded centre set up to discover, share and promote 'what works' in children's and young people's services.
'The home learning environment is every bit as important as what goes on in the early years setting,' says Sue Owen, 
childcare expert at the National Children's Bureau, who has been leading the early years theme for C4EO. 'So what matters is that nursery staff and childminders engage with children and parents and grandparents.'
Practitioners don't come into early years to work with adults - they come in to work with children, she points out. 'So that's a big jump for some people. But there are some excellent programmes to help professionals with this area of work, such as the NCB's Parents, Early Years and Learning (PEAL) programme, which can be customised for individual settings or whole local authority teams.'
She suggests that childminders and nursery staff start with an informal audit of what they already do to engage families, and consult parents about how they build on it. The whole staff team needs to be on board, she stresses. 'It's no good if managers want to do something and staff resist, or the other way round.'
Among the home/nursery links that have proved most successful and feature on the C4EO website are portfolios that children take to and fro, on which parents and staff write comments (see box).
'Good, ongoing relationships with parents or carers are crucial if we expect them to feel able to approach us when they have real concerns, for instance about their child's behaviour,' she says.
What about the vital relationship that practitioners have with each child in their care?
'Observe more, do less,' is Sue Owen's advice. 'Early years staff often think they have to be busy, busy, busy. But your hands don't have to be busy: your eyes and ears have to be busy and your mind has to be busy. You have to be thinking about what the child is telling you and what you can do with that to support what they want to do next. It's a shared endeavour.'
In pre-schools judged 'excellent' by Ofsted, children spend two-thirds of the time in activities they have initiated themselves, she points out.
What evidence did C4EO find that integrated settings improve outcomes for children?
'Not much evidence, and some of it contradictory,' says Ms Owen, 'but that's because this is a new area, where practice leads policy. There's plenty of indirect evidence that an integrated approach works better - for instance, that family-based support on top of support in the childcare setting produces better outcomes for children.
'And there is strong evidence from the EPPE longitudinal study that high-quality pre-school that integrates childcare and education benefits children's academic achievement and behaviour at least up to the age of 11.
'What makes the difference to children is high quality. It's very important for settings and practitioners to continuously improve. This requires strong leadership and constant upgrading of the training and qualifications of staff.'
And, whether there is a health visitor in their setting or not, practitioners should look out for health and welfare indicators that are linked with poor development, such as low birthweight, low-level abuse or neglect, and childhood illnesses. Those children may need extra attention - and their parents extra support.
'If you're a nursery nurse or childminder, this may not be your first point of entry. You may worry more about children's learning, but health and home environment are important too,' she says.
'It comes back to observing, and to relationships. If you're really looking, thinking, talking to parents and other professionals, and finding out what's going on, you're in a much better position to pick up on those issues and do something about them.'
KEY MESSAGES FOR EARLY YEARS PRACTITIONERS
- Quality of care rather than type of setting is what matters, so take every opportunity to upgrade your skills and knowledge
- Do all you can to build good relationships with parents and grandparents and support them in supporting their child
- With children, try to observe more and do less. Let the child guide you, but develop 'sustained, shared thinking' which supports their learning.
- Look out for health and welfare indicators linked with poor development, such as low birthweight or neglect. Give extra support to affected children and alert other professionals if necessary.
TOWER HAMLETS LEARNING DIARIES
Involving parents in their child's learning lies at the heart of a new assessment and record-keeping system developed in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It can be used by all providers for children from birth to five and has been validated as effective local practice by C4EO. It features a learning diary, held in the setting but sent home regularly, that includes comments by the child, parents and practitioners, as well as an 'all about my unique child' booklet, held by the parents, and a learning and development record with regular assessment notes. It has helped practitioners track children's progress and boosted children's skills and behaviour. See www.C4EO.org.uk for details.
