Abstract
Abstract The British government’s wish to eliminate the cycle of disadvantage for children from poor families led to Sure Start. The initiative set up 260 Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs) by 2001, which were expanded to 524 programmes within 2 years. SSLPs aimed to enhance the health and development of children under four and their families in deprived communities. SSLPs were area-based, with all children under four and their families in an area being eligible. This allowed efficient delivery of services without stigmatisation. SSLPs did not have a prescribed “protocol” of services. Instead, each SSLP had autonomy to improve and create services, with general goals and some specific targets but without specification of how services were to be delivered. The National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS) undertook a multifaceted evaluation of SSLPs, and by 2005 research evidence led to a fundamental shift with SSLPs becoming Children’s Centres. The story of how this happened is discussed herein, with latest findings summarised.
Highlights
The British government’s wish to eliminate the cycle of disadvantage for children from poor families led to Sure Start
The great diversity amongst Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs) posed challenges in that there were not several hundred programmes delivering one well-defined intervention, but several hundred unique and multifaceted interventions operating in different places
These included the gathering of administrative data already available on the small geographic areas that defined SSLP communities; developing systems to collate information specific to each SSLP area; conducting surveys of SSLPs dealing with many aspects of SSLPs; carrying out face-to-face and telephone interviews with programme managers, employees, and parents about their local programme; and conducting a largescale survey of child and family functioning in thousands of households in SSLP areas, and in SSLPto-be areas
Summary
Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/sspapers Part of the Education Commons, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons. Recommended Citation Belsky, Jay; Melhuish, Edward; and Barnes, Jacqueline, "Research and policy in developing an early years' initiative: The case of Sure Start" (2008). Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers. 1160. https://ro.uow.edu.au/sspapers/1160
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