Understanding Early Years Policy » (2nd Edition)

Dedicated to providing a complete understanding of early years policy and the ability to evaluate its impact on practice, this book is an invaluable guide for early years students and professionals alike.

The Second Edition of this well-loved book has been substantially revised including:

• An entirely new chapter focusing on policy across England, Scotland, Wales, & Northern Ireland
• Discussion of the proposed new Early Years Foundation Stage
• Talk of the recent developments in Special Educational Needs
• An up-to-date timeline of key early years legislation

Acknowledgements vii

Key for icons vii

About the Authors viii

Preface ix

1 What Is Policy and Why Is It Important? 1

What is policy? 2

What are the characteristics of policies? 6

Written statements of policy 8

Controversy in the debate on policy 9

2 The Development of Early Years Policy So Far 13

Before the Second World War 13

1939-79: From the Second World War to the election of Margaret Thatcher 15

1979-97: The years of Conservative rule 17

1997-2001: The Labour Party's return to power 19

2001-05: The second government of Tony Blair 24

The Labour Party in power after 2005 29

3 Influences on Early Years Policy Development 38

Early years policy as a social construct 39

Sure Start Children's Centres 43

Factors influencing early years policy development 46

The social and cultural context of early years policy 47

Political agendas 51

Government bodies, professional organizations and other stakeholders 56

Significant events 58

International policy 59

4 Implementing Early Years Policy 65

Modern policy-making 66

Stages of policy implementation 68

Implementing the proposals in Every Child Matters 71

Implementing the Common Assessment Framework, lead professional and information sharing index (ContactPoint) 83

The lead professional role 86

5 Early Years Policy in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: The Impact of Devolution 91

Devolution and policy-making 91

Comparing Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland 93

Wales 93

Scotland 96

Northern Ireland 99

The impact of devolution 102

6 The Impact of Policy 105

Practitioners 105

Children 113

Parents 115

7 Analysing the Impact of Policy 124

Whyanalyse policies? 125

Levels of policy 126

Approaches to analysing the impact of policy 127

Does policy represent the perspectives of all stakeholders? 127

Using past reports and service developments to appraise policy 132

Approaches to analyse policy: evaluative themes 137

International evidence 139

8 Concluding Comments 143

Glossary 145

Useful Websites 148

References 150

Author index 162

Subject index 164