VIDA - Knowledge-based efforts for socially disadvantaged children in daycare - an inclusive ECEC program: VIDA status report 1. Design and methods

TY - RPRT

T1 - VIDA - Knowledge-based efforts for socially disadvantaged children in daycare - an inclusive ECEC program

T2 - VIDA status report 1. Design and methods

AU - Holm, Anders

AU - Wang, Camilla

AU - Kousholt, Dorte

AU - Ravn, Ib

AU - Larsen, Michael Søgaard

AU - Rasmussen, Ove Steiner

AU - Berliner, Peter

AU - Andersen, Thomas Yung

AU - Brandi, Ulrik

A2 - Jensen, Bente

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) can enhance the life chances of all children, and especially socially disadvantaged children. In the Nordic daycare systems, however, it is not clear if ECEC provides equal social and intellectual opportunities for socially disadvantaged children. The VIDA intervention program Knowledge-based efforts for socially disadvantaged children in daycare – a model program presented in this report, aims at improving all children’s well-being and cognitive functioning, and specifi cally improving the situation for socially disadvantaged children through inclusive efforts in daycare. The objective is to improve our knowledge about effective means and methods when implementing a new innovative type of early childhood educational efforts aimed at socially disadvantaged children. This is done by a systematic approach on the basis of methods developed in the VIDA programs. This VIDA Report 1 presents the design and methods used in the inclusive ECEC intervention program. TWO MODEL PROGRAMS Two model programs are introduced: the VIDA Basis program and the VIDA+ parental program. Both programs consist of education and training of VIDA staff by means of three elements: presentation of theoretical and empirical knowledge of children’s learning and wellbeing; education, including giving staff the opportunity to refl ect on their own experiences when working with socially disadvantaged children at their center; and, fi nally, training on how to renew practices at local level on the basis of VIDA program guidelines. The aim of the fi rst program (VIDA Basis) is to support children’s learning and well-being and particularly support socially disadvantaged children, i.e. these children’s socioemotional development and learning through inclusive efforts. The aim of the second program is the same kind of improvement of children’s development butin this program parents are involved in the activities too (VIDA+ program). Thus, the two model programs are similar in that they both direct attention to children in general and disadvantaged children’s well-being and learning particular; however they differ in that VIDA+ particularly directs attention to fi nding new methods for involving parents. INTERVENTION: EDUCATION AND IMPLEMENTATION The aim of the VIDA programs is to enhance the innovative competences of managers and daycare teachers with regard to improving the learning and wellbeing of children. The objective of the VIDA educational programs is to improve the way in which staff works with renewing everyday practices in terms of early efforts for socially disadvantaged children. The two model programs are based on recent evidence-based knowledge and, specifi cally for the VIDA+program, the Danish Clearinghouse of Education has made a research review of effective intervention programs that include parental involvement (see Appendix I). A range of materials and tools have thus been developed for the VIDA educational program, including guidelines for working with children’s learning and well-being through social inclusion. The program builds on three perspectives: 1) a resourceoriented and asset perspective on socially disadvantaged children as children with potential (not defi cit), 2) a learning perspective that views participants in the program (children, teachers and parents) as active, refl ective learners, and 3) an organizational learning perspective (staff qualifi cation in the entire daycare center). The VIDA education and training sessions thus build on methods that improve professionals’ ability to convert scientifi c knowledge into practice through knowledge sharing and innovative experiments. Thus the program combines professionals’ personal knowledge and practice-based experiences, i.e. combines tacit knowledge with explicit scientifi c knowledge acquisition and sharing. The VIDA and VIDA+ education programs encourage participants to work with both explicit and implicit (tacit) knowledge in order to improve the efforts for children. The role of managers is important as they are central in facilitating this kind of knowledge sharing and these learning processes by involving all employees in the centers. Consequently, as part of the VIDA education program, managers are offered management education and training especially targeted at capacitating employees to implement the VIDA programs through collaboration and joint efforts. EFFECT STUDY VIDA has been implemented and studied in four municipalities; 120 daycare centers were selected, 40 were randomly allocated to one intervention group (VIDA Basis), and 40 were randomly allocated to the other intervention group (VIDA+). The fi nal 40 were allocated to a control group. Staff at the daycare center assesses each child using the well-known Strengths and Diffi culties Questionnaire (SDQ) and Early Learning Outcomes Questionnaire. The latter is inspired by the Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) project (Sammons et al, 2004, Sylva et al., 2011). Data has been collected from 7000 children aged between 3 and 6 on three occasions: at the start of the project in March 2010, in March 2011 and at the end in March 2013.Data for case studies are collected through staff surveys (N=235), interviews and follow-up observation studies with a view to learning how the centers are progressing. Statistical methods used in the analyses of the effects of the ASP program will be used to analyze the VIDA data, fi rstly a nonparametric growth-curve model that takes into account the hierarchical nature of the data, and secondly a difference-in-difference method that is solely based on within-child differences between the two intervention groups (VIDA Basis and VIDA+) and the control group. ORGANIZATION, DISSEMINATION AND AFFILLIATION The VIDA project is organized in groups that each has their own area of responsibility. There is a large degree of collaboration and coordination between the groups in order to ensure that every stage follows the overall aims of the programs, as well as the milestones and methods developed. An education group is responsible for implementing VIDA education and training programs. A research group is responsible for the overall design and methods used in the randomized controlled experiment, data collection and analysis. A project group (including representatives from the other groups) is responsible for coordinating design and method development as well as for coordinating all aspects of the program. Moreover, the project’s results are disseminated on a regular basis through reports, at conferences, seminars and schools, and through networking in a manner that ensures that all parties interested in the fi eld will continue to benefi t from the project’s results. A cross-disciplinary group has been established with representative directors and managers from the four municipalities involved in the project, as well as the project manager and partners from the Metropolitan University College involved in order to develop ideas of how to implement the VIDA program at a larger scale on the basis of experiences of the VIDA project and its results. The project will run from 2010-2013 .

AB - Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) can enhance the life chances of all children, and especially socially disadvantaged children. In the Nordic daycare systems, however, it is not clear if ECEC provides equal social and intellectual opportunities for socially disadvantaged children. The VIDA intervention program Knowledge-based efforts for socially disadvantaged children in daycare – a model program presented in this report, aims at improving all children’s well-being and cognitive functioning, and specifi cally improving the situation for socially disadvantaged children through inclusive efforts in daycare. The objective is to improve our knowledge about effective means and methods when implementing a new innovative type of early childhood educational efforts aimed at socially disadvantaged children. This is done by a systematic approach on the basis of methods developed in the VIDA programs. This VIDA Report 1 presents the design and methods used in the inclusive ECEC intervention program. TWO MODEL PROGRAMS Two model programs are introduced: the VIDA Basis program and the VIDA+ parental program. Both programs consist of education and training of VIDA staff by means of three elements: presentation of theoretical and empirical knowledge of children’s learning and wellbeing; education, including giving staff the opportunity to refl ect on their own experiences when working with socially disadvantaged children at their center; and, fi nally, training on how to renew practices at local level on the basis of VIDA program guidelines. The aim of the fi rst program (VIDA Basis) is to support children’s learning and well-being and particularly support socially disadvantaged children, i.e. these children’s socioemotional development and learning through inclusive efforts. The aim of the second program is the same kind of improvement of children’s development butin this program parents are involved in the activities too (VIDA+ program). Thus, the two model programs are similar in that they both direct attention to children in general and disadvantaged children’s well-being and learning particular; however they differ in that VIDA+ particularly directs attention to fi nding new methods for involving parents. INTERVENTION: EDUCATION AND IMPLEMENTATION The aim of the VIDA programs is to enhance the innovative competences of managers and daycare teachers with regard to improving the learning and wellbeing of children. The objective of the VIDA educational programs is to improve the way in which staff works with renewing everyday practices in terms of early efforts for socially disadvantaged children. The two model programs are based on recent evidence-based knowledge and, specifi cally for the VIDA+program, the Danish Clearinghouse of Education has made a research review of effective intervention programs that include parental involvement (see Appendix I). A range of materials and tools have thus been developed for the VIDA educational program, including guidelines for working with children’s learning and well-being through social inclusion. The program builds on three perspectives: 1) a resourceoriented and asset perspective on socially disadvantaged children as children with potential (not defi cit), 2) a learning perspective that views participants in the program (children, teachers and parents) as active, refl ective learners, and 3) an organizational learning perspective (staff qualifi cation in the entire daycare center). The VIDA education and training sessions thus build on methods that improve professionals’ ability to convert scientifi c knowledge into practice through knowledge sharing and innovative experiments. Thus the program combines professionals’ personal knowledge and practice-based experiences, i.e. combines tacit knowledge with explicit scientifi c knowledge acquisition and sharing. The VIDA and VIDA+ education programs encourage participants to work with both explicit and implicit (tacit) knowledge in order to improve the efforts for children. The role of managers is important as they are central in facilitating this kind of knowledge sharing and these learning processes by involving all employees in the centers. Consequently, as part of the VIDA education program, managers are offered management education and training especially targeted at capacitating employees to implement the VIDA programs through collaboration and joint efforts. EFFECT STUDY VIDA has been implemented and studied in four municipalities; 120 daycare centers were selected, 40 were randomly allocated to one intervention group (VIDA Basis), and 40 were randomly allocated to the other intervention group (VIDA+). The fi nal 40 were allocated to a control group. Staff at the daycare center assesses each child using the well-known Strengths and Diffi culties Questionnaire (SDQ) and Early Learning Outcomes Questionnaire. The latter is inspired by the Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) project (Sammons et al, 2004, Sylva et al., 2011). Data has been collected from 7000 children aged between 3 and 6 on three occasions: at the start of the project in March 2010, in March 2011 and at the end in March 2013.Data for case studies are collected through staff surveys (N=235), interviews and follow-up observation studies with a view to learning how the centers are progressing. Statistical methods used in the analyses of the effects of the ASP program will be used to analyze the VIDA data, fi rstly a nonparametric growth-curve model that takes into account the hierarchical nature of the data, and secondly a difference-in-difference method that is solely based on within-child differences between the two intervention groups (VIDA Basis and VIDA+) and the control group. ORGANIZATION, DISSEMINATION AND AFFILLIATION The VIDA project is organized in groups that each has their own area of responsibility. There is a large degree of collaboration and coordination between the groups in order to ensure that every stage follows the overall aims of the programs, as well as the milestones and methods developed. An education group is responsible for implementing VIDA education and training programs. A research group is responsible for the overall design and methods used in the randomized controlled experiment, data collection and analysis. A project group (including representatives from the other groups) is responsible for coordinating design and method development as well as for coordinating all aspects of the program. Moreover, the project’s results are disseminated on a regular basis through reports, at conferences, seminars and schools, and through networking in a manner that ensures that all parties interested in the fi eld will continue to benefi t from the project’s results. A cross-disciplinary group has been established with representative directors and managers from the four municipalities involved in the project, as well as the project manager and partners from the Metropolitan University College involved in order to develop ideas of how to implement the VIDA program at a larger scale on the basis of experiences of the VIDA project and its results. The project will run from 2010-2013 .

KW - Early childhood

KW - Social udsathed/arv

KW - Early childhood

KW - Social udsathed/arv

M3 - Report

SN - 978-87-7281-687-6

T3 - VIDA research series

BT - VIDA - Knowledge-based efforts for socially disadvantaged children in daycare - an inclusive ECEC program

PB - VIDA-projektet, Aarhus Universitet, Institut for Uddannelse og Pædagogik

CY - Copenhagen

ER -