Early Explorers

Health visitors have significant access to large numbers of parents via health clinics – and the potential of this access can be greatly enhanced when health visitors work in partnership with professionals trained to support parents as first educators.

The Early Explorers pilot project puts this theory into practice.  Early Explorers introduces PEEP’s (Peers Early Education Partnership) well-established Learning Together programme into child health clinics to help tackle the isolation of marginalised families in a new and innovative way. This fresh approach brings together early learning practitioners and health professionals to collaborate in supporting the parent and carers of children at risk of educational underachievement to enhance the quality of their early learning and development.   The sessions also offer an opportunity to identify more vulnerable families who are then offered more intensive support, either via a group or through one to one work at home. Progression routes are identified into other services as needed.

Following on from the three year pilot, the Sutton Trust is contributing to an evaluation led by Professor Jane Barlow at Warwick University which will seek to analyse how the roles of practitioners integrate; how colleagues learn from each other; and understand how the outcomes of services offered by both can best be used to support families to enhance their children’s well-being. The results of this study will be used to inform the extension of Early Explorers into two contrasting areas - one in an inner city setting the other serving a rural community. It will also inform the development of a training strategy that will be used to promote integrated working for use by Early Years and Health professionals which will be rolled-out via the national network of trainers.