The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) will support the launch of new network of Stronger Practice Hubs, designed to build evidence-informed practice in the early years.
We’ll be working with the National Children’s Bureau (NCB), appointed by the Department for Education (DfE) as the national delivery partner, to provide accessible information about the evidence around early years approaches.
The new Hubs, expected to launch in November 2022, are part of the DfE’s Early Years Education COVID-19 Recovery Package. They aim to address the impact of the pandemic on young children by supporting early years settings to build local networks and share evidence-informed practices to ultimately improve the quality of education and care.
As Evidence Partner, we’ll:
- Provide accessible information about the evidence around Early Years approaches and the processes that support practice change.
- Engage with the hubs and the wider Early Years sector to support them to develop resources to exemplify practices highlighted by the evidence
- Provide a curated menu of evidence-informed professional development programmes for the hubs to select and make available in their area, including guidance for hubs to identify local programmes to include in their offer.
- Commission and fund evaluations of the delivery and impact of the professional development programmes funded by the hubs.
We know the pandemic has had an impact on all children and young people’s progress, particularly those from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
The new Stronger Practice Hubs will make sure Early Years settings have the evidence-informed resources they need to support young children’s development and attempt to address differences in outcomes between children experiencing poverty and their more affluent peers.
Early years settings can now apply to become a Stronger Practice Hub. Successful applicants will receive grant funding from the DfE to support this work.