Evaluating the hubs

Despite the impact of COVID-19, DDA's evaluation found that the Early Years Hubs Programme demonstrated considerable success in achieving its aims of improving the quality of, and access to, early education.

A number of successes and achievements were noted, for example:

Increased take up of early education: activities undertaken before the pandemic were successful in improving parental trust in accessing formal childcare and understanding of the benefits of early education.

Building quality through collaborative working: 501 early years providers engaged with the hubs and collaboration was identified as key to supporting the quality of local provision. In fact, the hubs delivered CPD to 3,852 early years practitioners, which helped support:

• better quality provision: an Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS) audit demonstrated providers’ improved quality, with overall average scores increasing from 3.9 to 4.8
• better outcomes for children with SEND: providers described the support in identifying autism as ‘phenomenal’
• improved home learning environments: parents reported a better understanding of their child’s developmental needs

Promoting early education as a career choice and supporting local parents into employment: 449 people benefited from pre-employment training, events, careers talks, placements and apprenticeships through the hubs. Activities resulted in young people reporting a positive change in their perception of an early years career.

Read DDA's full report.