Sure Start was one of New Labour's flagship efforts to help break the intergenerational cycle of poverty and social exclusion in the UK by enhancing the health and development of children under four, and their families living in disadvantaged communities. Toward this end, the British government set up more than 500 local Sure Start programs in small geographic areas around the country in order to improve existing services and create new ones. But how effective has Sure Start been? This book pulls together, in a single volume, the findings of the very extensive National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS). It outlines the policy background of Sure Start, describes the community contexts in which local programs were established, shares what has been discovered about the implementation of the programs, and demonstrates their impact on children, families, and communities, as well as highlighting where and why its impact varies. The book's contributors are the UK's leading experts on childcar
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Foreword ~ Naomi Eisdenstadt; Part one: The historical and policy context: Policy background to Sure Start ~ Ted Melhuish and David Hall; Part two: The local context of Sure Start local programmes: Targeting deprived areas ~ Jacqueline Barnes; The challenge of profiling communities ~ Martin Frost and Gillian Harper; Part three: The implementation of Sure Start local programmes: The challenge of evaluating diverse and complex interventions using standard intervention methods ~ Pam Meadows; Sure Start local programmes: an overview of the implementation task ~ Jane Tunstill, Deborah Alnock and Sophie Akhurst; Living with Sure Start: human experience of an intervention programme ~ Mog Ball and Angela Anning; Costs and benefits of Sure Start local programmes ~ Pam Meadows; Part four: The impact of Sure Start local programmes: Impact on Sure Start local programmes on children and families ~ Jay Belsky and Ted Melhuish; Programme variation and impact on children and families ~ Ted Melhuish, Jay Belsy, Mog Ball and Angela Anning; Impact on the local Sure Start programme areas ~ Jacqueline Barnes; Conclusion; An outsider's perspective ~ Sir Michael Rutter.