The Early Childhood Education (ECE) centre-based Parent Support and Development (PSD) programme trialled by the Ministry of Education was intended to provide early interventions that targeted vulnerable parents through a universal service. A total of 18 pilot ECE sites were selected and funded to provide PSD for a three-year period starting from 2006. Pilot sites were selected, in part, on the basis of the high concentration of vulnerable families living in the surrounding area. The sites offered a wide range of activities including educational, social support and outreach activities. An evaluation of the programme was undertaken by Martin Jenkins and the report was completed in early 2010. The findings from the evaluation indicated that the programme was beneficial for parents, children, pilot sites and communities but also highlighted significant challenges in programme implementation, particularly in relation to targeting vulnerable parents within a universal service.
Purpose
The planning phase of the evaluation identified two overarching purposes of the evaluation:
- to identify areas of improvement to ECE centre-based PSD – this led to the design and implementation of a process evaluation phase intended to provide the Ministry of Education (the Ministry) with real time information about how well pilot sites were delivering against programme objectives
- to determine the value of ECE centre-based PSD – this led to the design and implementation of an outcomes evaluation phase intended to provide the Ministry with robust information about the extent to which pilot sites had contributed to achieving the intended outcomes of the programme.