Listening to Practitioners: The Key to High Quality Inclusive Sustainable Practice in ECE

The Early Years Quality Improvement Team in Calderdale Local Authority in partnership with a team from local primary schools, ‘Teamworks’ took a decision to address the gender gap in handwriting, with an intervention targeted at 5 boys aged between 36 and 48 months in ten private, voluntary and independent settings. The long term aim of the intervention was to increase the number of boys achieving a good level of development in handwriting in the EYFSP, which takes place towards the end of reception year in school.The team took a unique approach to designing the intervention focussing not just on the outcomes for children but also on the outcomes for practitioners. This approach recognised that the key to success of the intervention would rest on the professional development of the practitioners and the sustainability of the intervention. This presentation is concerned with the practitioners’ experiences of taking part in the intervention and to explore if the intervention was carried out 'with' the participants rather than done 'to' them and the effect this had on the sustainability of the intervention.