Early Words with Childminders is a programme aiming to support the practice of childminders by providing them evidence-based activities and strategies that foster children's early language development, and confidence and skills to engage with parents. Piloted between September and December 2023, the programme provides practitioners with training and a bank of carefully designed resources that include full session plans for 6 weekly sessions, as well as advice and activity cards to facilitate parents’ engagement.
This report summarises findings from data collected during the pilot from a group of 11 childminders. It gives an insight into their experiences with the first iteration of Early Words for Childminders, with a focus on the feasibility of delivery in the childminders’ contexts and the learning benefits for this group of practitioners.
Key findings
Training
- All childminders felt that the training had increased their understanding of children’s communication and language development, that they felt confident to put learning into practice and confident to deliver the sessions to children in their setting.
- All childminders agreed that they felt equipped to increase parents’ confidence to support their child’s language development at home and to share focus activities through parent coaching sessions.
Programme delivery
- Most childminders found it manageable to fit in and deliver the sessions by following the lesson plan, although a majority of them adapted the frequency of the activities or split them throughout the day.
- There seemed to be a consensus that engaging parents face-to-face at drop-off or pick-up time was difficult because they were often in a rush.
- Most childminders felt they did about the same amount of preparation to deliver the programme sessions as they did for their usual day to day planning.
- All but one participant said they are very likely to keep using the programme in the future.