Providing a Sure Start: How government discovered early childhood

by Naomi Eisenstadt

This book tells the story of Sure Start, one of the flagship programmes of the last government. It tells how Sure Start was set up, the numerous changes it went through, and how it has changed the landscape of services for all young children in England. Offering insight into the key debates on services for young children, as well as how decisions are made in a highly political context, it will be of keen interest to policy academics, senior managers of public services and all those with a keen interest in developing services for young children.

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 28, 2011

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book, which in an engaging and refreshingly honest manner covers the full development and roll-out of the Sure Start programme from the earliest months of the New Labour government in 1997 to the present day. It is a considerable achievement of the author that the book manages to vividly describe the challenges of developing Sure Start centres and support services in and with local communities, whilst also providing a lucid insight into the political worlds of the Treasury, government ministers and Whitehall. That the author is able to draw from their own direct experience in these environments, in addition to their experience as a voluntary sector manager, means that this book is full of useful lessons learnt and should provide an essential resource for those involved in early years policy development.

The narrative elements of the book capture well the aspirations, excitement and tensions that surrounded the Sure Start programme e.g. the tension that developed between those ministers who saw it's role as centring on childcare and helping parents into work, and those who saw it as focused on child development and building social capital. The thematic breadth of the book is also noteworthy, with clear and constructive discussions of practical challenges such as co-production, evidence-based practice, measurement, evaluation, tendering, interdisciplinary working, and so on. The succinct and honest description of how the development of the programme was influenced by external factors such as elections, new ministers, government reorganisation, personal connections and conflicts, etc. would also make this book invaluable reading to anyone interested in broader issues of public policy development.

The final chapter (if not the whole book) with its key 'Lessons for the future' should be made compulsory reading for everyone in central and local government involved in any policy area that impacts on children in their early years be that education, health, care, housing, etc.