Early Adopter Communities - process evaluation: research findings

Overview of EAC activities

This section provides context for the later findings. It is not intended to assess which approaches were most effective for achieving impacts (which is outwith the scope of this evaluation), but gives an overview of early implementation.

Broadly speaking, the implementation of EACs has happened as intended. All EACs have met their commitment to offer school age childcare throughout the 2023/24 financial year. This was broadly in line with the activities specified in original proposals to Scottish Government (although some activities had changed in line with the iterative, adaptive nature of the EACs). As well as providing services for families, EACs were also expected to monitor progress, capture learning, and share this with the Scottish Government. This was achieved through EAC attendance at progress meetings and networking sessions, and quarterly written reports to Scottish Government.

Similarities

All EACs were situated in communities with high levels of deprivation, and targeted families at higher risk of child poverty (see the following section on reach). Each EAC offered funded places at breakfast, after school, and holiday clubs (although the individual offer to families varied). Each EAC involved a wide range of local partners, such as schools, childcare providers, local authority teams and the training sector.

Differences

Specific delivery approaches were shaped by local circumstances. Some communities had large scale existing initiatives or a greater number of school age childcare services to build on. Some areas expanded existing services while others created new ones, and a mix of registered and unregistered childcare or activity providers were used. While three EACs provided fully funded provision for families, Glasgow took a tapered approach based on household income, to reach a greater number of families.

In some areas there were specialist services for children with additional support needs (ASN), while in others informal support was provided as part of universal services. Provision of broader, family support also varied, with some EACs providing these types of service directly and others only signposting to other support organisations. Three of the communities had family support workers to help reach families. Variation in family support is partly related to the extent to which EACs were aligned with other initiatives, as some areas had more formalised links than others.