From 30 March 2012, this clearinghouse will be amalgamated into Child Family Community Australia (CFCA Information Exchange). For more information see the CFCA Information Exchange FAQ

Promising Practice Profiles

Playgroups on the Move

The full Promising Practice Profile is available for download in PDF format (594 KB)

Project practice

Resourcing Playgroups

Project undertaken by

Centacare, SA in partnership with:

Start date

June 2006

Focal areas

Program

Communities for Children (CfC)

Issue

There are 36 playgroups within the Onkaparinga Communities for Children (CfC) site, of which 19 are volunteer-led. Leaders of the remaining 17 groups receive some remuneration but are not necessarily early-childhood trained or experienced as playgroup leaders. As a result, playgroup activities were not always directed towards enhancing engagement and interaction between parents/carers and children, nor necessarily focused on age-appropriate learning experiences. The initial CfC consultation process with 500 organisational and community members identified that the community did not need more playgroups but that the existing ones could do with some help. Some playgroups were achieving good outcomes however leaders felt "burnt out" and/or unsupported as they were unable to share responsibility for the group with other parents. Leaders also felt isolated as there was little networking between different playgroup leaders and helpers, or with other community centres, and few relevant and accessible supports in the local community.

Program context

Playgroups on the Move (PGOTM) is an activity of Onkaparinga Communities for Children (CfC) which operates in the southern suburbs of Adelaide, including the suburbs of Morphett Vale, Hackham, Hackham West, Christie Downs and Lonsdale. The suburbs within the CfC site have been identified as having a large proportion of disadvantaged families. SEIFA Index of Disadvantage rankings showed some suburbs in the site were in the lowest 10% in Australia and others in the lowest 10-25%. AEDI results showed 27.6-37% of children were vulnerable in one or more domain and 9.1-25.9% vulnerable in two or more domains.

Centacare Catholic Family Services is the official community service agency of the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide. Within the organisational structure of Centacare, PGOTM sits within the Family Outreach Services programs area alongside a range of services for parents and carers of children 0-5 years. These other services include: supported and mobile playgroups; and parenting education.

Centacare has provided a Coordinator for PGOTM to work with three Playgroup support workers located at, and employed by, community centres (Woodcroft/Morphett Vale Neighbourhood Centre, Hackham West Community Centre and Christie Downs Community House). These support workers are also engaged in other family programs in their community centres and significant local knowledge and many contacts. The total staff resource for PGOTMis 1.5 FTE.

As a result of the support provided to these existing playgroups:

PGOTM's practice approach is unique in the state of South Australia, and possibly in Australia. The focus is not on providing a direct playgroup to families but rather on strengthening the capacity and sustainability of existing playgroups; assisting leaders to provide developmentally appropriate activities for the children who participate in them; and enabling access to services and resources for the families involved.

Program objectives

PGOTM's program objectives are to:

PGOTM now provides support to 36 existing playgroups through three over-arching practices consistent with the intent of CfC funded projects:

  1. Resourcing through:
    • development of sustainable resources for playgroups to use;
    • provision of training to existing playgroup leaders; and
    • mentoring support for current and emerging playgroup leaders.
  2. Improving linkages (personal, community and service based); and 
  3. Innovative collaborative partnerships.

This Promising Practice Profile (Promising Practice Profile) describes the Resourcing practice within PGOTM. Resourcing is an appropriate and effective way of supporting the leaders and families in the 36 existing playgroups across this CfC site. Support is provided by the project support workers through regular visits, phone calls and emails and is based on the needs identified by the playgroup leaders. The face-to-face, regular support for leaders (which includes the provision of ideas and resources for playgroup activity) helps to build their knowledge, confidence and morale, as well as enhancing the quality of parent/child interactions. Capacity to support emerging volunteer leaders is increasing the likelihood of sustainability of these groups.

Practice description

The key practice ingredients of resourcing

This section details the ingredients critical to the effective operation of the PGOTM Resourcing Practice. (As detailed in the Program Context section of this profile, PGOTM also works with two other practices namely; improving linkages - personal, community and service-based; and innovative collaborative partnerships. For the purpose of this Promising Practice Profile only the resourcing practice will be discussed.) The key ingredients in resourcings are:

Each of these practice activities are outlined below. The challenges that were experienced are identified in italics followed by a description of the PGOTMstrategy to overcome the challenge.

Building on identified community needs: Initial visiting, consultation, data collection and contextual analysis

The concept for PGOTMarose from the initial CfC community consultation process in which local playgroups clearly articulated "we just want a bit of help". An important feature of the PGOTM Resourcing practice is that the PGOTM team built on this initial feedback through identifying and visiting each playgroup in the area and consulting with leaders, helpers and parents. At these visits data relevant to each playgroup was gathered and the specific context of each playgroup was mapped out, for example, whether the playgroup was auspiced/sponsored by a church, preschool or combination of preschool and child care centre. Questions were asked about: the adequacy of resources; the type and level of financial, physical, and other infrastructure resourcing available to the playgroup; and the type of support that would best assist each playgroup. These data ensured that the level of support provided by PGOTM would reflect the specific context of each playgroup. For example, the needs of playgroups that were located within purpose-built Early Childhood environments and had Early Childhood trained staff were quite different to those playgroups which were volunteer-led and operating out of a local hall.

Challenges & strategies to address them

It was difficult to make contact with some of the playgroup leaders who did not return phone messages. This was not surprising given the large proportion of volunteer-led groups. Contact and organising the initial meeting took persistence, with PGOTM workers making repeated phone calls including to the playgroup venue at the time it was running. A follow-up letter setting a suggested visit time proved effective mechanism to establish initial contact.

During the initial contact some leaders felt wary about the purpose of the PGOTM activity. Relationships of trust were developed through listening and showing respect, appreciation, and acknowledging the value of the playgroups' current activities. When visiting leaders, the PGOTM workers brought resources and/or information that was helpful to the individual playgroup's needs. This helped the leaders to see that the workers were not trying to take from the group but were there to help. This trust has been a key element to the practice. A strengths-based communication approach allowed issues of resourcing to be identified and discussed by workers and playgroup leaders. Over time, initially reluctant leaders willingly accepted assistance and also sought specific help.

Building consistent and empowering relationships: Regular ongoing face to face contact through allocation of a worker.

An important aspect of PGOTM is the allocation of a locally based and experienced worker to each playgroup in the CfC site. The worker and the playgroup agree upon a system of visiting. POGTM workers have found that face-to face visiting works best as often written information can be either ignored or forgotten. The frequency of visits can vary based on individual need, however, on average playgroups receive a visit from a worker about every three weeks. Regular follow-up contact via phone and email provides important back-up support. The consistency of visits is a key element in building a relationship and facilitating an open and consultative approach to the ongoing communication between playgroups and the workers.

Challenges & strategies to address them

Workers have limited time given the number of playgroups to be visited (1.5 FTE:36 playgroups). As the number of playgroups to be supported increased the support workers have been stretched. The coordinator goes to networking meetings and passes information on to the support workers.

Some leaders were reluctant to take up offers of support, appearing quite territorial and preferring to do things "their" way. Workers were persistent in offers of support tailored to the group's identified needs. In time, workers were able to engage leaders in at least one form of assistance that they were pleased to accept. Workers encouraged leaders to share tasks within the playgroup to develop a "leadership team" to assist sustainability.

Some leaders were so busy in the playgroup that it was difficult to have a focused conversation with the support worker. This was particularly the case for volunteer leaders who were also caring for their own children in the group. To make a time to talk about their playgroup and its needs, workers would meet the leader outside of playgroup time over a coffee or at the community centre where the children could play.

The work of PGOTM complements that of the Play Group Association of SA, which has a regional focus, by providing support for each project consistent with the local context in which it operates. The intensive resource-based support of PGOTM workers facilitates the development of community partnerships at the local level, thus enhancing the sustainability of the playgroups. Workers engage with the playgroups closest to their neighbourhood/community centre thereby ensuring they bring existing experience and knowledge of the networks and links within the local community in which each playgroup is located. Playgroups SA has been supportive to playgroups in providing legal and insurance structures while PGOTM has been able to provide emotional and practical support through mentoring, training, provision of resources and confidence building.

Building skills through support and mentoring: An emphasis on building skills, and increasing knowledge and experiences of playgroup leaders and helpers.

PGOTM increases the knowledge, skills and experience of playgroup leaders and helpers in diverse ways. Workers accompany leaders at playgroups and support them in developing play ideas, music and movement skills, as well as increasing participants' awareness of the important role parent/child interaction plays in supporting child well being and development.

Playgroup leaders and helpers have come together and participated in workshops developed in response to the initial needs survey including:

PGOTM workers have developed resource boxes for each of the team members from which leaders and parents can borrow. These resources boxes contain activity ideas, books, CDs, instruments etc. They have also developed "Literacy Packs" with books, activities and instructions that playgroups can use with parents. Music and Movement sessions have been run at individual playgroups to demonstrate how to use the ideas pack and song book.

All of these resources aim to encourage parent-child interactions. In addition resources have been developed that are relevant to the particular needs of each group in order to make their work stronger and more sustainable. This could only have occurred through the knowledge built up through the regular visits to each playgroup.

Integrating early childhood theory with practice: Workers have early childhood qualifications

PGOTMworkers are all Early Childhood trained. One has a Level III in Community Services, one a Level IV, and two have Early Childhood teaching diplomas with one of those workers having a Special Ed. Diploma. Additional formal skills based training across the workers includes: counselling skills; Kindergym leadership accreditation; First Aid; Nutrition; and Mandatory Notification. All of the workers also have previous experience in leadership, and events managements. They are parents themselves and "are excited about early childhood development and the role that parents can play in this" (PGOTM worker).

The educational background of PGOTM workers in early childhood and community services, has promoted an understanding of the potential playgroups have for involving families in creating quality child development opportunities and increased attachment between parents and children. This understanding is shared with playgroup leaders, helpers and families who attend. The knowledge and skills of PGOTM workers in early childhood education ensures that the resource material developed and provided is developmentally appropriate and of a high quality.

Strengthening community connectedness: Workers are part of the local community

PGOTM workers reside in the communities in which they work providing them with invaluable local and community knowledge to share with playgroups. This community connection assists in the initial establishment of credibility, which enhances relationship building with playgroup leaders. Workers can be perceived as "expert locals" sharing their experience and "practice wisdom", rather than outside experts imposing ideas. Workers are based at the local community centre closest to their allocated playgroups. This enables ties between playgroups and centres to be strengthened as play group leaders and helpers come to the community centre for discussions and informal meetings. This practice also facilitates greater engagement with, and use of, the local community centre.

Capturing and sustaining good ideas: Development of durable, self-explanatory and educational resource packs

In responding to the "we need new ideas" declaration by many playgroup leaders, helpers and parents in the initial consultation, PGOTMworkers have developed a range of durable and self-explanatory resource packs. Currently, all playgroup venues have been provided with ringed folders that contain a series of activity packs for playgroup leaders and helpers to use at different times of the year. PGOTM has developed and provided large A3 folders for conducting Music and Movement sessions within playgroups. These contain the words of all the songs and rhymes; teaching tips; and how to make, or where to purchase, simple musical instruments. Well-known tunes with few words mean that new leaders are more likely to initiate and continue to run music sessions within groups. These self-explanatory packs also support the sharing of leadership of activities within the playgroups which supports greater sustainability of the playgroups as well as developing confidence amongst volunteer leaders.

Additionally, a local community benefits grant has enabled PGOTM to purchase resource books, activity cards and CDs for each of the 36 playgroups. These "On The Move Ideas" packs provide resources and support for new leaders and helpers. They can also be accessed by playgroup families.

The range of resource packs developed and purchased increase the skills, knowledge and experiences of the playgroup leaders, helpers and families participating. Significant care has been taken in ensuring that the activity packs are of a high quality and have a life of about ten years so that they will be passed on to future leaders.

Using a strengths-based approach to support and leadership

Playgroups On The Move work uses a strengths-based approach to resourcing local playgroups. Key elements of such an approach in this context are:

As an example, when families in some playgroups were not welcoming towards new families, workshops were held on "Creating a Welcoming Playgroup". Discussions were held in which participants shared ideas such as use of name tags as well as games and songs using names. Support workers model welcoming behaviours such as introducing people to each other when they visit.

PGOTM workers constantly celebrate successes while extending knowledge through positive feedback and introducing developmental language. Doing this through the use of "guess what you have just done today" feedback helps playgroup leaders to recognise that they are doing a good job and making a difference in their local communities. It also models to parents and children the celebration of small steps, and the giving and receiving of positive feedback.

Collaborative community relationships: Linking playgroup leaders and helpers into the broader community

PGOTM provides opportunities for playgroup leaders and helpers to network with each other. Through workshops, excursions and visits to other playgroups they meet other leaders, share ideas about activities and routines and what is working. They also brainstorm ways of solving problems within groups. This increases the confidence and enthusiasm of leaders.

Beyond the realm of playgroups, leaders and helpers are linked into their communities through visiting workers at community centres where they hear about local services and special events that are available in the community.

Sustainability for the long term: Having a long time frame for support provision to enable embedding of ideas.

PGOTM is a 3-year project. Leaders, helpers and participating families are aware that there is time for them to develop their skills and knowledge while receiving intensive mentoring support. A strong relationship with the locally-based workers over time increases trust, builds confidence and community, and increases the sustainability of the playgroups in the area. The attention given to issues of leader succession planning through delegation, co-leaders and helper roles is also aimed at creating sustainable playgroups. Dependency on an individual volunteer is not a sustainable approach and PGOTM have endeavoured to build the skills and confidence of many playgroup parents in an effort to promote long-term engagement and viability.

Research base

The research literature and practice evidence supporting the effectiveness of the approach taken by PGOTM Resourcing practice is considered here in seven areas:

1. Community Consultation

The Onkaparinga CfC site consulted with each of 500 community-based stakeholders twice over a period of 6 months. When the PGOTM activity began it conducted a secondary layer of consultations specifically in regard to local playgroups. PGOTMidentified and made contact with workers from all relevant community based organisations and agencies and met numerous times with parents, leaders and helpers from each of the initial 24 playgroups in the region. What follows is "bottom-up" practice evidence that the PGOTMResourcing practice was needed and would be useful to the local community:

Community engagement and participation is an important value underlying the partnership approach envisaged for CfC projects. PGOTM's initial consultative planning reflects a commitment to participation. "A participatory action research approach invites community members to become involved in planning, developing and maintaining improved services for their community" (Turner, 2002). The community consultation process used by PGOTMis consistent with appreciative enquiry as describedby Munt (2002), where vision-building, between stakeholders who don't share the same history or role, occurs through a process of enhancing trust and collaboration, "the process of developing a vision usually starts with an agreement to seek and foster collaboration. Often this requires an acknowledgement that this is creating something new for all of those concerned" (Munt, 2002, p. 6).

2. Parent and child early childhood education

Research has shown that what happens to children in their early years has consequences for the rest of their lives (McCain & Mustard, 1999). Key to the PGOTM Resourcing practice is imparting the value of early childhood attachment, learning and development to playgroup parents, leaders and helpers. Through a wide range of supports and resources such as workshops, resource packs, and mentoring, playgroup leaders and helpers come to understand the importance of playgroups and how these spaces for play-based learning and development will foster the emotional, physical, intellectual, cultural and spiritual development and wellbeing of their own and other children in the group (Turner & Bredhauer, 2005)

As PGOTM is a place-based activity with workers who also "belong" to the Onkaparinga area, there is significant scope for the support and resourcing of parent education through playgroups that responds to the specific and differing needs within the local community (Turner & Bredhauer, 2005; Oberklaid, 2003). The PGOTM Resourcing practice takes advantage of the opportunity of influencing human development in these early and critical years by offering a wide range of professional learning and development resources for parents and helpers to experience, engage with and learn from (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000).

3. A strengths based perspective

Working from a strengths perspective (Saleeby, 2006) is not only important to the relationship between the PGOTM workers and the playgroup leaders and helpers, but is integral to the way new playgroups are facilitated and existing playgroups receive ongoing support.

Recent literature has shown that the effectiveness of playgroups as spaces for child development and learning is most evident where the structure and type of support needs are driven by the parents (Turner & Bredhauer, 2005). Through offering of a wide range of resources PGOTM workers draw upon the skills, knowledge and expertise of parents, leaders and helpers. The aim of the Resourcing practice is to strengthen and increase existing knowledge so as to provide a broader base from which to make parenting decisions, and facilitate play based learning and development (Turner & Bredhauer, 2005). Individuals' and families' strengths are built upon through respect, and through developing collaborative and trusting relationships between the PGOTM workers and the playgroup leaders, parents and helpers (Oberklaid, 2003).

4. Relationship building

Positive relationship building is critical to successful collaborative work in the community (Munt, 2002). The PGTOMResourcing practice was built upon many months of relationship building which involved establishing trust and ensuring plenty of informal contact alongside more structured contact through workshops. It has been suggested that informal relationships that continue over time are often the "principal mechanism" through which early learning and development partnerships in the community are maintained (Guenther & Millar, 2007).

A focus on relationship building facilitates trusting and cooperative learning environments and increases access to resources, strategies for problem solving and the sustainability of playgroups (Guenther & Millar, 2007).

5. Empowering parents

In the context of an early childhood playgroup certain types of parent education are more useful and relevant to parents. A focus on empowering parents in a group situation has been found to contribute to best practice in parent education (Turner & Bredhauer, 2005). In the case ofPGOTM the aim of parent education is two pronged. Firstly,PGOTM aims to increase parental knowledge and awareness of early childhood learning and development. Secondly, the approach aims to empower parents to take on roles of leadership and responsibility within playgroups where they then share their early childhood knowledge and skills with others.

PGOTM workers empower parents and helpers through providing knowledge and skills in accessible and engaging ways and by "demystifying" roles of leadership and facilitation. The workers also empower parents by offering encouragement, mentoring and support, and through creating open and social spaces for dialogue and the exchange of knowledge and experiences (Turner & Bredhauer, 2005). The acknowledgement and utilisation of parents' strengths and expertise also contributes to their experience of greater confidence and a perception of being respected and useful.

6. The benefit of mentoring partnerships

The benefits of mentoring partnerships are discussed within a wide range of theoretical and research literature spanning the different disciplines of human services and social work, education, and management. Mentoring as a collaborative strengths-based relationship allows for effective learning that is constructed within the context of interaction with others (Mullen, 2000; Treston, 1999). The experiential and reflective nature of mentoring partnerships is seen to be empowering for workers and mentors alike and a "significant catalyst for change" in the community (Mullen, 2000). The benefits of mentoring in an early childhood setting are the facilitation of reciprocal learning and sharing underpinned by support, feedback, and guidance (Pavia et al., 2003). Within the context of resourcing community-based playgroups, an informal, but consistent-over-time mentoring partnership can lead to increased feelings of confidence on the part of the playgroup worker/leader/helper (Mullen, 2000; Treston, 1999).

Research has shown that what happens to children in their early years has consequences for the rest of their lives (Mc Cain & Mustard, 1999). Key to PGOTM's mentoring of playgroup workers, leaders and helpers is reinforcing the value of early childhood attachment, learning and development while simultaneously providing material and experiential tools for enhancing this learning and its facilitation through community-based playgroups (Turner & Bredhauer, 2005).

7. A partnership approach with the broader community

PGOTM works in partnerships with local community centres, schools, kindergartens, preschool centres, churches and community groups. Partnerships that identify gaps and needs in the local community and develop responses to filling those gaps have been shown to result in more sustainable early childhood learning and development initiatives (Broadhead & Armistead, 2007; Munt, 2002).

PGOTM established contact with local playgroup leaders and helpers through informal links and then took time to build and nurture these links. PGOTM has always offered their resources rather than imposed them. This approach has been found to facilitate trust and positive networking leading to improved quality of early childhood resources and greater sustainability of service provision. With collaborative partnerships workers, helpers and parents are more likely to stay connected to the vision of the activity (Selden, Sowa, & Sandfort 2006; Broadhead & Armistead, 2007). As PGOTM works with many parents who are playgroup leaders and helpers, the partnerships and networks that have resulted have also reduced social isolation.

Interagency collaborative relationships have been found to have a direct positive impact upon parents' and families' experiences of early childhood learning and development, as well as significantly impacting upon children's school readiness (Selden, Sowa, & Sandfort 2006). Collaborative partnerships also enhance educational co-learning within and between local services with workers and parents and volunteers all "drawing on and simultaneously extending their community knowledge" (Broadhead & Armistead, 2007, p. 50).

Outcomes

The ultimate goal ofPGOTM is to facilitate an effective transition to preschool/kindergarten. The program logic informing this goal is represented as Figure 1 below.

Figure 1. Program Logic informing effective school transition

figure 1. program logic informing effective school transition 


Directly underpinning this goal are increased parent confidence and linkage to appropriate and timely intervention. The logic model in Figure 1 depicts an outcomes hierarchy, which includes the implementation of outcome measures at each point. The logic model includes the assumption that support services will be available for those who need them.

Due to the emphasis of this profile on one successful practice, the outcome of "appropriate and timely intervention" and its associated practices are not within the scope of this document. However as we see below there are obvious linkages between the sub-set goals of playgroup development and increased parent confidence, and parents linking in with broader community services and resources.

The outcomes ensuing from the practice of intensive resourcing of local playgroups are:

  1. an increase in the number of playgroups;
  2. increased use within playgroups of developmentally appropriate activities within local playgroups through increasing the skills, knowledge, available resources, and support networks of playgroup leaders and helpers;
  3. increased sustainability of local playgroups due to emerging, new and shared leadership in playgroups;
  4. increased parent confidence and engagement in developmentally appropriate activities within the playgroup; and
  5. an increase in the number of playgroups operating within the site.

Evidence of outcomes

Approach to outcomes measurement and data collection

The PGOTM is 22 months into its work with local playgroups and during this time has worked closely with the Local (CfC) Evaluator, to develop context-appropriate ways of collecting data and measuring satisfaction. A number of characteristics of the intervention precluded the use of before and after instruments such as the Service User Study. These characteristics include:

As a result, a participant-observer approach was utilised to collect outcomes data under broad goal domains. In addition, there was collection of verbal feedback from leaders against a set of "consistent questions". These are directed towards identification of change - in attitude, knowledge and behaviour (i.e., outcomes). There is an emphasis on sustainability through identifying change which will ensure: the continuation of the playgroup itself (often an issue in volunteer-led activity); incorporation of developmentally appropriate activities; and linkages with other local services and supports. In addition, immediate feedback is collected from workshop participants and there is informal verbal follow-up at later playgroup visits as to the application of the learning.

PGOTM workers have a checklist of information to gather from their playgroup contacts and this is constantly being updated. In additionPGOTM workers writes case notes after all face-to face, phone, or email contact with playgroups.

All of the above information is used to complete an Outcome Records Sheet for each playgroup every three months. Data are entered under categories of "volunteering", "playgroup development", "linkages (to services, community and personal)" and "sustainability". The outcomes record sheets then collated into an overall record sheet showing outcomes across the 36 playgroups.

While the observational and verbal question approach has some limitations (observer bias, response bias), the consistency of the data collected from the range of sources supports the validity of the conclusion of the effectiveness of this approach.

Outcomes evidence

The following outcomes evidence has drawn on the individual playgroups' 3-monthly outcomes records sheets and the overall PGOTM outcomes record sheet (for the June to December period of 2007); feedback sheets from workshops conducted during that period; and two semi-structured telephone interviews with playgroup leaders who are based at community centres. Ongoing discussion and collaboration with the PGTOM team (1 coordinator and 3 workers) has taken place within gatherings with a local evaluation assistant.

Outcome 1. An increase in the number of playgroups

PGOTM initially identified and connected with 24 playgroups within the Onkaparinga CfC site. All of these groups expressed interest in receiving support from the PGTOM team. Over the 15 months that PGOTM has been operating, the number of playgroups receiving support has increased to 36. Nine of these "extra" 12 playgroups are new playgroups that have started up through the interest generated by the PGOTM approach, and the support available from thePGOTM team. Five of the new playgroups began in the Sept-Dec 2007 quarter. The remaining four playgroups already existed in some form but had not been initially identified by the PGOTMteam.

PGOTM workers have also been approached by children's and community centres, as well as a local NGO (Southern Junction), to support them in starting up a playgroup for families who are marginalised within the local community.

Outcome 2. Playgroup development

Playgroup development has been evident across four key areas namely: attendance; skills and knowledge of leaders, helpers and parents; parent and child interaction; and community grants.

Attendance

The number of families attending playgroups across the CfC site is slowly increasing and nine playgroups have had new families enrolled in the past 6 months. In addition, across all groups there is increased consistency in attendance by the existing families. This appears to be a function of improvements in the quality of the experience. For example:

One mum has only missed one session this whole term because she was so engaged with the activities and what she was learning from being at the playgroup. (Community Centre and playgroup worker)

Skills and knowledge

In the past 6 months the PGOTM team have held 22 Music and Movement workshops at 20 different playgroups. Participant feedback sheets were collected from all of the workshops. The section that involved rating aspects of the workshop on a 4-point measured scale, resulted in a score of 116 out of a possible 120 (where 4 indicated the most positive measurement). In addition, there were many positive comments recorded and much enthusiasm noted especially in regard to making and purchasing percussion instruments as well as using the folder and ideas for action rhymes and songs. Participant feedback included:

"I loved the chance to network and meet others, gather new ideas etc. We should do it more often!"

"Thank you for offering helpful ideas."

"Brilliant - please come each term."

"Having children joining in and all enjoyed and participated. Taught us some new songs and rhymes. Thank you very much for the fantastic session."

"Lots of parent and child interaction - and great ideas!"

All of the playgroups have invited the coordinator to come back again next term, and one group invited her back to run a Christmas music and movement workshop.

Twenty seven playgroups reported that they have implemented ideas from workshops and the ideas packs:

"The big [activities and ideas] book ... is great especially for a new playgroup coordinator or for the parents in the playgroup." (Playgroup leader)

"The best thing is that Trudy brought out a folder with music and movement activities. It's big, it's easy to read and I have used it a lot with the parents. It has been such a bonus. I have run a playgroup, since my kids were little, and this has been a real bonus. We have also offered it to the Children's Centre people so they can learn new songs and skills." (Community Development worker)

Seventeen groups requested additional resources from PGOTM workers and 27 groups leaders sought individual assistance/support from the PGTOMteam. In one playgroup, a conflict issue was resolved by the leader with assistance from the PGOTM worker:

"I already felt confident in running a playgroup but Sue is my moral support and my link to what's happening with PGOTM. It is a real bonus to be able to pick her brain because she knows so much. She is also my link to the wider community ..." (Playgroup leader)

Parent and child interaction

There has been observation of increased parent/child interaction in 20 playgroups (using participant observation). This interaction has been assisted by the music and movement workshops and a parent participation session held at one playgroup. Increased support and resourcing for the playgroup leaders is also positively impacting upon parent/child interaction.

Community grants

Feedback sheets collected from the participants of the "How to Apply for a Grant" workshop indicated a positive response in meeting participant expectations. The section that involved rating aspects of the workshop from 1 to 4 resulted in a score of 196 out of a possible 204 (where 4 indicated the most positive rating), with additional responses indicating participants wanted to attend more workshops with further opportunities to network.

As a result of this workshop two playgroups have been successful in the grant writing and gained community funding:

"One of the mums went to the How to Apply for a Grant workshop. Now she is confident enough to sit down with the local Community Development worker and for them to work together on a grant proposal for her playgroup. The workshop was a real eye-opener for the mum." (Community worker/playgroup leader)

Outcome 3. Increased sustainability of playgroups due to volunteering, and shared or new leadership

In the past 6 months, 25 groups have reported that an additional parent is helping out with playgroup tasks. Seventeen groups reported that they now had an additional parent willing to lead activities. In three cases volunteering with a playgroup has led to paid employment. During the past three months PGOTM workers have observed that the skills and confidence of four helpers has increased significantly:

"Playgroups On The Move is the best support. [it's] nice to know that people are there to support playgroup leaders." (Playgroup leader)

At Christies Down, workers supported existing leaders to "get another playgroup off the ground", and in seven playgroups a parent has been prepared and able to take on the leadership role, allowing the playgroup to continue on after the original leader has left. John Morphett Kindergarten are working collaboratively with their local school to share information and resources and to provide support for children and their families making the transition from playgroup to "kindy" to school:

"Two parents have become very competent at leadership within the playgroup. Also one mum who had never done a thing before is now having a go. For example, she is happy to welcome a new person and she has also brought people from the playgym her child attends to the playgroup. Sue gives great advice about different ways of seeing problems and issues within the playgroup. We feel that with time the parents will completely take over the running of the playgroup." (Community Development Worker)

During the September to December (2007) period, nine preschool/school playgroups had begun working together in order to create more sustainable outcomes in terms of parent education and child learning and development, and to address children's transitions from playgroup to preschool, to kindy, to school.

At Morphett Vale/Woodcroft Children's Centre the playgroup was not really functioning as the leader had left and only two parents were attending. In partnership with Woodcroft Kindy the play group for 2-3 year olds was linked with the pre-entry programme on a Friday morning:

"Now the group is booming and the parents have the opportunity to learn from the kindy teacher while they develop leadership skills for running the playgroup. What mentoring has facilitated here is a thriving playgroup, the development of leadership skill, child development and resource skills for playgroup leaders, kindy and school working well in partnership, and effective transitions to kindy and school for playgroup children" (PGOTM worker)

Outcome 4. Increased parent confidence

In addition to the increase in parent-child interaction and increased volunteering and leadership discussed above, increased parent confidence has also been expressed through the attendance of the other parents (12 groups) and parents' keenness to initiate discussions with support workers in relation to issues with their child's learning and development (21 groups):

"Parents demonstrate an increased knowledge of the importance of parent/child interaction and how it impacts on family life. There is also increased confidence and knowledge leading to parents sharing and modelling positive interactions with their children." (Community Development Worker and playgroup leader)

Increased confidence in parenting, which is being observed by PGOTMworkers and playgroup leaders, brings with it the additional social benefits that participating in a well resourced playgroup with strong leadership provides. Turner and Bredhauer (2005) argued that parent confidence is linked to social connections formed within playgroups, especially in groups where there are opportunities for workers and parents socialise together.

The PGOTM Resourcing practice has also contributed to parent confidence as parents experience support to take on roles and responsibilities that may have felt too "scary" beforehand. This has led to increased awareness that, as parents, they could be helpful and useful to other parents and that they are simultaneously helping and learning from others. Additionally there is a sense of overcoming fear of "experts" or professionals through working closely with early childhood trained workers in a relaxed and informal setting.

Outcome 5. Parents and children linking in with local community events and services

The PGOTM practice of resourcing playgroups has both direct and indirect implications for improved linkages (personal, community and service/professional). PGOTM workers have supported playgroup leaders and helpers in increasing their knowledge, awareness and experience of broader community-based resources. They have facilitated these links both formally (e.g., inviting health professionals to playgroups) and informally (e.g., meeting with leaders and helpers at the local community centre):

"A new parent came to this playgroup. She had never been to the community centre before and now she has enrolled in a course and has arranged to leave her child in child care while she does the course. This is something she has never done before." (Playgroup leader)

Some of the many linkages evidenced by the data are related to parents and children linking with:

"As the playgroup is situated close to the to the Children's Centre, parents who before would never have considered day care have explored this option and are beginning to place their children in child care while they take some time for themselves to do courses or participate in activities within the community." (Community Development worker)

Summary of evidence for the observed outcomes

The PGOTMResourcing practice (which exists as one of a number of practices within the CfC activity) has been found to make a significant contribution to meeting many of the activity's objectives including:

Policy analysis

ThePGOTMResourcing practiceillustrated in this profileaddresses several weaknesses with the traditional models of operation of community-based playgroups and in doing so demonstrates the effectiveness of strategies that are aimed at improving the ability of local communities to help themselves (Rogers et al., 2004).

Firstly, PGOTM has illustrated that through providing resourced based support (community capacity building) existing groups can be strengthened, links with relevant service providers can be created, and collaborative partnerships can be forged at individual and service provider levels. POGTMhas filled an existing gap between regionally focussed playgroup associations and individual playgroups operating with minimal resource supports. Its focus has complemented existing services to produce shared benefits.

Secondly, the approach recognises the vulnerability created by dependency on volunteers.PGOTM attends to the sustainability issues for volunteer led playgroups (creating community capital) through the provision of mentoring for current and potential leaders. There is evidence that in the case of PGOTM these leaders have experienced significant social benefit as well as providing enhanced experiences for the parents and children participating in playgroups across the CfC site. The use of a strengths-based approach appears to be a critical ingredient to this particular aspect.

Thirdly, the use of trained resource workers with "local expertise" harnesses the benefits of both formal expertise (early child hood training) and local knowledge in the implementation of early intervention strategies. PGOTM evidences the value of establishing credibility as the initial step to building collaborative partnerships.

Finally, although there is no formal external evaluation process, there is significant internal practice based evidence to suggest that the PGOTMmodel has made a significant contribution to practice through demonstration of strategies to support playgroup to preschool transition, and to school readiness. These strategies worker at the playgroup participant level (e.g., attention to promotion of age appropriate child development activities; provision of resource material; and provision of workshops for parents and leaders) as well as a service provider level (through formal and informal networking and linking of local agencies, services and groups).

The PGOTM model has been highly successful in addressing the needs of parents who are likely to, or who are already using playgroups as a social, recreational and educational community service. While there is suggestion that PGOTMhas identified theneed for playgroups for "marginalised families" there is, at this stage, a lack of documentation as to who is defined as marginalised, how such a practice activity will be undertaken, and what might be the specific goals. Evidence of successful outcomes for a diversity of parents and children would be of significant benefit to practice.

Project evaluations

Internal evaluation

Project related publications

N/A

References

Broadhead, P., & Armistead, J. (2007). Community partnerships: Integrating early education with childcare. Children and Society, 21(1), 42-55.

Guenther, J., & Millar, P. (2007). Promoting successful collaboration in the communities for children context. ARACY: Evidence into Action Topical Papers, May 2007. Perth, Australia Research Alliance for Children and Youth.http://www.aracy.org.au/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Evidence_into_Action_Topical_Papers

Hillan, L. (2002). Mobile Playscheme. National Child Protection Clearinghouse Newsletter, 10(2), 16-17.

Johnston, S. (2006). What works: Creating playgroups for Indigenous children and families. Playgroups Queensland News Bulletin, First Edition(Spring 2006), 4. Download from www.ecta.org.au/_dbase_upl/06-09%20EarlyIntervention.pdf (PDF 594 KB) or at www.playgroupaustralia.com.au/qld/download.cfm?DownloadFile=20164660-E7F2-2F96-3EA798EDE2B0AD92 (PDF 3.1 MB)

McCain, N. M., & Mustard, F. (1999). Reversing the brain drain: Final report of the early years study. Toronto, Canada: Ontario Children's Secretariat.

McGuire-Schwartz, M. E. (2007). Relationships between family and social support and mother-child bonds: Multicultural perspectives in Ireland and the United States. Journal of Children and Poverty, 13(2), 133-156.

Mullen, C. A. (2000). Constructing co-mentoring Partnerships: Walkways we must travel. Theory Into Practice, 39(1), 4-11.

Munt, R. (2002). Building community participation. Stronger Families Learning Exchange Bulletin, 2(Spring-Summer), 3-5. Available online at http://www.aifs.gov.au/sf/pubs/bull2/rm.html

Oberklaid, F. (2004). The early childhood agenda in Australia. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 89(9), 827-830.

Oke, N., & Stanley, J. (2007). Playgroups in Greater Dandenong: Benefit and barriers. Brotherhood Comment, (November 2007), 1. www.bsl.org.au/main.asp?PageId=58

Pavia, L., Nissen, H., Hawkins, C., Monroe, M. E., & Filimon-Deyen, D. (2003). Mentoring in early childhood professionals. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 17(2), 250-260.

Playgroups Queensland. (2006). Early intervention through playgroups. Playgroups Queensland News Bulletin, (Spring 2006), 4. www.playgroupaustralia.com.au/qld/download.cfm?DownloadFile=20164660-E7F2-2F96-3EA798EDE2B0AD92 (PDF 3.1 MB)

Rogers, P., Edgecombe, G., & Kimberley, S. (2004). Evaluation of the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy 2000-2004. Early intervention: Particularly in early childhood (Issues paper). Canberra, ACT: Department of Family and Community Services, 2004. http://www.facs.gov.au/internet/facsinternet.nsf/VIA/sfsc2/$File/Early_Intervention_particularly_in_Early_Childhood.pdf

Saleeby, D. (2006) Strengths perspective in social work practice. 4th Edition. Boston, Ma: Allyn & Bacon.

Selden, S. C., Sowa, J. E., & Sandfort, J. (2006). The impact of nonprofit collaboration in early child care and education on management and program outcomes. Public Administration Review, 66(3), 412-425.

Shonkoff, J. P., & Phillips, D. A. (2000). From neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early childhood development. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Sneddon, J., & Haynes, K. (2003). Early Intervention Parenting Project: Improving access to playgroups for all families project. (Final Report, April, 2003). Melbourne, Royal Children's Hospital: Centre for Community Child Health. www.rch.org.au/emplibrary/ecconnections/EI_ParentingProject_final.pdf (PDF 445 KB)

Treston, H. (1999). Mentoring: Making a positive difference for individuals and institutions. Unpublished paper available from James Cook University, Cairns. www.jcu.edu.au/studying/services/studyskills/research/Calder_LA03.doc

Turner, C. (2002). Action research and better outcomes for community projects. Stronger Families Learning Exchange Bulletin, 2(Spring-Summer), 6-7. http://www.aifs.gov.au/sf/pubs/bull2/ct.html

Turner, C., & Bredhauer, K. (2005). Nice noise: Parent education and playgroups. Stronger Families Learning Exchange, 7(Spring), 6-9. www.aifs.gov.au/sf/pubs/bull7/bulletin7.html

Contact

Trudy James (Centacare)
Playgroup Coordinator

Playgroups On The Move
197 Main South Road
Morphett Vale SA 5162

Phone: 08 8325 3205
Email Trudy James

Website

http://www.centacare.org.au

More information

More information on the Promising Practice Profiles can be found on the Communities and Families Clearinghouse Australia website.

All of the above comments were taken from anonymous participant feedback sheets.