The science of early child development
Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University contains loads of useful resources based on the science of child development, including Key Concepts, and video: Building Adult Capabilities to Improve Child Outcomes: A Theory of Change.
Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood focuses on social and emotional development including some nice videos: The Explainer Series.
Parent Infant Foundation resources on first 1001 days.
Nesta primer on why the early years matter.
Evidence around ‘what works’
Nurturing Care Framework for Early Childhood Development pulls together the international evidence and the basis of our change theory in Scotland.
Foundation shares evidence driven change making around supporting families.
Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) maternity and early years maturity matrix is a self-assessment tool (England and Wales based) to support local partners to understand the position on early childhood intervention, identify areas for improvement, and work together to deliver positive change.
Nesta, in partnership with the Ethos Foundation, brought together a coalition of partners across the early years to propose a high-level blueprint for how a family hubs programme can most effectively deliver support for all children and families in desperate need of it: Towards a new era of integration in the early years
National Early Learning and Communication Project which aims to raise the profile of prevention and early intervention in relation to Speech, Language & Communication development across Scotland with a focus on pre-birth to school entry.
Scottish Government Policy
Early child development transformational change programme
Holistic whole family support: routemap and national principles
Whole Family Wellbeing Funding Logic Model
Useful data sources
ScotPHO profiles – local area indicators
Early child development statistics - Scotland 2023 to 2024 - Early child development - Publications - Public Health Scotland – source data for charts
Health in the Early Years dashboard infant feeding and child development data from routine child heath reviews shown according to the date that children received their review (as opposed to the annual statistics which include all children eligible that year).
Other resources
Parenting across Scotland - Open Kindergarten project
Save the Children - Supporting Families for Better Childhoods
