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Abstract
This article focuses on some of the issues that shape understandings of professional practice in the rapidly expanding context of children's centres in England. Drawing on data from an ESRC-funded project exploring practitioners' understandings of quality and success, the perspectives of 115 practitioners working in 11 Sure Start Children's Centres are presented. The findings indicate that the practitioners' definitions of quality and success are influenced by contextual elements, such as the organisational climate in which they work, as well as the wider political agenda and their individual histories. Putting practitioners' understandings of quality into practice presents challenges on a number of levels as they search for new ways of working to provide ‘joined up’ provision that will work for children and their families as required by current policy.
Notes
1. This article draws on data from an ESRC-funded project entitled Understanding quality and success in early years settings: practitioners' perspectives (RES-061-23-0012). The project was undertaken by Dr Elise Alexander and Michelle Cottle at the University of Roehampton and ran from January 2007 until May 2009. The data were collected between May 2007 and March 2008.
