Young Children's Voices Network Project
Young Children’s Voices Network (YCVN) is a national
project promoting listening within the early years. This
network support local authorities (LAs) in developing good practice
in listening to young children, so that young children’s views may
inform policy and improve early childhood
services.
The project is run by the Early
Childhood Unit at NCB and funded by the Department of Children,
Schools and Families.
YCVN aims:
- To ensure that all early childhood services develop and embed a
listening culture which values young children’s involvement and
views.
- To support LAs in meeting their duty under the Childcare Act,
2006, ‘to have regard to any information about the views of young
children which is available and relevant to these duties’.
YCVN vision is:
- That
children feel that they are listened to and their unique needs are
recognised and responded to.
- That families understand how important it is to listen to their
child’s voice so that they, and practitioners can better support
children’s well being.
- That practitioners in all early childhood services are confident
in their ability to facilitate participation and recognise its
importance in pedagogy and personal social development.
- That local authorities and their Children’s Trusts partners
clearly value the voice of young children in developing and
delivering services.
- That listening to young children becomes an accepted part of our
culture, fully integrated into the ethos of early childhood
services.
National YCVN support:
- National
networking meetings –sharing expertise across England
- Training packages for early years advisers and
practitioners
- Newsletters & website - sharing information and
resources nationally
- Listening as a way of life seminars and guidance
leaflets** - research and practice
- Consultancy - developing strategies and establishing local
networks
Local networks are designed
to:
- Offer a local platform for sharing young
children’s perspectives with strategic partners to inform local
policy and quality improvement
- Train and support practitioners in listening and responding
to young children
- Help practitioners be more confident in enabling young
children to participate in the design, development and delivery of
services
- Evidence listening and participation activity to support
local authorities in meeting their duty to listen
Support will be available to all English local authorities from
March 2009 as the project continues.
Training:
YCVN has developed a range of
courses to support practitioners and those in strategic roles to
develop practice in listening to young children. Further details
may be found
here [PDF 68KB].
Evaluation:
Download an evaluation
of the YCVN pilot project (2006-2008) [PDF 318KB] and a
summary
[PDF 57KB]
ECU's comments and response to this evaluation may be downloaded
from
here
LATEST PUBLICATION
In February 2010 YCVN
published Am I staying for lunch
today?
As part of the Consultation on the Draft
Code of Practice on Provision of the Free Entitlement for 3- and
4-Year-Olds, DCSF commissioned the Early Childhood Unit at NCB
to consult with young children to find out about their experiences
of the extended 15 hour flexible entitlement. The report of this
project may be downloaded from this Every
Child Matters page
For more information on YCVN and to get involved please
contact:
Lucy Williams, YCVN project manager
0207 833 6816
lwilliams@ncb.org.uk
http://www.ncb.org.yk/ycvn
**The Listening as a way of life leaflets may
be downloaded from here