Family learning has long been at the heart of Derby’s services for families – helping parents and carers to support both their children’s learning and development and their own. Peep programmes and accreditation for parents have been a key part of Derby’s family support since 2001 – initially via Children’s Centres, and now as part of Derby Family Hub. Find out more about how Derby’s joined up approach is making a difference to families and organisations.
How Peep has evolved in Derby
The Peep Learning Together Programme (LTP) has been delivered in Derby for over twenty years, since the introduction of Sure Start Children’s Centres in 2001. The Local Authority took the decision to train all of their Children’s Centre workers as Peep practitioners and have successfully embedded the approach in their Children’s Centre early years provision.
Below you can find out more about how Derby target and plan their Peep delivery, some of the outcomes for parents and outcomes for practitioners, and how they are scaling up Peep through multi-agency work with external partners.
In the summer of 2023, six of the city’s Children’s Centres were transformed into Family Hubs, with Peep LTP and the Peep Progression Pathway (parent accreditation) remaining a priority for delivery. Alongside this all Pathway programmes were opened up as a universal offer, meaning that any parent/carer with a child under 5 could access a quality, evidenced-based programme. All baby groups that were being run across the hubs and centres, as a part of the Start for Life offer, also became Peep Learning Together Programmes, meaning any parents with a child under 12 months could access the programme. Derby deliver these groups flexibly, responding to the needs of the parents and children that access them and giving them some autonomy over the topics that are covered.
The Learning Together Programme and the Peep Progression Pathway support parents to develop skills and competencies which contribute to their employability and long-term career goals. Through their Peep group, Derby parents can create and submit a portfolio of work which enables them to attain an SCQF at a level 3, 4 or 5 in ‘Supporting Early Learning at Home’, as part of the Pathway.
Further learning through the Peep Progression Pathway
The Learning and Work Institute (L&W) is an independent policy and research organisation dedicated to promoting lifelong learning, full employment and inclusion. A few years ago they worked with three Family Learning providers, including Peeple and Derby Peep, to develop, pilot and evaluate wider Family Learning models which would:
- increase the employability of parents,
- equip parents to support their children’s learning and development,
- contribute to improving local partnerships and joined-up working between services.
Their report was funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and we’ve included extracts from the Peep elements of the evaluation below the video clip.
Peep has given me a new light into how my daughter learns and also how much fun it is to join in with your child’s play.”
Peep parent
For many, it opens their eyes to what other opportunities there are out there. They might have been doing one job before they had their children and then they come along to a Peep session and they realise that there are other job opportunities… We’ve got parents who’ve gone to college and into employment working with young children.”
Peep Practitioner
My confidence was very, very low at the start of the course. I began to learn so much – things I didn’t know about children. My life has changed so much. I now sing with my boys. I get down to their level on the floor and join in their play. We have so much fun. Although I know now that I was a good mum before, I am an even better mum now.”
Peep Parent
Targeting and Planning Peep delivery:
The Peep Coordinator analyses the service requirements across the city and the support pathways that are needed to respond to family’s needs. An example of this is the Peep Communication and language strand, which is part of the speech and language support pathway – families that have accessed other targeted speech and language programmes are referred on to the Communication and language strand.
Once the overall LTP strands (of the five: Personal, social and emotional development, Communication and language, Early Literacy, Early maths and Health and physical development) have been decided for a programme, Peep practitioners can then access the session plans, topic cards and topic handouts on the Peeple website to plan the content for their programme. The variety of session plans and suggested activities mean that practitioners can choose the most appropriate content to meet the needs of their families. The sessions can be adapted according to different learning styles, the needs of individual parents, and the level which parents may be working at.
Families in Derby attend Peep programmes for one term strands. Derby run all 5 strands each term to ensure all areas of need are provided for. Learners are able to move on to other strands as part of their supported journey. Each session lasts for an hour and a half and involves talk time around the topic for the day and then activities to think about how it can be embedded into everyday activities, including songs and rhymes or books and stories.
The content of the sessions maps onto the requirements for the Peep Progression Pathway SCQF Certificate in Supporting Early Learning at Home. Derby therefore offers all of the parents on their Peep programmes the opportunity to develop a portfolio which can be submitted for assessment and can enable them to gain a qualification which provides formal recognition of the skills they gain through the Peep sessions.
Outcomes for parents:
In Derby, the Peep Learning Together Programme was very effective in enabling learners to identify the huge range of skills and competencies that they had developed as parents. The Peep approach of first helping parents to recognise the ways in which they already support their children, then helping them to build on and develop this through a tailored but structured programme, helped parents to improve their self-esteem and confidence in their own abilities.
We support parents to recognise what they’re already doing, then we offer ideas for them to do more through everyday routines and activities. Once they become more aware of their children’s learning, they say to us they become more empowered.”
Peep Coordinator
The majority of parents engaged with the programme in order to support their children’s learning, but soon recognised that they were learning as well. The opportunity to gain a qualification through the Peep programme was also valued by learners, as it formalised the skills they had gained as parents and they could put it on their CV.
The recognition of their skills as parents helped many learners to start planning their future careers and the steps they could take to achieve these, so that they were ready to enter employment when their children reach school age. The Peep Coordinator in Derby also found that the Learning Together programme helps parents to realise the wide range of job opportunities available to them, and this often leads them to progress onto further formal courses after completing the programme.
For many, it opens their eyes to what other opportunities there are out there. They might have been doing one job before they had their children and then they come along to a Peep session and they realise that there are other job opportunities… We’ve got parents who’ve gone onto college and gone into employment working with young children.”
Peep Coordinator
- The current Peep coordinator started her Peep journey as a Peep parent back in 2006.
- A Family Hubs Navigator started her Peep journey as a Peep parent in 2022, then went on to volunteer in Family Hubs, before being employed by them in 2023.
Alongside their employability-related outcomes, learners also reported feeling more satisfied as parents, having stronger relationships with their children, feeling more confident to support and talk about their children’s learning, and improving their wider social relationships.
Everyone has seen a massive change in my son. He loves, laughs, reads books and has lots of positive attitude… I have made loads of friends and am more confident and happy than ever. I wish there would be more certified groups like this!”
Learner/ Parent
Outcomes for Peep practitioners in Derby:
Many of the Peep practitioners in Derby have other roles within the council – such as children and family support workers – and they have found that they embed the principles of the Peep programme into all of their work. This helps other families across the city to start thinking about the ways they can support their children’s learning.
Scaling up Peep in Derby – multi-agency approach:
The introduction of Family Hubs funding in 2023 gave us the opportunity to scale up the Peep Learning Together Programme provision. We did this by training external partners to deliver Peep to communities where there was an identified need. These included:
- Mothers with low mood and perinatal mental health needs: 1-to-1 and groups
- Parents of children with SEND (Special educational needs and disabilities): 1-to-1 and groups
- 3 – 4 year olds: to support readiness for school and transition: groups in nursery or school
- 0 – 4 year olds: increased provision in communities that families are already accessing, e.g. stay and plays in nurseries
- 16 – 18 year olds: offering the Peep Progression Pathway in partnership with the YMCA, with young people with low outcomes from secondary education
- Foster Carers who are fostering children for whom Derby City have a duty of care: Peep Progression Pathway in groups
- Deaf Communities: delivering in partnership with the Royal School for the Deaf Derby: groups
- Creative arts: to look at how key messages from the Peep Learning Together Programme could be shared through artists delivering dance, music and movement sessions in groups
- Libraries: delivering Early Literacy Peep Progression Pathway in partnership in libraries
- Voluntary organisations delivering family support: 1-to-1 and in groups.
Derby continues to look at how they use the Peep Learning Together Programme and Peep Progression Pathway to support the needs of families across the city.