Early years (Speech, Language and Communication) peer challenge guidance manual 2024

On 14 December 2017, the Department for Education (DfE) launched Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential: a plan for improving social mobility through education. The plan sets an overarching ambition: no community left behind. A further four ambitions will cover the key life stages of people’s education.

Ambition 1 is to close the word gap in the early years. Children with strong foundations will start school in a position to progress, but too many children still fall behind early, and it is hard to close the gaps that emerge. We need to tackle these development gaps at the earliest opportunity, particularly focussing on the key early language and literacy skills, so that all children can begin school ready to thrive.

The drivers of outcomes age five are broad, and involve a range of local services including, but not limited to early education and childcare; for example, early help, family support, public health, primary care and so on. Local authorities are not solely responsible for all of these, but sit at the heart of what a locality offers disadvantaged families, and high quality integrated services are key if we are going to make an impact on outcomes.

The Early Years Social Mobility Peer Challenge programme was originally set up in 2018. The programme aimed to tackle development gaps in early language at the earliest opportunity and improve the prospects of disadvantaged young children by assessing the effectiveness and opportunities for local services to improve early outcomes for disadvantaged children at age five, with a focus on early speech, language and communication (SLC). In 2020, Ministers agreed to link the peer challenge programme with the work that DfE and Public Health England were doing to support early identification and speech, language and communication needs and create the Early Language Local Innovation and Excellence (ELLIE) programme.

The revised peer challenge programme supported by a grant from the Department for Education will continue the overarching aim of helping local services to tackle development gaps in early language through implementation of SLC pathways (Best start in speech, language and communication: Guidance to support local commissioners and service leads) and promotion of the Early Language Identification Measure (ELIM) (Early language identification measure and intervention: guidance handbook) across local authority integrated SLC pathways - including early years settings and health visitor workforce – and by doing so improve early language outcomes and school readiness.

In addition, the peer challenges will be:

• carried out in the context that SLC services for parents will be delivered through family hubs and developed as part of a new family hubs model   
• aligned with government guidance on family hubs published in summer 2022, e.g., the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme Guide and the Family Hub Model Framework which sets out minimum expectations that LAs will be expected to meet by the end of the funding period. (Family Hubs and Start for Life programme: local authority guide - GOV.UK)

This guidance manual is designed to help build an understanding of the purpose and methodology of an Early Years peer challenge. It is not intended to be prescriptive as each challenge will have its own individual features but the steps set out in the manual provide a firm base for ensuring that each challenge can be conducted successfully.

The aim of each challenge is to help councils and their partners to reflect on the early years services they provide and improve the outcomes for children and families.

Although the short title used is an 'Early Years' peer challenge, it should be noted the underpinning focus of the challenges is on reducing gaps in speech, language and communication outcomes in the early years, with the goal of improving school readiness and social mobility.

The manual contains guidance for everyone involved in the peer challenge and specifically for the host council and the peer challenge team. 

It is important to remember that a challenge is not an inspection and should not be conducted like one by either the peer team or the host council. Rather, it is providing a critical friend approach that challenges the councils and their partners in assessing their strengths and identifying their own areas for improvement. The key purpose of the challenge is to stimulate local action about how the council and its partners can improve the outcomes for children and families.

The challenge is an interactive exercise. During the challenge the peer team will examine evidence from a number of sources. These will include:

• introductory presentation by the local authority to give context
• documents that outline the local area approach to early years provision
• a self-assessment prepared by the council and their partners
• performance data
• interviews and focus groups conducted with staff from the council, partners and other stakeholders 
• observations of practice.

The challenge will conclude with a presentation by the challenge team. This will provide the team’s views on the strengths of early years provision and areas for consideration. A feedback report covering the main points of the challenge will then be sent to the host council.

Over time the LGA will use the learning from the challenges to contribute to the developing body of good practice to be used by councils and partners in their own improvement journeys.

The peer team will spend four days on site, three days facilitating meetings with the council and its partners, observing practice and seeking the views of parents and service users. This will be preceded by an intensive period of planning, organisation and preparation particularly for the council to produce a self-assessment, the challenge timetable and the documentation, evidence and information that will be requested. The LGA will provide support and guidance through this period.

The LGA expects to have a final report submitted to the council within five weeks of the final presentation, and often much sooner than this.

The peer challenges should aim to provide evidence of outcomes delivered that will contribute to overall programme aims. These should include one or more of the following:

1. evidence of increased investment in SLC provision
2. evidence of improved strategic review to include EY and SLC provision
3. evidence of improved governance over EY and SLC provision
4. evidence of structural changes / service integration in EY SLC provision in the LA
5. evidence of improved identification and outcomes measurement in SLC
6. evidence of improved SLC support for EY children with SEND and/or  from low income backgrounds
7. evidence of improved parental engagement to support their child’s early language development 

The information in the table below sets out the basic stages in a challenge. 

The LGA will pull together a team to deliver each peer challenge. The team for an early years peer challenge will typically comprise the roles outlined in the table below:

The following points should be noted:

1. the above team is a ‘standard team’. In practice it may be necessary to add additional team members depending on the areas to be explored, local circumstance, partnership arrangements.
2. the indicative number of days should not be exceeded without prior approval from the LGA Programme Manager (Children’s Services).
3. in practice it has been found to be very helpful if team members specialise or lead in their own area of expertise in examining the themes. 
4. in addition a project co-ordinator will be appointed to assist with logistical arrangements, accommodation bookings if required, expenses payments etc but they will not attend the on-site work. 

There may also be occasions when, for the purposes of gaining first-hand experience of a peer challenge, the LGA may request the permission of a council for another LGA member of staff or prospective peer to participate. This is at no cost to the council.

Team roles, ground rules and skills required

Although they will work as a team throughout, each member of the team does have specific responsibilities and there are basic ground rules under which the team should operate. Team responsibilities and ground rules 

Agreeing the peer team 

The LGA will pull together a peer team to ensure that the skills, expertise and background of the team matches the council’s requirements as closely as possible. However, the council will always be consulted to ensure they have the final decision on the team make-up.  

Where a team member withdraws at short notice the challenge manager will propose an alternative as soon as possible, taking into account that the availability of peers will be limited.

Document distribution

All the information provided by the council and its partners will be uploaded to a designated group on a secure shared portal. This can only be accessed by the team, the host authority and the project co-ordinator.

The host council will need to identify a challenge sponsor and an organiser for the challenge.

The challenge sponsor should be a senior manager within the council (preferably the director or assistant director of children’s services). The challenge needs to be agreed by the council’s Chief Executive and Lead Member. The role of the challenge sponsor is to commission the challenge, ensure there is high level commitment to the process from staff and partners and agree the scope and themes for the challenge with the LGA. 

The role of the council challenge organiser is to be the 'single point of contact', to put in place all logistical detail, prepare the draft timetable, supply the required documents and be available during the on-site stage for requests from the team.

In addition, the council should be aware of its responsibilities in agreeing to and participating in the challenge process. Key council responsibilities

Confidentiality

Each party (council, partners, LGA and peer challenge team) will keep all confidential information belonging to other parties disclosed or obtained as a result of the relationship of the parties through the peer challenge and will not use or disclose the same, save for the purposes of the proper performance of the peer challenge or with the prior written consent of the other party. 

The obligations of confidentiality will not extend to any matter which the parties can show is in, or has become, part of the public domain other than as a result of a breach of the obligations of confidentiality or was in their written records prior to the date of the peer challenge; was independently disclosed to it by a third party; or is required to be disclosed under any applicable law, or by order of a court or governmental body or other competent authority. 

As can be seen in the challenge stages there are parts of the challenge that may involve team members having access to personal data. It is vital that the following principles are understood by the council, partners and members of the peer team and adhered to at all times.

Data protection

The council, partners, LGA and peer team members agree that data (including personal data) as defined in the Data Protection Act 1998, relating to the processing of the peer challenge, to the extent that it is reasonably necessary in connection with the peer challenge, may: 

1. be collected and held (in hard copy and computer readable form) and    processed by the peer challenge team and 
2. may be disclosed or transferred: 
   1. to the peer challenge team members and/or
   2. as  otherwise required or permitted by law 

The LGA Programme Manager will arrange a meeting with the director, or assistant director of children’s services, and they will act as the challenge sponsor.

The purpose of the meeting will be to confirm that a challenge is appropriate, consider the focus, additional key lines of enquiry, the timetable including arrangements for self-assessment, peer team requirements and any necessary background information. 

A formal proposal e-mail will then be sent by the LGA Programme Manager to the council confirming the discussion and proposed arrangements for the challenge.

Communications and publicity

The purpose of a challenge is to promote learning and improved outcomes. In this context, the council should consider communications across the partnership not only to share the findings but to also engage different parts of the early years’ sector in the challenge process.

‘What’s it all about?’, example partnership briefing

The final report is the property of the receiving council and is not published by the LGA, however it is expected that the council share the report with the appropriate networks and partners. 

The final report will be sent to the director of children’s services (DCS) and copied to the LGA Principal Adviser and Regional Children’s Improvement Adviser.

During this stage the council and challenge manager must liaise closely and ensure that the following are prepared and supplied to the peer team in line with the agreed timescales:

• Pre-challenge documentation and performance information pre challenge documentation and information
• Data required for the challenge
• Key lines of enquiry guidance
• Preparation checklist
• What makes a successful peer challenge.

The key features during the challenge phase are described below:

No surprises policy

This council will be provided with regular feedback on the key issues emerging during the meetings and focus groups. The team leader and challenge manager will also give the council’s challenge sponsor a good understanding of what will be presented at the final presentation. This gives the chance to resolve any outstanding issues and ensure appropriate language and wording is used. But this is not an opportunity to change the findings of the peer team.

First peer team meeting

The peer team will have its first meeting online  before of the challenge starts. The challenge manager will facilitate this meeting and it will cover introductions, familiarity with the methodology, the conduct for interviews and any initial thoughts that can be drawn from the pre reading.

Council overview presentation 

The start of Day one should include a short presentation from the council. This should last for a maximum of 20 minutes and consist of an overview of early years provision in the area (not just early years services delivered by the council); areas of strength; areas for development and any planned key actions and priorities.

On-site interviews, focus groups and observations

This will form the main activity for the rest of days one to three of the on-site stage. The focus of the interviews will be on validation and exploration of the evidence from the self-assessment and documentation. This will lead to discussion of the interviewees understanding of strengths and areas for the development across the early years agenda.

The feedback presentation

Following the remote meetings and focus groups and the on site day there will be a feedback presentation by the peer team to the council. 

There is a standard format to the feedback presentation and each member of the team will contribute to the drafting. The presentation should identify good practice and suggestions for improvement, as well as the practice examples that the team think would be of wider interest.

Following the meetings and focus groups, the peer team will compile a report based on the peer challenge findings comprising:

• an executive summary of the key issues
• strengths and areas for further development identified throughout the process
• recommendations based on the findings and which will help the council and their partners to improve early years provision for children and families.

The challenge report will not provide a judgement and is not intended to make extensive recommendations.

Following the peer challenge and production of the final report the LGA Programme Manager will liaise with the council to agree any next steps and follow up activity. This might include:

• LGA Children’s Improvement Advisor to provide to broker specific support to develop and deliver improvement plans
• targeted support from a speech and language specialist to improve systems for developing good speech, language and communication skills, as well as those for identifying and supporting speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) as a partnership.