9 - The child at the centre

Summary

One of the best known and persuasive advocates for young children in the UK in the 20th century was Professor Jack Tizard from the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education (now UCL) in London. In the 1970s and 1980s, in a series of influential papers and books, based on detailed epidemiological research, he argued that there are many adverse factors in the lives of young children, especially poor children, and many discontinuities as well as continuities in their developmental progress. He estimated that 1 in 6 young children would at some point need help, from minor ophthalmic conditions to severe genetic disorders. Family circumstances could change rapidly, and outcomes were often unpredictable. He argued that the best way to support young children and their families through their changing patterns of need would be to create local, state-maintained, integrated education, childcare and health provision, that was accountable to users. Such a service could pick up quickly on a wide range of disorders, make accessing specialist services much easier, and save money in the long run. He maintained that this kind of service should be available to all children. He also argued, at a Labour governmental working party, that “a service to the poor is a poor service”. Whatever their background, children should be entitled to the best the state can provide, not only for themselves but for the future of society, for all of us. Tizard argued that a supportive environment for all young families would help them resolve worries over their child's progress or enable them to access help easily and without feeling guilty about making a fuss. He challenged notions of standard norms of development and inflexible categorizations of disability.

He set up two model children's centres in London, and advised the OECD about how this kind of programme might be scaled up – a vision that also included family-friendly working hours for parents. The OECD later developed these ideas in its Starting Strong programme. This model of a local publicly funded, democratically organized, children's centre that provided local education and care within ‘pram-pushing distance’ for all children aged 0–5 years, irrespective of their circumstances, is, with variations, a familiar model in Europe.