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CHAPTER SIX: EXPERIENCES ELSEWHERE
6.1 INTRODUCTION
The relationship between deprivation and low uptake of services and initiatives is not unique to the Children's Traffic Club in Scotland. Firstly, across the UK, other Children's Traffic Clubs are attempting to address similar issues and increase membership in deprived areas. Secondly, other campaigns targeting young children and parents also focus on reaching those in socially excluded areas to ensure that the message is reaching all communities.
This chapter explores the experiences of other CTC initiatives as well as a number of promotional campaigns targeting parents and young children. Lessons learned from these campaigns are highlighted, and assessed in terms of their applicability to the context in which the CTCS is operating.
6.2 PROMOTING THE CTC IN OTHER PARTS OF THE UK
The experiences of other CTCs in the UK could offer lessons for Scotland in terms of the promotion of the Club in areas of deprivation. Three clubs operating in other parts of the UK - Salford, Wales and London - have been involved in this research and have given their experiences of running a Club in their area.
6.2.1 Salford
Salford City Council is located near Manchester, and has a population of approximately 220,000. The Salford CTC was launched in April 2005 after four months of planning.
The co-ordinators consciously took a different approach to the traditional CTC model by promoting the club predominantly through professionals who work with young children and their parents. Prior to the launch the team held a workshop with Early Years professionals allowing them to use and evaluate all CTC materials available. Staff who attended this event included SureStart representatives, private nursery liaison staff, childminder liaison staff, after school club co-ordinators, health visitors, school nurses and Department of Education staff. This event was particularly successful and generated a lot of feedback for the CTC team, which was used to develop a regional pack.
As a result of this consultation, the format for the CTC is quite different in Salford from that in other areas. The six 'core' books normally sent to parents are now used exclusively by Early Years professionals, although they can be given to parents on loan.
Parents are also sent registration forms when their child turns three and can join by returning the registration form. They are also prompted to join by professionals. Once parents have registered they are sent six small booklets at regular intervals, each book dealing with a separate road safety theme. Parents also receive an audio CD with each book which has a recording of the text and songs to assist those who are less confident reading to their children. The books also come with a card that has tips and hints for parents and stickers for the children. It is hoped that the smaller, simpler books will help address literacy issues that prevent parents from using the larger books effectively.
The approach of the Salford CTC is designed to reach people who are disadvantaged. Currently membership stands at 35 per cent, and the CTC co-ordinators are disappointed that the new approach has not generated a higher level of uptake.
Nurseries are also sent packs containing the six 'big' books and many other resources including posters, story CDs and assorted charts and cards, costing £120 (which the CTC bears). An RSO will meet with a key member of staff at each nursery in order to talk them through the resources and how to promote the Club to parents. In this way nurseries also encourage parents to join the club and can help them complete a form and send it away on their behalf.
Although the books are only available in English, an A4 page is included with all registration forms which has the main messages of the CTC in the five main community languages spoken in the Salford area.
Although the Salford CTC is in its early stages of development, they are proactively seeking ways to increase membership. Currently the Club is predominantly promoted by professionals, backed up with posters in community and health centres and more recently by a newspaper advert, intended to boost membership.
6.2.2 Wales
The Welsh CTC, covering 22 local authority areas, has not taken a standardised approach to introducing the Club. In some areas the Club has been running for up to two years, but in others it has only recently been established. A survey undertaken in 2005 indicated that the average level of membership is around 35 per cent, similar to that in Salford. The Club aims to break these statistics down into wards to see which areas are particularly struggling to establish membership of the Club.
Promotion of the Club varies between local authorities, but is mostly done by Health Visitors who distribute registration forms to parents. One local authority did not involve Health Visitors initially, but promoted the Club primarily through a road safety trailer which was taken to the town centre and leaflets were handed out. This approach resulted in higher membership than in the other areas.
The resources are produced in both English and Welsh although demand for the Welsh resources is ' hit or miss' as even in Welsh speaking local authorities ' requests for Welsh literature can be low'. Although research has not been conducted in order to understand the impact that literacy skills have on registration the Club is aware that the Early Steps CTCS books were produced to assist people for use in multi-cultural areas or for those with literacy issues.
6.2.3 London
In London the Children's Traffic Club has been running since 2003. This Club has a particularly complex task in promoting membership due to the size of the population and the huge range of languages spoken in the city - there are now over 600 languages used in London.
Although the CTC core materials are only produced in English, the London Club have recently introduced a new enrolment form that contains a multi-language and large print panel encouraging parents to get more information about the Club. The panel invites parents to call a telephone number for free interpretation services. The Club has an arrangement with a 'Language Shop', which will speak to callers and inform them about the club in the requested language. If necessary, the service will also provide a basic translation of the enrolment form so the parent or carer has a greater understanding of the Club. Between October and December 2005 the Language Shop received 36 requests regarding the CTCS material.
The Club organisers are employed by Transport for London (TfL), the agency responsible for all transport and traffic matters within the City. The organisers have opted for a menu of methods to attract parents into membership. However, the staff feel that the approach to CTC promotion is not as co-ordinated or sustained as they would like, since all staff have other responsibilities. Currently parents receive an invitation to join from the Primary Care Trust and enrolment forms are also distributed by SureStart Centres, RSOs, Child Information Centres, Libraries, health visitors, childminders, nursery schools and playgroups and at community fun day events - although participation is patchy.
Currently 55,000 children are enrolled in the Club. CTC London does not know what level of uptake this represents, because most of the 33 Primary Care Trusts ( PCTs) which mail the forms to parents do not supply information on the number of children invited to join. The CTC held a workshop in January 2004 with PCT/ NHS staff, local authorities and SureStart staff to try and find a way to get this information, but PCTs indicated that they were unable to provide this information for data protection reasons. However, this information is clearly important to ensure that the Club is running effectively across London, and further work will be undertaken to set up a framework for accessing this information from PCTs.
At present it is not possible to monitor whether the enrolment forms or face to face contact are more effective at generating memberships, but a new system is being put in place in January 2006 which will allow the CTC London to identify the source of each enrolment form. Despite the current lack of data, grassroots workers find that during periods when they go out and make face to face contact with parents and attend family fun days, membership increases, but then decreases over a period of the next six months. The main forms of CTC promotion are through the local authorities, local newspapers and magazines, posters, direct mailing into organisations with posters, leaflet dispensers, balloons, mouse mats and local launches which create local press.
The CTC London team is currently working with its marketing section at TfL regarding the promotion of the Club in areas of social deprivation, with a view to introducing bus and shelter advertising in these areas from April 2006.
Although the Club does not know the full extent of literacy problems in the socially deprived areas in which it operates, CTC Early Steps packs were sent out to all SureStart areas in London (96) and to other relevant organisations including family centres. The Early Steps pack is then used in groups with parents. CTC workers think that parents and carers are not put off by the Early Steps books because they can see their time input does not have to be too great, whereas in the core materials they may see the text and get the impression that much more time is needed to go through an activity.
6.3 OTHER CAMPAIGNS
6.3.1 Introduction
A range of other campaigns in Scotland target parents of young children and attempt to convey particular messages about safety, parenting and education. Many are also addressing issues relating to reaching parents in disadvantaged areas, and it is possible to learn lessons from their experience. It is, however, challenging to find similar campaigns which ask parents to register their children for receipt of educational resources. As a result, this section focuses on campaigns targeted at parents of young children, particularly those conveying safety or parenting messages.
6.3.2 Bookstart
Pioneered to engender a lifelong love of books from an early age, Bookstart works with local organisations to supply all parents of babies in the UK with a pack of books and parental guidance for using the materials. It is hoped that by using books at an early stage, children's language skills will be advanced and they will develop an enhanced understanding of the world.
Bookstart was piloted in the Midlands almost 14 years ago, with a group of around 300 babies and their parents. Since then countries around the world have adopted the Bookstart programme under the direction of the UK Bookstart team. By March 2000, Bookstart programmes covered 92 per cent of the UK and funding has now been provided to ensure that Bookstart is able to provide books to every baby in Scotland and England free of charge.
The Bookstart programme is co-ordinated by Booktrust, an independent educational UK charity, which reaches families by working in partnership with local organisations (usually the library service). Families are invited both to join their local library and to receive the pack of books. Each family living in a Bookstart area will receive their first pack at the 7-9 month Health Visitor visit, a second pack at 18 months old and the final pack when children turn three.
Programmes like Bookstart are particularly helpful for families in deprived areas because, ' the home environment can really make a difference … more important than the mother's educational qualifications is what the mother does with the child … Education matters, qualifications matter, but if the mother reads to the child, plays rhyming games, sings songs, talks about letters and sounds, and takes the child to the library, these behaviours at home are more important and can compensate for a low education level.'19
Families are targeted both by letter from the library and through a personal visit from a Health Visitor in order to maximise families opportunities to receive the books. Bookstart is however, aware of many parents' poor literacy skills, citing that 12 million people in the UK have literacy skills at or below the level expected of a 13 year old. As a result, in 2006 'Quick Reads' will be launched to encourage lower standard readers to read for pleasure. Book tokens will be produced and distributed nationwide, providing readers with discount tokens for a series of books intended to improve literacy skills.
6.3.3 Play @ Home
The Play @ Home initiative operates in several local authorities in Scotland. The programme is designed to help parents to have fun with their babies and children. The resource is targeted to assist new parents and those who have little experience of interacting with young children.
The resource was developed in New Zealand and adapted for the Scottish market, first being piloted by Fife Council and the NHS in 1999. In 2002, the initiative was introduced in Highland. Highland Council was particularly keen to adopt the materials given the relationship between physical activity in infants and brain development associated with reading and writing skills. NHS Highland and The Highland Council invested £100,000 into the programme for an initial 3 year period, although the initiative continues to run.
All parents of newborns have the opportunity to accept a pack from their Health Visitor, which includes a booklet with advice and ideas for having fun with your baby. At 12 months parents receive the Play @ Home Toddler booklet, which contains hundreds of ideas for active games for parents to play with their child. Both books also contain songs, rhymes and infant massage tips.
Twelve months after its introduction 2,000 of a potential 6,000 Highland families had the Play @ Home Baby book, an uptake level of 33 per cent. Further promotional activity was planned in the form of group sessions around Highland, to encourage parents and babies to use the materials together. Feedback indicates that first time parents find the materials particularly useful.
6.3.4 Don't Give Fire a Home
The impetus for the 'Don't give fire a home' campaign came from a piece of research which concluded that the majority of the public do not believe they will be a victim of fire. The campaign was launched in September 2003 and publicity is targeted during winter periods, when home fires are more prevalent. Although it does not have a particular focus on targeting parents and children, there is an increasing emphasis on directing the campaign towards those who live in deprived areas as there is a strong relationship between deprivation and fires at home. People living in deprived areas are the largest user group of the Fire Service in Scotland. In addition, alcohol is very often a factor in fires in these areas. Although the Fire Safety team at the Scottish Executive is aware the main perpetrators of such fires are men, ' this group is such a hard nut to crack…we are considering targeting their partners to see if we can get to the target group through them.'
To date, publicity for the campaign has been general, rather than targeted specifically at households in deprived areas. The campaign has engaged with the public mainly through press advertisements, radio advertisements, public health announcements and billboard posters. Television adverts have been used more recently in December 2004 and January 2005. This was seen as relatively effective, but it is anticipated that future use of this medium would be more targeted at the core target group.
After the main promotional period in winter 2004/05, a broad evaluation was undertaken. This identified a marginal improvement in awareness. Although there was some shift in awareness the campaign team recognises that ' acceptance of the message is a long haul.' The evaluation did not find one particular method of promotion succeeding in getting the message over better than others.
The team is currently working on a campaign to tackle the contributing factor of alcohol in fires. Although the campaign team are still considering their options, it is largely considering radio and hard media such as newspapers and magazines. The campaign is scheduled to launch mid 2006.
6.4 LESSONS LEARNED
- Deprivation: None of the other Children's Traffic Clubs had undertaken any detailed work on correlating uptake and social exclusion, although some were beginning to focus on this issue as a result of lower uptake in areas of high deprivation. In London, even basic information on uptake levels across the whole area was not available. The CTC in Scotland, therefore, is significantly more advanced in this area than the other Clubs consulted.
- Uptake: Levels of uptake, where known, are significantly lower in other CTCs than in Scotland. This highlights the positive activity to date which has been undertaken to promote the Club in Scotland, and demonstrates that current uptake levels are a considerable achievement.
- Club format: Involvement of professionals in designing the CTC format from the very beginning can be extremely valuable. In Salford, early involvement meant that key partners were able to shape the way the Club developed, meaning that all resources were appropriate to the local context.
- Use of materials: Each CTC club uses different materials according to the local context. In some areas, simpler materials are distributed directly to parents with more advanced materials available from professionals. This approach means that parents can receive support in using the more advanced materials as required.
- Promotion: All the Clubs promote registration through postal invitation and awareness raising activity by a network of professionals working with parents and children. This demonstrates that postal invitation can prove valuable as part of a wider range of methods for inviting parents to join the Club. However, the personal approach has proven particularly effective in all areas with a general view that individual contact with professionals like health, childcare and nursery staff generates the highest levels of CTC uptake.
- Languages: The CTC materials are currently only available in English and Welsh, even in London where there is a significant minority ethnic population. Some Clubs have attempted to convey basic messages through short inserts in local community languages. In London, support is available from an interpretation and translation service to enable registration, but the resources are not available in different languages and this could act as a barrier to use for some families.
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